Beware of the trolls (Picture: g-stockstudio)

GamerGate is about two things, the treatment and representation of women in games and the ethics of game journalists.

And like any hashtag movement on Twitter, it is has become invariably about a million other things, most notably the abusive trolling of women and some men.

GamerGate is something that should be a discussion point for the gaming industry.

MORE: GamerGate – what is it, and why are gamers so angry?


A red flag that signified things need to change, but instead it has become an easy excuse for trolls to exercise some seriously disturbing misogynistic behaviours.

Behaviours so bad that it has forced people to flee their homes due to murder and rape threats and their information being doxxed online. It is seriously disgusting and needs to stop.



Threats of murder and rape under any circumstance is unacceptable, no matter whether you disagree with someone or not.

Trying to intimidate men or women using threats like this is a massively cowardly act and the sick joy that people seem to get in doing it is horrendous.

If GamerGate has done anything, it has taken trolling to a whole new level.

Rolling out the rape and murder threats is a serious thing and something that should be looked at by the authorities.

Just because you are online, doesn’t make it any less real, especially if your home address is being leaked to the masses.

Why are women made to feel like this their only option when being attacked online? (Picture: stokkete)

If you made a threat like that to someone verbally you would leave yourself open to being prosecuted and it should be the same online.

Threats like that are terrifying for anyone and, while for the most part a lot of people trolling are just doing it for the attention, you never really know just how serious a threat it really is.

The people who are making these threats, no matter how angry they are that the ‘scary feminists’ are criticizing their games, or mocking them for their sexist remarks, should be ashamed.

There really is no excuse for it and actually they are just proving them right that sexism is rife within the gaming community.

What really disturbs me is that this kind of retaliation seems to be the go to.

It would seem that if people disagree they would rather threaten sexual and physical violence than actually talk about what the issue is and put across an argument for why they disagree.

I love gaming and I spend a significant portion of my free time playing online and for the most part my experience has been fantastic and I have made some really great gaming friends, both female and male.

But seeing this and all the abuse makes me feel a little bit ashamed that this vitriol has come from a community that I am active in.

Instead of GamerGate being a topic up for discussion around potential change around areas of ethics, how things can be more transparent, looking at how women are portrayed in games and how they are treated in the gaming industry as a whole, it has become a campaign of hate and ugliness.



The first thing you think of when it comes to GamerGate is misogyny, death threats and people trolling.

It is not about the issues it was apparently trying to highlight.

It started out in hate with someone making public their private personal relationship and it has spawned into a monster of hurt that will not change anything.

Issues like the above need to be addressed, but GamerGate is not the way to do it.

GamerGate makes the gaming world a toxic and ugly place and it must stop.