The Game Industry is Getting Torn Apart by a Tiny Anti-Feminist Movement

Intel buckled to an anti-feminist campaign by pulling ads from a top gaming site, as The Verge reports today, an operation run by supporters of #GamerGate. It's the latest update in an ongoing crisis that's been wracking the game industry for several months, and is a constant discussion point among game developer and journalist colleagues. And while there's a lot that can be said about this Intel news, for now it's important to point out a key point I made a month ago: As far as we can tell, #GamerGate is numerically tiny -- probably under 10,000 supporters.

Why is this a likely estimate? For one, /KotakuInAction, a central planning hub for #GamerGate supporters on Reddit, has less than 10,000 subscribers, and if you look at how many times the #GamerGate hashtag is used on Twitter (see below), it's a safe bet that just about 10,000 supporters are making those Tweets.

Yes, it is true (as some #GamerGate advocates pointed out to me) that some related videos get views in the six figures, but as far as we can tell, those views aren't reflective of the core group. (A video that's been Tweeted or upvoted on Reddit by several thousand people can easily get that amount of views.) It's possible the movement is larger than this estimate suggests (evidence is lacking there), but even were it ten times 10,000, it would still be a small fraction of the broader market of gamers, which is roughly 150 million.

So all that said, one immediate question comes to mind:

Even if Intel or other companies affiliated with the game industry think it's right and proper to take the opinion of anti-feminist gamers seriously, why should they change so much at the bequest of such a tiny group?

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[irihapeti]

more like he of the 1000 alts

+

in other news

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11286297

[Arcadia Codesmith]

Follow the money. Hate groups don't crawl out from under their rocks until the billionaires finance the professionals needed to organize such disorganized minds and mold them into a political force. Astroturf doesn't grow on its own, and the American Enterprise Institute doesn't do diddly squat unless there's a fat payday involved.

And on a side note, "Social Justice Warriors"? I know it's a smear fabricated by the haters, but I like the ring of it. There are revisionists trying to excise equality from the list of fundamental human virtues, and I don't think we should sit back and let them.

[Pussycat Catnap]

I've been getting tagged as a "Social Justice Warrior" by some close minded sorts of late.

Its like calling someone "intelligent" as an attempt to insult them.

[shirc desantis]

Social Justice Warrior - label worn with pride
(tip of hat to P. Catnap on this)

[Wagner James Au]

Yeah, I don't understand why anyone would use SJW as an insult? Do they think it's *bad* to fight for social justice?

[Ciaran Laval]

On my drive home tonight listening to Radio 4 a show called feedback was on, which is where they read out feedback from listeners about shows. Amongst the feedback were many compliments of a political debate show in which the participants debate sensibly, didn't insult each other and made constructive points.

It's a shame the same can't be said of #GamerGate. Leigh Alexander's article over at Gamasutra is deliberately insulting and is in no way remotely helpful. I'm also convinced I must have lived in a parallel universe for quite a number of years because that sort of gaming world did not exist in the UK in the 90's and early part of this century.

On the other side of the coin we have the virtiol and vicious hatred spewing forth in an ugly manner.

Let's ditch the extremists and see some sensible discussion on this, the insults on other side are just making people entrench their positions.

[Carl Metropolitan]

Wagner James Au wrote: "Yeah, I don't understand why anyone would use SJW as an insult?"

Ever run into a religious fundamentalist who just would not shut up, who insisted on telling you how to live your life, who thought free speech was only for good & moral people (like them), and thought the beliefs of their tribe should be the law of the land?

Social Justice Warriors are the secular progressive version of those. Same busybody control freak attitude; different political justifications.

[Somethinggoesherewhocares]

Show scientific studies to the companies to show they are losing money.

They will continue to use psychology they learned in university to earn money. If they are wasting their time with this marketing tactic, one in which they try to please a majority and use persona types of techniques or treat a market as having market segments, then please point out the scientific studies and research that make their marketing stuff clearly exposed as being useless.

Choir postings may not work so well. In fact, the opposite is a scary way of getting attention for free and many continue to use products from brands they dislike. Some don't even remember where they heard that name before and don't like to get involved. It happens to me, I am not afraid to admit it. Many may be afraid to admit they feel like shrugging, some may experience abuse and so on for reasons there are no advocates for and no one really cares. Personal abuse is far more hurtful than something as broad and that has obvious support. No on supports you when it is personal, it is surprising how much you have to fit your own experiences into some silly catagory.

In fact, this is why I dislike the word feminist. It doesn't sound right, it is totally an "us and them" oriented phrase, in how it sounds. Regardless of intention, it is hard to keep saying there is one voice, one way and one good. People will always disagree, this is partially why market segments are so strong, the same reason feminists exist. You are fighting against nature and the universe, it will crush you. In due time things change, and for usually more reasons than you pushing and fighting. I am not saying it makes no difference, just that I think people seem to get to worried and may over do it, hence the outpouring of dissatisfaction in what feminists present.

And, no I am not naive. I understand the point of using even extreme points of view and methods for a very long game plan to shift the center may work. The center just want to be happy and left alone, if there even is a center because we are all the 'center' position on something, or have or will be at some time. Flux and dynamics are ignored so many times, static is very easy to understand and time is so harsh.

Excuse me, I can't finish this or clarify it because I need to worry about my death.