My very first article for this site was an article about me thinking about quitting video games. It took too much time out of my life to continue to justify playing them and taking me away from my other creative endeavors. That was pretty naive, it turns out, as video games have still been a big part of my life, although in a much more time manageable sense. Video games are my reward for a hard days work now, rather than a source of procrastination. I even just bought myself a shiny new Xbox One to compliment my gaming PC. I have been and continue to be a Gamer.
That is, until I caught up with the Zoe Quinn situation. I mostly ignore the Internet, as the Internet rarely has anything useful to say about anything, (Says a blogger on the internet - Ed) but this story stuck with me for a variety of reasons and I'm let me tell you, I no longer want to be labeled as a Gamer. I don't want to be called that, because now that means I am a heinous, misogynistic bigot. The Gamer community has tarnished itself to the point that I no longer want to be a part of it.
Let me make this clear; I don't know Zoe Quinn. I've never met Zoe Quinn, and I will never meet Zoe Quinn. I don't give a fuck who she's fucked and neither should you. She could have done everything she is being accused of doing, and it still wouldn't matter because it is NONE OF OUR BUSINESS. To watch what the Gamer community has done to this poor woman is a disgrace that I just can't be a part of.
What's hilarious about this whole situation is the Gamer community is desperate to be taken seriously. They want E-Sports on ESPN and games recognized as a serious art form. They want Games to stop being blamed for mass shootings and violence and perceived as a useful pasttime. They want to be known as a welcoming global community that embraces everyone. Hell, anyone can be a "Gamer". And then you all pull this shit and "anyone" means white, heterosexual male? How can you, as a community, be taken seriously when you attack women with such hatred and disgust that even someone in ISIS would be uncomfortable.
That's right, I compared Gamers to ISIS. I'm not overracting, or going for Fox News worthy hyperbole, you are all seriously that misguided and abusive. The only explanation can be that you all hate women with such a passion that the comparison to Islamic Extremism is not only justified, but easy to make. And I'll say this about 4chan that a friend of mine said best, if 4chan were a geographic location military action would have to be considered for the evil that dwells there would be to horrific to let continue. Congrats, 4chan, you are the equivalent to a third world brutal dictatorship, and the only group of people on the planet that would be proud of that. Also, I'm not afraid of you, but you only seem to prey on women so I guess I don't really have anything to be afraid of.
So I'm walking away from this "community" and I'm ashamed that I ever was a part of it. Gamer, to me, now has such a negative connotation to it that I'd like to be as far away from that as possible. I'm still going to play video games, but to me, a Gamer is now a certain type of person, mysogynistic and vile. Terrence Howard has this great moment in Crash and although its not a great movie, his quote as stuck with me and although the situation in which it was uttered in the film has far more weight to it, it's fitting for this situation. "You embarass me, and you embarrass yourself."
Kyle Johanessen is not a gamer.
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Buh bye!
ReplyDeleteDon't let the door hit you in the ass on your way out.
Let’s not make the girl who doxxed a member of The Fine Young Capitalists and virtually sank the ship of a project funding female game developers by them, attacked 4chan during their crowdfunding for female developers within the industry, and heavily propagated her own abuse on the internet in order to rally up support against her ex a martyr. She doesn’t deserve that.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, no, she does not deserve the abuse she’s getting. No one deserves the threats and abuse that she’s getting. No matter their gender or professional industry.
Her ex has released private information (conversation logs) in the interest of himself, thinly veiled to justify the warning to the industry that Quinn is a “threat” and “liar” to the industry and her fans. The girl makes games. Who she sleeps with, industry professional or not, is no one else’s fucking business.
The sharing of private conversations and the airing out of dirty laundry like her ex has done (and attempted to justify) is NOT okay. That being said, please don’t make someone as self-victimizing and as bathed in nepotism as Quinn out to be a “victim” of a misogynist industry. The affairs of her private life should damn well be hers, but her handling of the situation has been a self-victimized shitstorm of bad choices. She and her ex aren’t worthy of the attention (be it negative or otherwise) being given to her. Both of the people involved have acted in their own self interest, as people are wont to do, and the story has become immensely convoluted and warped. All of that said, the gaming community is leaps and bounds ahead of what it was, say, ten years ago. Women make up a significant demographic of it, and are beginning to finally show up within the professional industry. Zoe Quinn’s martyrdom is, to me, absolutely irritating, and I don’t want to give the woman or her career any more attention.
