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Friday, November 28, 2014

KoopaTV's Exhaustive Thoughts On #GamerGate

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - One article dedicated to #GamerGate. No more than that.

Though it may not look like it, KoopaTV has tried to follow the #GamerGate drama from our private AOL Instant Messenger Blast chat. That hasn't translated to KoopaTV articles. Until now. But only now, because there is a reason why we have not covered #GamerGate even though it should be up our alley. After all, KoopaTV cares about videogame journalism! And we definitely care about biases, social justice warriors, and basically everything #GamerGate encompasses. So... what is wrong with us?

To those who have no idea what #GamerGate, here is the Wikipedia article. (It has its own Wikipedia article!) Uh, BASICALLY it's a movement by people who call themselves gamers to put into question journalistic integrity within the videogame industry, because journalists don't have a sense of ethics. ...And for some reason there is a lot of talk about sexism and women involved. It's why we subtly inserted that line about journalistic integrity in our Affiliates and Recommended Sources page. It was timely! And according to #GamerGate advocates, this article is timely too because #GamerGate has staying power. You know, like the Tea Party. ...Except the comparisons end there. Unless you're against #GamerGate.

I challenged these clueless folk if they knew what the Tea Party was even about. No response.

Fortunately, I got a lot more comparisons to make. If we're taking the above picture's representation of #GamerGate as the truth (since, in terms of its representation of the Tea Party, it's a total falsehood) then the movement is closer to Occupy Wall Street. Like Nintendo Redirect was. Boy, that was a fun article.

But for this article, we have things against #GamerGate here at KoopaTV that makes us incompatible with 'em. And of course, we are also incompatible with #GamerGate's opponents. By no means is KoopaTV taking a wimpy centrist "we don't like either party" stance! I'll tell you why throughout this article.

I think I've written enough about this topic on KoopaTV, but here's a repeat: If you are going to start a movement, you want to make sure you are working on the right problem. For example, the homosexual agenda does not do this. (Unless, of course, the point of the agenda really is not about "equal rights" for homosexuals but about something else.) They're certainly active and doing things, but they're working on the wrong problem. By contrast, the guys who tried to do the Miiverse war did not create a strategy to solve their problem. Those Miiverse fellows identified the right problem (Miiverse's administration is too ban-happy, which I have experience with), but they were not "working" on it. It turns out that the #GamerGate people are not working and they have also failed to identify the right problem. It is for this reason that KoopaTV did not jump on the #GamerGate bandwagon: We do not want to be seen or known as "a #GamerGate blog". That is such a narrow bucket to be placed in and it would not be accurate at all considering all of the topics we talk about. We also existed before #GamerGate did. It's not that #GamerGate is seen as a toxic label. We're fine with that... although we would rather make a toxic name for ourselves without anyone else's help!

Why are they not working on the right problem? Because to #GamerGate, the problem is ethics in videogame journalism. That is such a relatively irrelevant subset of the much larger problem: The cancer of liberalism in the media in general. It's a comprehensive, systemic issue across every industry. Example: The sports media is quick to jump on how the Washington Redskins need to change their name to not be offensive to Indians, despite most Indians not caring about the name.

Most Redskins fans don't care either, which is how the Virginian Republican senate candidate Ed Gillespie almost won on November 4 despite a lack of national Republican Party backing. Just because of this ad the week before the election.



Example two, same industry: In the sports media, journalists were very quick to deem the National Football League as oppressive to women, and demanded that commissioner Roger Goodell must resign over his handling of the Ray Rice domestic violence issue. The whole point of that was to make men feel bad, and to make their female supporters seem... looney, I guess.

The media was fascinated that any woman would be a fan of Mr. Rice after his domestic violence. ...I'm concerned why anyone would ever wear this attire for some other reasons.

Sort of like what the people against #GamerGate are doing to #GamerGate and its female supporters, along with others. That's the basis for the #NotYourShield hashtag, which I find a bit more fascinating than #GamerGate. That one, in a nutshell, is that journalists use minorities and women as an excuse to attack men, and the minorities and women are tired of being used that way. It's why I have a great deal of respect for minorities who choose to be conservative, or at least give conservatism a try! (And I want to date women who do.) It's the easy way to be complacent with your situation and let others use you for their own gains. It's the hard, brave thing to do to go against that.

Speaking of hard things to do, it's pretty difficult to actually talk about #GamerGate. #GamerGate discussion gets removed and the #GamerGate person gets banned in many, many places, including NeoGAF, which is not surprising. However, it also happens in Reddit and... 4chan? How can it happen in 4chan? 4chan is supposed to be the polar opposite of NeoGAF! A place of no restrictions! Perhaps ironically, the almost totalitarian Miiverse DOES allow tactful #GamerGate discussion. Yeah, that's right. Miiverse. Why? Well, as that linked-to article says, Miiverse administration does not make its decisions based on ideology. NeoGAF obviously does, and 4chan allows itself to. Freedom is in itself an ideology (sort of like how being apolitical is also a stance, but I'll get to that later), but those who manage freedom can easily take it away. Just another example of why Miiverse has the best moderation system in place, even if is not implemented correctly. I've seen various #GamerGate discussions on Miiverseone guy I'm friends with on Miiverse has basically dedicated all of his account's posts to #GamerGate! (He's also where I get my #GamerGate "news" from.) You can always talk about #GamerGate in the comments section of this article, by the way. KoopaTV has a proven track record of being very free in moderation with the comments section!

