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Critical Distance Ragequits The Escapist
Uploaded by RobyBang Sep 11, 2014 at 10:42PM EDT
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Origin Entry: GamerGate
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![Gamergate (harassment campaign) Article Talk From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia For other uses, see Gamergate (disambiguation). Gamergate or GamerGate (GG)[¹] was a loosely organized misogynistic online harassment campaign and a right-wing backlash against feminism, diversity, and progressivism in video game culture. [2][³] It was conducted using the hashtag "#Gamergate" primarily in 2014 and 2015.[1][4][5][6] Beginning in August 2014, Gamergate targeted women in the video game industry, most notably feminist media critic Anita Sarkeesian and video game developers Zoë Quinn and Brianna Wu, among others.[7][8][9][10][11] The harassment campaign included doxing, r--- threats, and death threats.[12][13][14] Gamergate proponents ("Gamergaters") stated that they were a social movement, but lacked well-defined goals, a coherent message, and leaders, making Gamergate difficult to define.[15][16][17] Gamergaters claimed to promote ethics in video games journalism, claimed to be protecting the "gamer" identity, and opposed what they asserted as "political correctness" in video games.[18][19][20][21][22] Read Date Target Gamergate, online harassment campaign in 2014-15 that targeted women in the video game industry. The attacks were attributed largely to white male right-wing gamers who railed against the rise and influence of women and feminism in the industry. Gamergate served as a recruiting tool for the growing alt-right movement and helped spur the online “Pizzagate" conspiracy theory, which soon spawned the wider QAnon conspiracy movement. …………………………....…..……….…..... Attack type Victims Motive View source Inquiry XA 28 languages ✓ Perpetrators Internet trolls, particularly from 4chan, Internet Relay Chat, and 8chan View history Tools ✓ Gamergate August 2014 - 2015 Women in the video game industry See all media Online harassment campaign Zoë Quinn, Anita Sarkeesian, Brianna Wu, and others Gamergaters created conspiracy theories falsely accusing Quinn of an unethical relationship with video game journalist Nathan Grayson.[23][24][25] More broadly, they alleged unethical collusion between the press and feminists, progressives, and social critics.[17][26] [27] These claims were widely dismissed as trivial, conspiracy theories, baseless, or unrelated to actual issues of ethics in gaming and journalism.[28] [29][30] Gamergate supporters frequently denied that the harassment took place, falsely claiming it to be manufactured by the victims.[31][32] Misogyny anti-feminism anti- progressivism FBI investigation Gamergate has been described as a culture war over cultural diversification, artistic recognition, feminism in video games, social criticism in video games, and the social identity of gamers.[28][33] [34] [35] Many supporters of Gamergate opposed the increasing influence of feminism and so-called "social justice warriors" on video game culture. [2][36] Gamergate led figures both inside and outside the gaming industry to focus on methods of addressing online harassment, ways to minimize harm, and prevent similar events. [37] [38] [39] [40] Gamergate has been viewed as a contributor to the alt-right and other right- wing movements.[21][41] Video game developer Brianna Wu](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/list/002/691/215/331.png "What the actual f--- are we supposed to do about this")
![FORUMS OIN scapist VIDEO GAMES MOVIES &TV COMICS & COSPLAY TABLETOP SCIENCE&TECH usive: from pist & Game Front! GREG TITO | 6 SEPTEMBER 2014 11:57 PM calling out # Tom oAhen The Escapist spoke to 4Chan and the independent game developer called Zoe Quinn after she posted several screenshots from an IRC chat channel of her opponents discussing blackhat" operations. The controversy currently occurring in gaming culture began on August 16th when a man named Eron Gioni posted a long description of his alleged relationship with the developer of Depression Quest, known as Zoe Quinn. Some people reacted to some details in the post - her alleged affairs with a game journalist and others in the industry- with anger and resentment against what they perceived as a bias or agenda against gaming culture. This sparked more debate and more articles in the gaming press over the next few weeks, increasingly centered Enter below for your chance to win a copy of Read more s. While that was GRAND occurring.Quinn claims to have quietly infiltrated a sub-group of the forum board 4Chan in order to expose the motives behind their actions. On the morning of September 6th, starting at 3:30 am ET, Quinn began posting on her Twitter account selected screenshots of chat logs from this channel-called #bur gersandfries-claiming that those involved had "ulterior motives". The Escapist reached out to members of 4Chan to get their response to these accusations and to Zoe Quinn to clarify some of the statements she made on Twitter. tiny 0 DAYS LEFT "Most of it is taken out of context to make us look bad and half the images, what she is describing isn't even taking place," one member of 4Chan told The Escapist in an IRC chat room. "Seriously, just read the logs she posted and the conclusions she comes to. Some very strange connections. The E 30 Hangs 8 "We want the same thing as the entirety of #GamerGate-less clickbation sensationalism, a step up in terms of journalistic integrity and transparency of their reporting,. said another member t Interes Quinn claims these are not their intentions and the only reason this chat group existed was to target specific individuals. "The motivations of the people starting #notyourshield and #gamergate were transparently to harass and bully developers and writers who were perceived to be'SJW's," Quinn said in an email. SJW is an acronym for a "social justice warrior," a blanket term used by some to describe some members of the gaming industry. "The only people targeted were women or people who stood up for women #notyourshield was solely designed to. ironically, be a shield for this campaign once people started calling it misogynistic. ing The alleged genesis of the #notyours hield hashtag was in a thread discussing Gamergate on 4chan. "Something like #NotYourShield," wrote the anonymous poster, availablehere in anarchive "And demand the SJWs stop using you as a shield to deflect genuine criticism." TAKE THE QUIZ w Much Do You Know bout Destiny? It is important to note that anyone can go to 4Chan and post nearly anything. Some 4Chan denizens believe it is impossible to judge the whole group or movement by the possible actions of a few. There are no peers and no members on 4chan. Even you could go to one of these threads now, post an inflammatory statement and no one would be the wiser,"said a 4Chan member known as Albel. "This total anonymity means that anything happening on 4chan has its share of bad eggs people who disagree with the topic trying to give it a bad name. POPULAR FORUM POSTS Xbox One Meets Significantly Low Support INFERNAL LAWYER | 11 SEP 20146 29 PM Most of the 4Chan members we spoke to disavow any connection with harassment or abuse. "Individual members have probably done so, which is very wrong, but we as a general community do not condone harassment, and encourage our members to take the moral high ground, said a member. 80 XIADO 11 SEP 20146:27 PM I don't doubt that people have given [Quinnl s---, but it's being played up to the nth degree to bring in sympathizers, and most of this 'abuse' actually takes the form of all the information we're making public on her," another member of the 4Chan community stated. "She accused [actorl Adam Baldwin of spreading all sorts of dox on her when a simple click could confirm he didn't, and despite being proven wrong she kept crying wolf. She's at ARA eTheo y Vide GamesPredi ARAWNI 11SEP 2014 0:27 PM besthamming tupa dakw usta la rmheditanddessebe torro en Ba nofspreadingu so noe ox KIRA MUST DIE | 11 SEP 2014 6:26 PM Despite these claims, many mentions of "blackhat" operations are in the chat logs provided both by Quinn and 4Chan. "Blackhat" refers to hacking or stealing of private information through nefarious means. This is one 26 s talk REDNOSE1 11 SEP 20146:26 PM on on J.MCMILLEN11SEP 2014 6:25 PM Sep 0221.4111 Flux> We Sep 0221.4116 [PepPepl I feel like this is all some kind of intricate multiplayer ARG designed by Quinn and her ex Sep 02 21.4132[Spurdoodool Are we playing games or are we the gemes Sep 02 21.4147Gamer Positive> (DARPA PepPep.) Sep 02 214201 Cameralady> kilim BACK TO ALEXANDER MACRIS RT @SRCHicks: Taking Modern Artists st Their Word. My new "The Good Life column http://t.co Sep 0221.4209 <Cameralady> im curiuos :o Sep 02 21.4212<Montie> I vote yes on blackhat ONATHAN BOLDING&TheStrangeOneR Hahaha. As it should In some of her Twitter posts, Quinn mentioned that she was filing a police report due to the severity of the harassment she received. The Escapist asked Quinn about her work with the police but she declined to comment Please note that The Escapist firmly stands against all harassment, bullying and abuse. JONATHAN BOLDING RT @mrdeoat: Munchkin Koopa Drawing Because of the strict anonymous nature of the 4Chan forum board, the threat of an impostor or a "shill entering the group is mentioned often. Quinn said that this is one of the reasons why she entered the group and posted the screenshots. "I want these anonymous jerks to be a little more fearful that maybe the stranger they're discussing hacking plans with isn't actually on their side," she said. JONATHAN BOLDING @TheStrangeOneR Thanks for tuning in ELIZABETH HARPER Lisa Poisso it's concise if nothing else. The anonymity also makes it difficult to determine who is emblematic of the movement and who the outliers are During The Escapist's chat in IRC, a member was banned that others had privately claimed was a shill.After the chat ended, the member's ban was lifted. The following conversation was then recorded (the screen names have FOLLOW US ON TWITTER fSTORIES YOU MIGHT LIKE [20:10]<Member 1> why was [member] banned? [20:10] < Member 2> and force him to only communicate via PM [20:101 Member 2> BECAUSE HE KEPT saying stupid s--- 20:10<Member 2> and gets Florida Man Killed for His Magic Cards I The The Hurt Foot Locker Quinn claims the chat logs she released proves the members posting in this 4Chan group were"astroturfing. or attempting to adopt the grassroots Gamergate movement for their own motives. This was all a weird mixture of 4chan hate campaign and astroturfing, and this s--- needs to stop," Quinn said. "People need to understand how this sort of thing works so that they're not duped, because the thing about astroturfing is that at first glance it can be convincing to people who have no knowledge of the topic or key players. We don't speak for GamerGate or notyourshield as a whole," said Albel, who organized The Escapist's chat and identified himself as the "PR" of the #burgersandfries chat room. "It is impossible for us to do that. Each and every one of us speak only for ourselves. l've said some things in this chat I'm not proud of. I've said f-- and 'retard'a few times and now that I think of it, I let anonymity get the better of myself and I have to bring it back around. None of us want people like Zoe, Anita, Leigh, Jenn, Burch, Grayson et al to disappear from the industry. We don't want to put them out of jobs or take their livelihoods from them. This is and always has been about transparency in journalism Holding people responsible and accountable for their actions. Asking for recusal where necessary and being completely honest with the ties you have with the people and things you write about. 4Chan has released what they claim to be the full chat logs from when the IRC channel that was created on e, Quinn provided her own logs to The Escapist and we are working on a way to display them now. We will update the story once they are properly formatted and uploaded. A collection of Quinn's Tweets, included the selected screenshots of Note: This post has been edited to correct minor errors and typos. One of the 4Chan members quoted should have been identified as "Albel", not "Abel".We also corrected the wording regarding posting on 4chan to remove the phrase "create an RELATED TO: GREG TITO 4CHAN GAMERGATE HACKERS ZOE QUINN it](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/828/524/c9c.png "The Escapist - Exclusive: 4Chan and Quinn Respond to Gamergate Chat Logs")
