To My Fellow Gamers…

By now, I am sure you all have heard of a certain hashtag that has been trending, the extent of which I shall not disclose. Normally, I choose not to involve myself in little internet pissfights such as these. However it is clear to me that the truth of what has transpired over the last three months has been obscured, and that some people are at war with honest people. This I cannot allow to occur.

My friends, we have been in a conflict of understanding with society for many years. Although many victories have been won, some fail to realize the good gamers have been to all of popular culture. In fact, most of the rational people on this great Internet have called these people out as professional whiners and scammers, yet there are people in vast positions of power who — either by ignorance or by stupidity — has chosen to believe them instead of the very people who put food on the table and a roof over their heads. We place a great deal of trust in these people to at least look at the games we love with an objective eye and to ignore those who incite fake rage for personal gain. Instead they are doing the very opposite, and this is why I am angry at them.

You should, too, if you would take the time to view all of the things they — these self-proclaimed heroes of geek culture — really think of us and our weird and wonderful ways. Then I need you to ask yourself — what have we done to provoke this great and unbridled rage? You will find the answer soon enough — because we dared to call someone who by her own admission says that she views shooting games as gross and to be not interested in games in general — a leech who has been using the industry as her next big score.

The indie scene has been polluted with people who could care less about us, they just want the money and the fame that comes with making a game. The press, who we trusted to act like adults and not give these people the time of day, are instead giving them a front page cover for simply editing HTML text game platforms. Nothing groundbreaking, nothing that should be of anyone’s attention. Why is this? For reasons that I already know, I shall leave them nameless. I implore you therefore to do your own due diligence on this topic.

Gamers have come a long way to enjoy the acceptance of society and of the world. Yet there remains people who would tell you that we have it too easy, and that there are bigger problems that require our immediate concern, and they are right. But I say this: gaming is a multi-billion dollar business which only going to grow in the years to come. When you got that kind of money changing hands every second, then an impartial press is essential. Yea, it’s important to have opinions on the games you cover. No one is trying to take that away from them. All we ask, though, is that you keep your opinions separate from your coverage of those games which repulse you, and to focus instead on the fun. Fun, after all, is what sells games, never what gender or race the main characters are.

Yea, there are great problems in the gaming community. No one is trying to deny that. Also it should be noted that just as there are bad people in every community, there are bad gamers. It is bad gamers that screw the image of being a gamer to the outside world. Although it is impossible to weed out every bad gamer we can at the very least eradicate the most vocal. We tackle this problem like a Hydra, sticking out of the sea to claim its next prey — Ongoing and must require eyes and ears to spot.

In closing, gaming has provided the most examples of role models people can look up to. Men and women who are strong, take no crap from anyone, and live their lives with the possibility that tomorrow will be better than today. I long for the day when i can proudly say, ‘Ich bin ein Gamer.’ Alas, we are not there yet. We must begin by making sure the gaming press knows its place in the industry. If there are some who cannot do their jobs effectively, they can be Inner Moka kicked to obscurity and replaced with the competent and humble. So I ask you to make due research and study into these critical issues. What will happen to the industry we all love is all too real if you do nothing.