Gamergate, Feminisim, and Journalistic Ethics

[Ralkovian Grand Island]

- Whiny exes are the most honest and reliable sources ever. Especially pretentious ones who write ten thousand word manifestos.

I agree. We shouldn't trust anyone with an axe to grind unless they produce actual evidence, especially if they're pretentious.

- Are alleged people sleeping together consenting adults? Yes? Then you can't say they "shouldn't" be.

Ah yes. I agree. If Alleged Russian Spies are sleeping with several US Generals, then who are we to say what 'should' and 'shouldn't' be. Conflicts of interest. More like those gamers are conflicting with my interest. Right? Right?

- Indeed, we're taking about someone being personally horrible - Quinn's ex, whose manifesto is about on the same ethical level of revenge porn considering its intent.

Agreed. And don't forget Edward Snowden. Revenge porn right?

- How are male gamers an "unsympathetic target" when they have an entire circle jerk in their favor all over the net?

Yeah. Fuck male gamers, we shouldn't give a shit about what they're worried about, especially if it conflicts with our agenda. Let's totally tell them that they're sexist and that they should just circle jerk each other. And if they tell us feminists that we should stop daisy-chaining each other and get our heads out of our asses, you know what we'll say,"Stop being sexist! Gamers are sexist!"
Yeah we'll totally fuck with their group identity and create false stereotypes.

[The Black Forrest]

It doesn't help your cause when that nonsense goes on.

I agree. If your group has a cause, even if it's noble, if they step out of line, we have to destroy them. Destroy them all in fact.

Next time you should share.

Your evidence?

In the OP it's posted. But generally the lying from the feminist side and the failure to report any of these threats to the police. Other then anonymous death threats, which have no way of independent verification, she hasn't been threatened with any physical letters, etc. which can at least be shown as actual evidence rather than all this hearsay. I'd say it like this, if she didn't profit immensely from the publicity of 'death threats' then maybe people would be willing to actually believe her when things she said don't add up.

However, since the general reaction to the Death Threats is taking them face value even after it's agreed that these people are all around horrible people with little to no independent verification, I'm inclined to disbelief.

Oh you mean like the video documentary guy who didn't update the youtube posting with this:

San Francisco police public information officer Albie Esparza told Polygon that Sarkeesian had filed a report with the police department about the threats she received online and that the police department handed the information to the FBI for investigation.

Esparza declined to release any other details, saying that doing so could compromise the investigation or the safety of the victim. He also noted that the FBI is the primary agency handling the case. An FBI spokesman told Polygon that the bureau’s policy is to neither confirm nor deny any investigation they may be conducting.

Earlier this month, Esparza told publications that there was no complaint on file from Sarkeesian. When asked why and how that changed this week, the spokesman said he sent out a statement on Friday saying that it was reported to the police department and then forwarded to the FBI for investigation. He did not further clarify why his original statement contradicted that information.

http://www.staresattheworld.com/2014/09 ... gamergate/

That last bit is probably to feed the conspiracy types so they will donate to his film......

[Page]

- Whiny exes are the most honest and reliable sources ever. Especially pretentious ones who write ten thousand word manifestos.

I agree. We shouldn't trust anyone with an axe to grind unless they produce actual evidence, especially if they're pretentious.

- Are alleged people sleeping together consenting adults? Yes? Then you can't say they "shouldn't" be.

Ah yes. I agree. If Alleged Russian Spies are sleeping with several US Generals, then who are we to say what 'should' and 'shouldn't' be. Conflicts of interest. More like those gamers are conflicting with my interest. Right? Right?

- Indeed, we're taking about someone being personally horrible - Quinn's ex, whose manifesto is about on the same ethical level of revenge porn considering its intent.

Agreed. And don't forget Edward Snowden. Revenge porn right?

- How are male gamers an "unsympathetic target" when they have an entire circle jerk in their favor all over the net?

