Guys, since the Anti-GG people have shut down 4chan, contained Reddit into oblivion and won’t allow the discussion on nearly every other major gaming site, they are now attacking the Escapist. It has been under heavy DDoS attack since around 4am this morning. Daniel & his team should know.
Just so anyone unfamiliar with the topic knows, here is one of the best articles on it-
The people against #Gamergate once again show how much they value open conversation, ethical behavior & civil debate. Every action like this makes me happier that I contributed to this game. If they bring the Escapist down though, I would be surprised if they didn’t try to attack Daniel.
Okay, the saga continues, everyone. The Escapist’s forums are down for the weekend. Erik Kain, of Forbes, has published a very fair accounting of the event here-
http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2014/09/20/the-escapist-forums-brought-down-in-ddos-attack/
I would suggest that the Tech team here have all their ‘Shields’ up against possible attack. The people we’ve dealt with this past month have made it clear they are as vindictive & petty as can be. They surely haven’t forgotten Daniel’s condemnation of their actions.
I don’t worry too much. This here is a rather small forum with little public audience. And if it happens, then it happens. But I really doubt that would help the Anti-Gamergate movement at all. Then Twitter must be the next target.
You very well could be right, Yuusou. But we’ve had a friggin’ month to see firsthand how bitter, vindictive & petty these people can be. Daniel told them to jump in a lake. He defied them AND he’s successfully making a big game to boot. That will put him on their radar more than the size of this community would initially appear.
If the site is really going down, I’ll be doing something that I didn’t want to do so soon: I’ll reveal myself and show my pride of being a gamer, being a fan of KCD, the community and the developers. about my passion and my appreciation towards Daniel.
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As long as there are current backups, I’m not worried about a temporary DDOS. They’re annoying, sure, but assuming the people behind making the site run are prepared for it, it will be a blip on the radar by a number of immature children playing around with their toys.
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The attack was the biggest yet. Ever since Milo’s email article came out, there have been many, many smaller incidents of doxxing, taking other places down. Even one of the regular posters I know at The Escapist had a site of his compromised. This isn’t an isolated incident. Especially with 4chan censoring anything about #Gamergate & Reddit heavily controlling it.
I suspect, given how much the Anti-GG campaign against us has escalated over these past few days, that they fear Milo has emails leading up to the 12+ 1-day “Gamers are Dead” articles that were published. I think fear is driving them to try & smash as much as they can before those go public. Only my opinion, but I’ve been researching this for a month now.
This is a joke, is it?
I really don’t get it.
No, it’s really not. Daniel himself can attest that there is a hard-core group of people in the industry who have used blackmail, browbeating, any unethical & underhanded means to force their agenda through. They want to change gaming itself & will stop at nothing to do it.
I am constantly surprised that so many in the gamer community are letting themselves be so fully trolled by this small (albeit vocal) group of people.
Do they not realize they are granting them power and reach far beyond what they would normally have in all this reaction?
Standard rules of engagement apply - starve the trolls and they will eventually turn in upon themselves.
This could not possibly go on as long as it has without the careful nourishment of others reacting to it.
(This constitutes my one and only response to any of it since it began.)
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Ok, could anyone enlighten me?
I thought this gamergate was about some female games maker that was allegedly sleeping her way to the top. Which she can do. What then? Her boyfriend attacked her in the open, which is sure no fine move. So why is this turning now to sexism? Because of a pissed-off boyfriend? I don’t get it.
Then I thought this Anita Sarkeesian was also included in GamerGate, because she received death threats. I tried to watch her videos and think they’re neither relevant nor good. So some idiot threatened her because of her bad videos - and again, how is this related to sexism in gaming culture? Because, apart from presenting bullshit points in her videos about alleged mysoginsim I can’t find any relation.
And now that Escapist thing - why? And who? And again, why?
I don’t get it.
All I know is that I’m right now knee deep in a troubling (for me) discussion with a really good and valued very intelligent female friend who I seem to have pissed off with my opinion about that: that games are not against women, that games are not misogynistic in general and that (this is the most offensive point) I don’t want games thus to change.
Click on the link I provided above. It’s one of the better written articles on the situation.
It’s an extremely influential group that has managed to blackmail & browbeat a much larger group in the industry into shutting up & ‘towing the line’. Just read the cinemablend link above. Especially read Brad Wardell’s blogpost. These people are very powerful & will stop at nothing to get what they want.
If we ignore them, they won’t go away, they will change the entire nature of gaming for the worse. 
I’m going to break my rule of “no engagement” in the hope that I can be of help to you in understanding this (and in remedying your situation with your female friend).
Essentially, this has been a long time brewing since there is a small segment of female players who genuinely believe that women are the targets of a historical, systemic, and deliberate oppression by men. The keyword here being “deliberate” as in “intentional”, “with forethought”, “with malice”.
There is no denying that, historically, women have been everything from chattel/property to quite literally abused.
There is also no denying that, historically, this has not been a result of malicious, intentional action on the part of men AS A GROUP, nor of a deliberate desire to sustain this as “status quo”.
