Yes, we have to talk about GamerGate.

Listen, I don't like this anymore than you do. I really don't want to always be that guy that writes these soapbox sermons every time people on the internet do something significantly fucked up, but guess what? When a gamer journalist has to literally move out of her residence because she mentioned that people were doing something fucked up on the internet, we need to talk, guys.

In the interest of context, I'll start with the two things that are none of our business:

First, two indie developers had a fairly nasty breakup that resulted in the guy, Eron Gjoni, creating a blog for the express purpose of airing out their dirty laundry. Picture the first ten minutes of The Social Network except 40% more male privilege and none of Aaron Sorkin's wit, charm or signs of being a remotely decent human. 

The second thing is that one of the things to come out in the wash of the aforementioned nasty breakup is that allegedly, the ex-girlfriend, Zoe Quinn was sleeping with a game journalist. The rub here is that, in most cases, this would be considered a conflict of interest. Neither of these things are any of our business because a). there is no empirical evidence to imply that said journalist gave any special treatment to Quinn as a result of their fling/affair/whateverwhogivesashit, making it Not A Conflict Of Interest and b). because PEOPLE BREAKING UP ISN'T ANY OF OUR FUCKING BUSINESS.

Now, here's the part that kinda IS our business:

Eron Gjoni's whole whinefest (and this is probably when he should have realized he was headed down a bad path) was adopted by none other than 4Chan, the central hub for all Chaotic Evil on the internet who proceed to call all parties to task. And by "call all parties to task", what I really mean is "they proceeded to specifically slut shame Zoe Quinn for seducing game journalists with her evil vagina magic" and also slut shaming Anita Sarkeesian for saying something about the whole Zoe Quinn thing, but actually had nothing to do with the whole Zoe Quinn thing but was still completely true. So, now, Anita Sarkeesian has to move out of her fucking house because people have found out where she lives, Kotaku has forbidden their journalists from donating to indie developers (don't ask because I don't know either) and gamers are at war with game journalists and basically, this is why we can't have nice things.

Why is this our business, you ask? I'll get to that in a second.

The central issue at the heart of all this is the issue that the Dudebro Community (4Chan, MRAs, Reddit, this prick, etc.) is doing their damnedest to convince you isn't happening, the one we need to talk about: misogyny in nerd culture.

There's two tell tale ways you know misogyny is happening:

1). 4Chan Is Actively Trying to Convince You It's Not Happening- In case I didn't make it clear before, when 4Chan agrees with you, that's probably the moment when you need to give serious thought to the possibility that you're dead wrong on whatever issue you've spoken out about. Seriously, they've gone so far as to say that Zoe Quinn is fabricating death threats against her to jumpstart some war on men. And now, they're lobbying for sympathy for nobody believing them just because they have a history of being unapologetically evil. Here's the trick, though: It MIGHT actually work is 4Chan wasn't actually unapologetically evil. I mean, seriously, if something evil happened on the internet or, really, even in the real world, there's a good chance its origins can be traced to 4Chan. So, their swearing to the Old Gods and The New that "it's totally not like that this time" is like walking in on Michael Myers with a bloody butcher knife standing over a dead white woman and him saying, "Look, I know what it looks like, but..."

2). No Men Are Actually Being Called to Account- None. Gamergate caught the attention of Joss Whedon and he's been quite vocal about the fact that this is why gamers can't have nice things and that this circus needs to stop posthaste. Last I checked, I didn't see anyone threatening him or his family, flaming his Twitter account or swearing a plague o' both his houses. Allegedly, this is about accountability in game journalism, but the actual game journalist who carried on an affair with Zoe Quinn isn't receiving a fifth of the shit Zoe Quinn is fielding. If this were politics and John McCain had pictures of himself at a bar doing shots with Wolf Blitzer, Old Blitz would probably be out of a job or, even worse, exiled to Headline News. The task of staying objective as a journalist is ON THE JOURNALIST and if 4Chan felt that strongly about transparency and truthiness and objective game reviews that, for the most part, aren't objective anyway, they'd be dragging the Kotaku guy out back to the woodshed even worse than they are with Quinn. But they're not. If this wasn't about misogyny, 4Chan would be making Joss Whedon furthering the "strawman" agenda. But they're not. Why? Because one of the symptoms of misogyny is an exclusive and irrational fear of women's evil vagina magic. Ask Aisha Tyler.

The reason we're talking about all of this is not to throw all of Nerd Community or even all gamers under the bus. The point of this is that if you like something, odds are you want to be able to be into it openly. I am, admittedly only a passive gamer. I only own a Nintendo 3DS and a shit ton of games that I usually only play on the bus or on my vacation time. But I love being able to talk about it and network with other gamers and hear their passion about gaming just like I do with comics. Shit like this....makes me not want to have my name associated with gaming. Because it makes it seem like gamers are sociopathic shut-ins that doggedly fuck with anyone who has anything resembling a dissenting opinion on the way things are or could be. And I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels this way.

The point: Get Off Your Ass And Speak Up. A lady had to move out of her fucking house because people that you might know and play Call of Duty with didn't know how to take constructive criticism. That doesn't kick you in the nuts a little bit? I'll spare you the "great power/great responsibility" speech this time, but for fuck's sake, guys....get passionate about this shit. 

Because simply sipping your tea from afar, saying #NotAllGamers isn't enough anymore. It's not just the fact that, by claiming you're not involved and walking away, it looks like you don't actually care and are just trying to glorify yourself and selfishly maintain your own good name. Because in our turning a blind eye and ignoring the trolls, hoping they'll just go away, the trolls have, in fact, gained strength. Therefore, we are somewhat to blame. Speak up. We're all grown. Nobody's going to spank you. I promise. It's easy. Watch:

"Come on, man. That's a little insensitive."

"Listen, I'm just going to come out and say it, but that's misogynist bullshit."

"It's like this: If you're going to be sexist, racist or homophobic, just don't read this blog. I'll get along just fine without your clicks."

See? Easy. Now, YOU try.