On the other side, in typical liberal fashion, #GamerGate opponents have developed blocklists of Twitter accounts of those that have expressed their support of #GamerGate. They are never interested in engaging in honest debate because liberalism is a losing philosophy and the facts are not on their side. It's embarrassing for a liberal to debate. ...However, this is one debate that they should be able to at least be equal in: Their opponents are not principled conservatives. Their opponents are ridiculous people who are devoid in plans, plot, and facts. That's right: Neither side has facts, which makes it a useless discussion of appeals to emotion. Since #GamerGate began, they were obsessed over this Zoe Quinn person who is absolutely irrelevant to the videogame industry in the grand scheme of things, releasing a game with less impact than Trayvon Tyson's Punch-Out!!. #GamerGate people wove intricate tales about her sex life and how it related to videogame journalists and review scores for a game she did not even sell for money, yet they never produced the facts. You know, like the actual review itself. Off this very weak basis, they created this entire movement. You can still be right and create a legitimate movement even if your basis is weak, though! Unfortunately, that hasn't happened. What kind of idiotic plan is it to demonize women, "prove" that they are bad for the industry, and then "prove" that journalists are not ethical because they cover these bad women in a positive light?

The #GamerGate movement has accomplished nothing and they cannot accomplish anything because they have no win condition. Oh, they are targeting the advertisers of gaming sites? Hey man, MSNBC still has advertisers, and they peddle a lot worse stuff than any gaming website. MSNBC's advertisers KNOW that MSNBC is just a channel of vile garbage, and they still choose to financially back them. If MSNBC can survive, then websites that #GamerGate doesn't like sure can survive too! So trying to remove advertisers won't accomplish anything, and it's just an attempt by #GamerGate to silence free speech.

We don't care.



If you and society reject liberalism and social justice wars at its source, that will have a ripple effect throughout the rest of society. How many #GamerGaters realize this? How many of them did not vote in the last election? How many of them will vote for Hillary Clinton in 2016? ...Or if they're just misogynists, how many of them will vote for... uh... Joe Biden in the primaries? Are they able to make the connections between the grievance industry and social justice peddling found in the videogame industry to what is going on around the country and the political world? If the Democrat Party is permanently dismembered and liberalism is discredited in the minds of Americans, then does #GamerGate realize that all of these angry feminists will fade away into irrelevancy? Yes, they will try to claw their way and grab hold of any niche or corner of the world while they're fading away. That includes the videogame industry.

But our industry is itself turning more mainstream, so it will be a lot harder for them to be successful if mainstream thought rejects them. Concrete example: The Democrat Party created the "War on Women" meme during the 2012 presidential election and continued it until the November 4, 2014 election. The (now lame duck) Democrat Senator from Colorado, Mark Udall, focused his campaign entirely on "women's issues" so much that he was referred to as "Mark Uterus". Well? Sounds perfect to the feminists who design games about having abortions, right? He lost. He even repulsed women. Well... what about "Abortion Barbie" Wendy Davis, hero to feminists everywhere (especially the Choice: Texas developers) for being a menace to Texas concerning abortion? She lost in a landslide in the Texas governor's race. She even lost among women.

So, what will happen to the feminist movement within the videogame industry? The thought leader of the movement, the Democrat Party, is laughed at and rejected when they are now bringing up the "War of Women". The movement in the videogame industry did not take hold until AFTER the mainstream Democrat Party made it "okay" to repeat and believe that there is  a "War on Women". You know, that it's mainstream and acceptable to think that way. Because for the majority of people, you have to get that approval from a certified authority figure to do something.


Approval from... a United States senator? Too bad the facts suggest that his Republican opponent WANTS over-the-counter birth control! Just ask him.



Bringing this back on-topic, do #GamerGaters realize that the "THOSE GAMERS ARE MISOGYNISTS AND HATE WOMEN" rhetoric comes from the Democrat Party and their idiotic "War on Women" meme? No, they do not. Because they disregard attempts to make their cause into a political one, stating that #GamerGate is apolitical. And it's not. They're making a political statement, but the #GamerGate people do not want to acknowledge it. And they cannot win if they do not acknowledge it. They are fighting a war without the tools for victory, like Obama against ISIS.

