GamerGate has been an ongoing struggle within the video games industry, with both sides waging war against ideals like misogyny and collusion within the media sphere. The movement has been clashing with the powers that be for weeks now, with either faction digging in their heels for the long haul, striking out when (and where) they can.

Now it seems that another strike has taken place, this time aimed at one of the last safe havens of GamerGate discussion: The Escapist‘s forums.

A recent DDoS attack specifically targeted the publication’s GamerGate forums, forcibly knocking it offline and effectively cutting off all communication on the subject–literally pulling the plug on one of the last asylums for GamerGate debate and conversation.

A DDOS attack is currently underway against @TheEscapistMag. The attackers are specifically targeting the GamerGate forum thread.

— Alexander Macris (@archon) September 20, 2014

“We will be shutting down forums temporarily while we work on a longer-term solution,” Macris, who oversees general management for The Escapist, said in a recent Tweet.

But this attack won’t sway the publication’s ardent standing in providing a free, public forum for GamerGate.

When asked if the DDoS would ultimately convince The Escapist to pull the forums and block all discussion on the subject, Macris answered with a flat “no”.

Several of you have asked with @TheEscapistMag will close down all discussion of #GamerGate because of this; the answer is “no”.

— Alexander Macris (@archon) September 20, 2014

The Escapist‘s GamerGate  forum remains a key and pivotal environment that allows proponents–and anti-GamerGate followers–to freely voice their opinions on the subject.

Since Reddit and 4Chan‘s /v/ have employed blanket censorship and starting pulling threads on the topic users flocked to the Escapist to keep the ball rolling.

At the time of writing, The Escapist’s forums remain down: “due to database issues the forums will be offline through the weekend.”

There has been speculation that the DDoS may have been caused by anti-GamerGate activists, and that this attack may be a retaliation to the recently unearthed evidence of collusion within the games journalism scene.

E-mail messages taken from Games Journo Pros, a private Google Group used by big-name games writers, further supports this theory.

Sifting through the messages leaked by Breitbart’s Milo Yiannopoulos we see an interesting conversation between The Escapist‘s Editor-in-Chief Greg Tito and Polygon‘s Ben Kuchera.

Kuchera argues that Tito should cut off the forums that discuss the Zoe Quinn scandal (the events that ultimately led to GamerGate), but Tito ultimately disagrees, saying that it’s important for people to voice their opinions.

I’ve decided not to write about this because it’s kind of ridiculous, but there’s a thread created on The Escapist forums that is getting attention. I am unsure where to draw the line.

As an editorial organization, I’ve made the call to ignore the story. But as the controller of a public forum on the internet, I’m struggling to find justification in shutting down discussion. There are voices all over the spectrum in there.

We will of course continue to moderate the crap out of the threads, make sure that all our stringent rules are kept. Should I shut down the thread? Should I bury it? I will be writing a post to add to the thread now, but other than that I don’t know.

Looking for opinions from the group because I’m stumped as to the best way to handle this. Damn it, Jim, I’m a writer not a skilled forum moderator!

This is the question: People are using your platform to harass a developer. Are you comfortable with that?

If there is harassment, I would shut it down immediately. And we’ve banned/warned on posts in those threads that are even close to that line.

I’m talking about the discussion. If I followed your logic, we should also shut down Twitter and the rest of the internet for being a platform for discussion. Which given recent events looks like a very attractive option.

Individual comments are being shut down if they cross the line, which I think is about as good as you can do in this situation Greg.

Telling people they can’t discuss the ramifications of the allegations *at all* is a bit much I think, given that the Escapist forums have always been a place for a wide range of discussions. Banning anyone who is making threats or crossing a line into dangerous rhetoric is really your best move here, IMO.

Ask yourself this:

1) Does that thread serve your community?

2) Is it making anyone’s life better?

3) Is it actively hurting someone?

4) Is that what I want the Escapist to be?

The answers, are no, no, yes, and I hope not. If using the forums to post hearsay to harass and abuse people isn’t against your current TOS, change your TOS. Don’t sit by and let your community be used to making gaming worse because of a technicality.

…The conversation may be distasteful to some of us, but I don’t know if the answer is to delete the thread. The Escapist is not giving harassment a home, but allowing civil discussion on a matter that people are emotional about.

As long as it stays within our rules of conduct, and yeah James I don’t think anything stated has violated the rules you posted, then pushing this down would only serve my own tastes and opinions.

That’s not what a public forum is designed to be, in my opinion.

