Adan Hernandez

English 1030
Mr. D. Frank
November 24, 2014
Gaming has become a medium of entertainment that has recently become mainstream.
Back in the late 1980s, video game were mainly played on arcades and a few home system were
released at the time. These video games were mainly marketed to children and so the general
consensus came to be that video games were for children. This idea grew over the years and any
adult who would play video games were branded as nerds or man children. Another
generalization about video game that grew during this time was that video games were for boys
and with all of the fighting and shooting arcade cabinets, this idea started to solidify as part of
the gaming culture. However as of recently with the gaming becoming more mainstream, the
gaming industry is now catering to a wider audience. As of recently, its become apparent that
the video game industry has grown into a multi-million dollar industry and with the mobile
games market becoming wildly popular with casual player, things start to be brought up again.
The old ideas of what made up the gaming culture of the past seem to start cropping up. This
idea of trying to make everything politically correct has taken over our society and now people
who fight for this is trying to change gaming. Now a few of those who claim to fight for social
justice are going after how games are made. They claim that videogames are too violent and
sexual. They say that most of the big title games objectifying women and their main character
are not diverse. All of this has gotten many gamers angry. Not because these people want
diversity in gaming or strong female character, but because they seem to want to limit the
freedom of speech of video game developers. However, what these people who fight for social

justice in video games have pointed out is the underlying problem in video games and that is that
a majority of triple-A games cater to a male audience. However as of recently, because of
#gamergate, has brought on a discussion about the current state of Gamer culture is.

Gamergate has become growing movement that define themselves as a consumer revolt against
gaming journalism however, there are others that how claim that its actually about gamers
trying to keep women out of the gaming industry. This debate about the problems in the gaming
culture, journalism, and industry has brought up many deep seed problems we arent addressing.
Recently the CEO of blizzard, Michael Morhaime, address something on gamergate. Id like to
take a moment to talk about something serious. Over the past couple months, theres been a
small group of people who have been doing really awful things. They have been making some
peoples lives miserable, and they have been tarnishing our reputation as gamers. Its not right.
He doesnt specifically name gamergate as the one that is tarnishing the reputation of gamers
however when journalist talk about his comment they quickly state that he is talking about
gamergate like Sarah Butts from The Mary Sue. Though he never specifically mentions
Gamergate by name, anyone with a modicum of common sense knows of whom he is speaking.
So naturally, Gamergaters will deny that it was about them. He has never denied your
confirmed who its about but gamergate has used this to point out that he could be talking about
the game journalist who were writing articles about how the gamer identity is dead and insulting
gamers. However he could be talking about both side. Both sides arent as perfect as they think
they are. Both sides have their problems however each side bring into question about the toxic
nature of gamer and social justice warrior.

Are the prejudice towards gamers have always been negative. The media has made the gamer
identity into something negative. Games culture is a petri dish of people who know so little
about how human social interaction and professional life works that they can concoct online
wars about social justice or game journalism ethics, straight-faced, and cause genuine human
consequences. Because of video games. This type description of gamer like many others
presented by the media isolates gamer for doing what they like. However, all of the negativity
that the label Gamer has is usually targeted toward males. Now why is that? When a girl uses
the label it is either applauded or it a surprise but when a guy uses it people automatically think
of a nerd or worse a misogynist. The title isnt exclusive to guys however many people treat it
like it is. Gamers are just as the name implies people who play video games. Everyone is allowed
to play video game because video games arent only for men. The only thing keeping women out
of video games is the stigma of being a gamer and the fear being harassed.

It is a well-known fact that women are harassed when they play videogames. Jenny Haniver
knows all too well the type of harassment women get when plays online. One of her harasser
said "Stupid bitch," says one. "Fat whore," adds another and "I hope your boyfriend beats you.
Nah, you can't get a boyfriend." these where the comments she received when she went online to
play Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. This constant mocking that women get when play online
is a major obstacle that distance women from woman playing video games. That is a problem in
the gaming community that needs to change and that both gamergate and anti gamergaters have
to work together in order stop it. However both sides use the anonymity of social media to harass
each other just like those who harass women who play online. While the movement within
gamergate have constantly tried to state their movement is not misogynistic and condemn any
form of harassment they do not address the fact that women who do play video games still get

harassed by many in the gaming community. However, the anti gamergaters arent any better.
They insult and harass gamer and anyone who criticize them and dont emit to the fact that there
is a problem in the gaming journalism industry.

