Tonight I saw a picture on Twitter that really caught my attention. A new blonde and blue eyed female has joined the ranks of anti-gamergate. Her name is Lillian Woods (a play off of Literally Who), a character based off of Vivian James (Video Games). When I first saw the picture, I was upset. I commented on the picture that it was the most insulting thing that I have seen come from anti-gamergate, ever. I thought of how I would cover this in a blog post, pointing out all of the reasons why Lillian stood for everything that was wrong with anti-Gamergate.
And then I started talking with Nightwulfe1, the creator of Lillian James.
We weren’t particularly friendly at first, which is reasonable considering I was insulted by the picture and he likely felt I was criticizing him. However, he then did an amazing thing. He apologized. And it was over, just like that. I apologized myself and we started talking.
After we set things straight, I found him very easy to talk to.We agreed that anyone can become jaded after being on the receiving end of insults/harassment for long enough. And that people’s willingness to think the worst of others was one of the worst effects of Gamergate. I’m thankful that he reminded me that despite the insults and harassment, that’s not everyone in anti-gamergate. Isn’t that the exact same argument that gamergate has been making all along? That the harassers shouldn’t count for everyone else in gamergate?
Instead of pointing out the supposed flaws in Lillian (anti-gamergate), I would like to instead point out the similarities between her and Vivian (pro-gamergate). With the help of Fridgeworks1, we were able to come up with a similar Vivian picture to reflect pro-gamergate’s views.
The rift between Vivian and Lillian is almost like a sitcom between rivals. Something bad happens, but rather than trying to talk it out they believe the worst and blame each other. After a series of wacky misunderstandings and plot twists, they eventually come to the realization that they were more alike than they thought.
Both sides believe they are fighting for the same things. They both believe in equality and want to support women and minorities. They believe that there should be a variety of games available for all demographics. They are individuals who want to be seen that way.
Perhaps if more people focused on what they had in common, then we could avoid a lot of animosity between groups. Maybe we should let down our guard and start getting rid of the line between pro and anti, even a little. At the end of the day, the majority of people on both sides are just trying to support what they believe in. There’s no agenda. At the very least, not from the vast majority of people that we see and talk with on Twitter.
If you’re talking to a pro-gamergater, chances are they’re legitimately concerned about ethics and do not condone harassment. Many of them are minorities. Many of them are even feminists. Don’t call them names and accuse them of harassment.
If you’re talking to an anti-gamergater, chances are they’re convinced that gamergate is responsible for the harassment of women. Many of them aren’t SJWs and may not even know what that is. They hear that women are being threatened and are concerned like any sane person. Don’t assume that they are uninformed.
Basically, everyone is a normal person with normal concerns. It is up to each individual to represent the best of their sides. Have your facts ready, but be willing to hear the other person out. Try to keep to one topic at a time to avoid confusion. Give credit where it’s due and admit to any mistakes. Don’t let pride get in the way. Most of all, respect the other person. If you do not, you will not only lose them but possible make it impossible for anyone else to reach them also.
Now, there are obvious trolls out there. Do NOT engage them on any level. They’re not going to feel bad or stop. It’s not worth your time and energy. But don’t assume the worst of everyone and keep your calm. Eventually, at some point, this craziness will all be over. Don’t let it take your humanity in the meantime.
Change Our Gaming 
I’m sorry, but if they don’t know what an SJW is, and believe the corrupt sacks of shit hook-line-and-sinker, they ARE uninformed, as well as misinformed on top of it, because they drank the Kool-Aid.
It also means they are an enemy of the truth and true equality, even if they are merely the gullible fools that the SJWs have managed to wrap around their fingers.
LikeLiked by 1 person
1. There is no concrete set of facts in regards to Gamergate. The problems of misinformation does not just come from outside of Gamergate but also from within. Because of the way Gamergate is set up, with no leaders/fact checkers, you could pick 10 random people from Gamergate and they would likely all have their own different set of “facts.”
2. The overwhelming majority of the media has had negative coverage of Gamergate. Even if a person were trying to do research into Gamergate, it’s much more difficult to find any positive, or even unbiased, coverage for it. If 10 out of 10 news stations say that something is bad, most people will take that as fact rather than look too deep into it. Gamergate has done the exact same though. Look no further than the recent Nick Denton Facebook fraud for evidence of that. Thankfully, the truth was found out, but not before irreparable damage was done.
3. I feel it is safe to say that the majority of people who do not spend a certain amount of time online do not know what an SJW is. I personally did not know what the term meant before Gamergate.
4. Even if they really are “gullible” then insulting them will not help your case. If you believe a person is misinformed, then inform them. But if you attack them then all you are doing is proving the anti side right. I have seen neutral, and even pro, people turn anti because of the negative attitudes many people in Gamergate show towards others.
