Poll: What Is #GamerGate About?

oh and to answer your questions regarding "who said that"?

There is a bit of an amalgamation there. But pretty much all of it can be found spread across a variety of Leigh Alexander works, Patricia Hernandez works, among others, except for "shitbags" I'm pretty sure that was a direct quote from Ben Kuchera. 

Go back and read some of the articles these people have been writing. Not just in the past 6 weeks, but rather nauseatingly frequently for the past 5 years or so. Kotaku is particularly toxic for much of this. What do you think your customers don't actually read what is written? The "Gamers are Dead" assault was at least to the gamers, the climax and breaking point for a years long stream of toxicity that the customer base had been increasingly being subjected to. 

You guys are so fixated on the harassment you or people you know have been receiving online that you have not gone back and actually looked at why they are so angry. here's a hint that type of anger does not come from being Misogynists. It comes from being called Misogynists, Sexist, horrible horrible people for liking your hobby or playing a game that may have too much boob physics for some. For wanting to ask questions in the discussion about sexism in gaming rather than simply being lectured to, and being slapped down and treated like children at every turn. 

and here's one more thing that seems to be completely lost or misrepresented in all of this. The gamers, the #Gamergate types. They really aren't mad at the Game Dev's (baring a select few individuals that have been a little too loose on Twitter.) The Game Dev's are not even in this equation for them. It is the middle men between the gamers and the devs, the journalists that are drawing all the ire. The devs are sadly getting dragged into it by both sides.

Lets look at one of the major points of conflict between the gaming press and industry and the gamers currently.

"See, here's the problem.  That didn't happen.  The journalist in question did not review or preview the game of the dev in question.  He did mention it in passing a couple times but each instance was before he was alleged to have begun a relationship with the dev in question."

See that line? That is an ethical problem. He might not have had a clear Quid Pro Quo, but there is an intimate personal relationship in fairly immediate proximity to those article mentions. Is there a clear sign of corruption? That he is extorting sex for coverage? No. Probably not. He's young and stupid so I'll give him the benefit of thinking like a 20 something male. But it is still horribly horribly unethical for a journalist. The way I was always taught in interpreting maters of conflict where there was the possibility of some direct conflict or exchange of services in a personal relationship was the old school "year and a day rule". If he had not written of her in a year he would be ok ethically. But 48 hours? 2 days? Really?The intimacy may have occurred after the articles but the close undisclosed personal relationship clearly did not. And that is the problem. 

And please note this is the only element of anyone sex life that is a matter of discussion or public interest for anybody. The timing and nature of relations regarding the reporter. His partner in this endeavor is unimportant beyond the basic fact that she is someone he had reported on. It does not matter if it was a review, a story a simple mention. It was positive coverage. It was effectively marketing. and the ethical obligation is his. He was supposed to not get involved. (and honestly names were not needed for this story folks.) And see that paragraph up there. The one above this. That is the conversation that the gamers wished to have. Allowing them to have it would have taken less than a day and then it would have faded. We were all young and stupid. But by seeking to prevent the conversation of applicable public or consumer interest it ended up generating anger in the readership. And that brought us to #Gamergate.

I personally cannot escape the impression that Totilo's hand waving away of conflict is horrible. He essentially said it is ok for his reporters to sleep with indy devs so long as you write the story today and wait until midnight to hit the sheets. If you were a female indy dev what would you be thinking about what it takes to get your game mentioned in Kotaku now? How do you think female employees at Kotaku view this? What kind of work environment does that create for them? This isn't something special because it is the Games Industry. This is bad business practice. In this modern age it is incredibly bad business practice. And it is clear that some realize this. Note Andy Eddy's postings on that mailing list. (some of the best advice on there.) 

"I was told somewhat as much when I started my first job…don’t embarrass the magazine/company by getting drunk at an event or sleeping with someone you met at an event. And “don’t dip your pen in company ink…”

What about the fact that sometime in the last few months, not sure exactly when, youtubers that reviewed games were found to be getting paid by some of the same companies that made the games they reviewed? I believe that was at the forefront of gaming news for a bit and they were getting flack for that too.