(This is Mike, speaking for myself.)
DeleteHere's the most important parts of your post: "No one deserves the threats and abuse she's getting." "Who she sleeps with...is no one else's fucking business."
Every time this topic comes up, someone comes in to tell me that yes, this is terrible, but Zoe's a bad person because of this thing or that thing. The fact is, as you yourself have stated, that doesn't matter in the slightest. This whole thing began with misogyny, and it cannot divorce itself from that. Period. If people want to attack the corruption in gaming journalism, they have to do it without being connected to the slimes that started this thing. And so far, they have proven themselves unable to do that.
Even if Zoe Quinn is the most corrupt indie games developer of all time, no one deserves the treatment she's gotten. And until THAT stops, we shouldn't be talking about anything else.
keep it up and she might give you a handy j.
DeleteThe thing is, she proxies most of the abuse getting thrown at her in the interest of marketing and fabricating pity against the accusations of nepotism. She's propagating misogyny against her gender in order to sell herself as the victim here. Choice internet extremism should not represent the male presence on the internet (just like how, say, ISIS actions shouldn’t represent the whole of the Middle East). Let's face it. If you put a photo up of a woman on 4Chan, abuse and harassment are inevitable. Hell, I've seen pictures of Jane Goodall of all people torn apart on forums. The internet has a history and reputation of being horrifying and dangerous for my gender. ZQ is no exception. But when someone perpetuates their own harassment and then victimizes themselves, I have no pity for a woman like that. ZQ has been setting us back decades in the industry for the purposes of selling her own game and image. Attempting to ignore the abuse she directed at her boyfriend (which, unfortunately, comes into play on a different level that I won’t begin to touch on here), let's look at the harassment against her itself. There were two primary instances where she "claimed" she was being harassed, doxxed, and abused. The first came after the primary Greenlight for her game, when criticisms arose on a forum dedicated to social anxiety and suicidal thoughts. The doxxing claim was proven to be falsified. Her associates referred to members of the forum as "pasty white virgins" among other things in referential context (not 4chan, the forum on social anxiety and suicidal thoughts who were allegedly in the first wave of ZQ abusers). Following the release of information by her ex, the claim that she was harassed and doxxed by 4chan was also later found to be falsified. Nudes of hers were "leaked." These were later found to be porn stills she herself shot and posted through a website some years ago. Criticisms against her treatment of the FYC campaign are dismissed as misogynist, and she had the pro-women in the industry game jam by TFYC (mentioned above) shut down, because she misunderstood the legalities of its funding and chose not to inform herself. She then started her own game jam linked to her personal paypal account with no proof of where the funds were going. Actual harassment finally arose following all of this. Claims from dozens of people within the industry about historical doxxing/abuse/harassment from ZQ in the past came to light.
ReplyDeleteI’m trying to equate a metaphor that describes it. Did you ever see Mean Girls? Remember when Regina put her own name in the Burn Book and brings it into the office? It’s like that, but far more convoluted.
There is more going on here than internet harassment. It’s a dense subject. I could point out that the “abuse” of ZQ (90% of which has been falsified by herself) being equated to the actions of ISIS, terrorists who routinely pull women out of their homes, rape and burn them in the streets of Iraqi villages, and pose for photos where they shove guns down the throats of their children, is a grossly inaccurate comparison that makes me want to physically vomit. I could log every single instance of the last four months in relation to ZQ in far more intricate detail in order to illustrate the need for self-education prior to falling into the generalized knee-jerk reaction that “harassment is bad, mkay?” I could post a generalized rebuke stating that #notallwomen… But then I’d be just as bad.
There is a fundamental lack of information missing from this, and simply not talking about it and propagating generalizations without informing ourselves of what actually happened is, quite frankly, ignorant and dangerous.