Gaming journalism has become less about covering a game and more about how a game fits into
a journalist agenda. One of the most recent and most controversial example of this is the game
HATRED. Nathan Grayson of Polygon states the trailer for Hatred, if nothing else, pretends to
do away with all aspirations toward anything except violence fueled by senseless rage and hate.
That is its creators of definition of pure "entertainment." Death and misery(). This comes from
the extreme violence that the trailer shows where a man goes around and ruthlessly murders
civilians. However while Mr. Grayson is correct that the game is about senseless rage however in
the process defends Grand Theft Auto V and Pastel; games where the player goes around killing
people. Why would Nathan Grayson oppose a game like HATRED but pretty much praise
GTAV for its parodydelivering many of its lines, if not its bullets, with tongue planted firmly
in cheekwhile Postal is a cartoon and therefore doesnt deserve to be criticized for their
violence. Any connections that Polygon has connections with Rockstar would be merely
accusation and speculations however there has to be something going on for him to criticize one
game and forgiving the other. This political correctness that many journalist push for is a
problem, but when they are defending and praising anyone who they have connections with, that
is when corruption is the problem. William Usher, of Cinema Blend, reported one particular
event that showcased the corruption in video gaming journalism. Rob originally wrote the
article showcasing an ad-laced Geoff Keighley in one image, and a few paragraphs about Dave
Cook and Lauren Wainwright further into the piece. He calls some journalists out on partaking in
advertising games for trying to win goods in return pretty much bribery at the core of it as

well as journalists defending this kind of behavior, and it resulted in Wainwright's boss at MCV
UK, Michael French, stepping in to back his writer which eventually led to Rob losing his job.
This is the corruption that the anti gamergate community seem to ignore. Instead they harass
gamers and even Sam Biddle, a Gawker journalist, say on twitter that we should bring back
bullying. This was all because the gamergate movement tried to raise money for Pacer Center,
Inc who is a National Bullying Prevention Center actively leads social change, so that bullying
is no longer considered an accepted childhood rite of passage. This show corrupt gaming
journalism has gotten.

The other sources of media has not helped fight the corruption in gaming journalism. As Caitlin
Dewey, of the Washington Post, states Gamergate, the freewheeling catastrophe/social
movement/misdirected lynchmob that has, since August, trapped wide swaths of the Internet in
its clutches, and has still inexplicably! Not burned itself out. They treat gamergate as a
hate group and dont even report on all side of the movement.
There are problem that both side seem to address however they their down fall seems to be the
harassment. They seem to forget that women are really harassed and video game journalism is
corrupt. We need to come together to end both these problems that plague the gaming industry

Works Cited
Alexander, Leigh. "'Gamers' Don't Have to Be Your Audience. 'Gamers' Are Over."
Gamasutra Article. GAMASUTRA, 28 Aug. 2014. Web. 24 Nov. 2014.
Biddle, Sam. "Bring Back Bullying." Twitter. Twitter, 16 Oct. 2014. Web. 24 Nov.
2014.
Butt, Sarah. "Blizzard CEO Opens BlizzCon 2014 By Condemning Gamergaters Like
A BAMF." The Mary Sue. 2014 The Mary Sue, 7 Nov. 2014. Web. 24 Nov. 2014.
Dewey, Caitlin. "The Only Guide to Gamergate You Will Ever Need to Read."
Washington Post. The Washington Post, 14 Oct. 2014. Web. 24 Nov. 2014.
Fletcher, James. "Sexual Harassment in the World of Video Gaming." BBC News.
BBC News, 3 June 2012. Web. 23 Nov. 2014.
G.K. "#Gamergate: The Biggest Scandal You Might Not Have Heard About and Why
Many Want It to Just Go Away." Independent Journal Review. Independent Journal
Review, 17 Nov. 2014. Web. 24 Nov. 2014.
Grayson, Nathan. "The Kind of Video Game Violence That Disturbs Me." Kotaku.
Gawker, 18 Oct. 2014. Web. 24 Nov. 2014.
Ping, Lo. "PACER Center National Bullying Prevention GamerGate Charity | Lo
Ping's Fundraiser on CrowdRise." PACER Center National Bullying Prevention
GamerGate Charity | Lo Ping's Fundraiser on CrowdRise. Crowdrise, 2014. Web. 24
Nov. 2014.
Usher, William. "TotalBiscuit: Games Journalism Is An Irredeemable Mess CinemaBlend.com." Cinema Blend. Cinema Blend LLC, 2012. Web. 24 Nov. 2014.