Gamergate Likes to Think Video Games are the New Hip Hop…They’re Wrong

By:  H.T., Podcast: Kuroi And Youth

Let me start by saying that an article I wrote defending Gamergate on here was wrong.  How did I come to this conclusion?

Well, for starters, I joined a Gamergate group on Facebook to try and understand how these guys thought.  At first, they made sense, namely in that many of gaming critics were in fact self-righteous and a bit hard to tolerate with their need to be right.  Until someone during a discussion brought up hip hop and how the fight against censorship paralleled it in the 90s.  Let me start by saying that C. Delores Tucker was right in that the content was offensive, but wrong in thinking rap needed to be censored for the betterment of society.  To believe any art form in America needs to be under a Hays Code like system is a step backward and constitutionally unsound.

That being said, the break came with Gamergate when they believed that the Anita Sarkeesians of the world would destroy gaming by…pointing out sexism.  This goes back to hip hop:  people have a right to call out their issues with it, but that rarely if ever means that they get to censor said people they don’t like here in America.  At worst, you’re not given a platform, but you’re not told to shut up.

The issue with Gamergate is that they’ve rolled themselves into believing that these critics and journalist will ruin their fun and force a change they don’t want.  The assumed idea is that gaming will be neutered and that soon there will be nothing left but indie type games and gaming will lose players.  But then reality hits.

If you want no further proof that gaming is lead by regressive grumpy old men, look no further than guys like Ian Michael Cheong.  Him, along with American McGee and other C list developers, the answer is simple.  This, like every rapper from yesteryear that gets on YouTube or Twitter railing against mumble rap claiming it’s ruining hip hop, is just the old guard being angry that it’s being put out to pasture.

Fact is, the developers and publishers making money and making AAA games don’t have any issues with being more inclusive or being more socially aware how games are made.  And they still make money.  Of all the people I see railing against these changes, few tend to be developers of games that are big names.  Maybe I’m wrong, but no one really knows who the fuck these guys are for the most part and here they are, afraid of essentially nothing.

These gamers, bloggers and developers can point out the flaws in the statements of Anita or how Zoe Quinn makes herself a professional victim, but can’t comprehend how they are just as coupable in this narrative.  Fact is, I turned on people like this because after a while, when you take into account how far people will go to defend their beliefs, you can’t call it anything BUT terrorism.

Fact is, I owe a lot of people an apology for my actions, but above all, I realize that if people like this aren’t called out for what they are which is militant cultural luddites, people can get hurt.  Honestly, Zoe Quinn is a lot easier to support as opposed to some nut job doing his best Alex jones impersonation over video games.

If Gamergate is in anyways similar top hip hop, it’s that these guys are the Lord Jamars of it.  They rail so hard against change claiming that it’s diluting the culture, but the fact is the culture is evolving past them.  Honestly, if in order for people in any culture to prosper we have to tolerate their intolerance of others in it,  People can’t complain that said culture is stagnating.  By limiting the kinds of people who can contribute, you very well limit what could be created.  This goes to why the Hays Code went away; because America censored so much of its own movies while the rest of the western world was touching on subjects we didn’t talk about in film till the 60s.

The truth is, gaming never needed Gamergate as only better games came out after they tried to tear down their detractors.  Gamergate, was, at its core one extreme screaming about another that wasn’t going to take hold any sooner than them.