Please be respectful of others as you venture into the comments (or leave one) below...

I am going to put in my 2 cents here. I think it is not just stupid but reckless to label every bad thing that happens to you "terrorism". If everything is terrorism, nothing is.

Additionally, I have been a gamer for 30 years. Things have definitely gotten better as far as racist or homophobic comments go but even at it's worst I have NEVER heard of incidents as bad as the blog post describes. Even in the early 90's ANY of that stuff would have gotten you taken out back and rapped on the beak. I am considering the cherry picked internet tales and saying there is little credibility to them.

Second, gaming is a male-centric hobby. It doesn't have to be and can be enjoyed by anyone but mostly males are the ones that play it. I am not going to apologize for that. I also thing that X-wing, with it's non-anthropomorphic figs the most asexual of the wargames I play, yet still has a small female following.

Third. Whatever.

I would love to have more females play but ultimately this 'article' is complete garbage. Gamergate was crap. I also find it hard to believe that this many incidents of blatant sexual misconduct would be ignored or tolerated, especially with the 'white knight' syndrome that is pervasive in gamer culture (what geeky guy wouldn't love to come the rescue of a damsel in distress).

I'm sorry, but I don't buy it. My wife plays games - she is a very attractive black female. She has NEVER had anything like they described happen to her. Nothing sexual, no harassment, and no racism.

You want to badmouth me, that's fine. But broad, unsubstantiated generalizations are ridiculous.

I...

And that's exactly what I mean with the bad choice of words, turning people that could be your allies in enemies (or just ignore you,at all)

Nobody should be surprised

Use your words, and everyone wins.

Just because I can't not say this:

-Gamergate is crap?!? Seriously? Someone getting death and **** threats just for being a woman in gaming is crap? Arrrgghhhhh-.

Gamergate has extremists who use it as a veil to advance their own agenda. You calling it crap is about as agreeable as me calling feminism crap.

wooo polarizing stuff... it makes wonders trying to get your point ahead.

Am I using italics, right?

...we did good here, let's try this again next month with a less inflammatory start.

Hang on. I got this...

ATTENTION: THERE IS NO BODYPAINT IN THIS THREAD, I REPEAT, I WILL NOT BE WEARING BODYPAINT.

I have, for the first time, run out of likes.

Here's Greedo in a Speedo to compensate.

So uh, how about ordinance being a thing now? That's cool, huh? Right?

Just because I can't not say this:

-Gamergate is crap?!? Seriously? Someone getting death and **** threats just for being a woman in gaming is crap? Arrrgghhhhh-.

Gamergate has extremists who use it as a veil to advance their own agenda. You calling it crap is about as agreeable as me calling feminism crap.

Oh I actually agree on the above too.

I just admit sin exists. Of course, said bikini is appropriate and.... oh you know what who cares

Be awesome to each other.

To be honest, I don't see the big deal about it anyway.

We have nudist areas downtown in Munich. You walk out of the Bavarian state theater or the Bavarian state residence into the "English Garden" for a walk, and you will see some naked 20 year olds, and some 60 year old most likely too. Completely appropriated "dressed". Sure, some tourist will stare, no big reason to get offended either, they are foreigners after all. but overall, people get along just fine even when completely naked. My Martial arts training has a mixed locker room, might be not as revealing as body paint cosplay, but … you get the drift.

It not utopistic to aim for a normal and relaxed approach even to the 'most sexy' outfits. They are still just outfits, and they are inherently less appealing when they are not meant for me, which they 'never' are when strangers are involved.

So, I am a little puzzled when you say it is natural to stare. I don't want to argue about such minor details, as I said early, stuff like this might be based on cultural differences or whatever. But it feels odd to me. But they, the whole american dating rituals keeps me puzzled as well

And that's exactly what I mean with the bad choice of words, turning people that could be your allies in enemies (or just ignore you,at all)

Nobody should be surprised

Use your words, and everyone wins.

It's just I've addressed pretty much all of that in there before. It's exhausting. And I can tell, just by wording if it's worth attempting to address something is all. I have no words in that situation.

Just because I can't not say this:

-Gamergate is crap?!? Seriously? Someone getting death and **** threats just for being a woman in gaming is crap? Arrrgghhhhh-.

Gamergate has extremists who use it as a veil to advance their own agenda. You calling it crap is about as agreeable as me calling feminism crap.

