Aram Zucker-Scharff

“I understand what you mean when you say your relationship with advertisers and developers is complex. But your readers, the people whose blogroll is occupied by your websites and then Reddit and 4chan and 9gag and on and on, they may not understand – or worse, they may misunderstand that relationship. This is where you need to spend time clarifying everything. You need to let some sunshine in on your operations so that no one can credibly accuse you of shady dealings again. This has the added bonus of lending some credence to the idea that games journalism is actually becoming more professional.”

– “Gamergate” and Media Ethics in Trade Writing.

“”While ostensibly a movement to “focus on corruption in gaming media,” it’s actually about the harassment of women and minorities and freelancers in an effort to cut off their voices from the gaming medium. It’s a thoroughly disgusting movement for many reasons, but there are a few well-intentioned people in among the hordes of people behaving in bad faith.””

– Traditionalism, Astroturfing, And Growth: How Games Are Changing.

In the Wake of an Ugly, Sexist Gaming Scandal, Some Ground Rules for Young Male Gamers:

There are a lot of jerks on the Internet. I know you aren’t one of them. I write to give you some credit, some advice, and some hope. I write to you about the ongoing gaming scandal that’s inflamed the Internet concerning game designer Zoe Quinn and gaming journalism. To…

When I started working with games journalism site Nightmare Mode, a while back, I had the opportunity to interact with, learn about, and get edited by some fantastic people. It was also some of the most enjoyable time I spent writing in my life.

I’ve seen reports today that, due to the abuse from groups and individuals connected to ‘gamergate’, two of the most excellent writers I’ve known in game journalism (and really in journalism period) now feel they can no longer continue to contribute to the field.

They have been bullied out of working their passion for no more of a reason then they were women who decided to speak up.

There’s a lot I could say about this, but I’m sure others can say it better. Perhaps I’ll address it in more detail after I’ve had some time to process. Right now, I’m going to say this:

It’s f*king awful.

The behavior of the people attacking these women is literally sickening. That there are people who support it as somehow legitimate criticism is even more sickening.

The loss of their future work in the field, their attempts to push our particular subsection of journalism and entertainment forward, hurts us all as journalists, gamers, and people. I couldn’t let it pass without writing something, so this is it.