Hello!
Name's Lightning Fast. Dan, if you prefer. I was "the Dawg" at some point, but I really hated that and high school is over. I'm a bit younger than all you, just starting my first year at university. FIrst game was Super Smash Brothers on the N64; played it at my cousins house when I was barely old enough to hold the controller. I'm also one of the few gamers who can say he was both the person who accidentally erased someone's save files, and had his save files accidentally erased by a younger relative at some point.
Luigi is my main man and always will be, because he is a coward who rises above his fear to do cool stuff. And in the end, is that not what being brave is all about? The Walking Dead game has very recently changed the way I look at games, and though it hasn't much gameplay of its own, I see it being used as an example of how stories can be made more impactful through player choice.
I'm going to try to tackle this from a neutral standpoint, but I'll admit in advance that the average outsider sees this more from the harassed party's point of view, simply because of the fountain of bile and shit that is the vocal minority.
GamerGate, if defined as it was intended, a movement dedicated to the betterment of ethics in games journalism and calling out of shifty practices, is positive. Nobody would be anti-GamerGate if this were the case. I don't know how many of the accusations against Zoe Quinn are true, then yeah, we need to speak out against corruption of game journalism, but I've never really heard of anyone else buying reviews with sex, so I honestly think there's other more corrupt aspects of the industry we need to focus on.
Unfortunately, the oft-hostile environment of the internet, where people are quick to judge and have but a like or two to state an opinion, those who would normally find no quarrel with each other begin to fight over slight ideological differences that could easily have been clarified in another setting. (see JonTron and Tim Schafer, and their subsequent make-up. If you haven't heard, they're teaming up to take down ISIS now.) It's become quite clear to me that the only real progress that gets done happens when forums are opened to calm and intelligent discussion, and people, even who very aggressively disagree with each other, do not resort to personal attacks. It's even happened before among the gaming community about this very goddamned subject. We saw the journalistic corruption displayed in the Dew and Doritos Incident (I'm not calling it DoritoGate, because we use gate for fucking everything and it sucks). We talked about it like civilized people, and we actually saw many voices among gaming journalism, respected mid-tier journalists, speaking out against this sort of corruption. We got their support because nobody attacked Geoff Keighley personally, and the movement was not associated with such toxic douchebaggery. And you know what? There was change. Small change, to be sure, but some. People became more skeptical of paid-off journalism, forcing the larger outlets to become ever so slightly less corrupt and shifting the focus from them to a group of generally reliable, intelligent, yet still somewhat renowned critics like Total Biscuit and Angry Joe. People who tackle these issues rationally and calmly (I was particularly impressed with one of Greg Tito's articles on the subject of GamerGate) are the ones who come out on top of this. It makes the rational people look better, it creates actual progress in the issues we're discussing, it unveils some of the corruption that plagues this industry, and it encourages healthy. Fucking. Debate.
Certain people involved with GamerGate has unnecessarily dragged in the already volatile topic of misogyny in the gaming community (which is one of the larger problems plaguing it), almost as an excuse to attack the controversial Anita Sarkeesian. I see the #notyourshield tag as having a different use, as those who violently harass people who have done nothing wrong be they man, woman, or whatever, are using GamerGate as a shield to get away with it, claiming it to be in the name of "JERNALISTIK INTEGRITY HURR DURR HURRDEYDURR". This is what GamerGate is associated with now, and I worry that it cannot be scrubbed of this reputation entirely. Can I be honest with you? Despite what directions people have chosen to take it in, I still see it as something that was initially spawned as an excuse to attack a feminist icon in gaming culture. Zoe Quinn should not have generated this level of controversy, even if she is guilty of all the things she is accused of. Anita did absolutely nothing aside from provide a harmless critique of gaming culture, which this whole debacle has only served to prove. Furthermore, the latter had absolutely NOTHING to do with this, and NO REASON TO BE DRAGGED INTO IT. Jeez... just leave her the fuck alone. Her videos aren't great, but neither are mine, and I don't receive death threats from strangers over the internet posting my personal information to 4chan.
But to say gamers as a cultural group are toxic, or that they have "died"? I consider that an attack on me and my interests. Yes, I realize it is not a personal attack, and that journalists writing these articles likely aren't even referring to the gaming community at large, rather a specific group of radical, vocal assholes, but I still perceive it as an attack on a hobby that has not only made me many friends over the years, but helped me through by angsty middle-school years. For that, gaming, I thank thee, because middle school fucking sucked. The only thing these articles do is antagonize gamers and further polarize the debate. The common gamer feels attacked, and lashes out at the indies and mid-tier journalists, some of the very same who spoke out against the Dew and Doritos Incident.
I feel like the phrase "Don't hate the player, hate the game" both applies here and at the same time is completely antithetical to the point I'm trying to make. Ruminate on this shit, and above all, FUCKING THINK. You seem pretty smart. Go outside. Play some Mario. Drink a glass of lemonade. I don't care. But if you're going to continue to try and debate this, contribute something meaningful. Please. Fucking. Think.
... I'll admit, as someone trying to be more neutral, to preaching to the choir. Yeah, of course the harassment needs to stop. Everyone knows that. Of course there's some conflicts of interest, because the line between critic and developer is so blurred in the industry. Nobody here has not heard what I've said at some point already. People looking this far into the thread instead of immediately posting "ZOMG ZOE SUX DIX 4 REVEWS HERE'S MINE: 0/10 WOULD NOT TROLL THREAD AGAIN UR FAG SJW" or "FUK U MISOGYNIST GO DIE IN FIER U ARE EVUL POISON FUCK U FUCKER" are likely fairly rational to begin with, and will either agree with me, disagree respectfully, or change their points of view if I've accidentally parroted any information that they've not heard before.
I'll also admit to having a poor work ethic and a somewhat unhealthy need to be the center of attention when I enter a social situation, but those aren't really related to gamer gate.