This isn’t the first time GamerGate proponents have been DDoS’ed–The Fine Young Capitalists claim Zoe Quinn did the very same thing to their site.

DDoS tactics have been used quite recently to thwart GamerGate proponents, causing further speculative parallels to be made.

According to an interview with the Fine Young Capitalists, a feminist group dedicated to shining a light on under-represented groups in the media industry, Quinn used her clout to DDoS their site.

“But the major points are she DDoS’d our site, she called us exploitative, and her PR manager Maya Felix Kramer posted my Facebook information which Zoe replied to, alerting her followers.”

The group has since been stigmatized by anti-GamerGate followers, but has been championed by the pro-GamerGate movement. Despite the blowback, TFYC has moved on to successfully fund an Indiegogo campaign and continues their work in the field.

It’s important to keep in mind that nothing has been confirmed at this point. The origin of the DDoS attack hasn’t been revealed, and there’s no concrete evidence that anti-GamerGate “hacktivists” may be involved.

The evidence revealed thus far is speculative at best, no matter how convincing it may seem.

In any case, this is just the latest strike in what appears to be a long winding battle. What could be next? How far is either side willing to go?

Will GamerGate be extinguished forcibly by the powers that be due to the inherent danger it presents to the current “biased industry that lacks critical distance”?

Only time will tell, but we know for sure that GamerGate isn’t going away any time soon, and as the Streisand effect has taught us, further attempts to repress things of this nature will only make it spread farther.

The post GamerGate Escapist Forums Forced Offline by DDoS Attack appeared first on VR World.

Evidence has mounted that gaming journalists from key publications like Kotaku, Ars Technica and Polygon have been colluding with one another to control industry-wide news coverage, adding further credence to the widespread belief that biased agenda-pushing is running rampant in the field.

According to reports from Breitbart, a number of high-profile journalists communicate with one another via a private Google Groups e-mail listing known as “Games Journo Pros“, where they discuss what to write about, what to include, and more importantly, what to omit.

Breitbart, the eponymous blog of the late Andrew Breitbart, is known for its blend of investigative journalism which has been frequently accused by its critics of removing context when covering its subjects.

The reports indicate that writers actively discouraged other journalists to write about the Zoe Quinn scandal, which effectively uncovers the reason for the radio silence shortly after the news broke. Members of the group allegedly used their influence and standing in the industry to sort of intimidate other writers, pressuring other journalists to adhere to a moral code of ethics–and further chastising them should they disagree.

Games Journo Pros: Professional ethics, interrupted?

The group appears to be a sort of “online club” where prominent journalists come together to discuss the industry. But Games Journo Pros may be something more sinister and conspiratorial; it may very well be a means of directly controlling the content pushed out onto major publications.

This means of dominating video games media falls in line with advocating, embracing and publishing content aligned with personal agendas, which invariably breaches journalistic integrity.

There isn’t a clear defined line between professional and personal ethics; instead the result is a blurred mishmash that leads to mass censorship, moral advocacy, and the denouncement of readers–the very people that power the sites to begin with. The influence of the group is clearly defined by the players it involves–many of which have such high standings in the industry that they could easily pressure an entire populace of freelancers to “play ball”.

The group was brought to Breitbart’s attention thanks to a collective of e-mails from the Games Journo Pros group that implicate such key writers as Ars Technica‘s Kyle Orland, Polygon‘s Ben Kuchera, GamePolitics‘ James Fudge along with various freelancers and even members of the mainstream media.

‘Video games press isn’t broken, it’s just too tightly knit’

Based on the responses in the e-mails, it appears that the games journalism scene is incredibly exclusive and is its own self-perpetuating “boy’s club”, where everyone is friends with everyone and everyone is close.

When one writer, Ryan Smith, tried to ask the members of the group where they draw their lines in regards reporting on sexual controversies in the field, he was met with backlash from other members like Kotaku‘s Jason Schreier and Sarah LeBoeuf from The Escapist.

But quick question: how did some of you decide to publish the Josh Mattingly story from earlier this year: that appeared to be based on a private conversation about sex. Where do you see the line being drawn? And how do you guys feel about the Snapchat CEO’s emails from college being a story?

I was also wondering if when some of you published stories about Zoe Quinn’s harassment — did you actually ask for evidence of said harassment or just go by what she wrote on Twitter.

Uh pretty big difference between “a private conversation about sex” and sexual harassment, which is what the Mattingly situation was.

If you don’t see the differences between a story about a journalist sending crude sexual messages to a game developer and a story about a game developer allegedly cheating on her boyfriend, I’m not sure what to tell you.

