Yet another game developer driven out of her home by internet misogynists

[WelshBloke]

🙄

Oh good, another one. Please point to where I said it's OK to threaten to rape or kill anyone.

If you can do that, I'll concede that I am a horrible person.

Well that's what the "social justice warriors" are complaining about.

 

[BoberFett]

Stop tapdancing and answer the question. Where did I say it was OK? You accused me, now put up or shut up.

Also, the SJWs are not complaining about credible threats. If that asshole that threatened her is found and locked up, then good riddance to him. But the SJWs have taken it beyond going after the guilty, and labeled anyone who doesn't fall lockstep with their views as a woman hating misogynist.

https://twitter.com/Spacekatgal

What's disturbing about SJW as a pejorative is how it dehumanizes us. It turns us into faceless Stormtroopers - enemies to be attacked.

But apparently she and others have no problem using pejoratives against gamers to them into faceless enemies.

The only difference in 8chan/#gamergate and the asshole Southern racists I grew up surrounded by is they had the balls to leave the house.

#GamerGate is best described as a sexist temper-tantrum targeting women, feminists, and allies working for change in the games industry.

Deeply unimpressed by @GaymerX still defending G****gate in their "apology." STOP LEGITIMIZING A HATE MOVEMENT.

So she maligns an entire group of people, then when one nutjob threatens her, it proves she was right about the entire group she just maligned? Yeah, that's sensible. 🙄

 

[WelshBloke]

Stop tapdancing and answer the question. Where did I say it was OK? You accused me, now put up or shut up.

Also, the SJWs are not complaining about credible threats. If that asshole that threatened her is found and locked up, then good riddance to him. But the SJWs have taken it beyond going after the guilty, and labeled anyone who doesn't fall lockstep with their views as a woman hating misogynist.

https://twitter.com/Spacekatgal



But apparently she and others have no problem using pejoratives against gamers to them into faceless enemies.







So she maligns an entire group of people, then when one nutjob threatens her, it proves she was right about the entire group she just maligned? Yeah, that's sensible. 🙄

Look I don't give a **RAT'S BEHIND** about your spat with the scary mean girls that are picking on you, it's when it crosses the line into threats of violence that it becomes a problem.

If people can't disagree with a bunch of girls without having to go down to that level then there is really something wrong with them.



No cursing in PCG.

Anandtech Administrator
KeithTalent

 

[Grooveriding]

'I was threatened on the Internet' is the new sex tape. It's a springboard. She's already done an interview and a roundtable. I'm sure there'll be more appearances.

/thread


This whole drama and crap is ridiculous. The nuts making twitter threats and the fools promoting this agenda of social justice in gaming deserve one another. Throw them both in the Thunderdome, really anywhere, so long as we stop having to hear about this idiocy.

 

[BoberFett]

Look I don't give a shit about your spat with the scary mean girls that are picking on you, it's when it crosses the line into threats of violence that it becomes a problem.

If people can't disagree with a bunch of girls without having to go down to that level then there is really something wrong with them.

Keep moving them goalposts!

 

[WelshBloke]

Keep moving them goalposts!

Are you drunk? All I've been talking about is the threats of violence.

Nobody (outside of a self absorbed Internet bubble) cares about the silly little arguments about whether the gaming press is corrupt or biased or if some girls said something mean to you, what the real world cares about is when that argument spills over into real threats.

 

[coloumb]

Are you drunk? All I've been talking about is the threats of violence.

Nobody (outside of a self absorbed Internet bubble) cares about the silly little arguments about whether the gaming press is corrupt or biased or if some girls said something mean to you, what the real world cares about is when that argument spills over into real threats.

Which apparently it has...

http://www.latimes.com/nation/natio...esian-cancels-utah-speech-20141014-story.html

This goes way beyond gaming...and is now considered terrorism.

 

[GoodRevrnd]

http://www.exitevent.com/article/gamergates-detractors-arent-doing-themselves-any-favors-101014

Unless the official manifesto of a movement is founded in hate, it’s ridiculous to argue that misogynistic statements alongside a popular hashtag on Twitter amounts to organized discrimination—even more so when anyone can tweet "#GamerGate" and the argument is based solely on the cherry-picked statements of a minority of participants.

The result of this type of irresponsible, one-sided "journalism" is that anyone who shows even the slightest dissent of opinion is automatically identified by the writer as being driven by hate. It's a common method of deflection used by people whose buttons have been pushed when their underhanded dealings are exposed, and it's damning of the gaming reporters who participate in it.

