I recently returned to RationalWiki for the holidays because I figured I’d be forgiving of them in the spirit of the season and, since they are intent on debunking GamerGate, I decided to lend my pro-GG viewpoint so they can see how people like me think, and since I believe in trying to defeat arguments I agree with just to make sure I’m on solid ideological ground, I am attempting to be an honest broker despite my own bias.

And so, I plan to go through their article on GG claims and analyze it:

As of the following revision:

http://rationalwiki.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_Gamergate_claims&diff=1587662&oldid=1587661

https://archive.is/X75r5

My comments in regular font, their work in italics

Gamergate lives in an alternate universe with an alternate history, in which Gamergate has doxxed nobody, has significantly increased ethics in game journalism, is supported by a broad coalition of diverse people, and is generally pretty great. Surprisingly, they’re incorrect. This page is a ‘’’list of Gamergate’s claims’’’ and reality-based rebuttals.

This is a pretty bold claim, let’s see how it stacks up, shall we?

Gamergate lives in an alternate universe with an alternate history, in which Gamergate has doxxed nobody, has significantly increased ethics in game journalism, is supported by a broad coalition of diverse people, and is generally pretty great. Surprisingly, they’re incorrect. This page is a list of Gamergate’s claims and reality-based rebuttals.

Gamergate is nice

Like a friendly stalker.

Ad hominem, what does this prove?

Gamergate hasn’t harmed anyone

Claim Gamergate is about ethics; ethics precludes harassment and doxxing! Rebuttal Here’s a list:

Zoë Quinn:

On this point, while there is no doubt Gjoni was pissed off, the only reference to suicide in the entire article is where he recounts a point

he mentioned Zoe trying to attempt it. As for “designed”, this is inferred based on the reaction by some of the parties who reacted to it, his intentions as stated are:

from: https://thezoepost.wordpress.com/

(quote from Zoe Post)

There are likely things you have read in various forms of media about what this blog is. You will find those descriptions to be generally incorrect.

Additionally, as a heads up, it’s worth noting that in providing a concrete story and examples, this blog has apparently had the unintended side effect of helping a number of abuse survivors come to terms with their own relationships (and from what I understand, causing distress to some others who have not yet come to terms). I didn’t really know what emotional abuse was when I wrote this blog, and the comments from therapists and survivors who have since taken the time to inform me have been tremendously helpful to myself and a number of other commenters. I’m grateful to those of you who have reached out, and apologize to those who came expecting a light read and left feeling any significant measure of distress. If you’ve never dealt with emotional abuse before (as I hadn’t up until this point), it can be especially difficult to spot, as one of the most persistent patterns is being made to feel at fault for your partner’s behavior. Each situation is different, so I’m hesitant to offer general advice, but if things get bad enough that you fear for your wellbeing, and you feel safe enough to do so, please consider calling the National Domestic Violence Hotline.

Edit: There is now an ongoing educational series exploring the forms of control and abuse apparently highlighted in this blog. In the hopes that it may educate people on what to look out for, here is a link to the first video in that series.

(end quote)

While he’s obviously angered by her infidelity as The Zoe Post makes clear, there is no indication he willfully wrote with the intent of a trolling/harassment tool. It’s message may have been used as a springboard for such, but it is not ever officially sanctioned in the Zoe Post itself.

After he got banned from Penny Arcade and Something Awful, he shared with 4chan’s /r9k/ and /pol/ who then decided to call her a “whore” and a “cunt”. How non-misogynist.

According to The Zoe Post, here Gjoni’s side of it:

“If you take my recommendation to opt against the TL;DR — yes, this is written almost entirely in shitty metaphors and bitter snark. It’s a post about an ex, and the tone reflects its intention as the starting post for forum threads entitled Cringe-Worthy Break Up Stories on Penny Arcade and Something Awful, because I figured it would be best to announce on friendly communities in innocuous ways. Penny Arcade and Something Awful deleted those threads, so now this blog stands alone. I will not take it down, because I know the information is important, even if what I have omitted means you never might.

