Polygon published a long-winded hate-bait piece on July 25th, 2018 titled “Gaming’s Toxic Men, Explained”. It managed to find its way across all the major social media sites and was even right smack dab on the front of Firefox when you open the browser.

The piece is a pretentious oscillation of intellectual masturbation for people who don’t know anything about the gaming industry other than what’s perpetuated in the closed off echo-chambers within their own inner circles. In fact, the comment section on the article is closed off so no one can offer a rebuttal or bring up the facts that the piece so conveniently ignores.

It contains quotes and comments from a who’s who of the intersectional academic clique, including the resident culture war stirrer and self-appointed damsel in distress of the cultural critics’ community, Anita Sarkeesian. Her intro piece manages to rewrite gaming history in ways that it never was, even going as far as to blame marketing for somehow driving women out of gaming, saying…

“I remember a commercial for PlayStation 1. There’s a man playing and he locks his girlfriend in the closet. He’s sitting on the couch with Lara Croft. I mean, what? I wonder, who are you targeting with that kind of shit?”

People who bought games and have a sense of humor?

In fact, by Sarkeesian’s own admission, she didn’t get into gaming until it became a target for her own sociopolitical ends.

She then goes on to state…

“So there was a massive shift in the marketing, targeting boys and men, and a shift in the games targeting boys and men, very specifically. This massive industry was targeting one demographic with hardly any pushback or resistance. “And all of a sudden you have some women who are saying, “Hey, wait a second. We’ve been here. We’ve been here this whole time, and we’re fucking sick of this.”

Wrong.

Marketing was reactive, not proactive. Boys were the ones mainly interested in games, so that’s who the core market catered toward.

In fact, studies have shown that even when gendered marketing has been used in the past it didn’t have much of an effect on gender engagement.

A specific report from Adjust’s market research showed that gendered marketing still saw near equal amounts of engagement from both genders.

You can read the full Adjust report here.

Soraya Chemaly, the director of Women’s Media Center Speech Project, told Polygon…

“As a society and as parents and adults, we have failed to educate them, and I think that we’ve left young men woefully unprepared in ways that end up being harmful — not only to women, but to themselves. “If you start talking about what it means to separate violence from masculinity, you really have to accept the fact that maybe feminists have some good ideas, which people are not that willing to do.”

Chemaly is absolutely right.

We’re not training our young boys to grow up to be what they should be…. men.

They need to watch plenty of Chuck Norris films (and to a lesser extent, Jean Claude Van-Damme films) to learn how to fight; they need to become accustomed to the culture that Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger perpetuated throughout the 1980s and early 1990s by working out and learning how to deliver curt, snappy, decisive one-liners.

We need to teach our boys how to give steely-eyed looks and sly comebacks like Steven Seagal.

We need to teach our boys how to lead and be headstrong like Harrison Ford in Air Force One.

And most importantly, we need to teach our boys how get strong, stay strong, and become real men…

Otherwise they might turn out like many of Chemaly’s male feminist allies: rapists.

Moving on…

Other non-gamers were brought into the fold to help push Polygon’s agenda, including the assistant professor in the Department of Communication and Gender and Women’s Studies at the University of Illinois, Dr. Kishonna Gray, who stated…

“Women have been devalued in games. We see the sexualization of them in games. Sometimes they’re subject to rape and abuse. Or they’re there just as a focus for the main character to have something to do. “That devaluation translates to the real world, where you have very few female game developers, where they are subject to a harassing, toxic environment.”

Wrong.

The most recent studies show that sexualized females in games actually helps increase empathy and lower acceptance of the feminists’ own rape myths acceptance.

Gray goes on to state…

“Gaming culture and games companies have been complicit in the abuse. There’s no way that GamerGate could have had the power that it did have without that historical practice of diminishing women. The game industry weaponized GamerGate. “A lot of people said, “Well, we’re not doxing women, so we’re not complicit.” Fuck that. Yes, you are.”

Wrong.

#GamerGate had nothing to do with doxing or harassment and there’s never been any proof that it ever was a harassment campaign. This was corroborated by a peer reviewed report by WAM!., and by the FBI’s investigation into #GamerGate.

