1661

Seriously. Some times a reviewer is not going to like a game; that’s okay. In fact, we should see more of that. Reviews should rarely all be in sync.

1662

Part of Mike Morhaime’s opening address at BlizzCon?

A giant middle finger to GamerGate.

1663

I wonder if anyone has asked whether or not it’s ethical to celebrate and promote “good” content, as that’s also dictating to the market “what games are?”

In fact, you’re being just as non-objective as the reviews you decry when you say positive, non-objective things about a game in a review. You can’t say how a game has an awesome lead character, how it makes driving a car awesome, or how it positively promotes the awesomeness of guns or the US military.

Perhaps they should devise a criteria for “good graphics,” based on polycount and supported graphics techniques. After all, “good” visuals are purely subjective.

1664

The argument isn’t about judgement, but moral judgement. People remember the “good old days” when C&VG didn’t eviscerate The Last Ninja for racist stereotypes and cultural appropriation and don’t want the brave new world they are facing.

1665

I think there is another group that misses the “good old days” when no one talked about racism but, you know, just practiced it. People respond to games differently. There is nothing unethical about it. I guess it was a stretch for me to think that the ethics the few in GG think were important was about relationships between the press and the insiders in the industry, not whether or not they get irritated with what they read about their favorite franchises.

1666

It’s a maturing medium. That means it’s going to get criticized for things other than just performance and technical issues as more people experience it. That’s a good thing. As entertainment gets taken more seriously, people start to look at them as more than just disposable consumer items or “kids stuff”.

1667

That was amazing, and very bold. A lot of GG-ers probably wondering what to do now. Would they really boycott Blizzard?

Pfft, of course they will. Or they’ll at least SAY they’re boycotting. Watching GG try to take on Blizzard is going to be EPIC.

1668

That’s exactly it. Comics went through the same transformation not too long ago, and now they are much stronger for it.

1669

Sure, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have Harlequin Romances or Chick Flicks. It’s just that they’re seen as PART of the mediums.

magnet - It’s very arguable that they did it long ago, then moral panics rolled it back (The CCA).

1670

Which is why this movement is strange. They’re essentially saying it’s not okay to talk about these things, that reviewers are to be censored. It’s as if this group doesn’t understand you can discuss these things and still have raunch and silly and exegerrated and inappropriate… but those things may be called just that… like movies, like books, and soon like games. Discussing why things are the way they are and if they should be the default does not mean everything being discussed will be gone completely.

1671

And they’re criticized as such. No one (except crazies) is saying you can’t have one end of the spectrum or the other. Commercial success isn’t dependent on critical praise. I imagine that no matter how much a critic may dislike violence in games for making him/her feel icky, male-focused products like Call of Duty will continue to rake in millions of dollars.

1672

Thing is, it’s the internet and the crazies are hence the face.

1673

What GamerGate has become seems clear that the harassment didn’t really slow down. But hey at least now they are targeting some dudes!

1674

“GamerGate an equal opportunities Hate Group”

1675

Amazing.

I’ve never been paid to write video game journalism in my life. They have no idea who I am because I have nothing to do with video games, beyond being a fan.

No, I was chosen for doxxing because I had contributed to my friend Brian Shea’s game hobbyist website, for which I was never paid, and conducted short interviews with actors and charity groups, back in 2013. Brian and the rest of his volunteer staff are listed alongside me in the Pastebin document, although my name and information is in the order just after Kirk Hamilton’s. As Kirk currently holds the position of editor at Kotaku, it makes my non-involved, non-paid career seem a bit more threatening.

1676

Everyone was doxxing everyone and anyone back in early September, since when is this new?

1677

Yeah… I don’t think doxxing, or swatting, seems to be a toll of a attack equally from both sides. one side seems a lot more interested in it than another, even if you can produce a few cases coming from the other direction. it’s so aimless they’ll just go for anyone who might hint at an a opinion they don’t like.

1678

To show how ethical he is, TotalBiscuit insists he doesn’t “hobnob” with developers and has attended “exactly zero industry parties”, which seems completely crazy if you know anything about how industry PR works. There’s no way he got to where he is without going to a few PR events.

Others are calling him out on it.

1679

Where was Gamergate when people were eviscerating Custer’s Revenge for the Atari 2600?

There are moral issues for games with guns, military, vehicles, etc. it’s just these are typically conservative issues, so they’re OK to comment on, at least when it’s in a positive light. And I guess it’d be fine to comment on the systems of, say, SimCity, but not what the interactions of those systems means as it relates to urban planning (which is sorta the point of the entire game). Gosh, this sounds like some great reviewin’.

1680

In all seriousness, I’ve just declared modern AAA video games dead for me. It’s not just #gamergate, it’s the whole culture around Doxxing and Swatting, diatribes about what is a game, and what is allowed to be written about games. What happened? Who are these people? I don’t know them any of them more, and I’m not sure I ever knew them. How many game executives will be left in the industry is they keep getting Swatted? Who will seriously want to make games any more? How many devs left if they have to fear everything they do and say? Fuck it, fuck all of it. I’m going retro until people come to their senses. Here I come Wii U, I just downloaded Earthbound and I’ve never played it before.