And no, I never posted this to 4chan.”

The first two sources cited by RW bear this claim out, with others having rehosted what was removed from other places as posted by Gjoni, but he himself did not provably rehost on the chans himself.

https://archive.is/qrS5Q

https://archive.is/QIjm3

The tone of those chan links is rather vomit worthy in my view, but I found no evidence suggesting Gjoni sanctioned or approved of either.

This is basically true, given the above.

Proto-Gamergaters hacked her social media and sent nude photos to her employers and family.

Citation needed, none is provided for this allegation. Also, given most of these nudes were available as pornographic images from porn shoots years ago, I fail to see how these could have been hacked when they were available in other ways.

She and her boyfriend Alex Lifschitz were homeless for half a year because their old home address became public knowledge amongst Gamergate and was accompanied with physical threats.

Again, citation for this, where is it?

She’s not a game journalist at all. THE ETHICS!

Very true, but an issue of ethics regarding a failure to disclose personal relationships requires two parties, and the fact she allowed another party to make an ethical breach in which she had involvement means some level of guilt lies with her for remaining silent about it.

2. Phil Fish

After standing up for Quinn, Fish had his personal finances (among other details) revealed in a hack, forcing him to sell off his company and disappear from gaming.The anonymous mob denied responsibility, claiming that Quinn and Fish were running a false flag operation.

After investigating the links cited, this seems to be verifiably true, though the first article admits there is no court of law level proof 4chan (which is posted on largely anonymously) was provably responsible (they could have been used as a cover for a false flag or third party, possibilities the first article covers)

He’s not a game journalist at all. THE ETHICS!

Granted. However, allegations came to light sometime after his game used plagiarized assets, which is an ethical concern he should have been aware of and taken responsibility for.

Several of Quinn’s colleagues were so afraid of being targetted that they left game development, destroying their projects.

According to this, I don’t see a lot of evidence for the claim several of Quinn’s colleagues left game development and destroyed their projects. I do see someone writing in Quinn’s defense and speaking about the plight of women in similar situations, but the meat of the allegation doesn’t add up.

3. Anita Sarkeesian:

The only reason she’s in Gamergate’s sights is because she dared to say something negative about stereotypes, especially misogyny, in video games. Why would Gamergate, a nonmisogynist utopia for women, feel threatened by Sarkeesiaan’s totally benign criticism?

One, this is what’s called “framing the question”, casting the question in such a way as to lead someone to predetermined answer, in the case “if they aren’t evil, why are they evil”. Second, while I personally hold little regard for Sarkeesian’s analysis despite being a brief fan (though even as a critic I believe she doesn’t deserve abuse for her opinions), her criticism has gained national attention since it was released and has had an effect on the portrayal of gaming and gamers, so to claim her commentary is totally benign is fallacious at best and whitewashing at worst.

Gamergaters sent her death threats that made her fear for her own safety at home.

While I don’t deny she may have gotten the threats the article alleges, none of them were ever elaborated on besides being vague “death threats”, GamerGate and its members are cited nowhere in the linked Polygon article, and no law enforcement agency has ever verified the claims cited.

Someone actually threatened to shoot up a school because of her and because of video games. And no, it wasn’t a “Brazilian clickbait blogger”.

This confirmably happened, but law enforcement did not find it credible enough to believe the event needed to be stopped. As for the alleged perpetrator they are attempting to debunk, only one source is listed, RationalWiki would do well to confirm their allegation with another source, given they cite only one Blogjob post.

She just makes YouTube videos. Not a video game journalist so the mob claims.

On this, they are largely correct for the most part, though this does not factor in her public speeches, other writings, collaborative works and interviews.

Take a look at the article dedicated solely to her to see specific claims made against her. Or the page dedicated solely to thunderf00t’s claims against her.

