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Gamergate (sometimes referred to as GamerGate or as a Twitter hashtag #gamergate) is a controversy in video game culture concerning long-standing issues of sexism and misogyny in the gamer community and journalistic ethics in the online gaming press, particularly conflicts of interest between video game journalists and developers. The controversy came to wider attention due to harassment that indie game developer Zoe Quinn received after an ex-boyfriend posted allegations on his blog in August 2014 that she had cheated on him with a Kotaku journalist, which led others to accuse her of professional impropriety to obtain positive media coverage for her game. Those subsequent allegations were not found credible, but the debate they sparked continued. Other topics of debate have included perceived changes or threats to the "gamer" identity as a result of the maturing and diversifying of the gaming industry.

Cultural changes within the gaming industry, gaming community, and gaming journalism, are seen as having contributed to the situation in which the controversy has occurred. Rising popularity of the medium and greater emphasis on games as a potential art form has led to a commensurate focus on social criticism within gaming media and indie works. This shift has prompted opposition from traditional hardcore gamers who view games as a form of entertainment, including instances of harassment directed at female voices in the industry. The allegations regarding Quinn served to inflame concerns of these various changes in the industry and gaming media, leading to her being harassed. Other harassment incidents occurred during this time spurring widespread coverage in the general media, as well as speculation as to the fate of the gamer identity given concerns about sexism and misogyny within the community. While concerns of impropriety in gaming media have prompted policy changes at several of these outlets and commentators generally agree there are problems in the gaming media that need to be discussed, the harassment associated with the GamerGate campaign is considered to be preventing a discussion of the broader issue.

Background

As video game production developed into a burgeoning industry, games became an increasingly consumer-oriented product focused on appealing to gamers with satisfying solitary experiences. People who had grown up playing these games developed a gamer identity that was associated with these early experiences. As early gamers were predominantly male this is also seen as having contributed to gendered interpretations of the identity. The emergence of the video game industry gave rise to numerous publications specializing in the coverage of video games and catering to the interests of gaming enthusiasts. Such outlets were seen by industry leaders as a means of promotion for their products and there was recurring criticism of the close relationship gaming journalists had with the major gaming companies.

Growing popularity of games among casual consumers due to more accessible technologies such as the Nintendo Wii and smart phones expanded the audience for the industry to include many who did not fit the mold of the traditional hardcore gamer. As games also came to be seen more as an art form rather than a product, games centered on social issues grew in popularity. Some of these games were not seen by elements of the hardcore gaming community as fitting the proper definition of games. Growth of the audience for video games and an increasing perception of their potential as an art form prompted gaming outlets to move towards social criticism of the games. More effort was devoted to promoting games that were seen as artistic or incisive and less on those that offered a traditional gaming experience. These types of games have become more common through independent video game development that allows developers to release titles without publisher interference, who would otherwise not likely publish these titles. Gamers are concerned these games push political agendas and are critically praised on how they present social issues as oppose to the nature of the game mechanics.

The growth of the gaming audience also contributed to bringing in a large number of women whose primary gaming interests did not conform to what is perceived as a male-oriented gamer identity. In light of the growing female audience for games and growing female representation in the gaming industry, outlets became increasingly interested in detailing issues of gender representation in video games. One prominent critic of the representation of women in gaming is Anita Sarkeesian, whose Tropes vs. Women in Video Games project is devoted to criticism of female stereotypes in games. Her initial Kickstarter to raise funds for the series and her subsequent videos have all been met with hostile commentary and harassment from hardcore gamers. Further incidents, such as those concerning Jennifer Hepler raised concerns about sexual harassment in video gaming. Prior to August of 2014 concerns about escalating harassment prompted the International Game Developers Association to begin discussions with the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation to help investigate online harassment of game developers.

One such incident of harassment occurred after independent video game developer Zoe Quinn developed and released her interactive fiction title Depression Quest in early 2013 as a means to represent her own bout with depression. Upon its release, some members of the gaming community expressed dislike towards Quinn and the title. Some expressed concern that using a video game to present a dark theme was inappropriate, while others felt that the critical attention it received was disproportionate to the quality and simplicity of the game, and that the game presented the solution to depression in a manner that was too simplistic; they also expressed concern that the game's protagonist was over-privileged and had readily available solutions that most who suffer from depression are lacking. Others, however, saw the game as an important expression of themes not previously addressed in mainstream gaming — "'game' as communication, comfort and tool of understanding", in the words of Rock, Paper, Shotgun's Adam Smith. While working with Valve Corporation to put Depression Quest on the Steam content platform's Greenlight system (a means for users to vote on titles to bring onto the platform) near the end of 2013, Quinn made several statements that she had been harassed by online forum members with statements similar to "women cannot relate to anyone with depression", according to The Escapist.

