B A R B A R I A NS AT T H E G AT E :G A M E S A ND C U LT U R E

S HAW N R I D ER

HTTP : / /G A M ES F I R S T. C OM

HTTP : / /W W W. S QUEA KY. OR G /S QUEA LER

HTTP : / /W W W. M A R K S FR I G G I N . C OM /R EV I EW S /S YN C . HTM

V I O L AT I O N : RA P E I N G A M I N G

P L E A S E B E AWA R E :This presentation will discuss topics involving graphic language about race, sexuality, sexual violence and generally hateful, awful things.

(But most of the content is not at all terrifying.)

B U T F I R S T …

BY GAU RAV PAN D IT ( O W N W O RK ) [ C C -BY- 3 . 0 ( HTT P : / / C RE AT IVE C O MMO N S . O RG/ L IC EN SE S / BY / 3 . 0 ) ] , V IA W IK IME D IA C O MMO N S

T H E S E A R E H U G E T R I U M P H S

B U T T H E N …

# G A M E R G AT E

Disgruntled Boyfriend Posts Rant Against Ex-Girlfriend

Makes claims later proven to be false.

Nonetheless sets off a series of accusations about corruption in

game journalism.

T H E AC T OR A DA M B A LD W I N T W E E T S A BOU T # GA M E RG AT E I N RE FE R E NC E T O G J ON I ’ S B LOG P OS T.

OP P ORT UN I S T I C I ND I V I DUALS S E I ZE ON T H I S AS A WAY T O F OS T E R T HE L AR GE S T S US TA I NE D HARAS S ME NT C AMPA I GN TAR GE T E D T OWAR D S WOME N T HAT WE ’VE E VE R S E E N I N GAMI NG .

How #GamerGate

presents itself in viral images.

Zoe Quinn and Anita Sarkeesian were both driven from their homes by specific, violent threats in the

same week.

T H R E AT S B E C O ME W I D E S PR E AD

The threats against women continue. Harassment continues. It is pervasive.

At right: Threats sent the night game developer Brianna Wu was driven from her home.

I HAVE AL LOWE D A HANDF U L OF ANONYMOU S P E OP L E C E NSOR M E . THE Y HAVE F ORC E D ME , OU T OF F E AR , INTO SE E ING M YSE L F A P OTE NT IAL V IC T IM .

AND THAT M AKE S ME LOATHE NOT THE M , BU T MYSE L F.

SO I WR I TE TH IS TO U RGE ANY P E RSON, M AL E OR F E MAL E , WHO NOW HAS THE I MP U L SE TO DO WHAT I D ID , TO WAL K AWAY FROM SOM E TH ING THE Y LOVE D BE F ORE , TO NOT.

DON’T L E T OTHE R P E OP L E DR I VE YOU AWAY F ROM GAM ING .

F EL I C I A DAYHTT P : / / FEL IC IADAY.COM /BLOG/CROS S ING-T HE-S T R EET /

- B E N D I L I N S P U R R , C R E AT O R O F B E AT U P A N I TA S A R K E E S I A N

“I think it’s just adorable how absolutely no girls are any good at video games, just like how no woman has ever written a

good novel. They are nothing but talk and no action, probably because girls are such emotional creatures and base

everything they do on their current feelings and then try to rationalize their actions later. How pathetic.”

Individuals plotting action against Zoe Quinn and plotting #GamerGate in an IRC chatroom

H TTP S : / / S TO R I FY.C O M /S TR I C TM AC H I N E / G A M E OV E R G ATE

– TAY LOR W OF FOR D, N EW S W EEK

“Twitter users have tweeted at Quinn using the #GamerGate hashtag 10,400 times since September 1. Grayson has

received 732 tweets with the same hashtag during the same period. If GamerGate is about ethics among journalists, why is

the female developer receiving 14 times as many outraged tweets as the male journalist?”

http://www.newsweek.com/gamergate-about-media-ethics-or-harassing-women-harassment-data-show-279736

E V E RYONE I S LE FT S C RATC H I NG T H E I R H E A DS

W H Y ?