This is rather exhaustive and best left to another article.

4. Brianna Wu

Still not a video game journalist! Another game dev though.

Not true. Admittedly, it may have been so at the time this was written, but Wu has written articles on gaming, such as the article where she tried to claim Samus Aran from the Metroid series was transsexual, so while Wu may not be strictly dedicated to gaming journalism per se, Wu has written on video games in some capacity.

Because of memes a follower of hers made, she was sent death threats that led her to flee her home temporarily.

This is BS. Note the timestamps in this image and compare it to the images and background details. Also a further debunking can be found here and here.

Gamergaters doxxed her and immediate family. Why?

The citations for this are tweets by Sarah Nyberg, and while it’s accurate on it’s face, why can’t RationalWiki cite the original articles/image from The Ralph Retort (even if only in cached/archived form). I know their citation standards are looser than Wikipedia, but if you want to have this point hard to argue, using the source makes for pretty airtight argument, not a second hand account from someone known to have an obvious bias.

5. Jenn Frank

Finally a video game journalist!

Technically true, Wu moonlights as one, but still true.

She just wrote that the atmosphere is toxic for women in the video game industry, and because the editors at The Guardian cut out the disclaimer that she had crowdfunded one of Quinn’s projects because an actual newspaper realized it wasn’t an ethical issue, Gamergaters drove her out of the industry.

Partially untrue. The Guardian later restored the information in the interests of full disclosure, and it was removed due to their editorial decisions, not one based on law pertaining to ethical violations in the media. Second, the latter source is clearly biased, as in, frothing at the mouth biased for this assertion, and if you want to make a reasonable argument, using a secondary, more neutral source to verify the claims would make for a more airtight case.

6. Mattie Brice too.

This is derived from the same quite biased source as the above, and while it does cite Brice’s tweets, a more neutral secondary source would still make for a more airtight case.

7. Felicia Day

She only wrote that she was afraid to say anything about her criticism of Gamergate because she felt she would be targetted next. She was doxxed in the comment section within an hour.

Alright, they cite mostly based on fact here, and I deplore whoever decided to dox Ms. Day.

8. Dan Olson

He didn’t even mention Gamergate in his exposé on 8chan’s harboring of pedophiles and hosting child pornography, but that didn’t stop Gamergaters from doxxing him, accusing him of being a pedophile, and distributing child porn (aka heavily blurred screenshots of 8chan’s child sex abuse photos in his article.)

The images he discussed were illegal for HIM to view in his area of residence (Canada), so he is indeed guilty under Canadian law of viewing illegal imagery, despite blurring the images, as he saw the unblurred images for himself as he confirmed by doing so, so in this case, r/KotakuInAction had every right under law to report his actions.

9. Jennifer Allaway

What purpose was there in trolling her game dev survey with messages such as “suck my dick” and “go kill yourself”? Other than helping her analyze Gamergate to show it met an established definition of a hate group.

While this cites fact, it’s also guilty of confirmation bias. She went out looking for sexism and got blatant trolling. It’s disgusting and deplorable, but it’s obvious the answers she got were vile attempts by some asshole to trigger her, and they obviously succeeded. Still, a swallow doesn’t make a spring, and this one incident is no more representative of GamerGaters than a random post on r/GamerGhazi is representative of everyone opposed to GamerGate.

10. The Digital Games Research Association

They have nothing to do with ethics in video game journalism or DARPA or pushing a feminist agenda in video games.

While they may not have a direct impact on gaming journalism, they do, by their own admission have their work peer reviewed by a feminist group, so while their motives and intention may have been misconstrued or overblown, RationalWiki should have taken the time to prove why any theories otherwise were bunk.

Also, here’s a key quote from the first article that sums up the base on the controversy:

“At DiGRA’s annual conference this August, Shaw and Consalvo participated in a roundtable session on “identity and diversity in game culture.” Notes from the roundtable were discovered online, showing how participants discussed the impact of feminist game studies on the video game industry, and whether academics could influence developers. Some interpreted it as proof that members of DiGRA were actively plotting to influence game development.”

