How will the recent controversy effect your media consumption?

[Eliam_Dar]

Honestly, people is giving it way more relevance than it deserves. Then again I think that this applies to all recent "controversies". To answer your question, it won't change my consumption at all.

 

[BX3]

It's like I've woken up one day to find that most adults still believe in Santa Clause or the Tooth Fairy...

Well, that's absurd. I mean, we don't believe in them. We accept them for the real beings they are.

Tell it like it is, Zach!

----------------------

OT
Well, I don't really follow enough people for the recent controversy to paint my view of the few people I do follow with one brush or another, so I can't really comment on my consumption habits since my consistent consumption of any gaming news sites is pretty low.

However, what I can say is if I did, stuff like this wouldn't change it. Not because or loyalty or because I felt "betrayed" by this guy or that guy, but mainly because if I do stop following someone, it's usually due to a pile-up of disagreeable experiences and non-entertaining content, not because of one singular thing revolving around one singular bit of controversy. In other words, if I decide to unsubscribe from something or quit watching someone, my decision was probably building up for a long time. Grey and Cory of Critical Miss, for example, occasionally post stuff I think is stupid as sin, but I still read Critical Miss because my mentality is "Eh, it was just this one time in a while, so whatever."

Basically, my consuming habits of sites and content creators change when I come across a bad experience that breaks the metaphorical camel's back, and not solely because of that singular experience.

 

[Veldel]

im in the group of I dont fucking care. I ignored it and will continue to do so because I just dont care.

I dont get why people get so worked up.

 

[maxben]

Right. Someone's gonna have to explain some things to me. I keep hearing people talk about some kind of a recent controversy, but my attempts to find out what they're on about have proved fruitless.
Can someone please either fill me in, or provide some links to the relevant incidents.

Shit, I've been following the story (as best as I can for I am only mortal!) and I STILL don't see what the hell everyone is pissed off about. From what I've gathered:

-Zoe whatshername boinked a number of people. A few of said people were game journalists. Other game journalists did not report on who Zoe whatshername was boinking and therefore all game journalism is corrupt

-Game journalists and developers have basically come out and said either:
A. The shitheads that are sending death threats and whatnot are giant shitheads. Many people seem to be changing the word "shitheads" to "gamers" because most of those Gamers shouldn't exist and Gamers are terrorist articles are pretty clearly talking about the shithead part of gamers and not all gamers

B. The game journalists and developers are commenting that the gaming scene is incredibly toxic. Never mind that GAMERS have been crying this for years; it seems once the journalists/developers say it, it becomes a grave insult rather than what they themselves have been preaching. I'm wondering if it's like the parent who rips their child constantly but will flip their shit when anyone else says anything that can be remotely taken as a possible slight against their angel...

So...that's what I'm seeing. Take it for what it's worth.

Oh, and if it wasn't obvious from my post; this "controversy" will not affect my consumption habits in any way, shape, or form.

I think I'm even more confused now. Who's Zoe whatsername, and why should I care who she boinked? Why are people sending death threats over this? Gamer is now interchangeable with shithead? Fucking what?

Let me try. Zoe is an Indie Dev who made a game about depression. People were jerks for her, so a lot of people stood up for her. This created two groups: Zoe supporters don't care about her at all or her game but support her because they hate offensive jerks. Zoe haters who see Zoe and all her supporters as part of the evil SJW conspiracy that wants.

News came to light that Zoe slept with a game journalist or PR guy or someone else in the industry (that changed a couple of times) along with like 5 other people, cheating on her boyfriend. The anti-Zoes jumped on that as proof that the SJWs are supporting an evil cheating slut. The pro-Zoes said, so what? The anti-Zoes then said that this is proof that the SJWs support corruption in the game journalism industry to support their own views and sleeping for reviews! Pro-Zoes said, that guy never wrote anything about her or her game and that anti-Zoes are misogynists. Then they "proved" (questionable evidence) that she is stole money from a charitable organization. Pro-Zoes said they don't care because who cares about this random indie dev?

Game journalists and figures saw no reason to talk about this. Anti-Zoes decided that this is PROOF of a conspiracy to HIDE THE FACTS! On top of that they went on and invented a bunch of evidence proving that all of the game journalist websites are bankrolled and controlled by the SJWs, who obviously have an interest in hiding corruption and promoting SJW causes like Zoe! And since Zoe slept with a game journalist, like a mafia family they are all protecting her!

This is when game journalists responded, saying that this group of people harken to gamings shameful past of being filled with socially awkward us and them style people who hated everyone who was different from them, particularly women. They put this under the label "Gamers" and clearly stated that they refer to classical stereotypical gamer, and said that that part of the community needs to disappear. Anti-Zoes decided that that was proof that game journalists want to put them in concentration camps and gas them (I'm kidding of course, they decided this is proof that game journalists hate all gamers and are therefore evil).