What’s more is that #GamerGate was a response to years worth of corruption dating back to Gerstmanngate.

Bridget Blodgett, another non-gaming associate professor from the University of Baltimore that has a poor grasp on economics, told Polygon…

“Games marketed themselves into a corner by talking about themselves as being something for dudes, by dudes. If an industry segments itself to white dudes of a certain age and a certain income bracket, it’s going to reach a saturation point. “But that marketing message, for a long time, was that this is the most important group, and those consumers have largely bought into that. Now [that] those companies are looking at other markets, there’s a pushback from that group.”

Wrong.

The people are angry about their favorite franchises and brands being subverted for social engineering agendas, which is exactly what’s happened to comic books and movie franchises like Star Wars.

If you want to make feminist propaganda you very well can, but we all know that new IP made specifically to be propaganda do not sell well at all. We saw games like Sunset and Ladykiller In A Bind tank in sales.

This is why organization like Facebook are funding initiatives to force brands popular with males to abdicate their identity, such as turning Gears of War 5 into a vehicle for feminism, or turning Battlefield V into a platform for feminism, or turning Wolfenstein 2 into a vehicle for Communist propaganda.

Anyone stupid enough to believe that today’s games aren’t conduits for Leftist agitprop either agree with it or don’t mind it.

That being said, if developers want to make propaganda, then can very well make propaganda by creating new IP without tarnishing existing franchises.

Someone named Thom Avella, a content creator on YouTube, told Polygon…

“[…] Gamers are afraid of change. They seem to believe that any attempt to amplify the voices of marginalized people in the game space must also come with a suppression of their own voice.”

Wrong.

These “diverse” games already exist. They have every right to exist and no one cares. Although that’s part of the problem for SJWs: No one cares.

Sales of games that are purposefully designed to be “diverse” usually have poor sales because all these people complaining about intersectionality and the oppression Olympics don’t buy games.

How many people bought the gay comedy My Boyfriend The Space Tyrant ? Not many.

? Not many. How about the sequel Escape From Pleasure Planet ? Not many.

? Not many. What about t Where The Water Tastes Like Wine ? Not many.

? Not many. How about Agents of Mayhem ? Not many.

? Not many. And what about Lawbreakers? Oh right… it’s dead.

Members of the Intersectional Inquisition have shown that it’s not about creating new content that caters to that “diverse” crowd, it is about suppressing normal gamers and usurping their content to push agendas to a larger audience since the “diverse” crowd is a minority who don’t buy games.

Anyone who expresses that they preferred the old sexy Lara from Tomb Raider is called a misogynist and shouted down. That’s called suppression.

Anyone who wanted purchase Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 was treated like they committed sedition, and found themselves labeled as a “sexist” and a “misogynist”, with game journalists even going so far as to attack Play-Asia for daring to offer the game as an import for Westerners. That’s called suppression.

Just look at Dead or Alive 6. It’s catering wholly to the SJW crowd, covering up the girls, removing the Soft Engine physics, and shrinking the boobs because they believed that small boobs make women more human. Limiting the scope of creativity to only target one group of people is called suppression.

Carolyn Petit, a game journalist, told Polygon…

“[…] [Male gamers] have this idea that gaming is like a magic circle that they enter, where they enjoy a fantasy, and then they come out of it into the real world without having been influenced at all. It doesn’t work like that.”

Wrong.

It does work like that… it’s called escapism.

Here’s the definition from Merriam-Website dictionary: habitual diversion of the mind to purely imaginative activity or entertainment as an escape from reality or routine.

Entertainment used primarily and solely to inculcate is called indoctrination. It’s no longer being consumed for entertainment purposes and is instead being used for propaganda.

Kahlief Adams, some person from a podcast called Spawn on Me, expressed to Polygon…

“Adding blackness to anything will upset people. Every time black characters are given top billing in games, you get an uprising from, I’m going to assume, young white dudes or folks who feel like they are losing some kind of exposure.”

Wrong.