The people (men or women) who hold otherwise lack a fundamental understanding that the level of active awareness (i.e., less than 5% of the human population has this according to all neuroscience, sociological, and psychological research) simply is not present to demonstrate deliberation.
In other words, yes, it is obvious that women are frequently treated inequitably but no, in fact, it is not due to an active, intentional, deliberate malice by men. Rather, it is the usual result of thoughtlessness, apathy (as opposed to empathy), and the combined influences of “status quo”, culture, and religion… and it happens to women and men alike for the exact, same reasons.
The various ways this inequity present themselves are usually accompanied by similar examples of inequity towards men. However, because men are socialized to be stoic in relation to such things, it is not often that one hears men discussing or becoming polarized about them.
Because gaming has traditionally been a haven of male perspective and preference (being both dominated by men in its design, development, and delivery) and because so much of what men prefer has now gained mainstream acceptance and become part of the “status quo” for gaming in general, the people who sincerely believe that deliberation is a factor are convinced that this, too, is an “evil plot” to further the derision, denigration, and objectification of women.
But it always come back to the intention and the assumption of active effort to deride, denigrate, and objectify. Thus, this is the ground from which the logical rebuttal and rebuke may best proceed…
- The reality of physiological interest in males does not demonstrate deliberate malice towards women; if anything, it evidences the reality that men are acutely aware of and driven by the characteristics of “woman” and, to the extent this is the case, it stands to reason that products seeking male audiences will strive to over-accentuate and idealize these characteristics to attract male consumers.
Is this “wrong”? Well, certainly not for the companies by any stretch of imagination. Though there is the philosophical argument around whether or not this practice benefits the larger society. It is, however, a difficult discussion to have at any moment due to the inflammation of both sides for being painted in the worst possible colors. It’s hard to find common ground when you’re polarizing around differences rather than similarities.
- Should game companies devote more time and effort to designs, development, and delivery that are equally attractive to women? That answer depends largely upon whether or not the companies in question believe they can attain sustainable revenue by doing so.
At the moment, there is research that demonstrates women are still a slight minority in gaming overall, with more pronounced disparity of presence the deeper one delves into specific genres (i.e., console, FPS, MMO, standalone, etc). On the other hand, women are strong majority in mobile, web-based, and social games of every type; and this is, I think, the “flashpoint” that has allowed this particular powder keg to explode.
From the research I’ve seen, now that women are involved in mobile, web, and social games, they are more strongly interested in the other types than they have ever before been. But everywhere they look, they find only offerings that cater to men. If they happen to be of the perspective (as outlined above) that instances of such catering are deliberately “anti-female”, then it stands to reason they would react strongly and poorly.
The presence of this vocal minority and the legitimacy and power given to them by the reaction of the industry at large has made it seem as if they are THE ONLY perspective in this matter. They are, frankly, far from it. But most women (myself included until now) simply haven’t wanted to engage the matter because we don’t want to be painted as “being just like those women”.
Unfortunately, that is now happening anyway… ironically, precisely because of the wish to avoid being perceived as such and remaining quiet.
Are the things that have happened to Sarkeesian and others appropriate or deserved? Of course not. No matter of extreme response is appropriate, on either side.
Is the broad brush being applied to gaming appropriate? Of course not. It’s just as extreme and just as flawed as is any other kind of extremist reaction.
And isn’t it silly that people need to be reminded of basic concepts like “groups are not individuals” and “the appearance of common intent does not prove the actuality of intention” and “silence is not agreement”, etc?
But here we are… with people getting their shorts in a knot because either they feel unwelcome or attacked… neither “side” stepping back to consider the basic realities that readily reveal the real issue is failing to check one’s own assumptions before going ON the attack. (Both sides, frankly, are guilty of this.)
Now, the entire mess has moved on to the equally pointless debate of “blame/first cause”… likely never to be satisfied as not only is there no one, single cause but, even if there were, it doesn’t change the fact that you don’t get past things like this until you’re ready and willing to accept that blame and first cause DO NOT MATTER IF YOU WANT TO RECONCILE AND RESOLVE THINGS.
Have I ever felt annoyed at the “metal bikinis” and such? Of course. It’s ludicrous.
Do I feel that these things are deliberately there to make me feel bad? No, that would be almost psychotically self-absorbed; anyone with an understanding of product design, marketing, and related matters “gets” that, of all the things that could possibly be on the list of motivators, “Anger and alienate an entire segment of potential customer” is not one of them.
Now either your female friend will understand and accept the logic of this, or she won’t. Much depends upon her own level of awareness and how much of the sense of derision, denigration, and dismissal she personally identifies with… if you want to repair things with her, I would recommend that you stress your own empathy with her feelings (you can do this without having to make any statement whatever on if they are “wrong” or “right”… the simple fact is, she feels that way and you cannot know all the things in her head that may be causing that feeling… so don’t reject and invalidate them out of hand).
