NooBTooB Forum

Anita embezzles $160,000.00 dollars? 

This whole thing has evolved to the point where it's become utterly impossible to keep track of and I've seen a few people publicly say they're giving up on writing about games altogether.  Somewhere in the middle of all of this is a desire by consumers who feel very strongly (possibly too strongly?) about their favourite medium to hold those who influence opinion and earn a living from delivering games-related coverage up to the highest possible standards.  How that has translated into unspeakable misogyny and death-threats, I'm not quite sure, but I kind of wish it all could have been done without so much drama and what feels like long-term fallout.

I get that the guy in that Slate article is arguing that it's more that the gaming press is dying than the notion of 'Gamers' as a group, and he's probably not wrong.  I've said it a couple of times, but other than a few rare exceptions, I'd rather the term 'Game Journalist' went away, if nothing else.

Game companies and developers are now reaching out directly to quasi-amateur enthusiasts as a better way to build their brands, both because the gamers are more influential than the gaming journalists, and because these enthusiasts have far better relationships with their audiences than gaming journalists do. (Admittedly, most anyone does.)

God in Heaven these folks take this way to seriously. I think I know why. Games are entertainment. Everyone knows that entertainment reporters are in bed with the entertainment industry. Movie reporters are there to sell movies. Game reporters are there to SELL games. This is not reporting of world events or political policy. It is not that important.

Some gamers get confused because they spend all their time in virtual worlds. It is entertainment as identity. It does not matter if this is your world. It is not the real world. It only exists because someone is making money. A big part of how that money is made is marketing. The reporters exist as a part of that marketing.

Hell, that marketing can even work in reverse. Why does Peter Travers give an absurd number of movies great reviews? It is so his blurb is on more posters than anyone, with the title of his magazine, Rolling Stone. Rolling Stone uses copious "good" reviews to puts its name where people will see it.

Getting indignant about gaming journalism standards is like getting upset that a whore stole your money. What did you expect? You clearly did not understand the actual game being played.

The aristocrat is a pompous prude. This ain't the New York Times, this is Variety. Going on and on about a woman having sex with possibly five guys makes you sound like you have not been laid in living memory. Who the heck cares? She's mean. She uses sex for her benefit. Do you think she is the first person to do that? Do you think she is the billionth? This is beyond first world problems. This is virtual world problems. It is sad and strange that some folks have gotten so angry they wish physical harm on others. I feel like the doctor is Fight Club, telling the protagonist to go see actual suffering, just to get his bearings.

https://storify.com/strictmachine/gameovergate?utm_campaign=website&utm_source=email&utm_medium=email

It's been fun watching this from afar and basking in the golden rays of fuckery. Explaining this nonsense to anyone in my life who isn't a gamer has been best summed up by telling them to imagine two homeless people fighting over an empty cup of coffee. I guess once it all blows over in a couple days I can get the same enjoyment by going back to following modern politics.

Totally agree @Yuzo but isn't it why the Noobtoob podcast was started? The incestual relation between the gaming industry and the gaming sites was so obvious with the strange scores and the overly hyping off some games, The noobtoob podcast gave and honest although biased xbox fanboy :P reviews (that last bit was a joke or was it? ;))

Man, this thing refuses to die.  Now reviewtechusa has gone down the rabbit hole.  It is a perfect illustration of the situation that he had to put up a video denouncing violence.  It is bizarre that gamergaters constantly state that the threats to women are fraudulent... when the comments below the videos are basically surfing the edge of what mods will allow in violent, anti-women statements.

Gaming journalism was always a fig leaf for this thing.  It started at slut shaming and rapidly went to threats.  There is a segment of the gaming community determined to live down the stereotype that they resent.  They are too stupid to see the irony.  Saying somebody is a feminazi because they do not like being called a bitch so stupid it makes my teeth hurt.

There's no point to the Gamergate thing at it's core. They say it's about ethics, but not a single person Zoe is accused of sleeping with even reviewed her game. So it's a red herring. It'd be one thing if they all gave her game 10/10 and told everyone to buy it, but nobody did. When you realize that, the entire argument falls on its own ass because they have nothing to stand on.

Wait, at this point, I'm confused, because I've tried not to pay too much attention to it all.  What is all this drama all about, if this is years of feminist bullshit biting people on the arse?  Feminism?  Collusion between a developer and a games writer?  Misrepresentation of 'Gamers' as a social group?  Or is it really actually all about ethics in video games journalism?

-Threatening women is wrong.