So you’re comparing writing about someone who sexually harassed a female developer, which is a disgraceful way to act, and covering someone who is being victimized to the point of not feeling safe in her home? Is that a real argument you’re trying to make?

Hold on to your hats. I wasn’t equating the two at all. I was just asking where you guys draw the line.

I don’t know why you think there’s a line to be drawn. “Reporter at moderately-known games website sends sexually explicit messages to game developer who doesn’t want them” is a story. “Game developer allegedly cheats on her boyfriend” is not. That seems pretty simple to me.

Ryan Smith has also written an informative and eye-opening piece that delves into the “tight-knit” community that is games journalism, and how it “lacks critical distance”.

As Smith puts it, “What’s totally fair is the criticism of the relationships that members of the press maintain with not only certain game developers but with each other.”

Andy Eddy, Editor-in-Chief for @Gamer Magazine, echoed the group’s sentiment that Zoe Quinn’s possible breach of industry ethics shouldn’t be covered by any games media–and that they shouldn’t even “allow others to ruminate on it”.

My two cents: This is barely a game-industry story, no matter how some people want to frame it. This is a story about a person who happens to be in the game industry and their personal relationships (no matter how it may weave back into “the industry” and however poor the person’s judgments may have been) and public expose of private materials by that person’s partner as revenge, so I don’t think we, as games press, should support furthering the story by commenting, editorializing or even allowing others to ruminate on it.

Eddy further said that publications should avoid covering the topic even if it should generate hits. Interestingly enough, there are a swath of recent articles written about Zoe Quinn that “cash in” on the controversial nature of the scandal. It’s been a lucrative subject for these sites.

Personally, there are some lines I don’t think we should cross, and I’ve endeavored during my career to not go into those areas just for hit counts or reader numbers or “because people want to know.”

Kyle Orland (Ars Technica) even went so far as to say that Quinn receiving a boost in Patreon donations is “a silver lining”.

Silver lining: Quinn is getting a bunch of new Patreon patrons today, apparently: http://www.patreon.com/zoe

Kyle Orland has since delivered an apology on Ars Technica regarding the comments made in the group, and clarified a few things that may have been taken out of context.

Unearthing the Agendas

Breitbart’s columnist Milo Yiannopoulos has also recently published a dump of all of the received e-mails regarding the group’s discussions on the Zoe Quinn scandal. This collection all-but proves the discourse between group members on the subject, and folds quite neatly into the flurry of content and articles that leap to Quinn’s defense.

It appears that journalists are getting too close to the subject matter, and they’re sacrificing objectivity for a sense of moral authority. The long, winding batch of e-mails reinforces this sentiment quite clearly, as do the plethora of anti-GamerGate content plastered across various news media sites.

It’ll be interesting to see how this information rocks the foundations of the industry, and what reformations are made to games journalism.

Gaming remains a solid billion-dollar industry, and the media itself is largely responsible for its success, so these findings may not result in anything substantial in terms of ethical reinforcement.

How far does this go; are big-name publications colluding with industry giants? How far has this agenda-based bias spread across the field, and will it die down now that Game Journo Pros has been exposed?

Only time can tell, but for now, we know a little more about the games media and how it operates.

The post Inside The Secret World Of Games Journalism appeared first on VR World.

The gaming industry is at a crossroads, with clearly defined heroes on one side nefarious shadowy villains on the other. Yet another scandal has riven the community, sending shockwaves felt throughout the industry.

Unlike many scandals in the past, key gaming publications have remained almost silent on this conflict due to its controversial and sensitive nature.

This new battle, dubbed “Quinngate”, has indie devs, journalists and gamers themselves brawling it out across social networks and forums across the internet. So far what little reporting on the scandal has been decidedly one-sided. No one is looking at the other side to see why gamers are up-in-arms, and why they want to strike out.

To investigate this one must venture past the hate-filled streets where “white knights” and “sexist cis misogynists” are embattled in a tireless war; to see how this all started, one must look at the whole picture from a gamer’s perspective, and trace the events –past and present– that led to the conflict.

“And there [Geoff Keighly] sits, right there, beside a table of snacks. He will be sitting there forever, in our minds. That’s what he is now. ” –Robert Florence, Eurogamer

Games journalism has, like its cousin hardware journalism, been largely influenced by the parties that this fourth estate is trying to cover. Big-name publishers have been known to offer incentives and bribes to journos affiliated with big-name publications.

