Why wasn't it discussed under the hashtag? Why is "journalistic integrity" only an issue when journalists aren't writing consumer reports? Why is it NOT an issue when you have a class of not-quite journalists that is coopted as an extension of a marketing campaign?
Because it wasn't an issue with gaming journalism. It was an issue with the publisher trying to do some unethical **** and they were caught doing it... not by the media gg is criticizing, but by totalbiscuit, who is an avowed gamergate sympathizer. It was discussed under another banner. I find these attempts to concern trolling and whatabboutery around what others want from a tag something that quite honestly is annoying.
What, I ask you, is the point of gamergate? What is its victory condition? What is it that they want to achieve, and how much relation does it bear to what the movement is actually achieving?
This is
the question. I think GGs are a bit confused over this one. They speak about journalism integrity, and its a core aspect to it, it's like an overarching theme, but I think the bigger part of it is the perception that a particular aggressive ideology paired with favored mediocrity has taken over journalism. People will then say silly things like "I want game reviews to be OBJECTIVE!!" while saying stuff like "Games are about FUN!", well, fun is probably the most subjective stuff out there, so that ain't it. I think "Gamerz" want to go back to a moment in time where games were just for fun. That hardcore literal analysts didn't come to ruin their experience, tell them they are experiencing nasty sexist, racist, violent stuff (like what they learned to hear from their moms their whole life I guess), etc., etc. It doesn't help when half the feminist activists find games like Bayonetta sexist to abhorrent levels, and the other half find it uptlifting, "owning your own sex", positive, etc. Which is it?
I'm at odds with this "endgame". I find quite the opposite, that what lacks in current game journalism is not the disappearance of a particular ideological viewpoint around games, but
heterogeneity in these viewpoints and ideologies.
But that's not what is driving gamergate at this point. What is driving it is precisely this awkward relationship with the journalistic establishment that is defaming them to smithereens. I find it amazing that the journalists are talking
down to their audience like this, I had never seen anything like it (then again, all this **** about twitter and so on is so novel). All we hear is how Anita or Wu are being harrassed and not one single digital pixel about how ggs are being harrassed. All we hear is how gamergaters are bad. The narrative must hold: Gamergate are the Orcs from Mordor that must be crushed by the shining knights of humanity. The big paradox here is that by being so selective in their sources and stories they tell, the media is further establishing their own corruption in the minds of gamergaters. They have lost objectivity and fairness. It's a battle between news organizations and the very audience, who are in their own way trying to get alternative sources of information.
The big loss here is in journalism. I think in this respect that this #gate is a symptom of two wars going on. The first is the wider journalism crisis, whose industry is collapsing in front of our very own eyes. This must be creating a sort of weariness and a sense of anxiety on reporters, but it's definitly creating all sorts of bad incentives towards clickbait techniques and editorial lapses of ethical standards. The second is a wider culture war between hardcore feminists and the wider "patriarchal" society.
This is why it hasn't faded by now. I even suspect it is possible (albeit far fetched) people around the Verge and so on are fueling this **** on purpose. It could all be absolutely over by tomorrow if all these sites were to suddenly stop the name calling, be fair at their reporting (reporting abuses for all sides, show how women and minorities are actually well represented within gamergate, etc.) and dare ask bigger questions, dare be inclusive and humble, and so on.
Tomorrow. But I'm afraid this is not going to happen, because there's a driving force behind this push, it's an ideological force that is whispering in these people's hears "
these white cis male basement dweller gamers are mysoginist transphobic scum, we are revolutionizing games and paving the way to a better world, a better society, this is a war and by gods we're gonna win this!".