Oooh, sensitive subject.

Gamergate was -literally- a harassment campaign. I'm not sure how anyone can say it's on the same level as feminism.. but..

/shrug

Just because I can't not say this:

-Gamergate is crap?!? Seriously? Someone getting death and **** threats just for being a woman in gaming is crap? Arrrgghhhhh-.

Gamergate has extremists who use it as a veil to advance their own agenda. You calling it crap is about as agreeable as me calling feminism crap.

Oooh, sensitive subject.

Definitely sensitive subject, though I thought the gamer gate guys are the misogynist pigs who accuse the gaming journalist pushing their feminist agendas on them, including the death threats and all? But I might totally have missed that drama, overall it was far to much of a mess to really follow and something that should not be taking to social media at all. Oh and totally not unified under one umbrella, because it involves so many Independent points.

That is easy, talk about feminism often enough in social media and the (imagined) stories you get to hear about crazy feminist are just as bad as the story you get to hear about gamer gate. Don't get me wrong, the gamer gate stories seem to have more substance, but once you mark the discussion enemy as boogeyman it starts to develop some life of its own. (If you get what I mean, I hope that phrase translates well enough)

Just because I can't not say this:

-Gamergate is crap?!? Seriously? Someone getting death and **** threats just for being a woman in gaming is crap? Arrrgghhhhh-.

Gamergate has extremists who use it as a veil to advance their own agenda. You calling it crap is about as agreeable as me calling feminism crap.

Oooh, sensitive subject.

Gamergate was -literally- a harassment campaign. I'm not sure how anyone can say it's on the same level as feminism.. but..

/shrug

It started that way but by the end it was about ethics in journalism and it had a positive change on several review sites.

I remember one time there was a public argument happening on these forums. A member was claiming to be a victim in this situation, but to me, it seemed to be a misunderstanding. I sent a private message to this person saying "hey, I think you should re-read the initial comment because I think you're overreacting to a misunderstanding"

I had some success at calling people out via PM when I thought they were being unreasonable, even in arguments I wasn't a part of. The direct approach seemed to work and, at the time, I was concerned with the frequency of petty arguments that were happening.

The forum member I messaged was a girl and she got very upset with me, claiming I was a misogynist and targeting her on purpose. At that point, I didn't have a voice in the conversation anymore. Even simple stuff like "sorry I didn't mean to upset you" was met with accusations of lying and mansplaining. I promptly was blocked after that and the conversation abruptly ended.

It just bummed me out that someone would feel the need to get so defensive. I felt really bad that I made someone so upset, but at the same time, I got frustrated that I wasn't treated as an individual. I just got vented at because of the transgressions of other dudes. I even was met with a "We both know you don't PM other forum members, you just targeted me because I'm female" which was in fact, false (I think, as I don't know gender of the other ppl I PM'ed), but was never given a chance to respond.

Ultimately, it was of little consequence to me, but I thought it was an interesting how women feel the need to be constantly on the defensive in these environments. I got the feeling that her inbox was constantly getting flooded with lewd comments, so I understood why she just lumped me in with the others without actually listening to what I said, but it just bummed me out on several levels.

Definitely sensitive subject, though I thought the gamer gate guys are the misogynist pigs who accuse the gaming journalist pushing their feminist agendas on them, including the death threats and all? But I might totally have missed that drama, overall it was far to much of a mess to really follow and something that should not be taking to social media at all. Oh and totally not unified under one umbrella, because it involves so many Independent points.

"Gamergate" is the term that is the harassment campaign targeting three women in gaming. It started because people claimed a woman slept her way to getting good reviews for her game, and spiraled from there into doxxing and specific, actionable threats about the women it focused on.

It was really, really sickening. You can google it to see some highlights.

For those who don't know a whole lot about gamergate, this is a good summary. It is gawker, though, so it's not like, the highest regard of journalism, as a warning.

http://gawker.com/what-is-gamergate-and-why-an-explainer-for-non-geeks-1642909080

Definitely sensitive subject, though I thought the gamer gate guys are the misogynist pigs who accuse the gaming journalist pushing their feminist agendas on them, including the death threats and all? But I might totally have missed that drama, overall it was far to much of a mess to really follow and something that should not be taking to social media at all. Oh and totally not unified under one umbrella, because it involves so many Independent points.

