EndlessOdyssey

I am conflicted about this piece.

On the one hand, it is awful that people can be threatened, harassed, and otherwise made to feel unsafe due to the opinions they hold and express online. Anyone who supports such behavior is a lunatic, and should not be given a voice in the greater discussion, nor should anyone be held responsible for the actions of anyone other than themselves.

On the other hand, Patrick's description of Gamergate reeks of someone who is trying desperately to appear diplomatic, but clearly has no real desire to to make any inroads towards understanding the movement's actual concerns or interests. This selective cherry picking of which Gamergate 'stories' to air and which to ignore is endlessly frustrating, as for every prominent anti-gg'er which recieves threats/harassment online, there is a pro-gg'er who experiences the same, but because they don't have industry connections, these instances go unreported upon. How one can simultaneously hold the view that the doxxing of anti-gg'ers, while bad, does not impugn those associated with the ideology held by the ones doing the harassment, while attempting to paint the entire Gamergate movement as one which actively promotes harassment/threats (and, in a supreme twist of irony, in some cases having the gall to compare all Gamergate supporters to extremist terrorist group ISIS), based on the action of a select few -- who many cases have not even invoked the hashtag -- is absolutely beyond me.

There are definitely bad actors on both sides, who should be called out when they are seen, but they really have nothing to do with the legitimate concerns on either side of the issue. The anti-gg'd side seems to love to report on these harassment stories, not really because they are news (people are harassed online every single day, after all) but because they appear to be evidence that supports the conclusion that many of the writers have already come to regarding Gamergate's "true motives".

Games media as a whole has done a really stellar job of keeping pro-Gamergaters on the defensive by running emotionally manipulative pieces like these (first; 'gamers are dead', now this; 'nevermind, they are actually alive and collectively plotting some kind of vague harassment campaign'), and very few have made attempts to actually address the concerns of those who are acting in good faith. I'd like to give an honorable mention to The Escapist who has at least made an effort to present arguments from both sides, while it has ultimately resulted in earning the ire of both.

It is easy to dismiss people you disagree with as misogynists or bigots, as it frees you from the burden of having to empathize with or understand the points of view of others, but it seems pretty clear to me at this point that Gamergate is not going to blow over, no matter how much FUD is spread around, however well-intentioned it might be.