Illustration: Glen Le Lievre If you've ever played a game on your phone or tablet, even something as frivolous as Angry Birds, and especially something as frivolous as Flappy Bird, you are at the centre of this storm. If you've ever felt your head grow hot and tight with the pressure of an imminent brainsplosion at some grotesque outrage by the news media, you stand near the howling centre of it. If you understand that women, all of them, even Julie Bishop, who has no need of feminism, are still well served by the awareness that feminism brings of the systemic abuse of half the world's population, and the call to action that awareness demands, then you stand at the centre of Gamergate. It's such a wretched, sleazy business that there's little surprise this latest septic eruption of Internet misogyny escalated from a jilted boyfriend, a programmer by the name of Eron Gjoni. He had been dating a game developer called Zoe Quinn and then in the way of these things, Eron and Zoe were dating no more. We've all been there, and like many of us Eron did not cope well.

Eron Gjoni sparked Gamergate. Credit:Via Twitter: @eron_gj He said a lot of spiteful, nasty things. But because this is the way we live now, Eron didn't write Zoe a letter, or keep calling her until she changed her phone number, he unloaded his grief online, alleging that his ex-girlfriend had sex with a critic who then wrote a friendly review of her game. (Note, this didn't happen). He also released some of her personal details. (Note, this did happen and became hugely significant later). And so it began. An internet firestorm, but still confined at this time to the fringes of the web; 4chan rather than Facebook. Eron Gjoni struck a match in a tinder-dry forest. There are problems with magazines and websites covering computer games. It's undeniable. Some of them are specific to that industry and art form. Some are the same problems faced by all media in a business where Google ate all the pies 10 years ago.

However, the plaintive wail of the gamer dudebros that "actually, Gamergate is about ethics in game journalism", sounds like the shrieking whine of an old dial-up modem when placed next to the tsunami of fearful loathing which crashed onto anybody, but particularly onto any woman who dared join the discussion or even reflect on it. This is where Gamergate went mainstream and toxic. This is why it matters even if your mad gaming skills extend no further than maxing out a triple-word score in online scrabble. Gamergate has become yet another front in the globalised Forever War against women, and the wider cultural enmity between progressives and reactionaries. If you're of an age to have a young son, and he plays computer games, he probably knows more about this than you do. But that doesn't mean he's better informed. Chances are he's getting his information, or some of it, from the sort of drooling mouth-breathers who equate threats of rape and murder with rational discussions of media bias and critical failure. You should probably care about that. A handful of high-profile women, some of them programmers, some of them journalists and critics such as Feminist Frequency's Anita Sarkeesian, have been so horribly stalked and monstered by these creeps that they have had to leave their homes and seek police protection.

But, no, actually, Gamergate is about ethics in journalism. Women outside the industry, actors such as geek icon Felicia Day (Buffy, House, Supernatural) who dared speak out are instantly swarmed. Day, who has had security issues with unbalanced stalkers, confessed herself anxious at the prospect of the retribution she knew was coming for writing a simple blog post about Gamergate. She was frightened that her personal details would be leaked and published, just like Zoe Quinn's. Within hours, her personal details were leaked and published. Just like Zoe Quinn's. But, remember, Gamergate is actually about ethics in journalism. Anita Sarkeesian was forced into hiding by quite specific and credible threats of sexual violence from buttworms and half-men enraged by her quite unremarkable series of videos critiquing the portrayal of women in video games. When Gamergate spooled up, she was invited to address a university audience in Utah, but Utah State received threats that it would suffer "the deadliest school shooting in American history". Campus police could not search attendees for firearms, because of Utah's concealed carry laws, and Sarkeesian cancelled the talk.

But remember, Gamergate is all about ethics in journalism. And Julie Bishop does not find the term feminism useful today. Twitter: @JohnBirmingham