Most people still don't care.

 

[grey_space]

Hmmmm...good question.

I'll probably be a bit leery of some of MovieBob's stuff. And I'll probably stay clear of certain topics on the the threads because a lot of the shitstorm from both sides now seems really toxic and negative and quite frankly depressing.

I'm still going to play games though and visit The Escapist. I'm enjoying most of the content a great deal.

 

[Grach]

It won't.

I just play games that interest me. That I personally find fun. I've seen what DQ is and frankly I really don't give a shit if someone got bribed to give a 10/10. A choose your own adventure flash game is a shitty game no matter what.

 

[Panda Pandemic]

Not at all. I only cared about the TFYC thing.

Gaming stuff is for my entertainment. My entertainment was in no way negatively impacted so why should I change anything? Besides I think that thread is becoming increasingly crazy. It started bad, got calmed down for a while and now it's kind of running off into crazy land.

 

[tm96]

This "controversy" is probably not going to make me come here any less because of it since I really don't have any investment in it and probably couldn't care less to look at all the details.

 

[Zakarath]

Controversy? What controversy?

Oh, that nonsense that should never have been a big deal? Nope, no effect.

 

[Laser Priest]

Aside from adding a few more users here to the list of people I am fully aware I have no respect for (instead of my usual just not respecting any user I am unfamiliar with), it won't affect me at all. The entire "controversy" is a joke and I find it exceedingly difficult to take anyone who takes it seriously seriously.

 

[Atmos Duality]

Not a whole lot in the grand scheme of things.
I was already on the way out of the "gaming community" (or at least, the forum sorts) because it's just more tiring and sigh inducing than helpful or interesting; and I've kept a guarded opinion about any media figurehead or "journalist" (gaming or otherwise).

Put bluntly; I'll lurk more if anything. Gaming is becoming less about games and more about politics and whatever passes for "progress" these days. And politics is a most destructive force.

 

[Ishal]

It hasn't really changed at all.

Games Journalism has something I've always kind of avoided, and due to recent events, that will not be changing any time soon.

Polygon, Kotaku, IGN, Gamasutra, etc have always been awful. Badass Digest is a site I never frequented before, because I don't give a shit about movies.

As for how I get my news? Basically it's from youtubers, and it's been that way for a while now. I've been watching the Co-optional podcast for months since it's part of the greater Polaris network, and I watch other content creators that are part of that. Boogie2988 is someone who I admired long before this started, and my respect has only deepened now.

As for the escapist, I'm not here for gaming news. No Right Answer, Jimquisition, and the occasional Big Picture episode are still good. Speaking of that, the only thing that's changed are about MovieBob. I'm done watching Escape to the Movies, and I unfollowed him on Twitter.

Oh, and I might be browsing /v/ more. Maybe.

 

[BreakfastMan]

It hasn't effected any of what I consume. I still regularly read Rock Paper Shotgun and I still subscribe to (and greatly enjoy) JonTron. If a game looks cool, I am going to buy and play it (if I have the money), regardless of who made it. So... Suck it, y'all?

 

[Hero of Lime]

Well I finally swore off Kotaku, which was a long time coming anyway. Too much sensationalism coupled with all the recent fluffle pluff stuff. I lost a tiny bit of respect for the Escapist after they admitted that for some stories they take personal feelings over the truth etc. But I don't consume much Escapist original content anyway and I will still frequent the forums to talk about games. Other than that, not much has changed.

Gametrailers.com and their weekly podcast GT Time is still my favorite thing to watch for weekly news analysis.

edit: Just typing a website name makes a link for it? I didn't even know that! :O

 

[Mikeybb]

*snipped for space*

Some similar moves, others different.

A major change will be no longer visiting RPS again.
Used to go there all the time but after declaring they weren't allowing anything to do with the whole thing to surface, I began to notice a series of snide references surfacing.
Less about the issue, more about an inability to keep their word.

I've been basing more and more of my purchasing decisions off lets play broadcasters on youtube and Totalbiscuits work anyway, this has just cemented those as my 'go to' source when I'm considering a new purchase.

I've subscribed to boogie because he just seems like an all round good guy.

I'll continue to listen to yhatzee in all his works.

I'll probably continue to listen to Jim on occasion.

Going to also research indy titles a lot more thoroughly before purchasing or supporting in the production stage.

I have to admit I've become less open to the articles published by gaming journalists.
They used to be my source of first contact regarding a new game, indy titles in particular.

 

[CaitSeith]

Simply put, it hasn't. Well, perhaps maybe less looking at replies some people get on Twitter, but that's it. The reason I follow A, B, C; X, Y, Z; S, J, W; L, O, L (wait, that last one doesn't work!) hasn't changed.