Maybe there isn’t a conspiracy and it was overblown, but instead of RationalWiki proving why the conspiracy did not exist, they parroted the articles without proving their truth or inaccuracy.

11. Leigh Alexander

Only the third video game journalist here!!

Technically fourth, if Wu’s moonlighting is included.

While she DID say what the above claims, they left out something important Alexander DID say in her article that they left out, which is the crux of why GamerGaters are mad:

“Now part of a writer’s job in a creative, human medium is to help curate a creative community and an inclusive culture — and a lack of commitment to that just looks out-of-step, like a partial compromise with the howling trolls who’ve latched onto ‘ethics’ as the latest flag in their onslaught against evolution and inclusion.”

Given the above, they are correct Gamasutra’s advertising was contacted in anger over it and that advertising was withdrawn. Same was done to Gawker during their utterly shameful doxxing/extortion of David Geithner’s family and what they did to Hulk Hogan. In both cases, the readers saw a clear case of ethical breach, the former being Alexander admitting up front she cared less about truth than spreading her cultural values and that she didn’t care what the readers (who were the parties she slammed) thought, and the later being Gawker selling out ethics for sleazy clickbait money. In both cases, angry readers went for the jugular and both sites paid a price for their transgression in fiscal terms, and as I recall, BOTH SIDES thought what Gawker did was scummy, so why is the latter okay but the former not? Is it because only GamerGaters supported the former?

Basically, RationalWiki is not being consistent here when trying to make their case.

As for anyone believing Leigh Alexander needing to be harmed with a screwdriver, that is the most sickening thing I’ve every heard, and despite my own disgust with what I perceive to be Alexander’s utter lack of ethics or morals, I utterly condemn the party who thought that was justifiable.

12. Natalie Zina (Zed) Walschots

Not a video game journalist! A social scientist instead.

All she did was come up with a code word for Gamergate to be used by other professionals at the 2015 Canadian Game Studies Association conference as they had been told by organizers not to refer to the group by name, but there were still panels about Gamergate at the event. However, when one person accidentally tweeted “Gamergate” and left it up for 10 minutes, Gamergaters found her and began harassing her, eventually discovering that she was planning her PhD thesis on Gamergate and decided to go after her school, demanding that she have her thesis disqualified (because she didn’t support Gamergate, which apparently is required for a doctorate).

The ugly shade of confirmation bias rears it’s ugly head again, with RationalWiki using only one biased source to make their point without secondary, more neutral confirmation.

Also, if there was a COI, that could have had an academic bearing, no matter what she argued for or against, and just because it was the topic of GamerGate means nothing. She could have written a thesis on the merits of a gardening company, and if she were shilling their products on the side, it could have unfairly biased her academic career and tainted it with accusations of corruption since she didn’t disclose any potential payment (or lack of) she was receiving for writing something clearly meant to favor the subject.

As for the backlash, outside of bringing up possible academic ethical concerns, I find what happened to her overblown and ridiculous if the source’s claims are to be believed, but dismissing any potential COIs out of hand simply because they address a topic one is trying to debunk is just dishonest.

13. Patricia Hernandez

Another video game journalist! Finally!

Gamergate keeps citing an opinion piece she wrote concerning Max Temkin, co-creator of Cards Against Humanity, with regards to a rape accusation against him.

Having read it, it reads like a messy he said, she said opinion flinging contest, it comes across as bad case of misjudgment given the backlash, but I could be wrong. In the end, I don’t know what this proves aside from her making a really controversial opinion public and getting a very bad reaction to it. Also, a citation where GGers specifically cite this themselves is needed and absent.

Also they’re mad that she wrote about her friend and former roommate Anna Anthropy, who is mentioned three minor times in one article, a video game she made getting plugged in a three-sentence blog post, another minor blog entry, and plugging a free game made by Antropy elsewhere. Real ethical focusing on these two women’s private lives there, Gamergate.

