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Brad Glasgow over at GamePolitics.com did something unique when setting out to cover the gamergate movement, he asked people taking part in it questions rather than only their detractors.
I decided to run an experiment and see first-hand the difficulties one might encounter when covering an online movement. Rather than wait for GamerGate to come to us, I went to them. I joined their very popular Kotaku in Action (KiA) subreddit and interviewed several hundred GamerGate supporters from Tuesday, July 28 through Tuesday, August 4. It is my hope that what I learned will assist journalists with covering GamerGate and any similar movements in the future.
The Experiment
I asked one question on the KiA subreddit every 12 hours. The question was stickied (placed at the top in the most recognizable area) until I posted a new question. The new question was then stickied and they were given an additional 12 hours to submit replies to the old question and vote on their favorite answer. After I asked 7 questions I then asked 7 follow up questions on the final day.
The article was interesting enough but what I found hilarious was when he then tried to do a similar interview with the anti-gamergate types over at Gamer Ghazi, he was quickly banned.
I did experience some hostility from the anti-GamerGate side for covering GamerGate. While I was treated well by the people of GamerGhazi when I tried to speak with them, I was quickly banned by moderators, who said I have spent too much time posting on the GamerGate subreddit.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by wantkitteh on Thursday August 13 2015, @02:40PM
I don't understand why there's even a debate about this. We've known for a fact that game reviewers have been courted by publishers for decades, they've been up-front in telling us so for ages. You'd have to be blind not to have noticed. As far as I'm concerned, GamerGate is kidding itself if that's what it thinks it's about. And I couldn't care less about it, nothing constructive is going to come out of it at all and anyone involved on either side is just making themselves look sillier by the day.
It's easy to split the gaming press into it's two constituent parts; the publisher kool-aid drinkers [gamingnexus.com] and the independent honest thinkers [bit-tech.net]. Just read the reviews and compare, anyone with an IQ point can tell the difference after a while. Are we really having a huge row because some people can't accept that they have to decide for themselves whose opinion they should trust about video game reviews?
And don't get me started on the whole racism/sexism angles of GamerGate - those issues predated this whole sorry mess and any progress on them has been set back decades thanks to everyone who's decided to put their oars and pull in whatever direction they needed to for their own needs.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 13 2015, @04:38PM
Ah, "setting back progress" arguments! Pretty good indicator of where you lie on the issue.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 13 2015, @05:58PM
Are you saying he's a concern troll?
(Score: 4, Interesting) by kurenai.tsubasa on Thursday August 13 2015, @11:09PM
Wantkitteh does have a valid point here. What should be a few separate issues that could be more cogently discussed individually seem to have been rolled up into a huge ball of wax. The huge ball of wax makes it easy for the main stream media to boil it down to: “men who play video games are sexually frustrated misogynist criminals.”
This plays nicely into the larger narrative that men are somehow preventing women from entering tech careers because they're horrible, sexually frustrated misogynists.
Why always sexually frustrated? What if the man is homosexual? I digress.
On the other hand, some men become a bit more cagey around strange women because, thanks to the efforts of the Ada Initiative, we now seem to have Schrödinger's Victim running around. It's devolved to the point where an accusation of sexism is a conviction with no appeal. Better not tell jokes, and only speak when spoken to, because who knows if that woman is Schrödinger's Victim, especially if you've never had a girlfriend!
In the back of my mind, I do worry a bit about what's on the horizon and where this is leading, but the longer this goes on, the more difficulty I'm having trying to understand it all.
All these narratives do is put up barriers and put men on the defensive. I suppose ostensibly that may ultimately hurt women as well. I could easily see a young man in college who has already developed extensive programming skills deciding it's best to keep away from the one or two brave women in his class, fearing that they're there to accuse somebody of misogyny at the slightest misunderstanding. Maybe that woman who needs a little help was forbidden by her parents from learning programming (rare, but it happens, and not just in Amish communities either).
If he's accused of sexism, the conviction is instant and final, and he becomes a pariah. Better to actually be sexist and only interact with women when it's absolutely necessary.
Look over there! She's getting an error message she can't figure out. I've already completed the assignment and there's still 15 minutes of lab time left. Should I head over there and help her out? What if she thinks I'm Schrödinger's rapist and trying to set her up for date rape? What if I make some other faux pas or microaggression and get suspended for sexual harassment? Better not bother.
(Disclaimer: Yes, I know presuming the woman will have the error and require the assistance of a man is basically sexist, but it's how it often plays out. It is a bit contrived as well, but I remember having similar thoughts after sitting through a date rape presentation. Otoh that was probably just culture shock in general after entering the man's world again.)
Maybe somebody should write a companion guide to Schrödinger's Rapist [wikia.com] intended to help women understand how to enter tech careers without being Schrödinger's Victim.
This is indeed backwards progress. Men should be able to speak with their female colleagues without fear of a perceived microaggression turning them into a pariah. If sexism is an accusation with no defense when leveled at a man, and if we privilege women with being incapable of sexism, how can there be equality?
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 13 2015, @06:11PM
This is just like the NSA spying apologists. What is with this wave of deny, Ignore, point out as obvious? There has to be a name for this weasely political tactic. This shaming of anyone that does not recognize or accept this obvious corrupt hidden agenda as being naive or "lacking a brain" makes it worse than merely being an apologist as it is an unprovoked attack on anyone that isn't an apologist.
This is something that human beings with any decency need to kill.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 13 2015, @07:50PM
So clearly you've never pointed out to anyone that Facebook collects all sorts of personal information on people and does all sorts of questionable things with the information they gather. As I am sure you have never shamed them for being so cavalier with their personal information.
You're just an apologist sonofabitch.
(Score: 2) by wantkitteh on Friday August 14 2015, @08:57AM
Equating a world-wide multinational illegal data dragnet with some video game publishers trying to get good reviews from journalists. Can you see where you're going wrong here? Simply pointing the finger at both and screaming "Dishonesty!" doesn't even begin to show the slightest awareness of the repercussions of these issues. You have the choice of who you listen to when it comes to video game recommendations and no-one is going to die, be tortured, disappeared or doxxed because someone gave Battlefield Hardline a few extra %age points in return for a 3-day junket to Visceral's HQ, ostensibly to get early hands-on access for a preview a couple of months before the final release.
Also, what's with the putting words in my mouth? I've been a gamer for 30 years and I fully acknowledge there's a problem with video game journalism, but I'm perfectly capable of an adult response to someone blatantly trying to lie to me for money - I ignore them. I don't try to intimidate or harass them, forcibly censor their entire publication or out their every little secret in public to silence them through shame. There is such a thing as overkill and GamerGate (and their opponents) are pretty much the living embodiment of that right now. There is nothing appropriate about having any level of pride that a website is in financial difficulty and considering downsizing and/or closing down because they said something you disagree with. Only a complete arsehole would support that kind of response to anything about a video game.
Wow, replying to ACs again... where am I picking up these bad habits from?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 14 2015, @01:56AM
Nobody cared because it was always just dudes getting pussy. The very second they found out it was a woman getting some cock instead, they suddenly found a reason to act concerned.