Yeah. Fuck male gamers, we shouldn't give a shit about what they're worried about, especially if it conflicts with our agenda. Let's totally tell them that they're sexist and that they should just circle jerk each other. And if they tell us feminists that we should stop daisy-chaining each other and get our heads out of our asses, you know what we'll say,"Stop being sexist! Gamers are sexist!"
Yeah we'll totally fuck with their group identity and create false stereotypes.

Supposed fucks for good game reviews are equal in magnitude to international espionage. This is why gaters are a goddamn joke.

[Ralkovian Grand Island]

That last bit is mainly to feed the conspiracy types so they will donate to his film......

Ah well then I take back the lying. However, I am quite inclined to see how these investigations turn out.

[Delmonte]

The middle ground isn't always right. In fact, it's usually wrong. But here it is absolutely correct.

Zoe Quinn maybe cheated on her boyfriend with a writer from Kotaku. I, personally, think that she did. I don't give a fuck about her loyalty to her boyfriend or whatever; her boyfriend clearly has issues. And I mean issues. But it's very clear based off of records that were authenticated by numerous people that there was collusion going on. Zoe Quinn colluded with this person from Kotaku rather blatantly, she colluded with her roommate, she colluded with her best friend. Game publishers and designers are just getting too cozy with game reviewers. It defeats the point of reviewing games in the first place.

The gaming press responded to these accusations with closed ranks and by accusing people who were genuinely just concerned about collusion of misogyny. Most people who are giving the gaming press crap don't care about Zoe or her boyfriend or their relationship or whether or not they cheated on each other. Ethics in gaming journalism is, quite obviously, a huge issue and it needs to be dealt with.

That is problem number one. Then, there is problem number two, completely distinct from problem number one, and that problem is misogyny in gaming. Now, as a gamer I can assure you that this misogyny is recent. First I have to distinguish between "gamers" and "people who play games". Frat bros who play CoD and nothing else are people who play games. You can play games and not be a gamer and you can be a gamer and not play games. It's about being a part of the community. "Gamer" culture has existed long before video games, even, in the form of RPG's like D&D. The actual gaming community, not just people who play games, has always, always, always been a very accepting, come-as-you-are community. We're the island of misfit toys. Nobody was complaining about this kind of behavior when "games" were a small, niche market. Then people realized there was big money in video gaming and started making mass-market games targeted at society, not gamers.

CoD, FIFA, Grand Theft Auto, etc. are examples of games targeted at non-gamers. Hardcore gamers rarely, if ever, play that shit. The shit that goes on in CoD and Grand Theft Auto has literally nothing to do with gamers. It's about society as a whole or, "people who just play games". If you find an actual gaming community you will know for a fact that they are accepting. I am homosexual (I've professed this on these forums before) and I can state unequivocally that gaming circles are where I feel most accepted for who I am. I feel more accepted at my University's local gaming club (which is huge) than I do at my university's LGBTQIA organizations. Easily. It's not even close. Gaming communities don't care if you're yellow with purple polka-dots. You will be accepted. My University's local gaming club has a healthy representation of literally every oppressed group. We have a disproportionately high number of gay members (male and female), we're almost exactly half male/female, we have trans-men, trans-women, asexuals, persons of color, queer persons of color.

If you want to see the overwhelming number of gamers from oppressed groups who are not buying the bullcrap that these game designers and reviewers are peddling, look at the "Notyourshield" hashtag. You see infinitely more queer, genderqueer, trans, and minority gamers coming out against these journalists than in favor of them.

Obviously there are fringe elements in every group. But I take it very seriously when people try to characterize the gaming community as not accepting. Because it is literally the only place that I feel accepted.

[Hirota]

If it was only about the game, then you should be taking "the bad elements" on directly.

http://i.imgur.com/TX6m0HK.jpg

We keep our house in order, What precisely has SJW done to counter their bad elements?
https://i.imgur.com/4JWl6sF.jpg
https://twitter.com/ForemanErik/status/ ... 3705736192
http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/games ... th-threats

I am curious to how many gammers will dribble on about free market in economics talk and yet won't act on their prinicples and not play a game from Zoe or bother reading reviews from a tainted source anymore.

Enough to make a difference.

:D I guess you listen to your own people.

