A rogue angel must have dropped a sleigh of dry ice in Hell’s furnace, because I’m sure some people read the headline and assumed the home of the lake of fire must have frozen over for that statement to be true. Well, it turns out that in reality Tyler Malka – after having been on receiving end of criticisms from #GamerGate and criticisms from SJWs – has changed his tune and he now wants everybody to get along.

This epiphany didn’t just happen overnight, although a large part of the impetus for that epiphany did seem to finish up over the weekend following the death of John “TotalBiscuit” Bain. What happened was that some game developers from AAA publishers such as Electronic Arts and Blizzard Entertainment, have been defaming TotalBiscuit posthumously.

There have been a number of tweets and social media posts captured from those who align with the Social Justice Warrior movement, where they have actively gloated over TotalBiscuit dying to cancer. Some of this vitriol carried over into NeoGaf, which eventually struck a moral chord in the heart of its owner, Tyler Malka.

In an extremely lengthy post published on May 26th, 2018, Malka states that he has been wrong in the past and that he could have helped ease some of the polemic consternation that was fueled by NeoGaf’s overbearing and authoritarian stance on #GamerGate when the consumer revolt first formed in 2014.

Malka wrote…

“I’m definitely guilty of failing to recognize where I’ve crossed the line and been an asshole on the internet in ways that affected people for real over the years. The “GG vs SJW” battleground stuff in particular has really poisoned video game subculture and drawn lines in the sand that have turned so many people into shitheads on both sides. “It’s time to STOP. Fucking STOP. People are depersonalizing each other over the pettiest fucking bullshit, in a time when internet and real life are intersecting more than ever. It’s not a game. John Bain had some opinions. You can agree or disagree. But so far as I can tell he was a decent guy, he cared about his family, he did a lot for the video game scene, and he fought cancer bravely to the end. His last words were poignant and striking and beautiful.”

Malka originally was against #GamerGate, calling it a “basement-dwelling virgin subculture”, according to tweets archived by The Ralph Retort from April 10th, 2015.

Malka originally stated that it would have been “good for a laugh if not for the lives it’s ruined”, in reply to a question from Kotaku’s Jason Schreier about what Malka actually thought about #GamerGate.

The topic on NeoGaf was oftentimes banned, or if users expressed any sort of leanings toward supporting #GamerGate or even being neutral about it, they were banned, including YouTuber Boogie2988, as reported by Mundane Matt.

NeoGaf maintained a despotic chokehold on the #GamerGate discussion up until late last year. In October of 2017 many of the moderators left the forum after cover-ups of sexual misconduct circulated within the administration staff. Tyler Malka was also accused of sexual misconduct as part of the #MeToo movement. The site took a major nosedive and Malka was viciously put the wringer by feminists and SJWs, alongside #GamerGate.

Despite denying the allegations of sexual misconduct, Malka was ousted from the Social Justice Warrior circles, and NeoGaf took a major hit in its reputation. Since then, Malka claims he’s had time to reflect, and he’s come to terms with wanting to finally end the war between SJWs and #GamerGate.

In the most recent post, Malka writes with determined insistence, stating that it’s time to erase the line in the sand…

“Turn off the us vs them, regardless of which “side” you’re on right now. It’s video games. It matters to all of us, but it’s still just fucking video games. We’re adults. We can have a civil conversation like adults about goddamned video games, can we not? We can treat each other decently as human beings despite whatever our opinions are about video games, can we fucking not? Let’s start now. Erase the line in the sand. Let go of the anger and hatred and grudges. It’s gone on long enough. “Let’s talk it out and put an end to this shit. I insist.”

Whether or not Malka will actually go beyond simply beckoning others to no longer act inhumane to one another on the forums, or if he’ll actually expand beyond the forums and get active on social media remains to be seen.

With ResetEra having taken most of the thunder out of NeoGaf’s sails, this could be Malka’s turning point to court the #GamerGate crowd and attempt to lure back the real gamers and the anti-SJW crowd who have been castigated, ousted, and ridiculed by many of the major gaming hubs online.

I attempted to reach out to Malka for comment, but he has me blocked on Twitter.

(Main image courtesy of Bruce is the Batman)