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The best response to GamerGate scandal

2 min read
25

Love letters

If you haven’t noticed, we have been shying away from discussing the Gamergate scandal that seems to be swirling around social media. I touched on it briefly last week, but really it seems like a big mess that we’d rather not give attention. In fact, Mike Bithell seems to have the right approach.

Over on Tumblr, Bithell posted a love letter that I will copy in full for you because it’s just that awesome and truly, we at lazygamer.net pretty much agree with the whole thing.

Hey, average gamer:

  • Do you bloody love videogames, maybe even if you’re a bit too old and the washing up pile is massive but if you can just complete that next mission then it’ll all be ok, ish..?
  • Do you read / watch / listen to a bunch of stuff about your chosen hobby, sometimes agreeing, sometimes not agreeing, generally glad that you bothered to read / watch / listen?
  • Do you own at least one videogame themed t-shirt / tattoo / mug or poster? Probably more than one?
  • Do you stay out of BIG CONVERSATIONS on social media, because you are doing other things, or, whatever?
  • Do you think everyone should be able to play or make games if they want to?
  • Does the idea of sending aggressive crap to strangers strike you as a bit odd?
  • Does the idea of being sent aggressive crap by complete strangers strike you as slightly more odd?

Then you rock. I’m not sure anyone has told you that in the last couple of weeks, and I thought I’d take a little time to do so. There’s a lot of anger swirling around, and it occurred to me that you were probably out there, in massive numbers, wondering why cool folks who made and played the same stuff you do are calling each other (and you) names or claiming to represent you.

Keep playing games. Please. And would it kill you to buy a t-shirt? Those things are both profitable and excellent marketing. Thanks.

With all the scandal, it’s nice to see the support for most people who just want to carry on playing awesome games, and maybe buy the t-shirt.

*Full disclosure: we stalked and interviewed Mike Bithell at Gamescom. I even got a hug and a selfie. I think this means we’re best friends now.

Last Updated: September 1, 2014

25 Comments

  1. Sk3tz0

    September 1, 2014 at 17:03

    He seems Awesome..

    Reply

  2. PERSONA 5!!!! (Umar)

    September 1, 2014 at 17:12

    I love this man…Seriously….I’m sick to death of all this negativity…When…when did it become this way? Why do people even have to push such things, I hated this article by Gamasutra ….
    In any case. I love being a gamer, I love playing games, I love all gamers whether you’re black, white or Asari…I don’t care….I love you all and for heavens sake can we all just along,please….Why do we have to continuously fight like this. Even non-gamers. I can go onto Twitter now and someone is having some religious or racial argument. Is it really that hard for us, to realize we’re the same? I bleed the blood that is in your veins. I breathe the same air that is in your lungs. We’re human..
    Whether or not we call ourselves gamers means absolutely nothing. We love the same things therefore we are family. Even if you don’t like video games, we are all kin…

    Reply

    • Rinceable

      September 1, 2014 at 18:21

      I bleed pink!

      Reply

      • PERSONA 5!!!! (Umar)

        September 1, 2014 at 18:22

        I know you do. You’re Lightning’s biggest fan afterall

        Reply

        • Rinceable

          September 1, 2014 at 18:23

          LIES!

          Reply

          • PERSONA 5!!!! (Umar)

            September 1, 2014 at 18:26

            TRUTH! ADMIT IT!! You love her depressive personality!

          • Rinceable

            September 1, 2014 at 18:32

            Bwahahah 🙂 But, she smiled, ONCE. I was told this by a reasonable source…

          • PERSONA 5!!!! (Umar)

            September 1, 2014 at 18:36

            LOL Best day of my life dude!

    • Alien Emperor Trevor

      September 1, 2014 at 19:30

      I HATE YOU SONY FANBOI!

      … he said expressing his manly feelings of agreement & affection.

      Reply

      • PERSONA 5!!!! (Umar)

        September 2, 2014 at 07:41

        I hate you too!!! *hugs*

        Reply

    • Spaffy

      September 2, 2014 at 07:35

      lol

      Reply

  3. Brady miaau

    September 1, 2014 at 17:12

    Um, what is the scandal?

    From what I read, it seems that some people are upset with some other people cause of what they said about our Sharon at the last family braai. Or something.

    Is this an actual issue or is it being made to seem like a issue? I cam confused. And that does not happen easily. Only when I breath or think.

    Whatever. Great piece by Mike Bithel though.

    Reply

    • Alien Emperor Trevor

      September 1, 2014 at 19:28

      I also don’t know what it’s about, and couldn’t care less beyond now mild curiosity… but not enough curiosity to spend my upcoming gaming time googling other peoples stupid crap.