Actually that's not true, I have sworn off some of the places that people recommended in the you-know-what thread that some users thought were "unbiased reporting" which basically meant "what I wanted to hear".

Pretty much my feelings. I would ask you which one was your favorite, but the arguments from both sides are so one-sided that they give me headaches.

PS: Your avatar describes exactly how I felt the first time I read about this.

 

[CaitSeith]

It won't.

I just play games that interest me. That I personally find fun. I've seen what DQ is and frankly I really don't give a shit if someone got bribed to give a 10/10. A choose your own adventure flash game is a shitty game no matter what.

I would mention one that isn't that bad, but I just can picture the akward looks from the rest of the forum.

 

[Rabbitboy]

I am in the not giving a fuck camp so that would a big NO

 

[Araya]

I feel like there's a lot of missing information here regarding the "controversy."

I normally only lurk but I've made an account to describe the recent events as objectively as I can, in as few words as I can. Bear with me. The tl;dr is that gamers aren't angry at any one thing. This controversy was built up from various incidents that eventually led to gamergate supporters trying to defend the gamer status from one-sided media bashing.

Act 1: Wizardchan

Wizardchan is a "chan" site for male virgin nerds who suffer from depression, social anxiety, etc. Nobody here really cares about Zoe Quinn. At best, 2 users posted about her. ZQ supporters alleges that Wizardchan orchestrated a raid on ZQ, doxxed her private information, and harassed her on the phone. Wizardchan denies these allegations. Some question how "a bunch of virgin nerds deathly afraid of talking to women can harass ZQ over the phone?" Supposedly, various users claim that any private information of ZQ were all fake. Redditors say ZQ faked her harassment in order to play the "victim card" in order to gain mass support for her upcoming game Depression Quest.

Whether that is true or not, it's undeniable truth that she gained a mass of support for the game on steam greenlight, a majority of which were from users who had no intention of playing the game, but are supporting the game only on the basis of her alleged harassment. (Source: Various comments on the game's steam page).

Disclaimer: It is true she surely did receive some harassment, but I think it's also very likely she embellished those harassment, even making some up in order to use it for her personal gains, which is what many gamers in the movement believe and were angry about.

Gamers and Redditors were angry about this, but not very much actually...until...

Act 2: 5 guys & Mass censorship

In August, ZQ's ex released a very lengthy post (with chat logs) about her cheating, manipulation, deceit, etc. His claim for the purpose of the post was to reveal her true personality to the people who might get close to her, in order for them to not get hurt by her manipulation.

This did NOT spark any outrage. People were angry and questioning journalistic integrity, but it was only a relatively small group of people. I would say the biggest reason as to why the anti-ZQ, anti-corruption group of reddiors exploded in population is because of curiosity. Posts about ZQ were censored or had comments deleted en-masse. This prompted the users to reposting those discussions many times over which received the same treatment. This mass censorship made many curious redditors, including myself, research and dig information regarding the recent events. More people became aware of this due to the censorship.

There is evidence that a mod of one of the gaming subreddits made contact with ZQ on twitter. (source, tweets between elchupacupcake). She allegedly asked the mod and various other mods to censor all topics regarding her. They did.

Basically, at this point people were over the fact that ZQ slept with 5 games who were prominent in the indie gaming industry. People were mad at the censorship and mass silencing of opinions.

At this point, I probably lost all of you so I'll just list the titles of what I planned on writing

Act 3: Smear campaign against gamers. Gamers of reddit denounce corruption and journalistic integrity. ZQ supporters & Media ignore the issues of journalistic integrity and censorship, and focused on painting all gamers as misogynists. Within the span of a few days, dozens of similar articles popped up, allegedly under the influence of Silverstring media (who has close ties to anita sarkeesian and ZQ).

Act 4: Gamers retaliate to the smear campaign and the attempt to silence gamers via gamergate. One big, side issue that arrived here is if you follow gamergate for a while, you will see that both sides are receiving harassment and death threats, not just SJW. Some people are angry at what they consider hypocrisy on the side of the SJW who ignore the death threats their supporters make to others, but will easily paint all gamers as white male misogynists when at any given chance. There are some trolls antogonizing both sides here, but they go unrecognized and are seen as representatives for the other side, which is not helping at all.

There's actually a lot more going on than I have time to write about, but this is a large portion of what led to gamergate. Once gamer gate started, there has been a lot of other things becoming clear, such as trolls who purposefully add fuel to the issue by harassing the SJW side, or the SJW harassing people who don't agree with the ZQ and Anita supporters.

 

[Araya]

Seems like I might have posted in the wrong thread. Welp, in order to add to the topic:

As someone who has been following this for a long time, my consumption of media has barely changed at all. The only sites I visit for game related topics are escapistmagazine, reddit, and youtube. However, I'll be less likely to click on any kotaku links from now on. I might even browse techraptor and nichegamer once in a while.