[Disclosure: I was on the SPJ committee to select panelists for the event]

It’s been a year and gamers have hunkered into the trenches for the long war; they don’t tire easy and they don’t quit. They’ve been built to win and have trained to never give up. So when push came to shove and they ended up in a war over ethics and corruption within the media industry, gamers fought back with everything they could muster, and adapted to every single thing the media was willing to throw at them. Throughout this show of resiliency, AAA developers have slowly been crawling out from under the rubble and siding with the gamers… because at the end of the day, the gamers and developers can survive without the media, but the media isn’t worth much without an audience.

Some new developers have pledged open support for #GamerGate – a tag that represents a consumer revolt fighting for ethics, the rooting out of corruption within the media industry and the establishment of a gaming industry that can pursue creative freedoms without having to deal with overt censorship.

The developers include the software engineer who worked on The Sims at Electronic Arts, Michael Lawson, as well as the game designer for Operation: Flashpoint, Jay Truman, both of whom came out in support of the hashtag following the debate at SPJ Airplay in Miami, Florida on August 15th, 2015. The event was disrupted when those opposed to #GamerGate sent in bomb threats as a means of preventing the discussion from moving any further. The event was being live-streamed to those the world around, so there was a lot for the denizens of #GamerGate to gain by getting the truth out there regarding the corruption within the media industry and exposing what some outlets have labeled as a “conspiracy theory”.

Michael Lawson posted the following tweet to show his support in response to an opinion piece from Rise: Miami News’ editor-in-chief Rich Robinson who stated in the piece published on August 18th, 2015 that courage starts with a real name.

@RiseMiamiNews I worked on a billion dollar making franchise The Sims, and I support GamerGate. — Michael Lawson (@MLawsonIsATwit) August 18, 2015

Jay Truman also posted a tweet to show support for the hashtag.

@RiseMiamiNews My name is Jay Truman. I was game designer on multi-million dollar franchise Operation: Flashpoint, and I support #gamergate — CaitlynVonHampton (@OHStillHere) August 19, 2015

Both Truman and Lawson were also joined by a Rockstar network developer who also jumped in on the action.

Ehh why not? @RiseMiamiNews Hello, I worked on the Xbox One and at Electronic Arts, now at RockStar, and I support #GamerGate — Alexaroth (@AlexarothUK) August 19, 2015

Not everyone was convinced about the authenticity of the tweets, but after some Facebook posts, Linkedin images and credit rolls all compiled in an image dump, the leery but willing #GamerGate audience was finally convinced. This follows up on Dean Cain and other devs also publicly supporting #GamerGate.

Following the SPJ Airplay event, some news outlets have started to slowly turn a page in how they portray #GamerGate. In fact, the developers above tweeting at the local Miami paper called Rise Miami News, has offered pro-ethics and anti-#GamerGate individuals the opportunity to “red pill” the masses with their own stories.

One of the first opinion pieces on Rise: Miami News was published on August 18th, 2015 and titled “There Is No Real Evidence That Gamergate Is A Sexist Movement”.

Rise: Miami News has been one of the few outlets to actually cover #GamerGate and the bomb threats leveled at the Miami police department and the Society of Professional Journalists. One would imagine that multiple terrorist threats leveled at the SPJ would have the news flocking to cover the story, but only a few large outlets bothered to write up anything, with Game Politics and Forbes offering the most extensive coverage and other smaller outlets like The Ralph Retort and Polygon chiming in as well.

Whether or not the media will actually attempt to change their ways following the ethical pummeling they received at the hands of the panelists who attended SPJ Airplay remains to be seen, but at least the people who matter most in the gaming industry are finally stepping up and out from the shadows to support the people that support them.

Gamers and developers together can at least reform the press within their own circles and with the rise of new media and the fall of the old guard, we can hopefully see better things sprout up for the perpetually expanding and highly diversified gaming industry.