This a well-known part of the industry, but it is sapping away credibility and causes gamers to question the ethics of the media outlets and their coverage.

This question of credibility came to a head two years ago when a Eurogamer writer named Robert Florence tackled the subject in a controversial article. The opinion piece analyzed and dissembled the code of ethics that surrounds games journalism, voicing key concerns that are still cited by the gaming movement today.

Erik Kain, a journalist well-respected by the gaming community for his candor and sharp wit, articulated the incident in an article on Forbes:

“…The fact of the matter is, articles like Florence’s and the fallout of that article do point to a widespread, deeply entrenched problem facing the gaming press and its lack of a uniform ethical code that often serves or at least appears to serve game publishers first and consumers second.” 

Florence, who singled out journalists by name, was consequently met with a libel suit and eventually left the publication. Even though Florence is gone, his words continue resonate with a timeless truth that’s ultimately helped shape the viewpoint of corruption in games journalism.

Deceptive tactics like bullshots are well-documented within the gaming sphere, and have perpetuated the cynical outlook of gamers.

Now: The Rigors of Gaming

Robert Florence and Erik Kain have been key influences in the “grassroots gaming movement” that calls for change, truth and integrity in gaming coverage. But the times have been met with little change, and our next-gen era is permeated with even more worrisome trends.

Now gamers are being persecuted on a whole new level thanks to tactics both new and old: “bullshots” (Aliens: Colonial Marines, Watch Dogs on PC), extortion-esque tactics that milk gamers’ wallets (season passes, content hidden behind paywalls, expensive collector’s editions), and now being pressured to adhere to a code of moral ethics.

These trends have become an offensive part of the industry, and gamers feel neglected as consumers and pushed around as readers.

Not only are they being assaulted on the financial front due to a portion of AAA-games being locked behind paywalls, they’re now being objectified by a moral crusade that laments certain behavior as insufferable.

Online-only games and DRM restrictions have become big weights on gaming as well, leading to the community lashing out in near unanimous disdain.

All of these things add very real pressure on the industry’s key constituency, who feel as if the soul of gaming itself is eroding and falling into a state of perpetual commercialism. And worse, it appears there’s nothing to be done about it.

Zoe Quinn, an indie dev behind various free games like Depression Quest, is a known activist and was targeted in the recent industry-centric scandal.

Along Came Zoe Quinn

The Zoe Quinn scandal (aka Quinngate) is an unfortunate climax to industry pressures that have been building for quite some time. Quinn is an indie dev who’s best known for making Depression Quest, a free game that seamlessly articulates the rigors of living with depression.

The tirade kicked off earlier this week when her ex-boyfriend, Eron Gjoni, made a lengthy post that aired her dirty laundry by alleging sexual infidelity with multiple partners. The allegations listed Nathan Grayson, a journalist for Kotaku and Rock Paper Shotgun, as one of her partners, along with a myriad of others.

The implications of a games developer (indie or otherwise) getting involved with a journalist were the cause of backlash, and were seen as a glaring sign of that games journalism (and possibly the industry) is lacking a moral code.

Multiple social media sites and forums discussing the Quinngate scandal were riddled with censorship and redacted comments.

After the news hit, gamers took to Reddit, 4chan and Twitter to discuss what happened and voice their feelings. A torrent of harassment and vitriolic chaos soon followed, leading quickly to Quinn’s Reddit account apparently being hacked.

Shortly after Quinn’s account was compromised, Reddit posts on the subject started getting censored and pulled. Thousands of comments were redacted as users systematically had their collective voices and their freedom to challenge, comment and criticize taken away.

It wasn’t just the offensive comments that were removed, though; they were all wiped clean.

Reddit mod el_chupacupcake later clarified that it was Reddit’s policy to “remove all offending content and report users up to Admin for ToS violations“. But further reports indicate that the mod may have been biased and was “trying to cover his own back and stem the flow of hate caused by the amount of censorship”.

The blanket censoring of voices across different mediums earned even  more ire from the community, leading to an even greater conflict.

Popular streamer TotalBiscuit also caught flak for discussing his take on the Zoe Quinn scandal. The piece, which revealed the YouTuber’s opinions on the matter, was instantly attacked by indie dev Phil Fish — one of Quinn’s key colleagues and supporters.

Fish, developer of indie hit Fez, has been known to deliver rant-style Tweets, and has recently left Twitter after apparently being doxxed.

The infiltration was a direct response to Fish defending Quinn during the controversy, accompanied with the following message:

“Hello everyone, I am the head mod over at /V/ and leader of 4chan.org and Anonymous.