/thread

 

[ThinClient]

^^^^ That's money, right there.

 

[blastingcap]

I rarely play multiplayer games anymore. I did for a time, because I was very good at them, but I found other interests, and frankly, there are too many foul-mouthed (every other word gay/whore/n--ger/jew/etc.) boys and griefers/teamkillers. Games are supposed to be fun, after all. Immature frustrated young males create a hostile environment that contributes to the paucity of decent women in many genres of games. Most of these "it's not a big deal" posters probably don't have daughters.

I agree that the normal person + anonymity + audience thing is a real effect. But it's not a valid excuse. There are female griefers and such as well, but they are rarer. By far.

On the other hand I think it's just an extension of natural macho male b.s. Males commit over 90% of all violent crime. It wouldn't shock me if they were responsible for over 90% of online stalking/threats/etc.

 

[blastingcap]

She really thinks someone is gonna come to her house and kill her? Because of video games? Lawl.

What we have here is an out of control ego + victim complex.

Then post your home address, phone number, photo of yourself, etc.

 

[NTMBK]

Bit of an update. http://www.polygon.com/2014/10/14/6...not-going-to-get-bullied-out-of-this-industry

 

[WelshBloke]

^^^^ That's money, right there.

No it isn't because as a story and an issue journalists getting swag for favourable write ups pales into insignificance against people getting threats of rape and murder.

Until the gamergate crowd get their attack dogs under control they can expect to get their issues ignored by the media.

 

[PrincessFrosty]

Another SJW who is attacking literally MILLIONS of gamers is super surprised when a handful of them start sending them threats. I have no sympathy for her, in the end she chose to engage by being vocal in a public space, she wanted an audience and now she has one.

If I walked into the favourite pub of the home team for a football club in their own city, and I shouted at the top of my lungs "HEY YOU'RE ALL C***S AND YOUR TEAM F*****G SUCKS!" it's all but a certainty that one of the fans would walk up to me and break my nose, or much worse. Does that mean the entire pub full of people are hateful idiots? No, but we all understand that if you piss off a room full of people it's likely one person will take it too far, and that person doesn't represent everyone there.

When you deliberately piss off a huge section of the population with your SJW and femnazi bullshit and this is the response you get, it's demonstrably the response you get, we know it happens, it's not some huge secret, we've seen this with feminists like Rebecca Watson when they invaded Atheism and she had to go into hiding and then with Anita Sarkeesian and now again.

Just like every single "twitter threat" before them they're not actual credible threats, and historically nothing ever happens, it's just the same trolls that have been trolling people for years, and it's a waste of police and FBI time because these trolls are tech savvy and know how to use Onion Routing and Proxies to mask their identity which makes an investigation pretty much pointless.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

Another SJW who is attacking literally MILLIONS of gamers is super surprised when a handful of them start sending them threats. I have no sympathy for her, in the end she chose to engage by being vocal in a public space, she wanted an audience and now she has one.

If I walked into the favourite pub of the home team for a football club in their own city, and I shouted at the top of my lungs "HEY YOU'RE ALL C***S AND YOUR TEAM F*****G SUCKS!" it's all but a certainty that one of the fans would walk up to me and break my nose, or much worse. Does that mean the entire pub full of people are hateful idiots? No, but we all understand that if you piss off a room full of people it's likely one person will take it too far, and that person doesn't represent everyone there.

When you deliberately piss off a huge section of the population with your SJW and femnazi bullshit and this is the response you get, it's demonstrably the response you get, we know it happens, it's not some huge secret, we've seen this with feminists like Rebecca Watson when they invaded Atheism and she had to go into hiding and then with Anita Sarkeesian and now again.

Just like every single "twitter threat" before them they're not actual credible threats, and historically nothing ever happens, it's just the same trolls that have been trolling people for years, and it's a waste of police and FBI time because these trolls are tech savvy and know how to use Onion Routing and Proxies to mask their identity which makes an investigation pretty much pointless.

The only "gamers" being attacked are the disgusting people like you. Using every other gamer as a shield for your behavior isn't going to work on adults.

 

[Veliko]

Another SJW who is attacking literally MILLIONS of gamers is super surprised when a handful of them start sending them threats. I have no sympathy for her, in the end she chose to engage by being vocal in a public space, she wanted an audience and now she has one.

If I walked into the favourite pub of the home team for a football club in their own city, and I shouted at the top of my lungs "HEY YOU'RE ALL C***S AND YOUR TEAM F*****G SUCKS!" it's all but a certainty that one of the fans would walk up to me and break my nose, or much worse. Does that mean the entire pub full of people are hateful idiots? No, but we all understand that if you piss off a room full of people it's likely one person will take it too far, and that person doesn't represent everyone there.