I try to engage others if they are capable of making an informed and complete decision and I'll personally do my uptmost to respect those who I can see have done so - regardless of if they have reached a different opinion. Alas for most people they are so incapable of looking past their own confirmation bias, that list of people is much shorter than I would like.

You should follow your own advice.

Been there done that and made a decision based on as many of the facts as I could find. Read my older posts.

What purpose does it for your group with slut/whore and doxxing serve?

Bad grammar makes no sense. Say again? Or are you trying to repeat what you said (and I answered) at the beginning?

As Ifreann pointed out you might start by laying out your efforts to achieve these goals..

Who?

Your evidence?

In the OP it's posted. But generally the lying from the feminist side and the failure to report any of these threats to the police. Other then anonymous death threats, which have no way of independent verification, she hasn't been threatened with any physical letters, etc. which can at least be shown as actual evidence rather than all this hearsay. I'd say it like this, if she didn't profit immensely from the publicity of 'death threats' then maybe people would be willing to actually believe her when things she said don't add up.

Gamergate has plenty of women who identify as feminists in our ranks. To try and portray this as feminism versus gamergate is untrue.

[Ralkovian Grand Island]

Supposed fucks for good game reviews are equal in magnitude to international espionage. This is why gaters are a goddamn joke.

Wait? What? So you are saying that there are some people who shouldn't be sleeping together, even if they're consenting adults?

[Page]

That last bit is mainly to feed the conspiracy types so they will donate to his film......

Ah well then I take back the lying. However, I am quite inclined to see how these investigations turn out.

The speculations of gaters on Twitter and Tumblr don't qualify as "investigations" in any sense of the word.

[Ralkovian Grand Island]

Ah well then I take back the lying. However, I am quite inclined to see how these investigations turn out.

The speculations of gaters on Twitter and Tumblr don't qualify as "investigations" in any sense of the word.

Context and reading help a lot. It'll help you a lot in the future.

As in, I'm quite inclined to see how the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Investigation turns out. Or do you think the FBI doesn't count as investigation.

[Page]

Supposed fucks for good game reviews are equal in magnitude to international espionage. This is why gaters are a goddamn joke.

Wait? What? So you are saying that there are some people who shouldn't be sleeping together, even if they're consenting adults?

Well that's the business of their handlers, not mine.

[Page]

The speculations of gaters on Twitter and Tumblr don't qualify as "investigations" in any sense of the word.

Context and reading help a lot. It'll help you a lot in the future.

As in, I'm quite inclined to see how the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Investigation turns out. Or do you think the FBI doesn't count as investigation.

The FBI is investigating the death threats and doxxing attacks by the misogynist gaters, not their little imaginary scandal.

[Ralkovian Grand Island]

Wait? What? So you are saying that there are some people who shouldn't be sleeping together, even if they're consenting adults?

Well that's the business of their handlers, not mine.

Why isn't it your business?

[Ralkovian Grand Island]

Context and reading help a lot. It'll help you a lot in the future.

As in, I'm quite inclined to see how the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Investigation turns out. Or do you think the FBI doesn't count as investigation.

The FBI is investigating the death threats and doxxing attacks by the misogynist gaters, not their little imaginary scandal.

Yes. I know. That's what I'm talking about. That's what me and forrest were talking about.

Again. Context and reading help a lot. It'll help you a lot in the future.

[Page]

The FBI is investigating the death threats and doxxing attacks by the misogynist gaters, not their little imaginary scandal.

Yes. I know. That's what I'm talking about. That's what me and forrest were talking about.

Again. Context and reading help a lot. It'll help you a lot in the future.

I try not to read what gaters have to say too closely in case the stupid is contagious.

[Delmonte]

Yes. I know. That's what I'm talking about. That's what me and forrest were talking about.

Again. Context and reading help a lot. It'll help you a lot in the future.

I try not to read what gaters have to say too closely in case the stupid is contagious.

An adroit ostrich maneuver. How intellectually genuine of you.

[Hirota]

The middle ground isn't always right. In fact, it's usually wrong. But here it is absolutely correct.

