This thread is for news and discussion about #GamerGate
Copied and pasted from the good people at The Escapist.
GamerGate
Disclaimer: GamerGate does not, has not, and never will, endorse the harassment or abuse of anyone for any reason. Everyone should call out anyone who attacks, harasses, or abuses anyone.
What does GamerGate want?
In a phrase: Ethical Standards and Practices in the Gaming Journalism Industry.
GamerGate desires straightforward, honest coverage of the industry, such that anyone can read these outlets with the basic expectation that they are being told the truth. In an ideal world, every gaming outlet would adopt the New York Times' Standards and Ethics policies, but that is an unrealistic goal in the world of internet media. As such, we must be content with ethical policies that fit within the limitations. The Escapist, a gaming media site of some repute, has already adopted such a set of standards.
To put it in layman's terms:
Truth and fact must be treated with the respect they deserve. This means, at a minimum:
*Opinions are not to be stated as universal truths
*Hearsay is not to be reported as factual without corroborating evidence
*Assumptions and speculation are not to be reported as fact
*Intentionally misleading or inflammatory wording is not ever to be used, in headlines or elsewhere
*When in doubt, stick only to information that would hold up under examination in a court of law
*Editorials and other opinion pieces are to be kept separate from News pieces. Bias and opinion will always color a writer's work, but they should strive for as much objectivity as reasonably possible in the News. If they wish to share their opinion on the piece, something that should be encouraged, it should be done in a distinct space.
*There's nothing wrong with the News article including "And I think it's great/terrible/stupid/etc, click this link to find out why" or some variation thereof. It is only within the article proper that opinions are to be avoided.
*All journalists must be required to behave professionally within the public space. This includes but is by no means limited to:
*No irrational, emotionally-driven rants
*No insults, threats, or any of the other assorted childishness
*Engage the audience calmly, reasonably, and without rancor, or do not engage them at all
*Be aware when one is within the public space, especially any and all social media.
*Do not treat one's audience as an enemy
*Journalists must strive to be objective. No human can be truly impartial, but journalists must strive to the best of their ability to be above external bias, and to inform their readers when they cannot. Put simply, this means they must, at minimum:
*Recuse themselves from reporting news regarding subjects that they have a personal or financial link to
*Disclose any personal or financial connections to subjects they are giving opinion pieces on (Editorials, Op-Eds, Reviews, etc)
*Engage in honest and fair coverage. Consistency and the interest of/relevance to the audience must be the deciding factor in the decision to run a story.
GamerGate simply wants gaming media websites to adopt some variation on these policies, much like the Escapist has, and actively work to adhere to them. Nothing more and nothing less.
Why is it happening?
Over the last five years, the gaming media has grown increasingly politicized, all with the same political stance and agenda. It has become almost unheard of for a gaming news piece not to include at least a passing comment about a game being retrograde for not matching this stance, or for a game to be praised to the moon because it reflects the right politics. Many gamers are sick of it. Add on to this the claims of corruption, of censorship, of blacklisting, and of careers ruined, and these gamers have become incensed.
Gamers have been lied to, belittled, shamed, stifled, and held in contempt by the industry they created and continue to drive. Developers have been attacked, silenced, belittled, and forced to compromise their art by this same industry.
It has to stop. GamerGate is a grassroots movement by the gaming community to hold the press accountable for their actions and to demand better.
Where did it come from?
GamerGate is a recent, wide-ranging controversy that began in late August 2014 as a direct result of the seemingly corrupt and wildly unprofessional behavior of the gaming press. On August 16, Eron Gjoni, ex-boyfriend of developer Zoe Quinn published a blog on wordpress called The Zoe Post. In this blog, he alleged that Quinn cheated on him with several members of the video game industry, one of whom was a writer for Kotaku. This post created a substantial uproar in the gaming community. Some took the post as license to attack Quinn, while many, many others were incensed by the relationship and potential for conflicts of interest it presented in Grayson's reporting.
Overwhelmingly, the gaming press responded to this in a markedly different fashion from previous, similar allegations and began a campaign of censorship. On nearly every gaming-related website, from user-driven sites like Reddit and NeoGAF to contributor-driven sites like Kotaku, any discussion of the topic, or even topics almost completely unrelated, was quenched immediately and without question. Even a handful of 4chan's moderators came into play and tried to silence the discussion.