5. Try to refrain from cursing or insulting people in the future. I understand if you are frustrated, but you are not helping yourself or Gamergate by making comments like these.
LikeLike
1. That’s funny, because I’ve been keeping up with a quite a few GamerGate supports; I’ve never seen a difference in the facts they’ve given.
2. That just means most people are morons and too easily lead by the nose; it doesn’t make them any less hostile toward equality and the truth after they’ve been lead by the nose.
3. Which shows you DID do research, and you did NOT stay uninformed; unlike the Lillian Woods’ of the world. Also SJW does not come from the internet, SJWs has been around in the real world and the term too.
4. Basically what you’re saying is that the majority of people are slaves to their emotions and can’t handle being told they are wrong, and instead of doing more research, accepting new facts as presented to them, they dig their heals into falsehood all the more. The other option would be to not tell them they are wrong and are attacking equality, and supporting vile, corrupt people, which would mean you have unchanging army across from you. While showing them truth, might at least get some people who are not that slaves to their emotions on your side once they’ve known the truth. Not painting a very good picture of those people, and all the more reason to consider them opponents.
5. The truth is the truth; a gullible fool is a gullible fool; there’s no way to speak the truth if words some people get emotional over can’t be spoken or written. Indeed, that will lead to the tyranny of the easily offended where everyone else has to tiptoe around, and nothing will ever get done, nor anything that needs talking about will ever get talked about. As far as I’m concerned, people like that are not gullible fools, they’re worse, they’re spineless basket cases on top of it, and should be treated with scorn until they grow a spine.
LikeLiked by 1 person
“There is no concrete set of facts in regards to Gamergate.”
*Glances down at point #6 of Lilliam*
Tell me, how can anti-GG’ers claim to have “verifiable, reliable information” if there are no concrete sets of facts?
LikeLiked by 1 person
That point is the exact same for both Lillian and Vivian. Both sides believe they have the irrefutable evidence to support their side, regardless of whether the other side has their own “concrete evidence” to refute it.
LikeLike
The vivian james I see up there is not the vivian james I know. She doesn’t use “that’s not even remotely attractive”, some kind of sexual cajoling to get her point across.
Moderate anti-gamergate are exceptionally rare. If they believe gamergate is an harassment campaign, then they are misinformed.
Gamergate isn’t perfect and has it extremists. But anti-gamergate is nearly universally extremist.
This is an easy experiment. Go on a gaming forum you don’t know. Create a polite friendly conversation about ethics in journalism. You don’t even have to mention gamergate.
I can promise you that if you get a few reploes you’ll get a reply from someone parroting aspects of the gamejournopros articles. That gamergate didn’t care about shadows of mordor thing (when that was started by a gamergate supporter!). That gamergate harasses, without a single word about harassment that gamergate receives. That gamergate is anti-feminist, despite the many women and feminists in gamergate.
It’s okay that people don’t necessarily agree with gamergate. But you should remember that no game journalist is willing to come to the table and discuss things.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I mentioned above that the Vivian James picture was taken directly from the Lillian Woods one. In order to keep them similar I tried to use the same wording where possible.
And while Anti-GG has their issues, I’ve seen similar acts of ignorance from Gamergate’s side. That anti-GG supports Geordie Tait and the things he says (despite multiple people speaking out against it such as Arthur Chu), that they’re all privileged rich white people (despite their own share of minorities) and that anyone who is anti-GG must be either misinformed/uninformed, which I feel is the most disrespectful of all.
And I’ve both started, partaken, and seen many conversations about Gamergate/ethics and have seen vitriol from both sides. Neither side is innocent. The part that bugs me the most about Gamergate in general is that both sides try to claim some right to a higher moral ground when neither of them deserve it.
LikeLike
This will end the same way the stereotypes eventually folded over before the SJW identity politic dragged it all back onto the table: At the individual level.
Problem is that the SJW narrative is demonstrably false. Part of why #GamerGate only expanded after every media hitjob is because it is very easy to demonstrate them wrong. This is why the SJWs are attacking Wikipedia and archive sites, attempting to subvert and censor – as if they’ve already forgotten why this fight started to begin with.
Most people aren’t gamers, so it’s somewhat irrelevant what they think. Most gamers are with us, if for no other reason than they simply know better. SJWs will move on from gaming just like every other identity/movement they’ve been a parasite to, but they won’t outlast gamers. This is our thing.
People will see what the news has to say, then they’ll see the reality of it. In the long term, it’s the media that hurts for it. We’ll be fine.
This isn’t the first time, nor the last time, we’ve had to face down the media.
LikeLike