When you deliberately piss off a huge section of the population with your SJW and femnazi bullshit and this is the response you get, it's demonstrably the response you get, we know it happens, it's not some huge secret, we've seen this with feminists like Rebecca Watson when they invaded Atheism and she had to go into hiding and then with Anita Sarkeesian and now again.

Just like every single "twitter threat" before them they're not actual credible threats, and historically nothing ever happens, it's just the same trolls that have been trolling people for years, and it's a waste of police and FBI time because these trolls are tech savvy and know how to use Onion Routing and Proxies to mask their identity which makes an investigation pretty much pointless.

Your rush to defend people being pricks, whilst simultaneously discrediting those who try to change things, is amusing but disturbing.

 

[WelshBloke]

Another SJW who is attacking literally MILLIONS of gamers is super surprised when a handful of them start sending them threats. I have no sympathy for her, in the end she chose to engage by being vocal in a public space, she wanted an audience and now she has one.

Yay! Disagree with someone and the acceptable response is to get death threats in return. You go try that at work today. Report back after.

If I walked into the favourite pub of the home team for a football club in their own city, and I shouted at the top of my lungs "HEY YOU'RE ALL C***S AND YOUR TEAM F*****G SUCKS!" it's all but a certainty that one of the fans would walk up to me and break my nose, or much worse. Does that mean the entire pub full of people are hateful idiots? No, but we all understand that if you piss off a room full of people it's likely one person will take it too far, and that person doesn't represent everyone there.

Yeah when that happens the guy that broke your nose gets arrested, what with him being in the wrong and everything.

When you deliberately piss off a huge section of the population with your SJW and femnazi bullshit and this is the response you get, it's demonstrably the response you get, we know it happens, it's not some huge secret, we've seen this with feminists like Rebecca Watson when they invaded Atheism and she had to go into hiding and then with Anita Sarkeesian and now again.

No. A reasonable reaction to someone disagreeing with you or pissing you off is not to send them death threats.

How fucking broken are you that you think that thats ok?

Just like every single "twitter threat" before them they're not actual credible threats, and historically nothing ever happens, it's just the same trolls that have been trolling people for years, and it's a waste of police and FBI time because these trolls are tech savvy and know how to use Onion Routing and Proxies to mask their identity which makes an investigation pretty much pointless.

As has been said, go ahead and post your details if stuff like that doesnt worry you. Its not like this place is anywhere near as vitriolic as the cesspit that spawned all this in the first place. Crimes dont suddenly not matter because investigating them is difficult.

 

[Grooveriding]

If you look at these threats being made it is coming from a very small number of users. It pisses me off seeing them being made as much as the next person, including the people who support the message of individuals like Sarkeesian and others who buy in to her warped perception of what is wrong with games.

The reality is that anywhere you go, any demographic, any group of people who partake in any activity, you are going to find bad apples. You could attack people who play golf as being misogynistic. You could attack people who enjoy outdoor theater as being misogynistic. You could attack people who go to church as being misogynistic. Basically you could attack any group of people that enjoy any activity with a similar level of vitriol and warped broken assumptions that the individuals who are promoting the notion that gaming somehow needs reform and find yourself the target of bad people. Because there are bad people everywhere, but fortunately they are the minority.

What you can't do is use that bad reaction to make and end-run around the logic and premise of your original attack's veracity. These individuals are trying to do exactly that; shift the discussion from the weak foundation their premise that gaming is misogynistic and gamers are by extension of their enjoyment of the medium is sitting on, to the reaction of a few bad apples. They're trying to legitimize their false message with that reaction. When that reaction has nothing to do with the demographic they originally attacked, but is simply part of the reality that there are bad people everywhere.

That is what pisses me off the most about these few people making these threats; they are giving the people spreading the false and backwards notion that there is something wrong with gaming smoke to obscure the falsehood of their original message. They're using it to shift the discussion from the baseless nature of their attack on gaming to just pointing at a few threats and saying 'see we're right'

There is nothing wrong or inherently misogynistic with gaming, gaming does not need any sort of reform. Gaming is not a political arena like women winning the right to vote or equal pay for equal work, things that are handled politically and amount to basic human rights. Gaming is a commercial medium for people's enjoyment and one that is going to pander to the majority demographic to turn a maximum profit. It does not need to change itself to pander to any of the unrealistic and immature expectations of people like Sarkeesian and her ilk.