Allegations against Quinn and subsequent harassment

Shortly after the full release of Depression Quest on Steam in August 2014, Quinn's former boyfriend Eron Gjoni wrote a blog post containing a series of allegations, amongst which was that Quinn had cheated on him with Kotaku journalist Nathan Grayson. This led to allegations from Quinn's detractors in the gaming community that the relationship had resulted in favorable media coverage. Kotaku's editor-in-chief Stephen Totilo affirmed the two had been involved in a relationship, but stated that Grayson had not written anything about Quinn after the relationship had commenced and that he had never reviewed her games. While Grayson had written an article about the failed GAME_JAM web reality show that Quinn participated in and Kotaku had also mentioned her game, both occurred before the relationship began. The incident led to broader allegations on social media that game developers and the gaming press are too often closely connected and that cultural criticism of video games has led to an increasing focus on social representation and cultural meaning in games by some video games writers. A number of commentators within and outside the games industry denounced the attack on Quinn as misogynistic and unfounded.

Prior to the controversy, Quinn had spoken out against a self-described radical feminist group known as The Fine Young Capitalists (TFYC). She had criticized TFYC's game jam for women in game design concerning their rules on transgender participants and on how the participants were not being paid. TFYC had explained that in order to ensure participants would not abuse the process by lying about their gender identity, the rules stipulated a particular date before which participants had to have identified as women. TFYC stated that they had written the rules such that people who had difficulties in legally transitioning could still participate, and that the participants were only providing conceptual work, rather than the bulk of computer programming, with the winning entry still receiving a portion of the profits while most of the remainder would go to charity. During the initial argument between the two camps, TFYC's website went down due to increased traffic resulting from the discussion on Twitter, which was characterized as unintentional DDoS attack. The group also state that a sponsor withdrew support over the transphobia concerns, costing them US$10,000. Quinn's dispute with the group subsequently came up following the discussion of the recent revelations of her ties to journalists. Members of 4chan began heavily backing the TFYC in response and after having donated US$17,000 to the group's Indiegogo project they designed a mascot character, which the group decided to use in the winning entry. The character "Vivian James" (meant to sound similar to "video games") was described by Erik Kain of Forbes as an “every-girl of sorts, and maybe not what you’d expect from 4chan".

As a result of these allegations, Quinn and her family were subsequently subjected to what the Washington Post called a "virulent" harassment campaign including doxxing, threats of rape, hacking attempts, and at least one death threat. She began staying with friends out of fear that she would be tracked to her home. According to Quinn, "the Internet spent the last month spreading my personal information around, sending me threats, hacking anyone suspected of being friends with me, calling my dad and telling him I'm a whore, sending nude photos of me to colleagues, and basically giving me the 'burn the witch' treatment". The New Yorker reported an example of the threats: "Next time she shows up at a conference we ... give her a crippling injury that's never going to fully heal ... a good solid injury to the knees. I'd say a brain damage, but we don't want to make it so she ends up too retarded to fear us." Those who came to her defense, such as fellow video game developer Phil Fish (who had been a focus of controversy on social media in 2013), were also targeted. Fish was doxxed after speaking in support of Quinn, with many of his personal details and documents relating to his company Polytron exposed in a hack that led him to sell Polytron and leave the gaming industry.

The harassment expanded to include Sarkeesian when a new episode in the series (Women as Background, Pt. 2) was released shortly after Gjoni's blog entry, whereupon renewed harassment against Sarkeesian began. She reported that she had received death threats that compelled her to temporarily leave her home. The online harassment of Quinn and the death threats against Sarkeesian prompted an open letter to the gaming community by independent game developer Andreas Zecher, who called upon the community to take a public stand against the attacks. The letter subsequently attracted the signatures of more than two thousand professionals within the gaming industry.