If Adams played video games they would know that black characters have starred in a wide swath of games well before Adams stepped into the picture to pursue intersectionality as a talking point on their podcast. GTA says “Hello”. Urban Chaos says “Hello!”. Crysis says “Hello”. Lethal Weapon on the SNES says “Hello”. Jurassic Park 2 on the SNES says “Hello!”. Prototype 2 says “Hello”. Heck, even Blade on the PSX says “Hello!”.

If Adams played more games outside of their racially homogenous circle of entertainment, maybe they would actually know about all the games starring black people outside of the ones their white friends complained about?

Anyway, Kishonna Gray lamented to Polygon….

“The game companies’ focus is really on white males first. So whenever I reach out and say, “Hey, what are you doing about the toxicity in the space?” they’re like, “Oh, well, you can just isolate and segregate yourselves” in places like Xbox Live. They’re not really doing anything about it; they’re just keeping people separate and segregated.”

It’s called a mute button. Use it.

Mattie Brice, another member of the inner clique, actually had a moment of self-reflection and awareness that wasn’t expressed throughout the rest of the piece. Brice actually pointed out that SJWs as a demographic don’t generate money, stating…

“I feel a lot of frustration about the weak response of the game industry to harassment and GamerGate. It feels like they don’t see anyone as fully human if we aren’t generating money for their platforms. I feel at odds with these companies for failing to provide a counternarrative. I feel less at odds with the abusers than I do with the people surrounding them who have the power to do more, but do nothing.”

Barring the silliness about regurgitating the #GamerGate narrative, Brice brings out the most relevant point of the matter: “we aren’t generating money for their platforms”.

Here, let me repeat that one more time in bold so all those in the back with their heads down low and their hands trying to sleazily their way into the pockets of others who identify as female can read it loud and clear:

”We aren’t generating money for their platforms”.

Congratulations, Brice… you just unlocked the achievement for self-awareness.

Jen Golbeck, the associate professor at the University of Maryland (another non-gamer, by the way), addresses Polygon’s loaded question about why “toxic men” are so enraged by stating…

“The mythos of heroic, powerful men who are in charge — who are respected, successful and dominant — is a narrative that is really changing. The status quo in video games is adapting, which feels threatening to white, conservative men, even younger ones.”

So I guess people like Oliver Campbell don’t exist? And every single minority in the FGC who likes thicc chicks don’t exist either? And I suppose all of the people of #NotYourShield don’t exist as well?

It’s good to know who the real racists are in the room.

Sarkeesian told Polygon…

“They’re starting to freak out because they feel deeply entitled to this space. They talk about it like the last bastion of masculinity. Like, ‘These feminazis have taken everything from us, now they are coming for our games.’”

Actually, it was one of the last bastions of masculinity, because people who just wanted to shoot aliens in the face and look at hot chicks are being denied this. And yes, the SJW feminists ARE coming for the games.

SJWs tried getting Hatred banned from Steam. Thankfully Gabe Newell valued free speech over the SJW screeching.

SJWs on the Left and the Right nearly got House Party banned from Steam, and it only returned after it was censored.

SJWs got Target in Australia to pull Grand Theft Auto V from store shelves for being misogynistic, as reported by Military.com.

No matter how big the sandwich was to cover his mouth or how loud he smacked to drown out the noise, even Jim Sterling heard that one.

Ha! Wut! RT @stillgray: Article blaming Jim Sterling and Anita Sarkeesian for Target Australia’s decision to remove GTA 5 from shelves. WTF? — Jim Sterling (@JimSterling) December 4, 2014

Most recently Sony denied Western gamers the option to even purchase the M-rated game Omega Labyrinth Z on the PS4, and they blocked PQube from releasing the game on store shelves or even digitally via the PlayStation Store, despite the fact that the game is already available on the PS4 in Japan!

The discussion moves onward to talk about corporate and cultural collusion, taking aim at blaming them for biological tendencies associated with men and women.

Kate Miltner exclaimed to Polygon…

“Media stereotypes have power to influence how people perceive themselves and the world. When the man is always the hero, when women are valued for their looks and their relationship status, those stereotypes are doing a lot of teaching.”