"Gamergate" is the term that is the harassment campaign targeting three women in gaming. It started because people claimed a woman slept her way to getting good reviews for her game, and spiraled from there into doxxing and specific, actionable threats about the women it focused on.

It was really, really sickening. You can google it to see some highlights.

Most harassment was created by Zoe Quinn & assosciates to propagate the victim complex she was creating. Everything that happened to her she brought on herself. Anita latched on because that's all she can do, same with Brianna Wu.

Definitely sensitive subject, though I thought the gamer gate guys are the misogynist pigs who accuse the gaming journalist pushing their feminist agendas on them, including the death threats and all? But I might totally have missed that drama, overall it was far to much of a mess to really follow and something that should not be taking to social media at all. Oh and totally not unified under one umbrella, because it involves so many Independent points.

"Gamergate" is the term that is the harassment campaign targeting three women in gaming. It started because people claimed a woman slept her way to getting good reviews for her game, and spiraled from there into doxxing and specific, actionable threats about the women it focused on.

It was really, really sickening. You can google it to see some highlights.

But that was not all that gamer gate was about. A lot of people who did identify with gamer gate do not identify with that kind of harassment. You have are a decent amount of gamers who are simply angry at the gaming press and eat **** fed to them. There are concerns about the quality of gaming journalism, the fear that writers trying to manipulate them, bought reviews not only with sex, but hard cash from big publishers, etc

It surprisingly easy to get people to do ****** up things when you relay them behind some fictive or otherwise just cause. And honestly, I rather not google that sickening mess further, because it is sick enough to follow from a distance. These days the gamer gate guys are classified as a hate group iirc.

Some will doubt the honesty of this article or matching experienced that other have.

Even if that is the case, look at the crux of the article.

1. Women and POC have been and continue to be mistreated in many ways within this community.

2. This kind of treatment should not be tolerated by the community (largely composed of white males).

3. When harrassment occurs, community members should rally against it.

In the case that a person reasonably in touch with their humanity disbelieves particular instances of #1, would they still argue against #2 & 3?

Even if you think the examples posed In the OP are untrue, for me that does not negate any call to action made in the article.

Folks of all kind should be able to enjoy this hobby without the BS. We all have a role to call it out when it happens.

I'll stick to sargon.

Most harassment was created by Zoe Quinn & assosciates to propagate the victim complex she was creating. Everything that happened to her she brought on herself. Anita latched on because that's all she can do, same with Brianna Wu.

I... no. I guess agree to disagree? Because this is so not true if you read the IRC chat logs from the people that really pushed gamergate.

"I kind of want to just make her life irrepairably [sic] horrible …"

"but what if she suicides …"

"Good."

Zoe quinn got caught doing it via a sock puppet account there's nothing to disagree on.

But that was not all that gamer gate was about. A lot of people who did identify with gamer gate do not identify with that kind of harassment. You have are a decent amount of gamers who are simply angry at the gaming press and eat **** fed to them. There are concerns about the quality of gaming journalism, the fear that writers trying to manipulate them, bought reviews not only with sex, but hard cash from big publishers, etc

It surprisingly easy to get people to do ****** up things when you relay them behind some fictive or otherwise just cause. And honestly, I rather not google that sickening mess further, because it is sick enough to follow from a distance. These day the gamer gate guys are classified as a hate group iirc.

So that's how gamergate started, and then it "evolved" into a discussion of corruption of media in gaming and buying reviews and what not. I get that. But that was a "secondary" goal admitted by the starters of it to ruining Quinn. Some people who joined joined with 100% good intentions - but there is an underlying layer of not good things to all of it.

Addendum: The term 'mansplaining' is not just annoying, it's absolutely moronic. So is 'whitesplaining' or any of the other idiotic terms that get thrown about. I am one VERY liberal dude, but this stuff makes my head explode.

You want to find a way to undermine the case you say you believe in? Make sure to couch it in these terms so I can save myself the effort of evaluating anything else you have to say,.

As someone who got a death threat and a muder atempt... I can relate, in part, you know that all goes to hell when you threat someone, right? All your moral high horse, all the righteousness go down to the drain.

But yeah, gamersgate it was for more, but it all goes to the drain when the internetz start doing that.

i don't think that will be constructive talk about that

I mean, progress was made. But of course, the title and the original post still there.

people will be upset (rightly so?), all parts can learn and be better, be excelent as a wise poster posted

Meanwhile in Germany...