“This public execution of Polytron and Phil Fish is retaliation for his attempted coverup of five guys burger and fries.

“Let this be a warning to all SJW game devs out there, we are coming for you.

“The hack of Zoe Quinn has already taken place as of a few days ago and I have targeted more SJW indie devs today.

“My next target is Phil Fish. Karma’s a bitch ain’t it Phil?

“We are /V/
“We do not forgive
“At all”

GameNosh, a publication that covered the exchange between TotalBiscuit and Fish, faced similar censorship and opposition as their site host wanted them remove the article completely.

Host wants us to remove the article. Seeing if we can find a workaround to satisfy them.

— GamesNosh (@GamesNosh) August 19, 2014

This mass redaction and censoring of commentary from the community was seen as a massive retaliation that goes against the free spirit of the press itself. If anything, the forced silence in turn reinforced the perception of corruption of the industry while also revealing glaring hypocrisy in the process.

It appears that the publications want gamers to forget about the situation, and want it to go away.

The scandal has affected a lot of people, including Quinn, Phil Fish (who’s personal and corporate info went public), Eron Gjoni, Nathan Grayson as well almost the entire gaming community who saw these actions as a big sleight to the industry.

But the attack apparently wasn’t about Quinn, or her private life: it was about holding developers, journalists and publications accountable for their actions–mainly the looked-over fraternization of a journalist and an indie dev, as well as the ethical pressures from counterculture activism.

The reports of bribery and nepotism–along with a sort of monopolized control over content–has set the precedent for how gamers feel. If they can’t trust a website, then cultural topics can often be seen as sensationalized “click bait”.

Cultural Pressures From Gaming Publications

Mainstream journalism has a reign on all of the info gamers will see. It’s a sort of monopoly; they’ll get the exclusive scoops, the interviews, and often a lot of the content first. In a way they control and set the precedent for games journalism.

Big publications have the clout, and as such they also have most eyes on them, and are responsible for delivering the information to the public. These publications, who have such an inherent large standing in the community, are in turn upheld to higher standards.

When journos — both new and old — use their influence to try to tell gamers something is “right” or “wrong” because they (and their overwhelming populace of fans) say so, it can severely compromise their integrity in the eyes of their readers.

When that same coverage bleeds over on cultural topics, naturally it’ll be met with cultural responses: disagreement, hatred, and skirmishes that can quickly fuel a war of sorts. It’s to be expected when writing on a controversial topic.

Zoe Quinn created this chart to reflect “the comments on any article a woman writes or is featured by on a major gaming website”, objectifying a core audience of gamers in the process. It’s apparently also a drinking game.

When these topics are met with criticism and outright raw hate, a cyclic sense of moral authority is perpetuated. If controversial topics such as sexism in video games is challenged even in a non-hostile way, it’s in turn met with hostility–and it’s this very sort of moral arrogance that is irking gamers.

Furthermore, the gaming movement sees controversial topics as a means of sensationalism to earn clicks rather than to reveal a troubling cultural trend. This perception largely has to do with the way that the content is conducted and portrayed.

Gamers feel like they aren’t being respected or represented anymore. Many feel that big publications have turned their backs along with key members of the industry in favor of the “SJW (Social Justice Warrior)” cause.

It’s taken on a sort political scope from the gaming community’s point of view, where politicians take part in certain causes to maintain a certain positive image.

Large sects–including 4chan.org’s /v/ and gamers on N4G–feel like they’re being pressured to reconcile with wrongs that a portion of gamers have committed.

“I think it’s sad that people are so blind that they’re desperately trying to shrug off the current Zoe Quinn controversy rather than stopping to think about how it’s just part of a very large issue plaguing the industry as a whole, in that the vast majority of media coverage on games is in no way impartial.”

These people, most of which who want to discuss games (and the industry) in a critical, meaningful way, are being lumped into a big classification–they’re ironically being objectified as a result of what some gamers choose to do and say.

Instead of trying to understand or clarify why gamers are feeling this way, they are dismissed outright for “toxic” beliefs.

In fact, no one cares about Zoe Quinn, her game or her personal life. The reason people are interested in this here (on gaming discussion sites like N4G) is because it furthers the case on corruption of gaming journalism and because some indies and journalists are acting like a mob to censor and/or ridicule the discussion itself. 

Beyond Criticism

Games journalism today is accompanied by a sort of perceived moral crusade that taps into Twitter’s “echo chamber” effect to tell people (gamers, in this case) how to think and feel.