Oh, yeah, ISIS. Apparently #GamerGate is behind death threats and running various female videogame developers out of their homes. This makes #GamerGate comparable to ISIS, in the minds of some people. Well, I guess ISIS runs Iraqis out of their homes, it's just ISIS actually catches up to them and then beheads them. Apparently #GamerGate is just made up of out-of-shape slow folks. Or that's what their opponents want you to believe. And for all I know, that's the truth. But there haven't been facts that say that those threats come from #GamerGate members. But consider these facts:

It is liberals and the death threats they create that have forced George Zimmerman into hiding for his life, despite being found NOT GUILTY of murder. As we've written about before, his life is endangered. He is not truly free. His whole family is in danger, too. George Zimmerman is an innocent man, in the eyes of the law! So why can liberals not respect the rule of law and leave him alone? In fact, we haven't heard from him in over two months, which I am personally worried about for reasons that I'll keep to myself.

George Zimmerman is not the only guy that has gotten death threats. There are also the death threats to Chicago pastor Corey Brooks. Why is he getting death threats? Because he has endorsed Republican Bruce Rauner for governor of Illinois. (Bruce ultimately won.) Ooooh boy! Liberals sure don't like when minorities go against them! They must die! That is the ideology of force associated with liberalism and left-wing censorship. By the way, on the right-wing side of things, you are allowed to have discussion and debate, and you are free to talk about your causes without being threatened with death from among your fellow right-wing people. Even when right-wingers are in the wrong (like Jack Thompson, who finds Sarkeesian's ideas wrong but doesn't threaten to kill her), only left-wing liberals threaten death. Right-wing people don't do that.

Question: If #GamerGate is associated with terrorism, why is liberalism not associated with terrorism? After all, if members of #GamerGate supposedly sends death threats to people and the entire movement is discredited as violent, bad people... Then it's only consistent that if members of the liberal movement sends death threats to people, then THAT entire movement should be discredited as violent, bad people! And in fact, liberals are so proud of their violence that they announce their intentions for it on national television.


KoopaTV is very much opposed to the tactics and the goals of the left. #GamerGate is too (besides the advertisers thing, which the left does), but according to the #GamerGate slogans, #GamerGate people should also be against KoopaTV. Consider that KoopaTV is, in many cases, just the right-wing equivalent of what the social justice warriors do. It's sort of disturbing (and so, so hilarious) how we can flip a switch and obtain the exact opposite point of view on issues but with the same style. We only write reviews when it fits our agenda. We heavily promote, in journalistic terms, games that we ourselves have made. (See every mention of Trayvon Tyson's Punch-Out!! on the site.) If that's not a "corrupt" connection, I don't know what is! We purposefully inject politics into videogame discussion, and in fact, the entire point of KoopaTV is to discuss the videogame industry in the same fashion that political commentators discuss politics... and see what happens. (What has happened is something truly special and hysterical.) This would make #GamerGate people explode in how we're so corrupt and destroying the industry, or something. In some aspects, we're arguably even worse than the social justice warriors that pose as journalists. And obviously, we're not pleased that #GamerGate is, on paper, out to stop people like us.

That said, what are they gonna do? Take away our advertisers? All that is gonna do is screw over some landlord in Sierra Leone. Does #GamerGate really want to do that? That dude has a family. ...I think. Well, I assume he does! He's probably feeding them and making sure they have clean water so they don't contract Ebola or some other disease. Anyway, we're crazy enough that we'll keep on keeping on even without that Sierra Leone office, so come at us, #GamerGate. We're politicizing the industry that you guys want to keep in a little adorable bubble. Too bad, it's funnier this way, you humourless punks. You would think that people who focus so much energy into such a meaningless topic like ethics in videogame journalism would be self-aware of how ridiculous it is, but no, they're totally serious.

What can #GamerGate folks do if they want to come to the "right" side and make an actual difference? Get out of the videogame bubble and be informed on the issues. A very good place to start would be to visit the Media Research Center's website. Their whole purpose is to document the bias in the mainstream media, and do so in effective, fact-based ways that don't fall under the basis of the conspiracy tactics that #GamerGate employs. Once you realize that the media in general has a specific agenda and that it's not just located in the videogame industry, you can work on putting your vote to work.

Oh, and read KoopaTV every day too. Helping us grow would certainly make a difference once people start coming to us instead of those ethically-challenged videogame commentary sources!


KoopaTV is the Internet's premier Fair and Balanced videogame industry commentary blog. It is not enough to read just one article on KoopaTV to understand it... you got to read a whole bunch! The thoughts in this article reflect the entire website this time, not just the individual author's. KoopaTV also believes that "ethics statements" are stupid and if you want to be ethical, it should naturally be embedded in every other statement you make and you don't have to overtly state it.


For KoopaTV's advertising policy, click here.
One article for #GamerGate, but we also made a game for it too.
George Zimmerman is actually alive, but got arrested again.
Some of these folks are also the ones confused about the difference between censorship and localisation.
If any #GamerGate member votes for Hillary Clinton, they are not a gamer.
Ludwig gives #GamerGate people a heart attack when he writes against Eiji Aonuma's statement against putting ideology in games.
Was Nintendo making a #GamerGate joke, or a Watergate one? ...What do YOU think?

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