(Still Mike)
DeleteI was rrrreally uncomfortable with the ISIS metaphor too. But, I'm also not going to censor my authors if they feel really strongly about something, so I left it in. I think Kyle realized it too, hence the justification in the next paragraph...I probably should have talked with him about it in advance of posting this, and that's on me.
To move away from that subject, though, and back to discussing Zoe Quinn - the harassment we've seen happen to her is not ok. Ever. Period. Whether she "brought it on herself," even if she made some of it up! We know it's not all made up, because you just have to spend five minutes on Twitter to find more and more people telling her things like they're planning on coming to her house to rape her, calling her a cunt, and wishing she could die.
I don't particularly care about Zoe Quinn. I DO care about our culture growing the fuck up and stopping bullying and harassment. And no matter how justified their claims may be or not be, it doesn't matter, the crazy folks on the internet are chasing a girl around screaming that they're going to rape and kill her because of video games. That's never going to be ok.
Again - it's not possible to reframe this argument. I cannot be said that "Oh, well, Zoe deserved it" or "Oh, well, game journalists are bad." NOTHING excuses their behavior. If you want to have those discussions, they need to be had by a group of people who physically separates themselves from the psychos who are going after people like Zoe and Sarkeesian. They have to spend the time condemning it all first, before I'll listen to anything else they have to say.
And before anyone comes at me with "Well, you sound just like the people condemning all of [x group] because of [x thing]" I guarantee I've heard those people condemn the actions of their fringe groups. I haven't heard it from Gamergate.
Broad moral observations like you're making are fine, but hollow and have no constructive place in press industries without the addition of concrete representation of the actual issue. Information about what is going on is necessary. Practical application is important to give any weight to what you're saying. If you don't care about ZQ, then this shouldn't be a marker representation of the community. If this is about Gamergate, then journalism and industry distribution and a knowledge of the current controversy and machinations of what's happening is imperative. We as press writers are so much smarter than broad, blanketed vigilante statements made over an individual, who, in her own terms and definitions, raped and abused her ex boyfriend and then spent months proxy-victimizing herself over abusive statements she falsified and propagated. It cannot, should not simply end with “she doesn’t deserve this abuse.” because she’s misrepresenting her gender and promoting censorship and a neglect of journalistic integrity. The internet is a parrot. If someone says something as raw and unfiltered and unfounded as, "ZQ should be raped," it will be repeated, altered, rephrased, hashtagged, and meme’d. Believe it or not, there are idiots on the internet. They say things, awful things, because they can, and because of the wall of anonymity granted by the internet. In this particular instance, it has been proven that ZQ was the one fueling a large amount of the comments against her, so even the statement she doesn’t deserve it is muddled with grey.
DeleteAll of this said, yes, the gaming community is in need of a change. We’re getting there. ZQ is setting us back, and making women like me ashamed.
If an individual thinks feminism isn't necessary, they only need to look at the comments on any article tagged #feminism. All of that said, Gamergate has definitely condemned the actions of its fringe group. On multiple occasions. Saying "They have to spend the time condemning it all first, before I'll listen to anything else they have to say," is telling of the amount of research and information (or lack thereof) that is present here.
Three minutes of google searching brings up enough information from both sides to formulate a more detailed basis of understanding what's going on. Frankly, giving ZQ and the branding of the issue as pure "sexism" and "misogyny" is distracting from the real issues here. This particular issue, what's going on in Gamergate? Journalistic integrity is involved. Corruption and nepotism are involved. Not only that, but it's central to the issue at hand, and the current events within the gaming culture. If ZQ happened to be a guy, imagine the difference a woman coming out about his abuse of her would have been. Imagine the difference, had Boggs been a woman.
In the interest of journalistic integrity, sources from both sides of the Gamergate spectrum are listed.
http://youtu.be/cvaA7zKiowA
http://gamesnosh.com/corruption-misrepresentation-asian-american-gamers-perspective-gamergate/
https://storify.com/strictmachine/gameovergate
Thank you - those links are very enlightening. I haven't heard the side of the discussion you've mentioned before - responses to requests for open debate are constantly being shoved in my face as "Well, Zoe is awful!" as opposed to any condemnation of the actions of crazy people. I still think that the Gamergate name itself is way too tainted to ever be salvaged, but your mileage may vary.
