After eight years with my Xbox 360, there it was - the Red Ring of Death. That circular sign your console is screwed.

For hardcore gamers, it's usually their cue to freak out. It happened so often, gamers even filed a class-action lawsuit against system developer Microsoft in 2008. But this time? I took the dog for a walk and forgot about it in two minutes.

And the way video-game culture is going, I may keep walking.

Look, I realize I'm not the target audience for these things, but like Frank Underwood in House of Cards, games provide a distraction and/or escape some nights. I don't buy the stereotyping, either - if the games I play are rated M for Mature, and I'm inherently immature for playing them… who are they for?

We're also at a point where the very best games – The Last of Us, Uncharted, Bioshock – are as gripping and well-made as the movies which inspired them.

Which is all for naught if this industry doesn't purge its own poison.

Go down the rabbit hole known as 'GamerGate' and you'll need a long, hot shower afterwards.

Death threats. Promises of rape. Unbelievable misogyny. At least one threat of a school shooting massacre.

All because – take a deep breath – some women are trying to have a voice in an overwhelmingly male-dominated industry. They develop games. They talk about games. They criticize games. And for this, they get their home addresses shared on social media with messages like "I hope you enjoy your last moments alive on this earth. You did nothing worthwhile with your life."

That was sent to game developer Brianna Wu earlier this month. She has written articles on the gender imbalance in video games and the continued harassment of women in this industry. It earned her this tweet: "Nobody will care when you die."

GamerGate, as it would come to be known, started in August when 27-year-old game designer Zoe Quinn released a game called Depression Quest online. It was based on her own battle with depression as a teenager. Shortly after it came out, Quinn's ex-boyfriend published a blog accusing her of trading sex for positive reviews from gaming journalists. It was unsubstantiated, but a firestorm was underway. A subculture of hardcore gamers started chirping about ethics in gaming coverage while, at the same time, getting their rocks off. Under the GamerGate domain, a large, repugnant cancer in this industry was revealed. For decades, video games have been made by - and for - men, and a whole bunch of knuckle-draggers want to keep it that way. Quinn, and anyone who supported her, received horrific threats. Their private information was hacked. Quinn had to flee her own home.

Gaming journalist Jenn Frank wrote about Quinn's ordeal and then quit the industry after the harassment she received.

Hu's bank account was hacked, and she had to call police after someone threatened to kill her and her husband. "I think the genesis of (the harassment) is a culture that has some really unexamined issues with women," she told Vice.

This week, feminist gaming critic Anita Sarkeesian cancelled an appearance at Utah State University after receiving threats about a "mass shooting" if she spoke. Despite the threat, she said police would not take steps to prevent concealed firearms at the event.

Supporters of GamerGate insist it's about ethics in the gaming industry, trying to steer the conversation towards accountability. Of what, exactly? Video game reviews? We're going to start a movement over suspect reviews of Chests O' Booty and Skullgirls?

More like, one idiot faction wants to keep their Frito-stained game controllers away from the women-folk, and will indulge every rape fantasy they can fit into 140 characters. "At this point," tweeted Sarkeesian Tuesday, "supporting #gamergate is implicitly supporting the harassment of women in the gaming industry."

It shouldn't be the women being threatened fighting this battle. Where are the big developers? Where are the industry giants? Globally, the video game market was a $93-billion industry last year. What does that buy, silence?

Dear gaming industry, here's your wake-up call: Porn has more respect for women right now. Ignore what's happening, and that Red Ring of Death will just get bigger.

john.law@sunmedia.ca