And they’re mad she wrote about her other roommate and friend Christine Love, as well, in writing about her video game Hate Plus.

And of course, she’s friends with Zoë Quinn, too. Why else would Gamergate ever care about Hernandez in the first place? Not to mention, the article is a human interest piece and not a video game review.And again, promoting a free video game and not reviewing it.

CONFLICTS. OF. INTEREST, RATIONALWIKI. Just because you find it minor, the former was shilling the work of the latter parties, and no matter the degree, that’s a COI due to their friendships and the former’s occupation. And free games or not, she still should have disclosed the relationships in question so as to avoid accusations of undue favoritism. It DOES NOT matter the degree, just tell the truth up front. In fact, had ANYONE accused of COIs done this, GamerGate likely would not have been an issue.

14. Sarah Nyberg

Not a video game journalist!

Not even a video game developer!

Both true.

All she’s done is document the worst and most prominent of Gamergate’s activities on her Twitter. This led to Gamergaters digging up all they could on her, including her name before she came out as transgender and her dead family members’ obituaries, all while accusing her of many things based on ancient IRC logs that were uncovered by hacking her website.This is detailed elsewhere, but Gamergate’s hypocrisy is showing in that they won’t extend their “free speech” or insistence that they’re not really racists or pedophiles, but they won’t extend this protection to their targets.

Disclosure: I have seen the chat logs, and I’m fully convinced they and the Breitbart exposes on them and Nyberg’s past are quite accurate. As to the deadnaming, while I ordinarily do not support revealing one for the sheer hell of it, when there is likely criminal behavior done before someone changes their name legally, the right of the public to know supersedes hurting someone’s feelings, especially if they have molested children, and all the evidence, regardless how it was obtained (which I will concede some was obtained via illegal means, like the /baph/ dox drop from FFShrine’s server logs) is utterly consistent with the same story: Nyberg had, shared, and viewed child porn, had discussions about wanting to molest family members, and discussed this with underaged parties, some of which have stepped forward in recent day and confirmed the allegations.

As for GamerGaters not wanting to extend protection to a likely pedophile, I do not blame them in the slightest.

And RationalWiki, seriously, you’ll link to Nyberg’s sob story about being a teenage edgelord but won’t link to all the proof that’s a crock of shit?

Including a rebuttal article, also on Medium by Roph, who was at ground zero when this all went down as a fellow member of the same community and confirmed Nyberg was full of crap?

15. Peter Coffin

Not a video game journalist!

Not video game developer!

YouTube comedian, not even a video game specific one. Named and doxxed by Fredrick Brennan for reporting 8chan for child porn. Gamergaters also attempted to have Coffin involuntarily committed, in addition to making claim after claim about his wife and child not existing.

Trying to find the proof Brennan doxxed Coffin and the involuntary committing bit, can’t find it (/cow/ is mentioned, and they laugh at everyone they believe has made a fool of themselves on the internet). Also, the very first citation is to Dan Olson getting himself in trouble concerning Canada’s child porn laws, confirming what GamerGate reported him for.

As for the latter, I remember that kerfluffle over Coffin looking insane for a supposed imaginary wife/child, and while silly in retrospect, he even had me wondering what the real deal was for awhile, so while trying to get him committed seems insane, I can understand why people would consider it a viable idea.

Finally, that Sam Biddle Gawker source is full of proven bull. The top photo is of the now very well known Jace Conners hoax. and it has no links to other proof aside from unsourced transcripts for the non proven hoax material.

— — —

This is but Part 1 in a planned series of point by point critiques of RW’s GamerGate claims articles, and so far, mixed results. It DOES have some legit citations, but a big lack of secondary sources for confirmation of the more controversial/biased claims, some are not sourced at all, and there is a lot of confirmation bias.