Home Features Fake news: Misinformation in the local scene

Fake news: Misinformation in the local scene

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The phenomenon of fake news has only recently been given a tremendous spotlight and taken seriously on a mainstream level. It went from source-less Facebook posts to unverified tweets that went viral to the current level where fake news is now an entire profit-generating industry.

There will doubtless be academically rigorous papers written about the rise of fake news and what contributed to its ascension, but for the most part a severe lack of critical thinking and the power of echo chambers seem likely culprits.

You may think fake news is a full length article that spreads lies, but that is not the full picture. It can be argued that fake news starts with people spreading misinformation, deliberate or not, which lays the foundation for full length pieces. With that thinking, misinformation at a comment level is already fake news. This is where the problem begins.

Fake News In Our Own Backyard

South Africa, and more specifically the local gaming scene, is not immune to this phenomenon of fake news. I’ve often covered topics around the importance of diversity and representation in the local scene. Just as often, I’ve been met with resistance around what I’m saying.

I’m often told that the lack of diversity in the local scene is due to cultural differences that leads to gamers of colour not playing as much as their white counterparts. One comment went so far as to bring in made up ancestral influences leading to gamers of colour not being comfortable playing games.

Differing interests is another reason cited to explain why gamers of colour and women are not often seen in the local scene. Add to that, income inequality and apparently this accounts for why the scene is predominantly white and male. The takeaway from it all seems to be, this is just the way things are naturally.

Last week Nicholas Hall, former chair and founding member of Make Games SA, revealed some important statistics in a Twitter thread. Read it for yourself:

The key takeaways from the thread are as follows:

  • 78% of PC and Console gamers in the country are black
  • 44% of PC/Console gamers (or mid-hard core if you prefer those numbers) are women
  • PoC are far less likely to play online, which is due to not having decent internet penetration rather than not having access to PC/Console

The thread was the result of Nicholas reacting to the same views I faced in many of my articles. People perpetuating incorrect, but ultimately comforting, views as fact – the very thing fake news does currently. I’ve spoken to Nicholas directly and whilst the source of these statistics cannot be made public just yet, the sources are credible. There will hopefully be a follow up article once he’s able to make these statistics available.

The Danger of Fake News And The Harm It Causes

The danger of fake news has been largely ignored, given that it was initially limited to people publicly naming and shaming brands and random people on social media. Since it seemingly affected the US elections, to some degree, it has been given a more serious analysis.

Aside from the reasonably significant influence fake news had on a global power’s democratic elections, fake news also damages society by perpetuating a harmful viewpoint through misinformation.

This is evident locally in the constant narrative being told that people of colour and women just don’t play games as much as white men. This is a dangerous narrative that only serves to perpetuate the unhealthy status quo.

Never mind that this narrative reinforces an unhealthy landscape, misinformation also leads to actively holding back growth in the scene. Whilst many in the scene are championing for minorities, be it gamers of colour, women, LGBTQ, disabled and more, they often come up against resistance that relies on false narratives to justify their actions.

Challenging progressive views based on misinformation harms the growth of the industry. People are out here telling real stories and raising valid points and they are shutdown by people quoting incorrect facts. It’s a lazy cop out that allows people to avoid dealing with the real issues in the local scene.

Defeating Fake News And Taking The Scene Further

Africa is a continent renowned for its lack of accurate data, when it comes to anything important. Even in South Africa, we can’t agree with the government on what the real unemployment rate is. In the local gaming scene, the scarcity of real data is even worse. We need more research done in the scene, like the one undertaken by Nicholas and co.

The local scene also needs to stop perpetuating misinformation and wake up to the facts. In a country that is predominantly non-white, pretending that the gaming scene is naturally majority white makes no sense, and the statistics prove that.

An issue that is given less of a spotlight, but often rears its head in arguments, is this idea that anecdotal evidence on its own is significant. To those of you guilty of this thinking, it is not. Ever.

Fake news thrives on this mentality, where people have anecdotal evidence and then begin to search online for the first article that verifies it as truth. This is where a lack of critical thinking is exposed, as the source is not questioned nor is an opposing view researched to provide an argument.

The future is bright for SA gaming, and based on the growing number of people attending events, local gaming YouTubers, competitive teams and more, the scene is looking healthy. Despite this, let’s remember that fake news has harmed many positive projects globally. Let’s not let our local scene be another victim to fake news and misinformation.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Critical Hit as an organisation.

Last Updated: January 24, 2017

83 Comments

  1. konfab

    January 24, 2017 at 12:42

    If those statistics are accurate, it means that gamers in this country apparently don’t particularly care about not being able to play as a carbon copy of themselves in games.

    Who would have thought that people care more about game mechanics than what gender the orc you are trying to kill identifies as.