Social media campaign and backlash

Concurrent with these events, gamers used social media and sites such as 4chan and Reddit to explain and support their position, and figures like Adam Baldwin (who was the first to use the hashtag #GamerGate on Twitter) highlighted the issue to the population at large. On some websites, posts relating to the controversy were blocked or erased, and at least one YouTube commentator had a video critical of Quinn removed following a DMCA request. Such incidents led some gamers to complain about censorship and led to a Streisand Effect that brought more people into the debate. A portion of those that supported the #GamerGate movement took issue with the widespread description of the movement as misogynistic, asserting that the focus on misogyny served mainly to "deflect criticism" of gaming journalism, according to The Washington Post. A second Twitter hashtag, "#NotYourShield", began to be used with the intention of showing that women and members of other minorities in the gaming community were also seeking changes in the ethical guidelines of the video game industry and press while denying that the core issues behind #GamerGate were driven by sexism. Quinn has stated that the #GamerGate movement was manufactured by users of 4chan operating on an IRC channel specifically to attack her and her followers for her feminist views, and that those posting under #NotYourShield were not in fact members of the claimed minority groups. These statements have been denied by some users of 4chan.

TFYC reported on August 24, that the account for their charity game jam on Indiegogo had been hacked. The 4chan video games board /v/ is explicitly mentioned in the message put up by the perpetrator. The character Vivian James also became the subject of criticism due to her association with the campaign. Tom Mendelsohn of The Independent wrote that 4chan had created Vivian as an emblem for their campaign to demonstrate their lack of sexism, and described the character as "a sardonic dream woman who games in slouchy hoodies, has long, lascivious tresses of red hair and doesn’t ever want to hurt them". Vivian James has been criticized as being anti-feminist by Allegra Ringo of Vice who alleged that the character was created out of spite, describing it as "masquerading as a feminist icon for the express purpose of spiting feminists".

As publicity of the campaign grew a series of pieces began appearing in gaming media on August 28 claiming the end of the gamer identity. Articles cited the growing diversity of gaming and the mainstreaming of the medium as the cause, while those associated with GamerGate were stated to be a reactionary force against these changes. This flurry of reporting has aroused concerns that it is deepening a divide between gaming journalists and the gaming community with games writers seen as attacking their own audience. David Auerbach of Slate argued in light of this that gaming culture is changing but it is the ordinary video-game journalist that is being phased out in favor of video game enthusiasts and amateur Let's Play commentators who use YouTube and Twitch.

Non-gaming media attention has focused on the highly-personal nature of the allegations about Quinn and the subsequent campaign of harassment, linking the issue with historical perceptions of the gaming community as sexist and reactionary. According to Sarah Kaplan of The Washington Post, "sexism in gaming is a long-documented, much-debated but seemingly intractable problem," and became the crux of the #GamerGate controversy. In an article for The Guardian, Jenn Frank described the tactics used in the harassment campaign, and of the climate of fear it generated through its attacks on women and their allies. Frank concluded that this alienating abusive environment would harm not only women, but the industry as a whole. After receiving harassment herself due to her financial ties to Quinn not being disclosed in the piece (per The Guardian's decision), Frank announced she was leaving games journalism. Writing in The Week, Ryan Cooper called the harassment campaign "an online form of terrorism" intended to reverse a trend in gaming culture toward increasing acceptance of women, and stated that social media platforms need to tighten their policies and protections against threats and abuse.

Role of misogyny and antifeminism

A number of commentators have argued that the #GamerGate movement had the potential to raise important issues in gaming journalism, but that the wave of misogynistic harassment and abuse associated with the hashtag had poisoned the well, making it impossible to separate honest criticism from sexist trolling. Quinn said the campaign had "roped well-meaning people who cared about ethics and transparency into a preexisting hate mob." Alex Goldman from On the Media wrote that he did recognize that there were legitimate complaints in #GamerGate concerning the relationship between the video game industry and journalists, and that there is diversity within the gamer community, but noted that the attempts by users of 4chan to pretend to be members of the minority groups made the movement lose credibility. He added, "If you want to be seen as a monolith, publicly shame the bad actors in your cohort. If you want to be seen as individuals, well, stop calling yourself gamers. Come up with some other means of self-identification. Because as of right now, the worst people standing behind the mantle of gamer have spoiled it for all of you." In Paste magazine Garrett Martin suggested that any concerns about ethics in journalism were merely a cover for attacking women, even if some sincerely believed otherwise.