Zoe Quinn maybe cheated on her boyfriend with a writer from Kotaku. I, personally, think that she did. I don't give a fuck about her loyalty to her boyfriend or whatever; her boyfriend clearly has issues. And I mean issues. But it's very clear based off of records that were authenticated by numerous people that there was collusion going on. Zoe Quinn colluded with this person from Kotaku rather blatantly, she colluded with her roommate, she colluded with her best friend. Game publishers and designers are just getting too cozy with game reviewers. It defeats the point of reviewing games in the first place.

The gaming press responded to these accusations with closed ranks and by accusing people who were genuinely just concerned about collusion of misogyny. Most people who are giving the gaming press crap don't care about Zoe or her boyfriend or their relationship or whether or not they cheated on each other. Ethics in gaming journalism is, quite obviously, a huge issue and it needs to be dealt with.

That is problem number one. Then, there is problem number two, completely distinct from problem number one, and that problem is misogyny in gaming. Now, as a gamer I can assure you that this misogyny is recent. First I have to distinguish between "gamers" and "people who play games". Frat bros who play CoD and nothing else are people who play games. You can play games and not be a gamer and you can be a gamer and not play games. It's about being a part of the community. "Gamer" culture has existed long before video games, even, in the form of RPG's like D&D. The actual gaming community, not just people who play games, has always, always, always been a very accepting, come-as-you-are community. We're the island of misfit toys. Nobody was complaining about this kind of behavior when "games" were a small, niche market. Then people realized there was big money in video gaming and started making mass-market games targeted at society, not gamers.

CoD, FIFA, Grand Theft Auto, etc. are examples of games targeted at non-gamers. Hardcore gamers rarely, if ever, play that shit. The shit that goes on in CoD and Grand Theft Auto has literally nothing to do with gamers. It's about society as a whole or, "people who just play games". If you find an actual gaming community you will know for a fact that they are accepting. I am homosexual (I've professed this on these forums before) and I can state unequivocally that gaming circles are where I feel most accepted for who I am. I feel more accepted at my University's local gaming club (which is huge) than I do at my university's LGBTQIA organizations. Easily. It's not even close. Gaming communities don't care if you're yellow with purple polka-dots. You will be accepted. My University's local gaming club has a healthy representation of literally every oppressed group. We have a disproportionately high number of gay members (male and female), we're almost exactly half male/female, we have trans-men, trans-women, asexuals, persons of color, queer persons of color.

If you want to see the overwhelming number of gamers from oppressed groups who are not buying the bullcrap that these game designers and reviewers are peddling, look at the "Notyourshield" hashtag. You see infinitely more queer, genderqueer, trans, and minority gamers coming out against these journalists than in favor of them.

Obviously there are fringe elements in every group. But I take it very seriously when people try to characterize the gaming community as not accepting. Because it is literally the only place that I feel accepted.

You....I like you, you're a decent person. I wish more people on here were as balanced as you. Although real hardcore gamers would play GURPS rather than D&D

[Ralkovian Grand Island]

Yes. I know. That's what I'm talking about. That's what me and forrest were talking about.

Again. Context and reading help a lot. It'll help you a lot in the future.

I try not to read what gaters have to say too closely in case the stupid is contagious.

So what you're saying is that you like to act pretentious and like to stereotype groups, but only from a leftist viewpoint.

You should be proud though. I also enjoy acting pretentious and like to stereotype groups, but only from a conservative viewpoint.

We could form a club together. Hell, If you let me use my wealthy white male privilege, I'll totally pay for the food and drinks, though it might oppress you. But don't feel to oppressed, I'm Jewish. So like you're only being oppressed 9/10 as much.

[The Black Forrest]

If it was only about the game, then you should be taking "the bad elements" on directly.

http://i.imgur.com/TX6m0HK.jpg

We keep our house in order, What precisely has SJW done to counter their bad elements?
https://i.imgur.com/4JWl6sF.jpg
https://twitter.com/ForemanErik/status/ ... 3705736192
http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/games ... th-threats

Ok. File police reports then. That would aid in the believability your these alleged threats.