– A N I TA S A R KEES I A N ,TR OP ES V S . W OM EN I N G A M ES

“Please keep in mind that it’s entirely possible to be critical of some aspects of a piece of media while still

finding other parts valuable or enjoyable.”

http://www.channel101.com

BY XX XBA LOOOXX X (OWN WORK) [CC -BY-S A-3 .0 (HTT P : / / CR EAT IVECOM M ONS .ORG/ L ICENS ES / BY-S A / 3 .0 ) ] , V IA W IK IM ED IA

COM MONSHTT PS : / /WWW.T HETAPES T RY HOUS E .COM /M ED IA / T RA NS F ER / IM G/ ME176 . JPG

I D O N ’ T K N O W

T H IS I S A GA ME O F L I F E A N D D E AT H

BY LEVENT E FULOP F ROM BR NO, CZ ECH REPUBL IC (T HE K ING ' S GAM E) [CC -BY-2 .0 (HTT P : / / CR EAT IVECOM M ONS .ORG/ L ICENS ES / BY /2 .0 ) ] , V IA W IK IM ED IA COM M ONS

“Evolving” presentations

of Persia in videogames.

PR INCE OF PER S IA (198 9 ) PR INCE OF PER S IA (200 8 )

CALL OF DUT Y: M ODERN WAR FA RE 4

B U T I T ’ S J U S T A G A M E .

“On one day, everybody would eat, and on the next day, everybody would play games.”

JA N E M C G ON I G A LR EA L I T Y I S BR OKEN

HTT P : / /V IALOGU E .WOR DPR ES S .COM / 20 12 / 07 /09 /T ED - JANE -M CGONIGAL-GAM ING-CAN-M AKE-A-BETT ER-WORLD/

J EUX D ' AWALE A FR IQUE JE S U IS L ' AU TEUR DE L ' IM AGE (A NDR E PERR ON HTT P : / /WWW.PBA S E .COM /PER RONA)

The Landlord’s Game

EL I ZA BET H M AG I E1904

PA R K E R B R O TH E R S BO U G H T TH E PATE N T A N D B E G A N S E L L I N G M O N O P O LY I N 1 935

S EP T EM BER 12TH BY N EW S G A M I N GH TTP : / /W W W. N E W S G A M I N G . C O M /

S O W E M A K E V I DE OG A M E S T O C H A NG E T H E W O R LD?

HTT P : / /WWW.M -E - G -A.ORG/ WP-CONT ENT /UPLOADS /T 42 _ 0 4 . J PG

W W W. FL I P P E R S . C O M

Sega was formed in 1965 through the merger of two established game manufacturers. Their 1968 classic, Periscope, helped cement them as a major player in the future gaming industry.

TH I S I S TH E F I R S T A RC A D E G A M E TH AT C O S T 25 C E N TS TO P L AY !

https://2warpstoneptune.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/arcade-19811.jpg

http://pseudomacro.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/img_0057.jpg

http://tpucdn.com/npu/img/2013/03-28/1059-e610ad57_680_400.jpg

G AM I N G I S E XT R E M E LY P O P U L A R

G A M I N G I S B I G BUS I N E S S

• $21.3 Billion spent in 2013

• 59% of Americans play games

• 48% of gamers are women

• The average gamer is 31 and has been playing for over 14 years

https://www.flickr.com/photos/zizzy/89696604/

2 7 M I L L I O N PE O P L EP L AY T H I S G AME E VERY DAY

100 million people have playedCall of Duty: Modern Warfare

since 2007

J O H N R O M E R O

J O H N CA R M AC K

G A M E S A R E T O O P O P U L A R T O B E D O M I N AT E D BY O N E S T Y L E , S U BC U LT U R E , T E C H N O LO GY , G E N R E , O R S U B J E C T.

M I N EC RA FT J OUR N EY

PA P ER S , P LEA S E

A G A M E A BOUT BUR N I N G T H I N G S I N T HE F I R EP L AC E .