This nearly universal response and behavior pattern, wildly outside the normal bounds of the sites in question, made many people suspicious of collusion or conspiracy and questions began to be asked. Such as why it was considered acceptable for a professional journalist to have sex with a subject. Or why there was a nebulous network of financial support between developers and journalists through the use of websites like Patreon. Or even simply if ethical standards existed in the gaming journalism industry.
Major industry figures confirmed that these issues existed and insisted that they were not a problem. Then on August 28/29, 11 gaming news sites (Gamasutra, DailyDot, Kotaku, Polygon, and several others) published articles declaring some variation of 'Gamers are Dead' and that any and all calls for better journalism were made only as cover for 'neckbearded misogynerds' to harass women. This incensed a large portion of their audience and even reached well known actor Adam Baldwin, who coined the Twitter hashtag #gamergate upon his getting involved, which the movement has since adopted as its moniker.
In the ensuing weeks, gamers and the entrenched gaming press have been at odds over the issues of honest and ethical reporting laid out against claims of anonymous harassment and threats.
Articles:
TechCrunch - #GamerGate - An Issue With Two Sides
Brightside of News - Inside the Secret World of Games Journalism
Breitbart - Exposed: The Secret Mailing List of the Gaming Journalism Elite
DigiTimes - Commentary: Time is running out for console makers to clean up GamerGate
Adland.tv - #Gamergate - Insulting consumers shrinks the market
Slate - Gaming Journalism Is Over
Breitbart - Feminist Bullies Tearing the Video Game Industry Apart
A Narrative of #GamerGate
Slate - Twitter is Broken
GamerGate Updates and Current Events
What can you do?
If this cause seems worth supporting to you, the reader, please consider sending an email voicing your discontent to the advertisers that allow such gross journalistic malpractice to continue under their banner. Many gamers have united in this campaign, which has been coined Operation: Disrespectful Nod.
LINKS: here
BLACKLIST: here
Copied and pasted from the good people at The Escapist.
GamerGate
Disclaimer: GamerGate does not, has not, and never will, endorse the harassment or abuse of anyone for any reason. Everyone should call out anyone who attacks, harasses, or abuses anyone.
What does GamerGate want?
In a phrase: Ethical Standards and Practices in the Gaming Journalism Industry.
GamerGate desires straightforward, honest coverage of the industry, such that anyone can read these outlets with the basic expectation that they are being told the truth. In an ideal world, every gaming outlet would adopt the New York Times' Standards and Ethics policies, but that is an unrealistic goal in the world of internet media. As such, we must be content with ethical policies that fit within the limitations. The Escapist, a gaming media site of some repute, has already adopted such a set of standards.
To put it in layman's terms:
Truth and fact must be treated with the respect they deserve. This means, at a minimum:
*Opinions are not to be stated as universal truths
*Hearsay is not to be reported as factual without corroborating evidence
*Assumptions and speculation are not to be reported as fact
*Intentionally misleading or inflammatory wording is not ever to be used, in headlines or elsewhere
*When in doubt, stick only to information that would hold up under examination in a court of law
*Editorials and other opinion pieces are to be kept separate from News pieces. Bias and opinion will always color a writer's work, but they should strive for as much objectivity as reasonably possible in the News. If they wish to share their opinion on the piece, something that should be encouraged, it should be done in a distinct space.
*There's nothing wrong with the News article including "And I think it's great/terrible/stupid/etc, click this link to find out why" or some variation thereof. It is only within the article proper that opinions are to be avoided.
*All journalists must be required to behave professionally within the public space. This includes but is by no means limited to:
*No irrational, emotionally-driven rants
*No insults, threats, or any of the other assorted childishness
*Engage the audience calmly, reasonably, and without rancor, or do not engage them at all
*Be aware when one is within the public space, especially any and all social media.