I am curious to how many gammers will dribble on about free market in economics talk and yet won't act on their prinicples and not play a game from Zoe or bother reading reviews from a tainted source anymore.

Enough to make a difference.

Do they now? Then they don't understand it. The best thing Depression Quest got was the gamer peoples phorage.

Left to it's own efforts. Depression Quest would have died a quiet death.

Alas for most people they are so incapable of looking past their own confirmation bias,

What purpose does it for your group with slut/whore and doxxing serve?

Bad grammar makes no sense. Say again? Or are you trying to repeat what you said (and I answered) at the beginning?[/quote]

You obviously understood it. The "tactics" used did your group no help. In fact many turned against your group for that.

As Ifreann pointed out you might start by laying out your efforts to achieve these goals..

Who?
[/quote]

The beauty that is Ifreann is that he will slash through BS and reduce it to simple question.

But to reiterate what he said:

I love how your response to being asked about what you're actually doing to achieve your goals does not involve anything about what you're doing to achieve your goals.

He is correct on that.

Gamergate has plenty of women who identify as feminists in our ranks. To try and portray this as feminism versus gamergate is untrue.

*shrugs* I tend to think the gamer side has quite a few 4chan kiddies on it.

So again what are you doing to achieve your goals.

[Page]

I try not to read what gaters have to say too closely in case the stupid is contagious.

So what you're saying is that you like to act pretentious and like to stereotype groups, but only from a leftist viewpoint.

You should be proud though. I also enjoy acting pretentious and like to stereotype groups, but only from a conservative viewpoint.

We could form a club together. Hell, If you let me use my wealthy white male privilege, I'll totally pay for the food and drinks.

I like how you accidentally admitted gamergate is a right-wing movement.

[The Black Forrest]

Supposed fucks for good game reviews are equal in magnitude to international espionage. This is why gaters are a goddamn joke.

Wait? What? So you are saying that there are some people who shouldn't be sleeping together, even if they're consenting adults?

Again you need to share.

[Ralkovian Grand Island]

So what you're saying is that you like to act pretentious and like to stereotype groups, but only from a leftist viewpoint.

You should be proud though. I also enjoy acting pretentious and like to stereotype groups, but only from a conservative viewpoint.

We could form a club together. Hell, If you let me use my wealthy white male privilege, I'll totally pay for the food and drinks.

I like how you accidentally admitted gamergate is a right-wing movement.

Well, I'm actually ideologically a Theocratical Socialist Authoritarian who proliferates potatoes, so if anything I admitted gamergater is actually a Tubular Jewish conspiracy. At which point it isn't accidental. I mean have you read the quotes in my signature. I'm a terrible, terrible person.

[Ralkovian Grand Island]

Wait? What? So you are saying that there are some people who shouldn't be sleeping together, even if they're consenting adults?

Again you need to share.

Sorry, I'm not into threesomes.

Share what though?

[The Black Forrest]

The middle ground isn't always right. In fact, it's usually wrong. But here it is absolutely correct.

Zoe Quinn maybe cheated on her boyfriend with a writer from Kotaku. I, personally, think that she did. I don't give a fuck about her loyalty to her boyfriend or whatever; her boyfriend clearly has issues. And I mean issues. But it's very clear based off of records that were authenticated by numerous people that there was collusion going on. Zoe Quinn colluded with this person from Kotaku rather blatantly, she colluded with her roommate, she colluded with her best friend. Game publishers and designers are just getting too cozy with game reviewers. It defeats the point of reviewing games in the first place.

Ok. Much as the gamer people think they are trail blazing; this arrangement has been going on for very long time. As previously mentioned (somewhere) there was a magazine called Macazine(if I remember the name right) and it wrote hard hitting reviews. It went out of business when the ad revenue dried up. Basically; you wrote a bad review so I will not advertise with you.

Maybe it's because I have played games a little longer then most here *coughschainmailcoughspongcoughs* and learned never to take a review as 100 percent. Especially with games. As mentioned; if you see game ads on the site or publications; the reviews shouldn't be taken to heart.