P OP U L A R I T Y H A S BR OU G H T S C R U T I N Y W I T H I T

H TT P : / / BOGOST. C OM / W R I T I N G / V I D E OGA ME S _ A R E _ A _ ME SS /

HTT PS : / /DEPT S .WAS H INGT ON.EDU / CR IT GAM E/ WOR DPR ES S /2 010 /12 /FR ONT IERV ILLE -A-CAS UAL- QUEER-REA D ING/

HTT P : / / ENGL IS HAT WAT ER LOO.WORDPRES S .COM /2 01 3 /0 7 / 24 / GRADUAT E-S T U DENT S -AND- GAM E-S T UD IES -F IRS T-PER S ON-S CHOL AR /

– H I D EO KO J I M A , G A M E D EV ELOP ERH TTP : / /W W W. E U R O G A M E R. N E T /A RT I C L E S / N E W S 2401 06KO J I M A A RT

“A videogame should make sure that all 100 people that play that game should enjoy the service provided by that

videogame. It's something of a service. It's not art. But I guess the way of providing service with that videogame is an artistic

style, a form of art.”

– JA S ON R OHR ER

“I'm not here for the visual spectacle. What am I here for? I'm here to think about what I'm doing and why the designer created this particular set of interactions and what they

might mean.”

Rohrer’s game Passage

N O T EVERYO N E I S HAPPY W I TH THE I DEA O F G AM ES C HAN G I N G

T H I S M A K E S A C O N F L I C T

G R I E F E R S

M Y T I N Y L I F E

J U L I A N D I B B E L L1 9 9 8

– J UL I AN D I BBELL“ A RA P E I N CY BER S PAC E” (1993 )

“So strong, indeed, is the sense of convivial common ground invested in the living room that a cruel mind could hardly imagine a better place in which to stage a violation of LambdaMOO’s communal spirit. And there was cruelty enough lurking in the appearance Mr. Bungle presented to the virtual world — he was at the time a fat, oleaginous, Bisquick-faced clown dressed in cum-stained harlequin garb and girdled with a mistletoe-and-hemlock belt whose buckle bore the quaint inscription KISS ME UNDER THIS, BITCH! But whether cruelty motivated his choice of crime scene is not among the established facts of the case. It is a fact only that he did choose the living room.”

http://www.juliandibbell.com/articles/a-rape-in-cyberspace/

– I A N S HA N A HA N“ BOW , N I G G ER” (2004 )

A LWAYS BL AC K . C OM

"Bow, nigger." he typed.I kind of hunched uncomfortably over the keyboard at that point. Not that I should’ve taken offence, really.For one thing, my screen name has nothing to do with my ethnicity and for another, it’s only a game and the fascist doing the typing is probably hundreds of miles away and far beyond anything you could call an actual influence on my life.But still… It’s not very nice is it?What to do?

This essay is currently mirrored at: http://phocks.tumblr.com/post/2976413342/bow-nigger

AND WH AT ABOU T E TH I CS I N J OU RNAL I S M?

http://www.polygon.com/2014/10/17/6996601/on-gamergate-a-letter-from-the-editor

AD D IT IONAL GAM E R GATE OP P ORT U N I ST S

Milo Yiannopoulos: Breitbart contributor, anti-feminist men’s rights activist, token conservative gay representative.

Brandon Morse: Young Republican, contributor to rare.us, MisfitPolitics.com and creator of the web-only series, ‘Merica.

Matt Forney: Writer and men’s rights activist. Author of guides such as “How to Beat Your Girlfriend or Wife and Get Away with It” and “How to Crush a Girl’s Self Esteem”.

“ S EE I N G A LL THES E P EOP LE C RY I N G , F UM I N G , S C R EA M I N G , AC T I N G L I K E THE I R L I VES W ER E OV ER BEC AU S E OF A F UC K I N G V I DEO G A M E… I T M A D E M E WA N T T O D R I N K . ”

– LE I G H A LEXA N D ER , G A M AS UT RA. C OM

“ ‘Game culture’ as we know it is kind of embarrassing -- it’s not even culture. It’s buying things, spackling over

memes and in-jokes repeatedly, and it’s getting mad on the internet. ”

TH E I NDU S TRY AND CR I T I CS W I L L BE S ORT I NG TH I S OU T FOR AWHI L E

U N T I L W E E N D T H E B R OA D E R C U LT U R E WAR

Protests at Utah State University

after Sarkeesian’s

cancelled talk.

T H A N K YO U

YOU C A N F I N D TH I S P R ES EN TAT I ON ON S L I D E S HA R E :HTTP : / /W W W. S L I D ES HA R E . N ET /S HAW N R I D ER

S HAW N R I D ER. C OM

10 . 27 . 2014