    Reply

    • Caveshen Rajman

      January 24, 2017 at 13:37

      A+

      Reply

    • Magoo

      January 24, 2017 at 13:42

      Can confirm. For some strange reason, I always pick a lady character if I am allowed to choose. Spoiler: I am not a lady character in real life.

      Reply

      • miaau

        January 24, 2017 at 13:47

        yeah, me too. On both counts.

        Reply

      • Allykhat

        January 24, 2017 at 14:26

        To be honest, people get annoyed these days if you assume their gender based on their physical assets and appearance.

        So why should the fact that you represent a female character in games be anything other than completely acceptable?

        Reply

      • Sageville

        January 24, 2017 at 15:17

        Same here, it’s called “Escapism” for a reason…

        Reply

  2. PurplePariah

    January 24, 2017 at 12:42

    Excellent article as always.

    I don’t know where the team found you, but you know how in every band of misfits there’s that one really smart one? Yeah that’s you.

    Reply

  3. Admiral Chief

    January 24, 2017 at 12:54

    In other news, Darryn is pregnant

    Reply

    • Banana Jim's Final Form!

      January 24, 2017 at 20:18

      I didn’t do it!

      Reply

      • Admiral Chief

        January 25, 2017 at 07:57

        I didn’t say you did, your denial is quite interesting
        [makes notes]

        Reply

        • Banana Jim's Final Form!

          January 26, 2017 at 12:02

          You have nothing on me!

          Reply

  4. Admiral Chief

    January 24, 2017 at 12:54

    This just in, Geoff running for Emperor of South Africa

    Reply

  5. Kromas Ryder

    January 24, 2017 at 12:59

    I could not give a crap if you are white black asian or female. If you like Mass Effect you are a true gamer.

    Also PC!
    (thats Master Race not the other PC).

    Reply

    • konfab

      January 24, 2017 at 13:30

      True gamers know that shooting Mordin is the correct thing to do >:3

      Reply

      • miaau

        January 24, 2017 at 13:31

        Mordin? Mordin? Shootin Udina, now that was almost literally the most satisfaction in any game, popping him one in ME3.

        but Mordin?

        Reply

        • konfab

          January 24, 2017 at 13:32

          Yes. It shows that your Shep is willing to place the good of the galaxy above their friendship.

          Reply

          • miaau

            January 24, 2017 at 13:33

            Wait? What? How? Friendship with who?

            Very sad when Mordin does not make it.

          • Admiral Chief

            January 24, 2017 at 13:37

            MORDIN DIES??????

            GAAAH!

        • Dresden

          January 24, 2017 at 13:37

          I could never do that!
          I already felt like garbage for lying to him once in front of the others in the Mako.

          Reply

          • miaau

            January 24, 2017 at 14:21

            NO lies. Cure the Krogan.

            AND, in my play last night, choose the Geth over the Quarians. Quarians did not have the moral high ground. And Tali died randomly in ME2.

          • Matthew Holliday

            January 24, 2017 at 14:41

            No perfect playthrough? couldnt save them both?
            DOES THIS UNIT EVEN HAVE A SOUL?

          • miaau

            January 24, 2017 at 16:10

            My first play of ME2 and ME3, I saved both.

            This time, re-play on Xbox One, I decided from the start that the chips fall where they may, no reloading. Bit disappointed, did all the quests correctly in ME2, seems there is always a chance someone can die.

            BUT: did not restart end scene, had to keep it. And then from that point on, the arrogant quarians were doomed.

          • Dresden

            January 24, 2017 at 17:01

            I lied because I wanted to fool Dalatrass Linron and I was scared the crew or someone would rat me out if I told Mordin in front of them.
            As soon as we reach the base of the shroud I told him. He sort of understood.
            For me, that scene is probably of of the saddest parts of the game. He was probably my favorite crew member and I built a long friendship with him, even if he was a bit kooky at times.

            As for the Quarian/ Geth situation, I got them to ally I think. Went the full Paragon route and it irks me when I can’t get the perfect situation.

          • Dresden

            January 24, 2017 at 17:17

            Though I will replay it again in the near future and I feel then I will let the “chips fall where they may” to see how events will play out.

      • Kromas Ryder

        January 24, 2017 at 13:40

        You just wounded me sir!

        Reply

        • konfab

          January 24, 2017 at 13:43

          That would make it…a Critical Hit.