Personally; I tend to go "word of mouth"

The gaming press responded to these accusations with closed ranks and by accusing people who were genuinely just concerned about collusion of misogyny. Most people who are giving the gaming press crap don't care about Zoe or her boyfriend or their relationship or whether or not they cheated on each other. Ethics in gaming journalism is, quite obviously, a huge issue and it needs to be dealt with.

Ok. For one thing it's a business. What not stop reading the sites and publications involved? Why not stop downloading Zoe's games? I did the "free market" approach. Downloaded the free game and played it. I didn't care for it. Thought it was rather weak and am not going to be looking for her other attempts.

Oh and do you have "credible" evidence to this collusion?

That is problem number one. Then, there is problem number two, completely distinct from problem number one, and that problem is misogyny in gaming. Now, as a gamer I can assure you that this misogyny is recent. First I have to distinguish between "gamers" and "people who play games". Frat bros who play CoD and nothing else are people who play games. You can play games and not be a gamer and you can be a gamer and not play games. It's about being a part of the community. "Gamer" culture has existed long before video games, even, in the form of RPG's like D&D. The actual gaming community, not just people who play games, has always, always, always been a very accepting, come-as-you-are community. We're the island of misfit toys. Nobody was complaining about this kind of behavior when "games" were a small, niche market. Then people realized there was big money in video gaming and started making mass-market games targeted at society, not gamers.

I would agree with that description. However, the last part well? Gamers set up many of those early company. NWC for example. Jon made his money and started doing other things.....

*snip*

Agree with the all types accepted comments.

If you want to see the overwhelming number of gamers from oppressed groups who are not buying the bullcrap that these game designers and reviewers are peddling, look at the "Notyourshield" hashtag. You see infinitely more queer, genderqueer, trans, and minority gamers coming out against these journalists than in favor of them.

Do you have a previous example? As in an unethical review before Zoe?

Obviously there are fringe elements in every group. But I take it very seriously when people try to characterize the gaming community as not accepting. Because it is literally the only place that I feel accepted.

That's the problem of the Net and social media. The loud mouths get heard and unfortunately trying to define what the game community is lost by the people offended by the 4chan types.

Zoe and the sex scandals being the poster child for reforming game reviews is a losing cause. Too many people see the abuse thrown her way and then hear about Depression Quest not costing anything? They tend to go gamers.

Trying to exclude the CoD and GTA types from gaming is a waste of time as well. People don't or won't separate the two distinctions.

Times change and the setup changes. I became officially old when a kid playing DoD on the computer was surprised it was around in my day and it was played with paper and books! It's funny but collectors want my old gear and my lead armies

[Hirota]

Ok. File police reports then. That would aid in the believability your these alleged threats.

Some have been. Others are so used to them they know they shouldn't be taken seriously.

(Of course, if anyone is concerned for their safety, they should report it to the authorities. It's something that no-one should have to tolerate.)

You obviously understood it. The "tactics" used did your group no help. In fact many turned against your group for that.

No - I didn't understand it. Others might stoop to that level of intellectual dishonesty, but I DO NOT. The tactics supposedly employed by some of our group are opposed by the vast majority of our movement (and if you read some of the links I posted you'd see that).

Yet you forget to discuss combatting the tactics employed by "your" group.

The beauty that is Ifreann is that he will slash through BS and reduce it to simple question.

Really? My opinion is that their not worth my time and I'm no longer interesting in engaging with someone who I don't believe is interested in honest engagement in spite of my best efforts to do so. I'm not prepared to engage someone incapable of good faith discussion when I can spend my time discussing with someone who might be willing to be honest and fair. I respect plenty of people on the other side of the debate who are prepared to act in good faith.

*shrugs* I tend to think the gamer side has quite a few 4chan kiddies on it.

You think what you want, you could go ahead and see if you are right by actually looking for yourself. Instead of thinking it, go ahead and find out! Don't make assumptions.

So again what are you doing to achieve your goals.