Articles like the one originally linked in the OP are disgusting when they are attempted to be passed as a journalism. That is not journalism, it's an op-ed piece. Essentially a biased blog post. Polygon and a few other 'gaming journalism' sites are for the most part nothing but biased or bought off opinion pieces and should be processed as such.

Don't allow a few bad apples who enjoy scaring people on the internet and alternately people trying to spread a false and perverted view of what gaming is about and foster some sort of ridiculous revolution to cloud the discussion with the drama and deter people from the facts.

F**k the people making threats and f**k Sarkeesian and her more virulent supporters for both being cowards trying to push untenable positions and obscure the facts with dramatics.

 

[Maximilian]

Another SJW who is attacking literally MILLIONS of gamers is super surprised when a handful of them start sending them threats. I have no sympathy for her, in the end she chose to engage by being vocal in a public space, she wanted an audience and now she has one.

If I walked into the favourite pub of the home team for a football club in their own city, and I shouted at the top of my lungs "HEY YOU'RE ALL C***S AND YOUR TEAM F*****G SUCKS!" it's all but a certainty that one of the fans would walk up to me and break my nose, or much worse. Does that mean the entire pub full of people are hateful idiots? No, but we all understand that if you piss off a room full of people it's likely one person will take it too far, and that person doesn't represent everyone there.

When you deliberately piss off a huge section of the population with your SJW and femnazi bullshit and this is the response you get, it's demonstrably the response you get, we know it happens, it's not some huge secret, we've seen this with feminists like Rebecca Watson when they invaded Atheism and she had to go into hiding and then with Anita Sarkeesian and now again.

Just like every single "twitter threat" before them they're not actual credible threats, and historically nothing ever happens, it's just the same trolls that have been trolling people for years, and it's a waste of police and FBI time because these trolls are tech savvy and know how to use Onion Routing and Proxies to mask their identity which makes an investigation pretty much pointless.

This.

If you know nothing about the group you are gonna hate on or just don't care then you'll get whats coming to you. Welcome to the real world, that's how it is. Its the online version of this:

probably nsfw but if you've seen die hard 3...
http://i.imgur.com/SHOwW25.jpg

John Mclane, Harlem, That sign!

SJW's, The Internet, Whatever BS they spew on twitter!

Same thing.

 

[davie jambo]

This.

If you know nothing about the group you are gonna hate on or just don't care then you'll get whats coming to you. Welcome to the real world, that's how it is. Its the online version of this:

probably nsfw but if you've seen die hard 3...
http://i.imgur.com/SHOwW25.jpg

John Mclane, Harlem, That sign!

SJW's, The Internet, Whatever BS they spew on twitter!

Same thing.

It's not a waste of everyones time

These people that have sent her death threats need to be hunted down and arrested. It's against the law in most countries - enforce it , make an example out of one of them and people will either think twice about doing it again or stop it

I don't agree with her views but she does not deserve any of this

 

[sweenish]

Chalk this discussion up as a win for Vox Media, or get me some popcorn.

Either solution works for me.

 

[smackababy]

Bit of an update. http://www.polygon.com/2014/10/14/6...not-going-to-get-bullied-out-of-this-industry

And her entire problem lies in this statement: "You have players which are taking in these unconscious messages — women are not welcome here, this is our turf, this is our space — and then as a result of that we have a very hostile culture toward women,"
She isn't talking about idiots who make death threats on twitter; she is talking about all gamers. She is pushing that because 3 women were attacked, all women are attacked and all male gamers are a part of it.

Let's replace everywhere she says or refers to male gamers with African American and replace all references to hating women with committing crimes. She is full of crap and stereotyping an entire classification of people.

Let's also take into account nobody has ever heard of her or her games before this, and that is the same as with everyone else in this scandal.

 

[Jodell88]

TotalBiscuit said it best.

Here is some advice of what to do if you receive a death threat via Twitter or email. I give this from the position of someone who received death threats on a monthly basis, of varying degrees and is as of yet, not actually dead. Unfortunately, any kind of online presence comes with it the possibility that someone will do something stupid. It can be for any reason, even the most innocuous. It can be for no reason at all. People act in ways online they never would in real life and way exactly that is is not yet fully understood. Here's what we haven't done however.
Do not publicize the threat. This is advice given by law enforcement agencies for a couple of reasons. There is no actual benefit to publicizing the threat. People online can't protect you if the threat is real, telling them serves no practical purpose. If the threat is real, then it is designed to terrify you, by posting the threat and acknowledging it publicly, you hand victory to the person who sent it. If it is merely a stupid troll, then once again you hand victory to them by giving them attention. The only reliable way to deal with unpleasant people online is to starve them of oxygen and the attention they crave.

