Gamergate, And Their Anti-Logic

The gaming community is a volatile one. This is mostly because for a long time gaming was considered a fad that would soon die out – and some still consider it so. Thankfully those people will die soon and gaming will be universally regarded as an artistic movement.

I’ve frequently defended gaming. OK, the industry is run by anti-consumer robots who are merely trying to imitate Hollywood instead of actually making games that we can play. Said robots also continue to systematically erase the history of gaming in the hope that we’ll stop noticing that the current triple-A climate is the worst gaming has ever been because we’ll have nothing else to compare it so.

But despite companies pouring enough money to feed the whole of Africa into their latest ‘white man with gun in open world’ game, gaming is still the most exciting artform around at the moment. Behind the big-budget flops, there is Papers Please, Anti-Chamber, Gone Home, and The Stanley Parable. Even triple-A releases like Bioshock Infinite and Far Cry 3 are proof that gaming is still climbing upwards despite the endless Call of Duty sequels.

Which is why it’s disappointing that I’m reminded of how the community behind this exciting new artform is horrid. I’ve never really liked the term ‘Gaymer,’ but I mostly remain within that community just because the people that inhabit it are actually nice.

It’s great that finally Anita Sarkeesian is bringing into light the sexism prevalent in a disturbing number of games – in the same way that during the 70’s, critics such as Laura Mulvey (who Gamergate definitely hasn’t heard of) began to write about the sexism prevalent in television and cinema. I hope Sarkeesian will one day be regarded alongside Mulvey as key figures in academia.

But, of course, there is the backlash. And the backlash is absolutely ridiculous.

Many seem to be taking Sarkeesian’s comments about the sexism in games personally, which baffles me. Gamergate and Sarkeesian’s other various critics assume that because Sarkeesian is pointing out sexist tropes then she must be attacking gaming as a whole – and by extension attacking any and every gamer in the world. She’s not attacking a game; she’s attacking them…according to her critic’s anti-logic.

This is rather like me saying that Transformers 4 was a terrible film that not only insults its audience but the art of film as a whole. Does that mean I hate film as a whole? NO! Does that mean I hate everyone who’s ever seen and liked a film? Of course not! Do I even hate people who liked Transformers 4? Not really. I wish they could raise their standards, but who am I to dictate a person’s artistic taste?

Similarly, I think William Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew is sexist. Does that mean that I hate theatre? NO! Does that mean I hate Shakespeare? NO! Does that mean I even hate The Taming of the Shrew. Not really. Its sexism is regrettable, but the play still has Shakespeare’s sublime wordplay and they usually get a really talented female actress to play the leading role.

I would discuss Zoe Quinn – another public figure who’s being harassed by Gamergate to the point where she’s had to leave her house – but Gamergate’s reason behind the death threats to Zoe Quinn are even more ridiculous. Rumour had it that Zoe Quinn, a game-developer, was sleeping with a game journalist. This turned out to be completely false, yet Gamergate continues to hurl online abuse at Quinn for no reason whatsoever.

So Gamergate is the worst thing ever, and is fuelled by no logic whatsoever. I can’t believe I’m even warranting it the merit of discussion, and I never want to speak of it again.