As a Brit, I personally am actively doing my upmost to make sure the British Mainstream media do their best to present a balanced story. I've written complaints to news outlets. Otherwise I'm on here and other sites standing for my values, fighting the good fight, trying to help those people who might be unsure about what gamergate is really about, and combatting the lies that have been perpetuated on here by some people.

As a movement? We are focused on engaging with outlets that have made fair efforts to be fair and balanced, campaigning for advertisers to remove their adverts from press outlets who have been leading the corruption in the gaming industry, demonstrating the diversity of the movement (#notyourshield) and countering the lies and insults some would use as a smoke screen to hide the real issues. Our focus is now on establishing a wider voice in the general media, and combatting the spread of lies perpetuated on sites such as MSNBC and CNN, and doing our uptmost to oppose the fringe elements you'd like to pretend fill our ranks.

[Tahar Joblis]

- Whiny exes are the most honest and reliable sources ever. Especially pretentious ones who write ten thousand word manifestos.

This "whiny ex" wrote a lot of things that were not public knowledge.

None of those things have been falsified; a large number of them have been confirmed by other sources, such as Zoe Quinn, her boss, her boss's wife, etc.

- Are alleged people sleeping together consenting adults? Yes? Then you can't say they "shouldn't" be.

I can say they "shouldn't" be.

Go sleep with your married boss without his wife knowing and get back to me. Heck, you generally disapprove of infidelity, calling it a "shitty thing to do," it's in your record. It also can be a major professional problem for your co-workers if you're having an affair with your boss. You also shouldn't be judging a contest where one of the contestants is someone who has a close undisclosed personal tie with you... or offering sexual favors, monetary favors, or anything else in order to get preferential treatment.

An assortment of violations of personal and professional ethics, in other words, surround the questions of who slept with Zoe Quinn. Should they be of great public interest? No. It's in the interests of people who might work with her in the future, people who pay attention to indie game awards, and people who think Kotaku is something other than a yet another clickbait operation in the Gawker media family.

Indeed, we're taking about someone being personally horrible - Quinn's ex, whose manifesto is about on the same ethical level of revenge porn considering its intent.

Its intent is to warn anyone intending to date or work with Zoe Quinn of what kind of person she is. It has had the unintended effect of spurring some discussion between her ex and other abuse victims about their experiences with abusive partners. It has also had the unintended effect of stirring up a clickbait-fueled media shitstorm. He does not approve of threats or harassment.

However, here you are, rallying to defend Zoe Quinn, labeling her ex's break-up post - explaining, essentially, that Zoe Quinn is an emotional abuser (without actually using the phrase until it's pointed out to him) and that this is why he's breaking up with her - as being something somehow equivalent to "revenge porn."

No, it's something much simpler. It's a burden-unloading for the sake of his own sanity and for the future sanity of anyone else making the mistake of being with Zoe Quinn. If we switched the two genders, you would not be describing this as a horrible thing.

How are male gamers an "unsympathetic target" when they have an entire circle jerk in their favor all over the net?

The only "circle jerk" male gamers have is other male gamers. And not even all other male gamers.

The gaming community has a certain amount of solidarity against external attacks. This is most of what we're seeing on the "Zoe Quinn is evil" side of things. MRAs are involved because feminists are involved on the "Zoe Quinn is an angel who needs your money!" side of things. The "Zoe Quinn is an angel who needs your money!" side of things ranges from some insiders to an array of professional feminists, clickbait specialists, and (now) more mainstream journalists, as they line up to cover the sensational news about hau horribule the ebul gamurz R.

Websites like Kotaku get a lot of their clickbait revenue by drumming up the gaming community as a vile cesspool of darkness. Anita Sarkeesian made a business model out of trolling male gamers to get donations from people who think the gaming community is a vile cesspool of darkness. (It worked really well for her.) Yes, male gamers are an unsympathetic target. Women are automatically more sympathetic. Especially young white women with faces. The vast majority of the population has a strong bias in favor of [random identified woman] vs [group of people presumed to be men who are referred to but not actually shown directly].

Male gamers are an "unsympathetic target." It's fashionable to bash male gamers. It's been fashionable pretty much since gamers became a thing.