*Do not treat one's audience as an enemy
*Journalists must strive to be objective. No human can be truly impartial, but journalists must strive to the best of their ability to be above external bias, and to inform their readers when they cannot. Put simply, this means they must, at minimum:
*Recuse themselves from reporting news regarding subjects that they have a personal or financial link to
*Disclose any personal or financial connections to subjects they are giving opinion pieces on (Editorials, Op-Eds, Reviews, etc)
*Engage in honest and fair coverage. Consistency and the interest of/relevance to the audience must be the deciding factor in the decision to run a story.
GamerGate simply wants gaming media websites to adopt some variation on these policies, much like the Escapist has, and actively work to adhere to them. Nothing more and nothing less.
Why is it happening?
Over the last five years, the gaming media has grown increasingly politicized, all with the same political stance and agenda. It has become almost unheard of for a gaming news piece not to include at least a passing comment about a game being retrograde for not matching this stance, or for a game to be praised to the moon because it reflects the right politics. Many gamers are sick of it. Add on to this the claims of corruption, of censorship, of blacklisting, and of careers ruined, and these gamers have become incensed.
Gamers have been lied to, belittled, shamed, stifled, and held in contempt by the industry they created and continue to drive. Developers have been attacked, silenced, belittled, and forced to compromise their art by this same industry.
It has to stop. GamerGate is a grassroots movement by the gaming community to hold the press accountable for their actions and to demand better.
Where did it come from?
GamerGate is a recent, wide-ranging controversy that began in late August 2014 as a direct result of the seemingly corrupt and wildly unprofessional behavior of the gaming press. On August 16, Eron Gjoni, ex-boyfriend of developer Zoe Quinn published a blog on wordpress called The Zoe Post. In this blog, he alleged that Quinn cheated on him with several members of the video game industry, one of whom was a writer for Kotaku. This post created a substantial uproar in the gaming community. Some took the post as license to attack Quinn, while many, many others were incensed by the relationship and potential for conflicts of interest it presented in Grayson's reporting.
Overwhelmingly, the gaming press responded to this in a markedly different fashion from previous, similar allegations and began a campaign of censorship. On nearly every gaming-related website, from user-driven sites like Reddit and NeoGAF to contributor-driven sites like Kotaku, any discussion of the topic, or even topics almost completely unrelated, was quenched immediately and without question. Even a handful of 4chan's moderators came into play and tried to silence the discussion.
This nearly universal response and behavior pattern, wildly outside the normal bounds of the sites in question, made many people suspicious of collusion or conspiracy and questions began to be asked. Such as why it was considered acceptable for a professional journalist to have sex with a subject. Or why there was a nebulous network of financial support between developers and journalists through the use of websites like Patreon. Or even simply if ethical standards existed in the gaming journalism industry.
Major industry figures confirmed that these issues existed and insisted that they were not a problem. Then on August 28/29, 11 gaming news sites (Gamasutra, DailyDot, Kotaku, Polygon, and several others) published articles declaring some variation of 'Gamers are Dead' and that any and all calls for better journalism were made only as cover for 'neckbearded misogynerds' to harass women. This incensed a large portion of their audience and even reached well known actor Adam Baldwin, who coined the Twitter hashtag #gamergate upon his getting involved, which the movement has since adopted as its moniker.
In the ensuing weeks, gamers and the entrenched gaming press have been at odds over the issues of honest and ethical reporting laid out against claims of anonymous harassment and threats.
Articles:
TechCrunch - #GamerGate - An Issue With Two Sides
Brightside of News - Inside the Secret World of Games Journalism
Breitbart - Exposed: The Secret Mailing List of the Gaming Journalism Elite
DigiTimes - Commentary: Time is running out for console makers to clean up GamerGate
Adland.tv - #Gamergate - Insulting consumers shrinks the market
Slate - Gaming Journalism Is Over
Breitbart - Feminist Bullies Tearing the Video Game Industry Apart
A Narrative of #GamerGate
Slate - Twitter is Broken
GamerGate Updates and Current Events
What can you do?
If this cause seems worth supporting to you, the reader, please consider sending an email voicing your discontent to the advertisers that allow such gross journalistic malpractice to continue under their banner. Many gamers have united in this campaign, which has been coined Operation: Disrespectful Nod.
LINKS: here
BLACKLIST: here
Last edited:
