Aren't some of these death threats public? As in, via twitter that anyone can read? The latest Sarkeesian "massacre" threat caused an entire event to be canceled, you have to inform the people that were going to come that it won't be happening.
As someone who administers a gaming server, I see this virtually every day. As soon as a female comes in, everybody turns into a drooling, posturing macho jackass. "SHOW US YOUR TITS." You do what you can to prevent it; let people know it's unacceptable, ban the people who do it. But it happens virtually every time a (non-admin) woman comes on. And we're known as a woman-friendly server. To deny that misogyny is a legitimate issue in the gaming community just because you personally don't engage in it is willful ignorance. It exists, it's pervasive, and if your reaction to being told it exists is "SOCIAL JUSTICE WARRIOR, KILL THEM," you're part of the problem. I don't agree with Sarkeesian's broader claims about some inherent level of sexism being the basis of gaming culture, but pretending that there isn't some level of misogyny when three women have been driven from their homes through targeted threats? That's a pretty damning indictment.
This whole gamergate thing has become toxic. The movement has been hijacked by insane misogynists whose motivations are less about media involvement with gaming companies and more about "don't try to change our stuff." I can understand the desire to want to end media involvement with the corporations that produce games, especially the mass-market games, where we've seen a trend of releasing unfinished products to rave reviews that reeks of journalistic malfeasance on behalf of the gaming media. That's something worth exploring. But you can't do it on the backs of a movement that was started by a jilted ex-lover lying about his ex-girlfriend's sex life to discredit her, that is populated by people ignoring the crossovers of EA and IGN/Gamespot to focus on female indie game developers as though they're the reason gaming media is corrupt, that has made credible threats exclusively targeting women who have the gall to speak out against the industry (including threatening a school shooting, which is literally what terrorists do), and whose rhetoric is consistently shown that their issue is not with gaming media but with "feminazis" and "social justice warriors" who have the nerve to complain that sometimes games could be perceived as sexist. Gamergate is a PR nightmare for the people with legitimate complaints, because the actions of a few have made it symbolic with the assumed misogyny of gamers, and rather than distancing themselves from that, people are piping in with "well that's what you get." There's no place in that movement to address real issues; it's been co-opted by people who just want to bitch about women.
I was going to end it with what I call the Kramer situation. Was Michael Richards (Cosmo Kramer on Seinfeld) racist because he called someone a racial slur? Or, is it far more likely he chose the most offensive thing he could say to someone who was heckling him? Are the trolls attacking these women actually haters of women, or are they simply understanding enough of culture to know that explicit threats of rape are pretty offensive to women and use that as ammunition to offend?
How is that possibly an acceptable defense? A comedian at a comedy club is engaging in a job that frequently involves saying deliberately offensive things to provoke a reaction. You might heckle during the show (which makes you a bit of a jackass, but whatever), but hecklers don't follow the comedian home and threaten his family... And Michael Richards was crucified by the press for that performance. How is that the example you hang your hat on? No one thought that was the right thing to do, and he spent years apologizing for it. If Michael Richards happened to be headlining a movement at the time, do you think the PR people for that movement would say, "Hey, this n-word incident is getting a lot of play, let's keep trotting Michael out there and claim the heckler deserved it"? Of course not. Anyone with any sense can see that when something becomes that toxic, it just distracts from anything else you might be discussing, and you distance yourself from it as rapidly as possible. Gamergate folks have alternated between vague, "whatever, she deserved it" and doubling down on insane rhetoric and misogynistic death threats, and it's turned into a PR disaster.
You really missed the entire point of what I posted. Michael Richards isn't a racist for using a racial slur to offend someone being a jackass, just as someone upset by what Zoe Quinn and the rest of this debacle using threats targeted specifically to their demographic are misogynists. They are simply using the most effect way to harass them. But, people refuse to see it that way, despite it being 100% true. If I really wanted to offend a person who is part of a minority group, targeting my insults to that group is a far better way than anything else. If I wanted to insult Shakespeare, insulting him as a writer is a lot better than insulting him as regular guy. If I threatened to break into his house and burn all his unpublished materials, I am not someone who hates writers, I am someone who is threatening something that would offended Sir Bill.
I will admit there are people who are misogynists in the gaming community, just as there are in pretty much every other community. And, I refuse to believe white male gamers (someone specifically mentioned by Wu) should be stereotyped because of a very select few assholes who post on Twitter.
when you argue that using bigotry against someone is a legitimate tactic if it sufficiently offends them. "Being a complete ***hole is totally acceptable if it makes your opponent angry!"
I just spent like 20 minutes typing up a response to this and I lost it...
