Gamergate (harassment campaign)
Misogynistic online harassment campaign / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Gamergate or GamerGate (GG)[1] was a loosely organized misogynistic online harassment campaign and a right-wing backlash against feminism, diversity, and progressivism in video game culture.[2][3][4] It was conducted using the hashtag "#Gamergate" primarily in 2014 and 2015.[1][5][6][7] Gamergate targeted women in the video game industry, most notably feminist media critic Anita Sarkeesian and video game developers Zoë Quinn and Brianna Wu.[8][9][10][11][12]
Gamergate | |
---|---|
Date | August 2014 (2014-08) – 2015 (2015) |
Target | Women in the video game industry |
Attack type | Online harassment campaign |
Victims | Zoë Quinn, Anita Sarkeesian, Brianna Wu, and others |
Perpetrators | Internet trolls, particularly from 4chan, Internet Relay Chat, and 8chan |
Motive | |
Inquiry | FBI investigation |
Gamergate began with an August 2014 blog entry called "The Zoe Post" by Quinn's ex-boyfriend, which falsely insinuated that Quinn had received a favorable review because of their sexual relationship with a games journalist.[13] The blog post was spread to 4chan, where many users had previously disparaged Quinn's work. This led to a campaign of harassment against Quinn, coordinated through anonymous message boards such as 4chan, 8chan, and Reddit.[14][15] The harassment campaign expanded to target Sarkeesian, Wu, and others who defended Quinn, and included doxing, rape threats, and death threats.[16][17][18]
Gamergate proponents ("Gamergaters") claimed to be promoting ethics in video game journalism and protecting the "gamer" identity in opposition to "political correctness"[19][20][21][22] and the perceived influence of feminism and so-called "social justice warriors" on video game culture.[3][23] Proponents alleged there was a conspiracy between journalists and video game developers to focus on progressive social issues such as gender equality and sexism.[24][25][26] Such claims have been widely dismissed as trivial, baseless, or unrelated to actual issues of ethics in gaming and journalism.[27][28][29] Several commentators in the mass media dismissed the ethics complaints as a deliberate cover for the ongoing harassment of Quinn and other women.[30][31] Gamergaters frequently denied any such harassment took place, falsely claiming it to be manufactured by the victims.[32][33]
Gamergate has been described as a culture war over cultural diversification, artistic recognition, feminism in video games, social criticism in video games, and the social identity of gamers.[27][34][35][36] Supporters stated that it was a social movement. However, as a movement Gamergate had no clearly defined goals, coherent message, or official leaders, making it difficult to define.[37][38][24] Gamergate led figures both inside and outside the gaming industry to focus on methods of addressing online harassment, ways to minimize harm, and prevent similar events.[39][40][41][42] Gamergate has been viewed as contributing to the alt-right and other right-wing movements.[43][44]