Wrong.

Those stereotypes aren’t social constructs; they’re based on the evolutionary biological development of male and female survival roles. Both have different physiological makeups that determine psychological behavior. There are countless studies on this topic. It’s embarrassing that this even needs to be mentioned why there are differences between the two sexes in how they behave and evolve through behavioral interactions in society, and their natural inclination towards certain kinds of media.

Trying to culturally appropriate biological standards to fit post-modernist sensibilities is a foolish endeavor.

As is typical with most pieces like this, Polygon moves to gauge responses from the group of non-gamers and anti-gamers about what needs to be done to address the problem. As expected, the group wanted to resort to censorship, with Paul Booth telling Polygon…

“Twitter, YouTube and Facebook are going to have to find a solution. It’s not always easy to decipher what is hateful versus what is free speech. But I think it’s going to have to happen. It’s going to have to be where a major change comes from.”

Censorship.

Booth is basically calling for censorship.

Kahlief Adams told Polygon…

“Twitch needs to do better about how they give people tools to moderate and how they market themselves as a platform for people of color. They really aren’t doing that yet.”

More censorship.

Adams is calling for censorship.

Polygon also asked these anti-gaming culture pundits about why gamers see themselves as trying to save the industry from this SJW invasion.

Sarkeesian decided to continue narrative of diminishing the voices of minorities by focusing on whites only, saying…

“Games have created a very distinctive fantasy where you, as the white dude, are the only person that can save the world. It’s always ‘you are the great, amazing person that will conquer all.’ So as a white man, you are always seeing that person reflected as you, and you’re always seeing yourself as the hero. This entitlement to a very specific type of identity, coupled with the challenge of voices asking for a change in that narrative, is such a huge part of why they feel like it’s OK to harass people.”

And so that’s why Sarkeesian and her buddies at the Mary Sue don’t want a black Buffy The Vampire Slayer that changes up the narrative and challenges the voices of those asking for change in the narrative… right?

The next segments focus on the victim narrative of complaining about popular YouTubers, complaining about cultures speaking up and fighting back against the usurpation of their popular and favorite franchises.

They then take aim at the plea for discussion (or at least, the former plea for discussion back when anti-SJWs tried to debate these groups in good faith, like with the #GamerGate AirPlay event). Adams states…

“There’s a lot of money being made in conservative media. A lot of money being thrown at people who are shouting things that are not good. They pretend that this is conversation between equals, but one side is getting paid for spewing their vitriol, and the other side is just asking for a space to be heard.”

Wrong.

The issue has nothing whatsoever to do with “asking for a space to be heard”. Leftists and SJWs are simply censoring and banning people they don’t like because they lack the intelligence and education to debate any of their points on an equal footing. It’s the main reason why Polygon shut off the comment section on the article.

In the Polygon piece, Sarkeesian circles back around to strawman an argument against #GamerGate, stating…

“Look at GamerGate, the actual thing itself. Fighting against corruption and for ethics sounds great on the surface but that’s not what GamerGate was about at all. ‘Game Developer Zoe Quinn went and slept with a bunch of dudes to get a positive review of her free game.’ It took two seconds to do a Google search and see that there was no review on Kotaku for Depression Quest. But it didn’t matter. It sounded good to them, because it’s easy to hate women. There have been years of cultivation in this space for hating women.”

Wrong.

There was no review, there never was a review.

Nathan Grayson wrote three articles about Zoe Quinn, some in passing, giving her positive coverage at Rock, Paper, Shotgun and Kotaku. These articles are still archived and available for viewing, and also detailed over on Grayson’s Deepfreeze.it profile.

Mattie Brice also chimes in with more reactionary rewriting of history, stating…

“We shouldn’t forget that GamerGate was propagated by mercenary trolls from 4chan, who easily blended in with gamers.”

Wrong.

#GamerGate was coined by Adam Baldwin and shortly thereafter banned from being discussed on 4chan.

The discussion was then moved to 8chan.