I was going to end it with what I call the Kramer situation. Was Michael Richards (Cosmo Kramer on Seinfeld) racist because he called someone a racial slur? Or, is it far more likely he chose the most offensive thing he could say to someone who was heckling him? Are the trolls attacking these women actually haters of women, or are they simply understanding enough of culture to know that explicit threats of rape are pretty offensive to women and use that as ammunition to offend?
He never said that.
If I really wanted to offend a person who is part of a minority group, targeting my insults to that group is a far better way than anything else.
The only "gamers" being attacked are the disgusting people like you. Using every other gamer as a shield for your behavior isn't going to work on adults.
Your rush to defend people being pricks, whilst simultaneously discrediting those who try to change things, is amusing but disturbing.
Yay! Disagree with someone and the acceptable response is to get death threats in return. You go try that at work today. Report back after.
Yeah when that happens the guy that broke your nose gets arrested, what with him being in the wrong and everything.
No. A reasonable reaction to someone disagreeing with you or pissing you off is not to send them death threats.
How fucking broken are you that you think that thats ok?
I never said it was acceptable, I simply said that the response given the current environment online is predictable and that I have no sympathy for people doing things they know will get them into trouble
We have no good system for stopping alligators from violently ripping your arm off if you wave it around in front of their mouth, and we have no good system for stopping people anonymously posting threats over social media. Is it good that you lose an arm to an alligator? No of course not, but 99.9999% of us recognize that irrelevant of the morality of the situation, practical necessity dictates that we don't do something so monumentally stupid.
I never said it was reasonable, I said it's to be expected for the singular reason that we have a history of people acting like these people and getting death threats. The same way we have a long history of alligators biting off peoples arms who are stupid enough to get too close.
I don't think white male gamers should be stereotyped either, but you aren't really helping your case when you argue that using bigotry against someone is a legitimate tactic if it sufficiently offends them.
And that isn't my argument. The people making using those tactics are bad people. However, they aren't racists or misogynists. The threats and statements used are targeted to hurt the person the most, not used out of some latent hate for women; and that is the entire problem with this situation. The people who are going to use these kinds of threats are going to use them, regardless of the person or stance. This isn't something that is a problem with the community; it is the problem with the very small minority of individuals who do them.
If one wants to talk about the actual issues of how women are portrayed in video games or the issues they face as developers in a male dominated career field, calling every male in the industry a misogynist really doesn't lend to your credibility.
See, this is an actual dialogue that could lead to a productive conversation. I agree with your latter point that simply leaping to calling all gamers misogynists is counter-productive. However, I'm never going to agree with defending the actions of the verifiable misogynists who have made these threats. That's the dividing line. I think there's a productive conversation to be had and it's being subverted by bigots and lunatics who think terror tactics are an acceptable means of discourse. I'm just flabbergasted that you appear to be defending those tactics rather than saying, "screw each and every one of those misogynistic creeps, they don't represent us, let's discuss the actual issue of whether gaming is inherently misogynistic" (and I personally don't believe it is). That's where gamergate has utterly dropped the ball from a PR perspective in my view. Stop wasting your time trying to legitimize an inherently illegitimate strategy, as it just ends up looking like an endorsement of that illegitimate strategy and it's nothing but a distraction. Distance yourself from the lunatic fringe.
How else am I supposed to read this?
That sounds like someone legitimizing bigotry as a rhetorical tool because it's the most efficient way to offend someone.
Saying something misogynistic as a tactic to hurt someone doesn't make you a misogynist, it might just make you a run of the mill a-hole.How else am I supposed to read this?
And her entire problem lies in this statement: "You have players which are taking in these unconscious messages women are not welcome here, this is our turf, this is our space and then as a result of that we have a very hostile culture toward women,"
She isn't talking about idiots who make death threats on twitter; she is talking about all gamers. She is pushing that because 3 women were attacked, all women are attacked and all male gamers are a part of it.
Let's replace everywhere she says or refers to male gamers with African American and replace all references to hating women with committing crimes. She is full of crap and stereotyping an entire classification of people.
Let's also take into account nobody has ever heard of her or her games before this, and that is the same as with everyone else in this scandal.
I can't help but think this could all have been avoided if everyone just shrugged their shoulder's and agreed with her
Nothing would have changed and she would not be getting death threats
There is also a reason why so much of the rhetoric amounts to a vigorous argument that "Being a gamer doesn't mean you're sexist, racist, and stupid"a claim no one is making.
Both sides were heard. And thus did Leigh Alexander's commentary on the pluralism of gaming today get equal time with a campaign bent on silencing her.