Journos are now waving a banner and using their influence to actively spread a cause they believe in, which is perceived as unprofessional. Morality in gaming is an important topic for the cultural side of games coverage, and it should be explored in an unbiased, professional manner.

Many journalists objectively report on video games culture only to deliver biased messages on Twitter. This is alienating many gamers–a game journalists core constituency–and serves as a glaring hypocrisy in our industry.

The “white knight” term has been attributed to gamers who “blindly defend women and deliver special attention” with the same fanaticism and zeal as a crusader does with religion.

The general perception seems to be this: if members of the gaming industry can’t account for their own actions, who are they to push upon their own moral code onto the public?

When games journo Jeff Gerstmann delivered an honest review back in 2007, GameSpot –who had then acquired the gaming outlet Giant Bomb–fired him as a result of Eidos threatening to pull ad revenue due to the review’s low score.

Gerstmann was held accountable for his actions, much to the disdain of the gaming world — as was Eurogamer’s Robert Florence.

Even corporate giants are held accountable for their mistakes. Sony shelled out $15 million in damages over the PlayStation Network breach in 2011 that compromised the personal and financial info of millions of subscribers. Gearbox was also called out for false advertising, and had to pay out $1.25 million in a class action lawsuit for Aliens: Colonial Marines.

Now in the current scandal, only one side is being accused of wrongdoings–the gamers who support the movement.

Phil Fish was forcibly held accountable by hackers for his role in the tirade, leading to his private company information being made public across Twitter.

Further harassment on Quinn has been well-documented, but what about the wrongs done to the other side that led to this rebellion?

“Fans, FANS! being insulted by the largest mainstream Video Game “Journalism” website for not accepting being lied to by developers? Check. Firing editors / Journalists who dare to rate a game legitimately, rather than kowtowing to advertiser revenue? Check.

“The rampant conflict of interest between developers and “Journalists,” the ‘impartial reviews’ replaced with ‘advertising,’ and the subsequent firing, degradation and industry wide condemnation of someone who dared criticise a female. That is a BIG check.”

The only difference is that everyone seems to be looking the other way out of deference to understanding the rebellion and why it’s happening. It appears that most people want to agree with the majority out of fear of their likeness being compromised, and journalists don’t want to tackle the sensitive subject.

Gamers are frustrated, feel betrayed and without a voice. People listen to Quinn, to journalists, and to extremist groups like Feminist Frequency but gamers are often ignored outright if they disagree with the majority’s viewpoint of right and wrong, regardless of their reasons.

Bribery and nepotism is seen as a seedy practice, and the Quinn situation appears to be a catalyst for a means of change. The instrument of change — offensive harassment and invasion of privacy — was an ill-conceived venture, not only because it adds credence of one side being in the right, but it added more fuel to the fire.

The conflict was, apparently, an act to initiate a revolution to change the industry and dispel the corruption. But it quickly escalated past that, and both sides are suffering the casualties of a very real, brutal battle.

To end any struggle, both sides have to be willing to understand one another and agree on mutually beneficial terms.

No One Can Win: The Necessary Resolution

Fighting fire with fire makes a giant flaming inferno that threatens to engulf us all, and if we don’t take care to put out the flames, we’ll all be burned.

It takes two sides to fight. There are other ways to fight than being offensive. There are ways to attack someone with tactical advantage, which doesn’t always mean brute force. The image of victimized indie devs is strong and meaningful, and when a war is presented in a certain way a la “propaganda”, it’s easy to choose who to fight for.

The worst thing is that both sides are pulling everyone into it. We’re gamers; most of us simply want to enjoy our games without being wrangled into an argument of morality.

Much of the community doesn’t want to fight in a petty, offensive battle with indie devs–gamers cherish indies, they’re the ones who bought them, played them, and supported the developers with Kickstarter dollars.

Nothing good is to come of this. A truce needs to be held; we’re better than this, as gamers, journalists and activists. Activism is more about blindly fighting for a cause, especially if the people you are fighting are other gamers who are responsible for much of the industry’s profits. And being a cynical gamer isn’t about circumventing personal data and publishing it online.

Change needs to be made, but these roads only lead to more corruption. Ignoring this problem and hoping it’ll just go away on its own won’t work.

Both sides need to acknowledge there’s a problem, and actively work towards a goal or the war will rage on.

And as we all know, war never changes.

The post Gamers Revolt: Another Take on The Zoe Quinn Scandal appeared first on VR World.