          (•_•)
          ( •_•)>⌐■-■
          (⌐■_■)

          Reply

          • Admiral Chief

            January 24, 2017 at 13:53

            ¯_(ツ)_/¯

    • GooseZA

      January 24, 2017 at 15:14

      Not long now! AANNDDRROOMMEEDDAAAA

      Reply

  6. Sageville

    January 24, 2017 at 13:03

    The term “Fake news” is relatively new, I’m still coming to grasps with it at the moment. On twitter I see fake news as a parody account that imitates a reliable news source and pushes it’s fake content…

    This local fake news you speak of sounds more like just narrow opinions on comment’s sections or social media… does that still count as fake news?

    I guess I’m also asking if there are local gaming news sites (parody or not) pushing fake content?

    Reply

    • Kromas Ryder

      January 24, 2017 at 13:04

      I don’t want to name names but a certain news site owned by a certain ISP can bend the truth quite a bit.

      Reply

    • Magoo

      January 24, 2017 at 13:50

      I believe the article is about how widespread misconceptions act as “fake news” in the big picture, because everything that is written or read is done so with said misconceptions in mind.

      Reply

      • Sageville

        January 24, 2017 at 15:19

        Gotcha!

        Reply

  7. Dresden

    January 24, 2017 at 13:09

    What if this article about fake news is actually fake news and it’s goal is to misinform us about the misinformation in the local scene!
    O.O/

    Reply

    • Alien Emperor Trevor

      January 24, 2017 at 13:11

      fake news * fake news = real news. It’s maths! 😀

      Reply

    • Admiral Chief

      January 24, 2017 at 13:25

      MADNESS

      Reply

    • Fox1 - Retro

      January 24, 2017 at 16:11

      My thoughts exactly because the source has not been named. Thankfully there is a promised follow up article.

      Reply

  8. Alien Emperor Trevor

    January 24, 2017 at 13:11

    Critical thinking? Who’s got time for that?! So much more convenient to accept the easiest answer that fits your preconceptions.

    Reply

    • konfab

      January 24, 2017 at 13:16

      Preconceptions are the things that allow us to filter out garbage.

      Would you bother applying critical thinking to an article that stated they have evidence that the earth is flat.

      Reply

      • Alien Emperor Trevor

        January 24, 2017 at 13:21

        Nice try, but that’s a stupid analogy because it applies to people who believe the world is flat as well.

        Reply

        • konfab

          January 24, 2017 at 13:28

          So it is a bad analogy because their preconceptions are wrong, and yours are right?

          Reply

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            January 24, 2017 at 13:36

            I never said bad, I said stupid. The earth either is flat, or it isn’t. It can’t be both, therefore someone is wrong. I also never said I was right or they were wrong.

      • PurplePariah

        January 24, 2017 at 13:21

        Yes. So that I can tell them exactly how they’re wrong, without any facts to back up my side, and then proceed to insult everyone who argues.

        This is the internet, after all.

        Reply

        • Deceased

          January 25, 2017 at 01:16

          ^ This guy gets it 😛

          Reply

  9. Aries

    January 24, 2017 at 13:23

    “PoC are far less likely to play online, which is due to not having
    decent internet penetration rather than not having access to PC/Console”

    This line though lol, think it connection but penetration works also

    Good read though, being a Coloured I know most of my friends play games as much as I do but they mostly cant play online because of the shitty infrastructure when it comes to online play, of my Coloured friends, only four of them have decent enough internet to actually play online, which is weird considering how much of them there is

    Reply

    • konfab

      January 24, 2017 at 13:24

      Penetration always works…
      ( ͡º ͜ʖ ͡º)

      Reply

      • Admiral Chief

        January 24, 2017 at 13:25

        ☚ (<‿<)☚

        Reply

      • Original Heretic

        January 24, 2017 at 15:30

        Oh good! I’m not the only one who got stuck on the term “internet penetration”. It just sounds digital dirty.

        Reply

        • miaau

          January 24, 2017 at 16:08

          you are not supposed to get stuck……

          Reply

          • Original Heretic

            January 24, 2017 at 16:15

            I do lots of things I’m not supposed to do.

    • miaau

      January 24, 2017 at 13:27

      Yeah, we really, really need decent internet infrastructure EVERYWHERE people live in SA. Really. I live in an old suburb near-ish Pretoria Union buildings and only 2 years did we get ADSL greater than 2mb/s and even that I could not play online, latency was terrible to EXCHANGE.

      Got a upgrade about two years ago, maybe three now, and it all works out, with ADSL.

      EDIT* you know what pisses me off, Aries: I bet your friends pay the same for their crapppy internet line rentals as I do for my nice and fast link, cause my exchange is shiny and new.

