Oh, and who is milo yiannopoulos. Again, if you have the time and energy to explain this all to me lol
I mostly glossed over the later part, where both sides were harassing, only dedicating one line to it. I know that the rad SJW side of the internet is very experienced with doxxing and definitely did it through out gamergate, but I wanted to make it clear that it was in retaliation and that neither side was innocent once it started to blow up. Unfortunately I'm not super familiar with most of the figures that took part, but I'm pretty sure that Brianna Wu is another indie game developer who came out in support of Quin, saying that she had also been othered by the gaming community, which lead to death threats and her being almost as much of a focus as Quin. As far as Anita Sarkeesian goes, as much as I dislike her as a critic and a person, she actually did deliver on those review videos, it just took her a year longer than she said it would, and was silent to the criticism that she took the money and ran. They're up on her YouTube channel if you're interested in seeing what she has to say.
I don't know if you still want to discuss this any further or enlighten me. But honestly, the more I'm looking into this the more I am siding with gamergate. The anti-GG side, or at least whoever has been vocal on it and the journalists writing for that side, has been using more online attacks and ad-hominem instead of facts and examples to get their points across. And it seems like they attack anything and everything in gaming that wasn't produced by a certain type of developer and don't care for gaming for the playability of the games and the entertainment/hobby value, only if it is sending a message they agreee with. On the other hand, I do feel that the GG side is not letting some of the issues in gaming be highlighted and has been very defensive in protecting their hobby and what they believe gaming is. But, for them, I will at least say that they are consistent with exposing unethical journalism in gaming. I don't know who struck first, I haven't gone that far back yet (I'm looking mostly at recent articles and summaries/breakdowns from both sides), if the harassing was greater on the GG side in the beginning, which knowing what the video game culture was like and how it hates large scale change, I can believe it. But, I feel like, at least from what I've read, that the anti-GG side is now doing more of the harassing and automatically dismissing any opinions/writers that align themselves with GG regardless of what they have to say. Whoever decided that GG was the bad guys has been very efficient in spreading that message and making sure people are extremely hesitant to really look into them and give them a chance to explain their side. Lat note, and this is just a personal viewpoint. Anytime the media is quick to jump the gun on stories and 'news' in favor of one side of an argument, without fact checking or waiting for the situation to fully present itself, I become skeptical of the side they support, and the media is very very anti-GG and gamers at it has always been. This ties in to the media claiming gaming causes violence even when studies have shown that to not be true and continue to do so over the years. I feel as though the media tries its best to damage gaming and discourage it as a hobby and if they are supporting the anti-GG side in this argument that makes me skeptical of the arguments the anti-GG has, that's just a personal thing though. In the end, I'm not aligning myself with either, I'm going to play the games I like to play. Pushing for a better gaming environment for women and decreasing the sexualization of women is a positive thing in my eyes. If that's all that anti-GG was doing and all that GG was fighting against I would definitely be on the anti-GG side.
Certainly, though at this point you're probably better informed on it that I am, as I thought the dust had pretty much settled, and like most internet scandals nothing really happened. And honestly, the fact that I'm coming down on the anti-GG side is surprising, as I don't like the vast majority of their large figureheads. I don't doubt that both sides are doing unethical things and that GG thinks they're protecting gaming, but in the end they're being misogynistic and doing everything right to make sure that gaming stays a small, socially unacceptable niche interest. As far as misbehaving gos on the anti-GG side of things, the fact that doxxing is common as is poorly thought out arguments shouldn't really be a surprise, given the following that Sarkeesian and others draw, aka the Tumblr feminists. These are the people that make SJW a slur and just generally make an ass out of themselves and any movement they think they're trying to help. So I guess why I'm more pro anti-GG instead of sticking to the GG gamer side is as follows: A) Their stated cause is BS. There isn't really this vast conspiracy of buying off video game journalists and the fact that they still claim it's an ethics fight just shows that it's an excuse at this point.
So both sides are filled with horrible people that I don't like, but one is effectively a fight for greater egalitarianism in games, while the other is a fight for the status quo. B) While I think a lot of the complaints about sexism in video games is fairly shallow and especially in Sarkeesian's case is finding evidence to fit a hypothesis there is rampant misogyny in and around video games. Things have definitely come a long way, but there is still a massive amount of work that needs to be done. This goes double for the communities. It's an unfortunate fact that the female portion of gamers is a much smaller percentage of total gamers, but they're very often the most likely to receive both "negative" harassment (what you normally think of) and "positive" harassment ("ZOMG you're a girl?! Wanna go out?! I didn't think girls exist on the internet!" and that sort of thing).
I absolutely don't know enough about point A to argue it but if I were to venture a guess I'd say you are correct as far as people not buying reviews. Maybe reviewers are helping out friends or certain games with positive reviews for whatever reason/agenda (which seems to be a complaint) and I can understand the complaints and GG if there truly is such lack of ethics in journalism. I personally (and the group of friends I have that game) all look to trailers, gameplay videos and twitch to figure out whether we are interest in a game or not. I read reviews and articles on games when those other sources don't do enough. So that anger I can't really relate to much but I can understand. If the issues is how the journalists and media is painting the culture in a 'more' negative light than the reality (not to say it's some utopia were everyone is welcome and will have a great time, or anything close to equal enjoyment for all participants; male vs female specifically) and they are upset about being represented as what they truly feel they aren't, I can definitely empathize with that more. As far as point B. I absolutely agree with everything you said. Gamers definitely need to do some more introspection on the culture. It is better, but it still has a lot of room for improvement. I think you make a great point with this though "but in the end they're being misogynistic and doing everything right to make sure that gaming stays a small, socially unacceptable niche interest." I don't know if I'd say misogyny is the root cause, more of an unfortunate means to keep gaming the special unique hobby of a few people and a place they probably feel they can escape too and feel 'safe' (clearly at the expense of others feeling that way at times). Lol reading into this stuff is exhausting and also upsetting how some hobby I have equated to just being an escape and a different way to experience and immerse myself in stories and arts is being turned into another political or social battle. So I guess I don't really like either side, but if I had to I'd support whoever is most honest to the art form and allows for the creation of both better games and a better community.
Thanks for the info! will look into it and check out Anita's other videos out of curiosity.