Liana Kerzner, writing for MetalEater.com, criticized some gaming journalists for making "unprofessional, anti-intellectual, and dehumanizing" generalizations about those who supported #GamerGate, and that it had been unfair to paint all of its supporters as motivated by ill will rather than true concern for the state of games journalism. "As a member of the video game media, I am sorry for that. It was wrong, and you guys didn't deserve it." She also urged the gaming community to challenge and reject the "small subgroups of gamers" whose actions have stigmatized the community. "The misogyny within our ranks is real. The racism is real. The homophobia and transgendered stigma is real. The stigma against mental illness is real. Our juvenile relationship with sexualized violence is real," she wrote. According to Erik Kain, writing at Forbes.com, the #GamerGate movement is driven by an anti-feminist backlash against the increasing diversity of voices involved in cultural criticism of video games. "What it boils down to is many people feeling upset that the video game space has been so heavily politicized with a left-leaning, feminist-driven slant," he said. Writing in The New Yorker, Simon Parkin said "In Quinn’s case, the fact that she was the subject of the attacks rather than the friend who wrote about her game reveals the true nature of much of the criticism: a pretense to make further harassment of women in the industry permissible." Quinn told The New Yorker that she feels sympathy for her attackers; "People don’t viciously attack anyone without having some deep-seeded loathing in themselves," she said.

In an interview with NPR's Marketplace, voice actress Jennifer Hale called on the gaming community to do a better job self-policing its "small" and "vicious" fringe, and said there are still racial and gender barriers within the industry. "Let's remove gender from casting everywhere we can and play around with it. Let's do the same with race. Let's go on and create the next level. We can't do that right now." She also noted that friends had advised her not to do the interview. Writing for Vox, Todd VanDerWerff wrote that the movement's "actually interesting concerns" were being "warped and drowned out by an army of trolls spewing bile, often at women." Sarah Kaplan of The Washington Post noted that sexism became "the crux" of the #GamerGate controversy.

Quinn has stated that the #GamerGate movement was manufactured by users of 4chan operating on an IRC channel specifically to attack her and her followers for her feminist views, while those posting under #NotYourShield were not of the claimed minority groups. These statements have been denied by some users of 4chan. Anita Sarkeesian, speaking publicly for the first time (at the XOXO Festival in Portland, Oregon) since she fled her home, said in regard to the accusations that high-profile women were making up the threats against them that "One of the most radical things you can do is to actually believe women when they talk about their experiences," and that "The perpetrators do not see themselves as perpetrators at all... They see themselves as noble warriors."

Legitimacy of concerns

Writing in Time, Leigh Alexander described the campaign as "deeply sincere" but based on "bizarre conspiracy theories," stating that there is nothing unethical or improper about journalists being friends and acquaintances of those they cover. "Surely these campaigners understand that no meaningful reporting on anything takes place without the trust—and often friendship—of people on the inside," she said. Quinn herself agreed that a discussion on journalism ethics was needed and suggested that all those instead use the "#GameEthics" hashtag to discuss the matter without the baggage of misogyny and harassment that have attached to #GamerGate.

Vox Media writer Todd VanDerWerff highlighted an essay written by game developer David Hill which explained that he believed #GamerGate made good points, but targeted the wrong people. Hill wrote that gaming journalists hated the nepotism and how the industry, particluarly AAA publishers, treats video game journalism as marketing rather than critics. Hill wrote, "We want to approach these works of art as works of art, and not just as the next success or flop. But that can't happen on any large scale, because of that corruption, because of the commercialism of it all." He further added that the #GamerGate movement should not have focused on independent developers like Quinn, particularly attacking her sex life, and Fish to try to enact a change in games journalism, describing them as "frankly powerless in the games industry", but rather the movement should have targetted advertising by AAA companies.

Several gaming press sites such as Polygon and Kotaku changed their disclosure and conflict of interest policies, including prohibiting writers from supporting any game developers through Patreon, while The Escapist and Destructoid reviewed their ethics policy.

References

1. Time: "Despite the fact the journalist in question did not ‘review’ the game and wasn't found to have allocated it any particular special treatment..."; Washington Post: "The site investigated the alleged ethics breach and concluded there had been no wrongdoing."; Forbes: "....the initial concerns were quickly proven to be all smoke and no fire..."

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