      Reply

    • Vinzenz Stemberg

      September 2, 2014 at 22:34

      Basically someone slept with a few someone elses to get their game promoted and to win some contests. Which wasn’t all that big a scandal at first, but then some ‘journalists’ pushed back HARD. And it turned out because they were involved with or supported games that won previous IGFs/Indiecades for much the same reason. Zoe accidentally exposed a wholly corrupt industry totally by accident. If she hadn’t been going behind her boyfriend’s back about it, or if she hadn’t called in to defend her people she shouldn’t know or were unrelated to it, the whole thing would never have broke.

      I think even though she got her game promoted in a completely negative way Zoe might come out of it an accidental ‘saviour’ once everything dies down (at least to the people not offended by people with multiple partners). Imagine that. Saving gaming because you got caught sleeping around. The investigation she touched off is pretty much proving indie gaming just as corrupt as mainstream, only the payoffs involve sex instead of doritos and a few less 0s before that decimal point. The fame is worth more than the money in this crowd.

      Reply

      • frumpus

        September 5, 2014 at 01:57

        Except it’s absolutely not about that. It’s about a bunch of asshole misogynists trying to make a mountain out of a molehill. So many female developers have quit because of all the harassment you gamergate fucks have given them.

        Reply

        • Disagree

          September 9, 2014 at 13:40

          Gonna have to disagree about the Mountain out of a Molehill thing. When #GamerGate people say “The Gaming Media is corrupt and doesn’t represent us.” and the gaming media responds by saying “YOU ARE ALL FAT UGLY NECKBEARD VIRGINS!” (Are we going to accept that this was a prominent response, or am I going to have to whip out the specific articles?) I don’t view it as *that* much of a logical jump to say “Hmmm. Maybe they *are* being inadequately represented by these people/the gaming media has some sort of contempt for what is supposed to be their target audience.” Is there a faction that is more about shitting on a handful of women involved in the industry as much as possible? SURE IS. But the opposing side of the isle (Especially from major publications) utter refusal to accept the fact that you know, one or two people under #GamerGate/#NotYourShield are more concerned about problems within the gaming media, combined with their vitriolic articles against anybody who brands themselves a “Gamer”, just empowers the movement.

          Let me close on this – I disagree with this “Factions in GamerGate are mysoginistic assholes, therefore GamerGate is about mysigony.” line. It’s akin to saying “The WBC is a thing, so Christianity is the WBC” “Heathenry has a White Supremacist Faction, so Heathenry is White Supremacy.”

          It’s a faction, and it’s the loudest faction, but there is another one more concerned by the fact that the Gaming Media is responding to all this by hurling talking points on a Fox-News esque level.

          Reply

          • Disagree - Cont.

            September 9, 2014 at 13:46

            The central point of said talking points being – To stand against us is to be an evil mysoginist racist and #NotYourShield is an elaborate conspiracy to trick us (But Quinnspiracy is still proof of how ridiculous these people are, amirite?)

  4. Sir Rants A Lot: On Pandora

    September 1, 2014 at 17:18

    Give that man a Bells! In an appropriately themed gaming Whiskey Tumbler…. I’ve just had the most awesome idea ever! My wife is gonna be real upset when I start having gaming themed tumblers made for the house!

    Reply

  5. Mark Treloar

    September 1, 2014 at 18:09

    Did you get a T-shirt?

    Reply

  6. Rinceable

    September 1, 2014 at 18:21

    You and Mike Zoe! Get a room!… I am sure you have tried 😛

    Reply

    • Sageville

      September 2, 2014 at 09:32

      Nooo, when Zoes make scandals the internet tubes get blocked!

      Reply

  7. Rags

    September 1, 2014 at 19:14

    I hope he checked his privilege before making such a fucking reasonable post. 😀

    Reply

    • Rags

      September 1, 2014 at 19:33

      Then again. He is a game developer. This seems to be a common theme amoung ‘journalists’ the last few weeks. Its just too much work to be journalists and expose these toxic people in our industry. The best is slate with:”don’t criticise women”. I wish I was paraphrasing. You are all lazy bastards giving them a free ride on the back of decades of hard work getting us here.

      Just last week there was another promo ad on Lazygamer for Anita and her incredibly bad videos.

      Sorry guys but its your job to put in the work to keep your house accountable and in order. Next week we have more shit from these journalists, developers and pop culture critics only because you allow them to. Given them a free pass on some of the worse offences you can commit in your profession.

      Its ironic that the guys over at 4chan and youtube who are just bloggers and forum users doing all the journalistic work. It’s time for some introspection.

      Reply

  8. meeeeeee

    September 6, 2014 at 21:29

    Oh look real journalists.

    Reply

  9. PureSophistry

    September 17, 2014 at 14:51

    The difference between news consolidation in the gaming world VS others mediums is absolutely staggering, discussion between veteran news anchors and gaming journalists ahead……..

    http://www.640toronto.com/2014/09/16/vgs-sexist-gaming-culture-vs-journalistic-integrity-how-do-you-fix-a-broken-system-with-nhl-15/

    Reply

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