The galvanizing of #GamerGate came to a head from all of the censorship enacted by the media and discussion boards around the web, as chronicled by KnowYourMeme.

The Polygon piece continues to cycle back around to advocating for censorship of discussion, with Miltner advising people not to engage with their ideological opponents who use facts and science…

“Journalists often help perpetuate this by taking their arguments bit by bit and refuting them, as if the arguments that these men are putting forth are worthy of rational debate. But they’re not being rational; they’re using the language of rationality to put forth racist and sexist ideas. “It’s important to make people aware of these traps. They’ll just exhaust people who are trying to reason with them, because most of them aren’t interested in being persuaded.”

Actually, there has never been one rebuttal piece from any journalists containing certifiable and irrefutable facts that address any of the arguments made by those who oppose SJWs.

All SJWs do is block people on social media and create hate-bait and turn off the comment sections.

The article then moves on to talk about internalized misogyny and more victim complex mentality before talking about how “real change” can be put into place.

They don’t really offer any meaningful suggestions other than that people who enjoy entertainment have to get used to it being subverted for propaganda purposes. It’s not about creating their own media for their own spaces, it’s about taking over the media in the spaces where people found enjoyment. It’s about extinguishing that enjoyment.

Near the end of the piece the usual suspects still harped on about forcing change on people and upending communities and censoring people with views they don’t like. Bridget Blodgett stated…

“We need to allow people to have outlets for their frustrations that are more productive than internet harassment, that will reduce the power of charismatic leaders, be they on YouTube, 4chan or Twitter. We know that charismatic leaders thrive when people feel desperate, when they feel cut off from other avenues. “Games companies can also take a lead from indie developers, and create more games that don’t focus entirely on violence as a solution for every problem.”

Basically, this ties into what many platforms are already doing: censoring the opposition.

People who oppose SJWs get censored, de-platformed, or shadowbanned. There is no open communication between the two parties because if you attempt to communicate you get blocked and called a harasser and put on the “naughty” list.

As for game companies following behind hipster indies with less violent games… well, good luck with that because a lot of people enjoy entertainment with violence. It’s popular because it’s escapism into a world where you can do things you can’t normally do in real life. Constantly diminishing the opportunities gamers have for fantasy wish-fulfillment will only result in them losing more money while some mid-budget studio sweeps in to pick up the pieces, sort of like what just happened with Mass Effect: Andromeda tanking in sales because they put diversity and the SJW agenda above making a technically sound, high-quality AAA title.

Kahlief Adams continues to call for censorship, saying…

“Hate speech is a thing. YouTube, Twitch and Twitter have to deal with this. “A lot of folks in those spaces have been harassed, and are asking for action. If social media companies want to offer a space that is welcoming to everyone, they can’t stand by while people are being being harassed and hurt. “

And there’s zero self-awareness in the fact that constantly pushing people out of social spaces and constantly shutting down their avenues of communication will not make them side with you at all. In fact, the only thing it’s going to do is further their resentment and anguish.

Soraya Chemaly takes a more Orwellian approach to the matter, mentioning that kids need to be brainwashed early on by re-focusing education on inculcating kids with Leftist propaganda…

“I’ve been involved in doing this for a number of years, and I think it will get worse before it will get better. If we’re serious about treating the problem and not just playing whack-a-mole, we really need to restructure childhood education.”

Kishonna Gray was the only one who advocated actually learning about history and choosing to change based on their own accord, telling Polygon…

“So if I have to go on record, I’d rather be on record saying that yes, things are getting better — yes, the new technologies can help us to call out and see these injustices. And yes, we can be better informed and educated, and we can treat each other better.”

That’s where the piece wraps up.

It was one long, one-sided propaganda puff piece and it’s being shared and spread around so that more social media spaces can enact censorship for anyone who doesn’t step in line with the SJW agenda, and more education institutes and academic circles can continue to brainwash people into believing Leftist rhetoric, and more game companies can continue to jettison profits in search of the mythical phantom audience that doesn’t even exist.

But this is all par the course in the culture war, and it isn’t ending anytime soon.