In 2013, gaming developer Zoë Quinn released Depression Quest, an online RPG, which casts you as a young adult battling the effects of depression. While the game was generally praised, some in the gaming community objected to the game's serious nature and felt it was receiving undue accolades. So moved were these dissenters that they immediately began harassing Quinn online. Over a year later, things intensified even more when Quinn's ex-boyfrind, Eron Gjoni, published a rambling diatribe against her. In it, he alleged Quinn cheated on him with a Kotaku writer named Nathan Grayson. Gjoni's essay eventually made it to 4Chan, the anonymous posting forum, where it was erroneously reported that Grayson gave Depression Quest a favorable review. In fact, Grayson never reviewed the game, but the damage was done. A faction of gamers, largely comprised of young, white males, stepped up their harassment of Quinn (and her family). She was routinely threatened with rape and murder and had to hire private security. She was also hacked and doxed. Eventually, this loose band of gamers took up the banner of #Gamergate, claiming that Quinn and Grayson's affair was evidence of widespread collusion between female, independent game developers and pro-feminist, male writers. Gamergate, advocates argue, isn't about female intimidation, but free speech. Soon, dozens of female developers, critics, and gamers were routinely harassed, often threateningly. The movement has spurned a hostile anti-female gaming environment in which woman are now routinely shamed, harassed, and intimidated. Five years later, Gamergate is now part of an informal, but vast, social landscape called the "Manosphere," which includes the men's rights movement (see The Red Pill), the Sad Puppies (an anti-diversity push in science fiction), and the Alt-Right nationalist movement. Of course, Gamergate, and its like-minded compatriots, also now exist against the backdrop of a Trump presidency. To many Gamergaters, Trump's election is a societal validation of their beliefs. They also consider the new president to be sympathetic to their cause. Moving forward, how should social media handle movements like Gamergate? Is silencing offensive movements censorship? How do we balance the safety of female users, gaming or otherwise, with free speech? When does free speech cross a line into something illegal? And does such a line exist?
Include at least two of the following in your discussion:
- "#Gamergate: Here's Why Everybody in the Video Game World is Fighting" (Vox)
- "What Gamergate Should Have Taught Us About the 'Alt-Right'" (Guardian)
- "How Women in Gaming Face Hostility" (Polygon)
- "Rally White Men. Demean Women. Mock the Impact of Misogyny. How will Gamergate Values play out in Trump's America?" (Los Angeles Times)
- "The Ultimate Troll: The Terrifying Allure of Gamergate Icon Milo Yiannopoulos" (Fusion)
- "How #GamerGate Made Me Red Pill" (reaxxion)
Requirements:
- MLA Style
- 1.5 pages in length
- Works cited page
Due: Thu 5.4
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