      Reply

      • Aries

        January 24, 2017 at 13:31

        Im still on 2mb/s, but my latency about 12ms on average, though 4mb is the most for my area, I am actually on a 4mb but never once saw anything near that speed, being complaining for months now, telkom are a bunch on idiots stacked on top of each other, hard to get through the thick heads most of the time

        Reply

        • Admiral Chief

          January 24, 2017 at 13:38

          Telkom FINALLY made it to my house today (line fooooked since the 8th)

          Still not working though…

          Reply

          • Aries

            January 24, 2017 at 14:30

            I had that problem in the beginning when they started upgrading took them over a year to fix, so good luck with them

          • Admiral Chief

            January 24, 2017 at 15:37

            Confirmed, running at 4mb again!

  10. Caveshen Rajman

    January 24, 2017 at 13:33

    Okay here’s the thing.

    Nick says:
    “78% of PC and Console gamers in the country are black
    44% of PC/Console gamers (or mid-hard core if you prefer those numbers) are women
    PoC are far less likely to play online, which is due to not having decent
    internet penetration rather than not having access to PC/Console”

    And then you say:
    “This is evident locally in the constant narrative being told that people
    of colour and women just don’t play games as much as white men. This is
    a dangerous narrative that only serves to perpetuate the unhealthy
    status quo.”

    To which I reply (assuming that “black” means “not white” in this case):

    I have never been told, by any white or other person, that gaming is majority white. Now that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen, of course. However based on what you said above,

    1. The majority of ONLINE GAMERS are in fact white (although I know my fair share of non-white folks online as well, I’m one of them after all)

    2. The ratio of total population to gamers (gamers per capita?) seems more or less 1:1 in terms of racial census, ie. the black majority of total population are the black majority of gamers. If my maths serves me, the ratio of total population percentage that play games actually seems higher for white gamers
    3. If these stats are credible, and I’d love to find out how they were collected, you’ve essentially disproved a few assertions made by popular sites (let’s not mention names because I have neither the time nor patience to go digging for sources right now) that gaming is primarily white and PoC do not play games – in other words, you’ve proven that they have previously misinformed us.

    To go even further on point 3, given that PoC and women are already playing games, are there stats on what games they are playing as well? And could we finally put to bed the alleged representation problem that gaming has, if we can take a look at the stats and see what’s being played? I’d love to actually speak to @nickhallsa and you about this in further detail.

    Any idea of the hard numbers in these stats? Would be interesting to see the percentage of SA population that plays games and how that aligns with the economic standing of the population.

    Reply

  11. Weanerdog

    January 24, 2017 at 13:38

    Fake news is nothing new, it just now has a new catch phrase and people are actually calling bullshit on it.
    American – Spanish war was mostly fake news in the States.
    WW1 Germans invasion on Belgium, English papers vastly overstated the atrocities to push the war agenda.
    Vietnam
    And for a local spin go check out the apartheid, and these are all off the top of my head.
    Now I know they were represented by some truly vile alt-right individuals by funny how when gamergate called ethics in journalism it was shouted down as hate against woman etc. Baby, bathwater and all that. #JustSaying

    Reply

    • Alien Emperor Trevor

      January 24, 2017 at 13:40

      Stop wasting bathwater!

      Reply

      • Weanerdog

        January 24, 2017 at 13:54

        Sorry, but I did use it for 5 weeks first. 🙁

        Reply

        • Admiral Chief

          January 24, 2017 at 13:57

          Saving some [̲̅$̲̅(̲̅ιοο̲̅)̲̅$̲̅] eh?

          Reply

          • Weanerdog

            January 24, 2017 at 13:59

            Saving the World

          • Admiral Chief

            January 24, 2017 at 14:02

            One bath in 5 weeks at a time eh?

  12. Magoo

    January 24, 2017 at 13:44

    *thumbs up*

    Reply

  13. Skittle

    January 24, 2017 at 14:06

    POC LGBTTQQIAAP QUILTBAG WTF ROFLMAO, the age of acronyms. Can we please start referring to white men as WM, I’m tired of reading so many words.

    Reply

    • Magoo

      January 24, 2017 at 14:37

      WBC 😉

      Reply

  14. Banana Jim's Final Form!

    January 24, 2017 at 15:11

    Off-topic (but still relevant)

    I really hate the term “people of colour” (POC). It is the one “regressive” term that is without a doubt a collective “fuck-you” (from white liberals) to the vast and beautiful tapestry of non-white ethnicities on this incredible planet.

    Whenever a champagne socialist uses it, I just want to grab them by their scrawny neck and spit in their face, “Gee! thanks for lumping us all under one banner, you fucking poser!”

    Rant/

    Reply

    • Sageville

      January 24, 2017 at 15:27

      I think it’s cause “People of Color” is a better term than “Non-white”….

      I can’t really do the whitesplaining here though…

      Reply

      • Banana Jim's Final Form!

        January 24, 2017 at 20:13

        Please don’t! Both terms are deplorable!

        Reply

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