Delete"Let me make this clear; I don't know Zoe Quinn. I've never met Zoe Quinn, and I will never meet Zoe Quinn. I don't give a fuck who she's fucked and neither should you. She could have done everything she is being accused of doing, and it still wouldn't matter because it is NONE OF OUR BUSINESS. To watch what the Gamer community has done to this poor woman is a disgrace that I just can't be a part of. "
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty tired of this bullshit double standard. See Stardock's CEO, http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-London/2014/09/23/How-sloppy-biased-video-games-reporting-almost-destroyed-a-CEO
Polygon had no problem slandering him due to an accusation, which turned out to be false. Yet if someone calls a woman out for WHAT SHE DEFINED AS RAPE they're misogynistic, and it's none of our business.
"What's hilarious about this whole situation is the Gamer community is desperate to be taken seriously. They want E-Sports on ESPN and games recognized as a serious art form. They want Games to stop being blamed for mass shootings and violence and perceived as a useful pasttime. They want to be known as a welcoming global community that embraces everyone. Hell, anyone can be a "Gamer". And then you all pull this shit and "anyone" means white, heterosexual male? How can you, as a community, be taken seriously when you attack women with such hatred and disgust that even someone in ISIS would be uncomfortable."
Yet #notyourshield has proven that there's a large community of non-white, not straight males, supporting #gamergate. We can't be taken seriously because people like you don't take the time to understand the actual issue, or what is actually happening. You just automatically run to help a poor women for internet bullies.
"Congrats, 4chan, you are the equivalent to a third world brutal dictatorship, and the only group of people on the planet that would be proud of that. Also, I'm not afraid of you, but you only seem to prey on women so I guess I don't really have anything to be afraid of."
It's proven that 4chan didn't start this "movement" and it's also fact that 4chan has now banned the movement from their website. This should be something that provides some pretty serious clarity to the situation.
Posting Hacked Celebrity Photos: OK USA!
Mentioning Gamergate: Ban.
"I'm still going to play video games, but to me, a Gamer is now a certain type of person, mysogynistic and vile. Terrence Howard has this great moment in Crash and although its not a great movie, his quote as stuck with me and although the situation in which it was uttered in the film has far more weight to it, it's fitting for this situation. "You embarass me, and you embarrass yourself."
Nope, you've pretty much just embarrassed yourself.
"Kyle Johanessen is not a gamer."
And nothing of value was lost.
Zoe Quinn is a complete fraud, and thanks to this leak, we now know she conducts herself privately in direct contradiction to her claims of being a feminist. If she doesn't like being criticized and ridiculed, she should stop doing the things that get her criticized and ridiculed. But continue hating yourself so the hypocritical liar can keep making money :)
ReplyDeleteSorry, but how many of these "misogynistic" gamers have doxxed, sabotaged, and made 44 tweets that bad mouthed a game jam, which purpose was to get more women into game development?
ReplyDeleteLast time I checked, Zoe Quinn did all those things to the Fine Young Capitalists and their game jam, which is not only for getting women into game development but is also raising money for charity.
That makes Zoe Quinn far more misogynistic than any of the gamers you're talking about. She's targeting events helping women for her own personal gain. And you support her. LOL That makes you misogynistic, in addition to a rape apologist(according to Zoe Quinn's definition of rape).
Kyle, why do you hate women so much that you support somebody who sabotages pro female game jams? Why are so misogynistic like that?
And why do you hate charity so much? Why do you attack gamers, some of which do events such as AGDQ, in which they stream speed runs to raise money for charity? They get quite a bit too.
Also if gamers were anywhere close to being so hateful towards women, that allegedly even ISIS members would be uncomfortable with them, wouldn't Zoe Quinn and Anita Sarkessian have been dead like a LONG time ago?
The reality is, that the ISIS comparison is just a really desperate and frankly pathetic attempt to try to make it look like Zoe Quinn's side has the moral highground in all of this. It goes to show just how immoral the Zoe Quinn and gaming "journalist" side is. They're so bad, they have to try to compare the other side to a terrorist group just to try to make themselves feel like they're on the right side. Wow. That's REALLY REALLY SAD.