Game developer Brianna Wu with art from Revolution 60, the debut game from the studio she co-founded. Credit:Getty Images Whatever their intentions, Wu became a target of online harassment after speaking out against GamerGate last year. She was "doxxed", online slang for having personal details published online, and her home address was published on the notorious message board 8chan. Almost immediately, Wu received explicit murder and rape threats, and was forced to flee her home. Connors' videos were a small part of a larger harassment effort, but they gained attention for their bizarre nature. Many people, both within and outside of GamerGate, suspected that Connors was either a "troll" (a deliberate troublemaker who makes a game out of provoking reactions out of victims) or had serious mental health issues. However, public opinion reached a tipping point in early February after one of Connors' videos went too far. The video showed him standing beside an overturned car, shouting about how Wu had sabotaged the vehicle in an act of attempted murder. The video seemed too strange to be true for some viewers, and they began to dig for the truth. What they found was 20 year old Jan Rankowski, a self-proclaimed "extreme comedian" who had been playing the role of Jace Connors for two years in order to satirise the toxic hyper-masculine culture prevalent in video game fandom.

Now the tables have been turned, and Rankowski has become a target for anonymous harassment. GamerGate and its supporters were clearly unimpressed with Rankowski's brand of humour; he says he has received threats online, received menacing phone calls, and even had people come to his home. "Some kid stood outside my window throwing pebbles. And someone knocked on my door — it's a closed apartment, you shouldn't be able to get in. And then there was no one there," he told BuzzFeed in a tell-all interview. "I didn't take this situation seriously, but I see what it means now to be in the other person's shoes. What her life must feel like. I have this newfound respect for the people who are having to deal with GamerGate, Brianna Wu and Anita [Sarkeesian]." Sarkeesian was also subject to threats and doxxing after her Feminist Frequency video series tackled sexism in video games. However, some doubt the authenticity of Rankowski's feelings. After going public, he posted a new video to YouTube and attached the following comment: "The experiment was a resounding success. We will collect the necessary data from this last livestream, and then we'll consider the exercise closed." One person who definitely is not laughing is Brianna Wu, who felt genuinely threatened by Rankowski's videos, including one in which he claimed he was, at that moment, driving to her house. Coming only months after Elliot Rodger had posted a similar video before killing six people and injuring 14 others in Isla Vista, California, the video was frightening.

"You can't threaten to murder people and think there are no consequences and you can take it back," Wu told Jezebel.com. "My suggestion to him is to lawyer up." DexX is on Twitter: @jamesjdominguez Follow Digital Life on Twitter