I’ve been trying to cool down on GamerGate writings. I actually made a pact to myself to not use the word in a blog article through July, a promise made more manageable by work turning into super happy fun fun imminent shipping insanity at work. My first recent mention of it was in the Sad Puppies article, largely because GG’s apoplexy over the events at WorldCon was simply too tasty to not Schadenfreudize.
That being said, AirPlay was earlier this month, and I did keep an eye on its happenings. Oddly enough, I was asked to comment by GamePolitics.com on the coverage of the event, and I did. My commentary – and that of other observers across the spectrum – is here. Left unsaid were my thoughts about the event itself.
For the uninitiated, AirPlay was a symposium held by a local chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) in Florida* . The brainchild of one Michael Koretzky, it was envisioned to be a debate about ethics in journalism between notable pro- and anti-gamergate voices. Along the way, all of the anti- voices declined the invitation to come**. Then Koretzky managed to, in his own unique way, alienate a whole bunch of the pro-gamergate voices, to the point that anyone who left were professional conservative culture warriors intent on milking gamergate as a war on feminism, diversity and other progressive causes in the arts debating– no one. Yes, a completely unopposed stage. And even then, GamerGate voices claimed they were getting unfavorable terms. Somewhere along the way, Derek Smart (yes, that one) got involved.
Around this time, I predicted that AirPlay would be a trainwreck and it did not disappoint.
AirPlay was about as perfect an analogy of the meandering idiocy that is the last year of the GamerGate movement that I can possibly imagine. Presented to a half-full auditorium, the morning was spent with the examination of pretty much the only ethical thing GG has managed to dig up in a year (the Hernandez case, a minor but definite transgression) and the firing of Jeff Gertzmann for Gamespot’s Kane & Lynch reviews- in 2007.*** For those with math capabilities, this was 8 years ago, which really underlined how little ethical problems have occurred in the gaming press in the last year, given this hate mob’s TOP MEN have been on the case and haven’t found much of anything new since this catastrophuck started last year.
In the afternoon session, Milo and Christina Sommers both derailed the whole thing into discussions about the evils of SJWs, blowing out their time, ignoring the agreed upon format, and trying repeatedly to stampede over Koretzky’s attempts to keep things on track. Favorite moment:
(At one point Lynn Walsh said to Breitbart’s Milo Yiannopoulos – whose early career included a stint at the very well-known British Daily Telegraph – “I hope you get to work with a good journalist”. This is either a tremendously sick burn on the Telegraph, Breitbart et al, or suggested she thought he was perhaps there having won a contest.)
Eventually, a bomb threat ended the event early. KiA attempted to blame anti-gamergaters for it, but the aGGers I was observing were sad that it ended – the entire event was, frankly, hilarious in its demonstration that Gamergate is an emperor that has no clothes. The real villains were likely third-party trolls, who love to spin up easily outraged folks – and lord knows GG hasa never ending supply of bullies looking for something to be outraged about. ****
After this debacle was all over, Koretzky had the gall to be wounded that gaming journalists didn’t cover it more.
Another large gaming news site, Polygon, covered the bomb threat but not the debates.…so why didn’t Polygon cover AirPlay itself? I emailed Polygon’s editor Chris Grant, but I haven’t heard back from him, either. So much for professional courtesy.
…
Obviously, Kotaku and Polygon wrote nothing on purpose. This wasn’t an oversight – their editors knowingly ignored the biggest gaming story of the week.
Yes, the biggest gaming story of the week was a handful of red-blooded conservatives telling a half-empty and highly skeptical SPJ audience that covering feminism in games has something to do with ethics in games journalism. I’ve been to IGDA meetings in Austin that were more well-populated and had more honest and legitimate content than this symposium. Somehow, the press doesn’t cover those either.
For what it’s worth, Polygon DID cover the bomb threat, which was the only thing remotely newsworthy about the whole circus.
