Aram Zucker-Scharff

Anita Sarkeesian, Video Game Critic, Cancels Speech After Threats of Massacre:

Well… this is what gaming culture looks like in The Newspaper Of Record today. Everyone loses.

“

I mentioned offhand to my sister, about two hours in, that “it was getting to be my turn anyways,” to nonchalantly minimize my hurt. That was the moment I broke down.

I realized just how much I’d internalized the presumed process: if you’re even asking about equality or diversity in games, being shouted down in a traumatizing manner is now a mandatory step that you have to sit back and endure.

But I don’t hate #Gamergate for what they’ve done to me. I’m a researcher; my goal is to analyze and to understand. And after two weeks of backtracking through the way they’ve carried out their operations, this is the conclusion I’ve reached:

#Gamergate, as we know it now, is a hate group.

”

– Gamergate trolls aren’t ethics crusaders, they’re a hate group. 

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“Every one of my friends has a street harassment story. Every woman I know acts differently at night, makes different choices to minimize the risks of physical or sexual assault. […]

“Not every man is threatening, not every man harasses women on the street. But I have to treat every man as a threat because I don’t know who is a danger. Enough.”

”

– Enough. 

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“Another game developer has left her home tonight because she fears for her life.

Brianna Wu, developer of sci-fi action puzzler Revolution 60, confirmed that she and her husband have left their home due to a credible threat on Twitter. An account spammed Wu with violent threats and made it clear that it was doing so because of her outspoken support of women in tech and gaming. The last tweet publicly published Wu’s home address.”

”

– Game developer Brianna Wu leaves home after receiving death threats for speaking out in support of women.