In the wake of the ongoing Internet culture war, GamerGate, women and minorities are fighting to have their voices heard in the gaming community — but should government lend a hand?

Alongside Star Wars cosplay, Fallout 4 promos and VR headsets, conversations about equality were happening everywhere at the recent gaming convention PAX Australia in Melbourne.

As the only Australian senator likely to be able to name a 21st century video game title, let alone explain one of the culture's peak battlegrounds, Mashable Australia asked Australian Greens senator and PAX panellist, Scott Ludlam, for his view on the matter.

GamerGate all started in 2014 when a former boyfriend accused a female independent game developer of trading sex for positive media coverage, which she of course denied. In the nature of the Internet, it escalated.

Although one side insisted the fight was over ethics in gaming journalism, the movement resulted predominantly in women in gaming being harassed online, women being driven from their homes in fear after threats of violence, and most recently, events proposing to discuss the controversy being cancelled due to yet more threats.

Now the audience for gaming is more diverse than the white male stereotype, the fight has become about how broad and welcoming a church the gaming industry can be.

Speaking on Oct. 31, Ludlam told Mashable Australia the government has no direct role to play in GamerGate, but it cannot bow out entirely. "I don't think the government has a role in culture wars," he said. "Anytime a government is engaging in a culture war it always tends to end badly."

Australian Greens senator for Western Australia, Scott Ludlam. Image: AAP Image/Lukas Coch

Nevertheless, government certainly has important levers to pull in not making a bad situation worse, he suggested — how women are treated politically in Australia will necessarily be reflected in smaller communities.

"[GamerGate] was very specific to this ecosystem, but it also feeds on wider cultural norms around gender and diversity, and who gets to set the rules that everyone plays by," he explained. "For two years, our minister for women [former prime minister, Tony Abbott] was a man, and his greatest achievement as minister for women was abolishing the carbon tax. That's insulting, and that sets cultural norms."

Ludlam understands the stakes of the fight being waged in the gaming community over whether women and minorities will be included as the industry grows, and whether games can reflect their interests and sensibilities, but resolution won't come via legislation.

"Ultimately, something like GamerGate can't be sorted from the outside," he concluded. "It's a cultural hand grenade for this community that only it can sort out. It's not going to get resolved by someone passing a law."