Some clarification on where I stand with #GamerGate

First and foremost, I never, ever said I supported #GamerGate. Tweeting this message was maybe the third time I have ever even used the hashtag. Those who know me know that I value my individuality and am absolutely opposed to any sort of label, flag, or identity. I stand for my own principles, period. These will be explained in further detail below.



I came under fire from my colleagues for sharing a #GamerGate related video /before I even knew what #GamerGate was/. Since then I have lost several followers and former friends on Twitter and Facebook. These are people I have met in real life and once respected and had the impression that this respect was mutually shared. When these people started unfollowing me I panicked because I feared that I had gotten myself blacklisted from my part of the game industry. I was under this impression because it is observably a clique, which leads me to my next point:



I am anti-nepotism. That means I don't appreciate a few so-called "devs" that are able to have more visibility and success within the game industry when they have demonstrably less aptitude. I'm really not concerned with the means they used to achieve this, whether it's sleeping with someone or just being a servile flatterer; if the end result is they can be successful for doing less in terms of quantity and quality of work, then I have a serious problem with that. It's not only an insult to my profession but the integrity of the art of game development as a whole.



Secondly, it's very obvious that there are many people coming into the game industry with a political axe to grind. I still maintain this one simple adage: "Make the games you want to see in the industry." If you can't put up, then shut up. If you can't make these games yourself then hire someone else to do it or start crowd funding. The people who think the game industry needs to change seem to have enough supporters, so why don't they put their money where their mouth is instead of relying on other people to do things for them? Since when did it ever become acceptable that words should speak louder than actions?



Yes, gaming has its problems but they are reflective of much larger social problems and in the grand scheme of things the game industry isn't even that important in this context. It's simply an easy target for these people pushing their political agendas. I dare these folks to try this shit in any other industry, because they wouldn't be taken half as seriously. A lot of gamers I know are intelligent, introspective people who are sensitive enough to actually internalize the bullshit being poured into their ear on a daily basis. The fact that they'd even be exploited for that is beyond disgusting. If the game industry weren't inclusive, we wouldn't even be having this conversation in the first place; you would have been laughed out of town months ago.

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