The other reason not to publicize the threat is that it encourages copycat behavior. Other assholes feel emboldened by the actions of the one and may decide to go after you or others. That level of hostility is a virus that is easily spread. The tiny, tiny minority of psychos that send death threats are looking to create a culture of fear. You enable them when you spread their message. This becomes more true the more followers you have, you become their weapon through your online presence.

It may seem comforting to receive support from online peers by letting them know you have been attacked, but that support is fleeting and ultimately of no actual worth. After reporting the threats to the police and to the medium they were sent through (twitter, email provider etc) meet up with friends, hang around with real people that can make you feel safe. You may think that the solution to the isolation you feel is to tell the world, but really it's to spend time with people you trust and remember that there is a fairly huge difference between online death threats which are in the vast majority of circumstances, psycho trolls and someone who is actually out to kill you.

Lastly, do not and I really mean this, do not use something like this as an opportunity to demonize a group. You beget more evil by doing this. These actions are almost universally performed by lone online psychos. More often than not they are looking to provoke conflict of some sort, if they can get you and a group fighting over something that frankly neither of you had any part in to begin with, that's a great victory. The person who sent those threats to Ms Wu tonight is no doubt celebrating, they got more than they could have ever dreamed of out of their little stunt. Of course, in an ideal world that person is arrested, but we know how difficult it truly is to track someone like that down. Burner Twitter accounts are just that. For all we know, every death threat in the history of Twitter was sent by one guy.
I understand receiving death threats can be frightening and I don't blame anyone who acts out of emotion when it happens, but please understand that the people that send these are looking to do maximum damage to as many people as possible. Think very carefully before enabling their behavior.

http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1sd042v

 

[davie jambo]

I can't help but think this could all have been avoided if everyone just shrugged their shoulder's and agreed with her

Nothing would have changed and she would not be getting death threats

 

[Atomic Playboy]

And her entire problem lies in this statement: "You have players which are taking in these unconscious messages — women are not welcome here, this is our turf, this is our space — and then as a result of that we have a very hostile culture toward women,"
She isn't talking about idiots who make death threats on twitter; she is talking about all gamers. She is pushing that because 3 women were attacked, all women are attacked and all male gamers are a part of it.

As someone who administers a gaming server, I see this virtually every day. As soon as a female comes in, everybody turns into a drooling, posturing macho jackass. "SHOW US YOUR TITS." You do what you can to prevent it; let people know it's unacceptable, ban the people who do it. But it happens virtually every time a (non-admin) woman comes on. And we're known as a woman-friendly server. To deny that misogyny is a legitimate issue in the gaming community just because you personally don't engage in it is willful ignorance. It exists, it's pervasive, and if your reaction to being told it exists is "SOCIAL JUSTICE WARRIOR, KILL THEM," you're part of the problem. I don't agree with Sarkeesian's broader claims about some inherent level of sexism being the basis of gaming culture, but pretending that there isn't some level of misogyny when three women have been driven from their homes through targeted threats? That's a pretty damning indictment.

This whole gamergate thing has become toxic. The movement has been hijacked by insane misogynists whose motivations are less about media involvement with gaming companies and more about "don't try to change our stuff." I can understand the desire to want to end media involvement with the corporations that produce games, especially the mass-market games, where we've seen a trend of releasing unfinished products to rave reviews that reeks of journalistic malfeasance on behalf of the gaming media. That's something worth exploring. But you can't do it on the backs of a movement that was started by a jilted ex-lover lying about his ex-girlfriend's sex life to discredit her, that is populated by people ignoring the crossovers of EA and IGN/Gamespot to focus on female indie game developers as though they're the reason gaming media is corrupt, that has made credible threats exclusively targeting women who have the gall to speak out against the industry (including threatening a school shooting, which is literally what terrorists do), and whose rhetoric is consistently shown that their issue is not with gaming media but with "feminazis" and "social justice warriors" who have the nerve to complain that sometimes games could be perceived as sexist. Gamergate is a PR nightmare for the people with legitimate complaints, because the actions of a few have made it symbolic with the assumed misogyny of gamers, and rather than distancing themselves from that, people are piping in with "well that's what you get." There's no place in that movement to address real issues; it's been co-opted by people who just want to bitch about women.