The truth of the matter is that the gaming press doesn’t cover GamerGate anymore for the same reason that political reporters don’t cover LaRouchians. GamerGate is a fringe group that has proven, repeatedy, that their views and tactics don’t merit the microphone of someone interested in serious game coverage. Perhaps someday they’ll centralize, choose spokespeople who aren’t terrible, find ethical transgressions with actual impact & relevance, and stop being sidetracked by silly digressions like defending child porn on 8chan or being on the losing side of the Sad Puppies idiocy. However, I am not holding my breath
* definitely not endorsed by the mothership SPJ organization!
** Some random anti-gamergaters volunteered on Twitter, but were rejected as being likely trolls. Also, I was not invited to come, but would have relished the opportunity to reject the opportunity in peals of hysterical laughter and bold, all-caps text. Sadly, my trainwreck post probably cost me any chance at that opportunity, because for some reason I was seen as not taking the event seriously.
*** (Incidentally, Gerstman does not seem to be a fan of GG’s cause or tactics)
**** If you’re the sort of person who does bomb threats, you’re an asshole. Stop it. I give no shits what side of anything you think you’re on.
“work turning into super happy fun fun imminent shipping insanity…”
Would be interested to hear more – designing for mobile play sessions and controls; thoughts on the contemporary mobile landscape; recapping/reflecting on the production; etc – once Dungeon Boss ships.
Have we learned anything from all this outside of the already well-established fact that people can be cruel to each other and it has little-to-nothing to do with their current world-view(s). It’s a mammalian thing (softer than reptiles, meaner than houseplants).
I hadn’t watched it yet but just looking at the length of the videos from airplay YouTube Chanel, I will need to buy more beer tomorrow after work. While watching this, I am likely to consume more than half my yearly dose of alcohol.
Concerning “Koretzky’s way of alienating the misogynist horde”, the story I got from his update was kind of funny. Basically, the alienation comes from Koretzky trying to convince a guest that Castro marathon speeches aren’t exactly an efficient way to communicate. It seem that the guest went berserk because some very helpful journalist tried to help him.
Somehow, it reminds me the angry tirade about “SJWs” needing thicker skin. Great irony.
Urg, the first part was boring the second part was both entertaining and painful to watch. While the snide posts from Koretzky annoyed me greatly, there is no denying he put efforts here. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the guy during the second act. I can understand that he felt bitter since he threw himself into the reactionary asylum and totally lost controls while the gaming press didn’t cover the show. Not that there was anything worth covering related to VG or ethics.
Koretzky’s remark about furries wanting to remain underground was interesting. Suddenly, the narrative about gamers being the most hated group got sillier by at least an order of magnitude.
I was excepting more madness from Smart. I wonder if the legendary troll is Dr Jekyll in person and Mr Hyde with a keyboard. Alternatively, he may have been out out his league and just seem decent compared to Yiannopoulos and Sommers.
Overall, a waste of time.
Off topic but while reading the comments at WHTM, I’ve came across a series of videos trying to talk about the moderate gaters. I warn you, that over an hour.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJA_jUddXvY62dhVThbeegLPpvQlR4CjF
You’re forgetting Oliver Campbell’s complete 180 on AirPlay because even after his explosive “I’M NOT GOING TO AIRPLAY ANYMORE” fight with Koretzky he still showed up at the Koubek Center and joined in the panel after the bomb threat forced the evacuation. I also like how he coached people on Twitter to go to the press for Gamergate sympathy (archived if need be) and how he got called out for his ranting tweets about feminism and SJWs live on stream on HuffPost Live and somehow tried to suggest that it has nothing to do with Gamergate at all.
Heya, Ryulong! Welcome and thanks for stopping by!
Thank you. I’ve been reading your blog for a while now, and I hope you don’t mind that I’ve cited you over here. I just don’t really comment on anything but I thought this was a nice little anecdote to add on.
But now the Gaters, with much selective quoting, have started spinning it as a de facto endorsement of GamerGate by the SPJ.
Also, even GamerGate wants to distract away from the more telling bits where Yiannopoulos and others said that if you were for ethics, then you had to be against “SJWs”. Someone who’s (I guess) a random Gater boiled down the 3 1/2 hours of AirPlay to a 17-minute video made up of small clips that bore no resemblance to the talks themselves: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62euQFWuQGc
A Gater, selectively quoting material? I’m shocked, *shocked*.