#GamerGate and #notyourshield are signs that video games have arrived

---

"There's a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part! You can't even passively take part! And you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels…upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop! And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at all!"

-Mario Savio, 1964

Serious business, eh? Video games are a billion dollar business, and kids that started gaming back in the 80's are now fully grown adults. Every year, millions more gamers are brought into the fold, from all walks of life, from all corners of the world. Nearly three weeks ago, we all got a glimpse behind the curtain of games journalism, and things will never be the same.

What we saw upset us so much, that I honestly do not see an end to this until there is change. We saw that there is no wall between those whom call themselves journalists, and the people they cover in their stories. They are financially tied, romantically tied, socially connected through cliques that leave out the uncool kids. They go out to bars and get drunk, they crash at each others homes. They are friends helping promote their friends' work, to us. To get our money.

With that came the confirmation of that sickly feeling we'd had for years, that the gaming press had long abandoned our best interest for the interests of developers and publishers. With that realization, we decided that we had had enough. Our hands are now upon the gears, and the levers.

The reaction from the gaming media has been puzzling. They brazenly bit the hand that feeds them. Rather than back down and accept gamer's demands that they adopt strict rules and a code of ethics matching what other industries have, they decided to double-down on their stupidity. They keep writing articles about how sexist and racist gamers are, and that they are all white, all male, and all living in their parent's basement with cheeto stained fingers and perpetual virginity. They push this narrative, despite the fact that before #GamerGate, they kept shouting to the high heavens that 52% of gamers are female.

Then the #notyourshield hashtag hits the world. Destroying the Press's narrative that everyone that is complaining is a white male, minorities across the world have begun to speak up that they too want transparency in the video game media. Blacks, hispanics, asians and women of all colors have stood up to confront the 'journalists' that then insist these people aren't REALLY minorities, but white men in disguise. When that fails, they accuse these people of having internalized misogyny, or internalized racism. They cannot comprehend that a colored person or female could possibly hold the opinions of white men.

Among the journalists is their support group, people that identify as social justice warriors and feminists trying to protect women from online harassment. Now, harassment is truly bogus and anyone doing it should stop. However, these feminists go so far that they try to protect women from ANY criticism. Most peculiar of all, however, is the make-up of video game journalism. It is almost all white, and overwhelmingly male. Yet they push the angle in all of their stories that GAMERS are somehow a bunch of white males that refuse to become inclusive and welcome minorities into gaming.

This is why the #notyourshield movement has been so bulletproof on twitter. Now, I'm not black, or a woman, or any other minority. However, I'm pretty sure minority gamers are just like white male gamers: They just want to play fucking video games. I doubt they are interested in reading piece after piece about white-male bashing. It's telling that all of the people shouting about how gamers need to be more inclusive AREN'T INCLUSIVE THEMSELVES. Giantbomb, whom has mostly stayed quiet on this whole issue, finally stuck their toes in during their panel at PAX, in which they threw gamers under the bus and sided with the journalists.

How preposterous is it, that a panel of all white men have the gall to tell gamers to be more inclusive? Go to any game convention, hell, I'm sure the very audience of that PAX panel would suffice, and you'll find plenty of people that aren't white males. These 'journalists' act like gate keepers, deciding who gets press coverage, and who will make it in the industry, and so far it looks like they don't care for people that aren't like them. Social justice warriors are the real racists, and they've been trying for weeks now to project that image onto us.

They will keep writing pieces to slander the gamer. Make no mistake, this is their attempt to regain control. They want to pull the curtain over again, and push us back in line. They want things to go back to how they were. This is pure bullying. It is also their attempt to make us lash out. Gamers have risen above the bullshit, and we have not been acting the monster they want us to be. Each article they write is an attempt to get us to threaten violence, so they can point at it and say "SEE!!!??" Their bullshit is to be ignored. Do not give them traffic, do not give them clicks. There are other sites out there that welcome gamers. It is time to honor them for respecting us.

We must be wary, though, the war has a few more steps to go.

First they ignored us, then they censored us, then they mocked us, and now they are fighting us. What comes next, is the dangerous part.

Bargaining.

When their web traffic slows, when the calls and emails to advertisers start to have an impact, when people on their forums start to care more about integrity than their post-count and take their business elsewhere, these websites will cave. They will strike a conciliatory tone, they will ask us to meet them in the middle. Some people might resign, there may even be a firing or two, citing 'ethical misconduct.'

We cannot fall for it. You do not heal a sick plant by pruning leaves. It must be uprooted, and a new one planted. They will likely just pick up the person that quit on another site run by Silverstring media, these people do look after their own, you know. Playing musical chairs with their bloggers is not a win. The machine has become too odious. We will build a new machine.

When they try to say sorry, remind them that they said you aren't REALLY black, because otherwise you'd be on our side. Remind them that they said you aren't a REAL woman, because you're siding with gamers. Remind them how they said your opinions and feelings don't matter because you're a white male, and yet somehow you're still 'privileged.' Remind them that the only white people that want to keep minorities out seems to be the gaming press. Remind them that they said they didn't need gamers anymore. They shit the bed, let them lie in it.

There is one grain of truth in all of the articles written by this corrupt gaming press: Games and gamers have grown up. In doing so, we've begun to expect that gaming journalism does the same. We love games, and we want them to get the respect they deserve. We want them to be held to a higher standard. We want games to actually be graded on the 1-10 scale, not the 7-10 scale. We want the gaming press to have actual journalists, with degrees in journalism, and a strict ethics code that they must follow, or leave the industry. We want to go to a website to find out if a new game is worth our time and money from people that are concerned with helping us make the best decision, not with helping their friend that made the game.

Gamers have begun to demand that video games get the same treatment as other media, and we are not backing down. This is how we know video games have finally arrived. If we must, we will drag the 'journalists' into this new world, kicking and screaming as they are.

Reply · Report Post