Angela Night · @Angelheartnight
21st May 2015 from TwitLonger
Some Thoughts On #Gamergate and #Airplay
This week I wrote a blog post in which I compared modern gaming with a stroppy teenager in their idealistic phase. In this blog post, found at https://angelwitchpaganheart.wordpress.com/2015/05/13/thoughts-of-a-feminist-gamer-the-growing-pains-of-game-journalism/ I mentioned that Airplay was going to be a thing that was happening. However I didn't give any real opinion on whether or not I think it's a good idea.
I don't, here's why.
When Michael Koretzky wrote the original post saying that he wanted to invite supporters of Gamergate for an open discussion about ethics in gaming journalism I was as happy as anyone. I thought it would finally be a chance to sit down and discuss/debate our ethical concerns with journalists and those that represent them. Yet almost immediately to me there were warning signs, the fact that Koretzky made it so apparent that the other board members of the SPJ were against him writing about Gamergate. He said this was because they were afraid of being doxed or harassed, this seems odd to me. You get journalists in war zones and disaster areas, it's a pretty piss poor show when professional journalists are afraid to look deeper into a story because they're afraid people on the internet might be mean to them.
Then as other blogs were posted I became more and more skeptical. Immediately Koretzky began to speak to those that are anti-GG but are not journalists, ok that's fine if he wants to do that. However I thought this was supposed to be about ethics, not harassment? Gamergate supporters were asked once again to denounce harassment. Why would this be the case if Koretzky didn't believe the accusations against us? Why has he been so willing to accept their accusations at face value and chastise Gamergate while not looking into the accusations of corruption among game journalists and not chastising them? Has Koretzky even spoken to any game journalists? The people like Wu, Nyberg and AMIB, they are not relevant to any discussion of journalism ethics, they are not journalists! I find it astounding that once again we are being held responsible for the entire internet, collectively guilty by association. I don't take responsibility for any behaviour other than my own. I shouldn't have to make some grand statement that I don't support harassment and doxing, unless you can find any instance of me engaging in that behaviour then it should be a given that I don't support it, in the same way that if you don't see me out on the street kicking puppies you can take it as read that that is a thing I don't support doing without me having to say it. If this is supposed to be a debate about ethics then surely it should be game journalists that are being invited to Airplay. This raises another question, why would any of them choose to go when doing so could get them professionally blacklisted?
I'm seeing people that support the Gamergate hashtag abusing and tone policing those that are asking questions or expressing concerns about Airplay, that isn't right and needs to stop. Reasonable people with legitimate concerns have every right to raise them, instead they are being driven away by people who probably mean well but don't understand that after nine months of bullshit from journalists? Some people are wary of journalists. Koretzky has already said he won't say to trust him because it's a silly thing for a journalist to ask, not to me it isn't. I remember how upset many felt after David Pakman made his video basically shitting all over everything Gamergate supporters believe in by telling us it didn't really matter after months of stringing us along for views, fool me once....
Here's the thing, Gamergate does not need to be vindicated. Sites have updated ethics policies and are disclosing now more than ever before, no matter how begrudgingly. We know we were right, the actions of the gaming press have SHOWN us we were, do we really need the SPJ to tell us? Because they won't. The SPJ will not support gamers over the gaming press, Koretzky has already made this clear by telling us he does not have the support of the other board members in this venture. Even if they did the SPJ has no authority to make changes in gaming journalism. What will happen is the same thing that happened with Pakman, Koretzky will string us along, make us jump through hoops, then tell us we should be worried about more important things than game journalism. The worst part of that is whoever goes to Airplay and steps in front of that mic will themselves immediately become a target for everything anti-GG can throw at them. It comes to this, I'm looking at the potential aftermath of Airplay, both positive and negative, and I don't see anything positive that could possibly happen that outweighs the risks to whoever goes. The only reason Airplay exists is to satisfy the curiosity of one man and I don't think the price tag is worth it.