And if people want to see this whole mess to a happy ending, it may be worthwhile to consider that denying the feelings of another only makes them more certain you aren’t understanding them (thus, they feel compelled to continue trying to “get through” to you). You can acknowledge “I understand how you feel, but you need to know that is not MY intent or interest” and, then, it’s up to them to demonstrate a willingness (or lack) in relation to this explicit statement.
You don’t have to defend yourself or the industry. After all, you know your own intent and you know your own feelings… and if someone cannot accept YOURS, how can they expect you to accept THEIRS?
“And that’s all I’m gonna say 'bout that.” - Forrest Gump
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I’m almost starting to feel like in some sort of Deus Ex: Gamer Revolution the more I read into this.
Anyway… aside from its very development team this game has a following worth almost 40 thousand people while still WIP. It may not be half a million like in the case of Star Citizen, but then again… we have ties to that community as well. Call me a naive optimist if you will, but even if someone makes a move against Warhorse or KCD, one famous movie quote comes to my mind:
“No. Not without incident.”
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Ah, the forbes article. I just found it somewhere else and read through it. A lot of info but I also don’t like a lot, such as:
“left-leaning, feminist-driven”… WTF? Until today I thought I was left and I couldn’t agree less, as well as I never thought myself of being anti-feminist? Ok.
Oops, I just see: we’re talking about different Forbes articles. i found (and read) this one, will read through yours in a second.
I don’t care if they are under attack. Steam is under attack every second day. And that’s something I care about much, much more…
It’s hard to read any “article” of Milo anyway. Clickbait sensationalist crap at its very best imo.
They are NOT extremely influential. They haven’t managed to blackmail even ONE bigger player in the industry. We are only talking about some small indie games here from very little studios or even single people.
And no, they won’t change anything in gaming. People with the very same mindset have tried the very same thing in movies decades ago and guess what: nothing has really changed. If anything only the variety of movies has increased (although I highly doubt that they had any bigger influence on that).
Gaming is a business, especially when we talk about bigger projects. Business doesn’t care about some fundamentalists. Business cares about demand because that’s where the money is. No journalist or activist without economical power could change anything about that. That’s the reason why they don’t have any significant influence or power on the bigger scale. Maybe they can blackmail some small indie developers because they need the journalists more than the journalists need them. But that’s about it. It’s bad but it’s in no way comparable to having the power to “change the entire nature of gaming for the worse”. What many people have missed is that the whole #gamergate thing is almost entirely about the indie gaming scene, and NOT about gaming in general. That’s a huge difference because most gamers - especially on console - don’t even care much about the whole indie scene. And the indie scene itself is anything but homogenous. So statements like “they have the power to change the whole nature of gaming” are imo just - sorry - hilarious.
What you people do is giving these fundamentalists the attention they wanted. The fundamentalists biggest chance of gaining influence IS to get attention. Without attention nobody really cares about them. Never feed the trolls.
Thanks for the thoughtful reply to specialsymbol. Though he wasn’t talking about a ‘friend’ of his as far as I can see, but the Zoe Quinn sex scandal that broke open the door to this much wider issue of games journalism corruption & the agenda behind it. Again, the cinemabled article I linked to above is one of the better ones out there.
What really sparked this whole thing off however, is that #Gamergate was misconstrued as men being ‘misogynist’ towards women, when that isn’t the issue at all. Many, many of us in the movement have made it clear repeatedly that we want more women in gaming, we want more diversity in those games. Yet the people against GG continue to scream “Misogynist! Terrorist! Worse than ISIS! Purveyors of Inappropriate Pictures of Kids!” and so on.
The logical disconnect was fairly strong. As we looked into this odd state of affairs, we found a very substantial amount of evidence showing that it really wasn’t about ‘diversity’ or ‘social justice’ at all, but an attempt by an extremely radical branch of feminism to undermine the very nature of gaming.
That’s not hyperbole, that’s their actual plan. This is an analysis of one of this group’s DiGRA conferences from this year, captured before it was deleted from the 'net-
“So yeah. Over on The Twitters we (as in yours truly, +Ian Miles Cheong, +Brendan Keogh, +Rowan Kaiser, +Mattie Brice and +Annie Dennisdóttir Wright) started discussing our various attempts to undermine the heteronormative hegemony. And now we continue it where we don’t have wordcaps.”
Yes, they said ‘undermine’, and they do that full force. Leigh Alexander, one of the most infamous of these group members had recently published an article in TIME that ‘politely’ blasted gamers, on a less public platform, she is… less than polite-
Zoya Street, also a member of the group, shows as well what ‘methods’ they plan to use to discredit gamers when she wrote this Hit-Piece on Totalbiscuit-
There is much more and it’s certainly not just women involved. The actions Ben Kuchera has taken are coming to light, along with many others.
The hypocrisy of these people is also apparent in that even ‘minorities’ will be thrown under the bus if they will not play ball. Steve Tom Sawyer can show what that’s like in his own words-
This isn’t about a sex scandal or sexism/misogyny in gaming. It isn’t even about the large amount of corruption & cronyism in the industry. It’s about a group of people who are hell bent on, not honestly bringing their views across in open, calm debate, but ramming it down the throats of gamers with lies & deceit.