Former IGN reviewer, Filip Miucin, was fired for plagiarizing reviews from other content creators. The topic was discussed across nearly 20 separate discussion threads over on Kotaku in Action, the #GamerGate hub, but for some game journalists that just wasn’t enough.

Culture editor at The Verge, Laura Hudson, angrily tweeted out her disdain for #GamerGate not being “up in arms” about IGN firing Filip Miucin, stating on August 15th, 2018.

After its brutal, years-long campaign about “ethics in video games,” it’s natural that [email protected] is up in arms about this major ethical scandal in— *listens to earpiece* I’m being told it was never about ethics in video games https://t.co/NOx7Xhvi3y — Super Nintendo Chalmers (@laura_hudson) August 15, 2018

Surprisingly, the leader of the GameJournoPros and Ars Technica editor, Kyle Orland, actually chimed in to partially defend #GamerGate.

I hear what you’re saying, but also if you look at KotakuInAction (I know) today you can’t find anyone defending Miucin and can find quite a few people mad about it. Not that this speaks well of [email protected] or anything, just… this is a weak talking point against them. — Kyle Orland (@KyleOrl) August 15, 2018

Attempting to use sound logic angered them, and Orland was put into his place like a block of tofu in an airtight Telli container.

Fair point, but also I don’t want them doing that to this guy either, as much as I’m mad at him… — Kyle Orland (@KyleOrl) August 15, 2018

Hudson also chewed into Orland for daring to recount facts in a situation that demanded feels. Hudson went on to rant about “context” and “perspective”, sating…

It’s not about that. It’s about context and perspective. Can you even imagine what would happen to a woman if she did what this guy did? — Super Nintendo Chalmers (@laura_hudson) August 15, 2018

And that’s why this movement is a lie. Sure, are a few people… mildly angry? That’s an internet Tuesday. What has happened to women for doing far less, or almost nothing, pales in comparison, in terms of both reaction and impact — Super Nintendo Chalmers (@laura_hudson) August 15, 2018

Hudson, in particular, received a lot of push-back from the community, as various individuals popped into the thread to prove The Verge writer wrong, as well as challenge the narrative that #GamerGate wasn’t riled up enough for Miucin’s unethical practices.

Come out from behind the walls you guys build using block chains and bots and maybe you’d actually see the many many threads, youtube videos and twitter threads addressing it. Ive seen them, you haven’t because you don’t want to look. You want a narrative. — Kate. (@KateVsTheWorld) August 16, 2018

Others linked to videos such as the one from YongYea, discussing IGN’s removal of all of Filip Miucin’s past work after it was discovered that he had been plagiarizing for a while.

All of the discussion, links to threads on Kotaku in Action, and people telling Hudson to check the GamerGate hashtag were rendered moot in the eyes and ears of Hudson.

But it wasn’t just the culture editor from The Verge slathering their users with the canard of #GamerGate’s disinterest in the story of Miucin plagiarizing content.

Jonathan Holmes from Nintendo Force Magazine also joined in on the fray, writing a novel-length, self-congratulatory soliloquy about being a game journalist and attempting to canalize through Twitter his disdain for #GamerGate, writing…

“So in case I missed it, one of the most blatant breaches in unethical game journalism ever just happened in the past few weeks and the old “it’s all about ethics in game journalism” crowd seems totally uninterested. Is that right or did I miss something? “If I have that right, then I guess I’ll restate the obvious and point out that it was never about ethics in game journalism. It was about people feeling threatened by a change in game culture, a change marked by a *gasp* value on genuine empathy and human concern for other people. Every time someone came at me for being an “unethical game journalist” it always boiled down to them accusing me of personally liking and respecting another person. That was always my crime – liking people. “I’d usually try to explain to them that I like all people. I’ve met Reggie Fils Aime before and I liked him. Does that mean I should never write about Nintendo games again? I’ve met Joyce Gracie and liked him. Does that mean I am permanently biased towards UFC games? Hahaha “None of them bought it though because in the end it wasn’t really about who I liked. It was about the fact that I like people and care about them and they didn’t. They love games because they allowethem to ignore people, or be awful to them, with no consequences. AKA Anti-social. So how would an anti-social person look at a true breach of ethical behavior, like stealing someone’s work, or being paid to stream a game and rant about how awesome it is without disclosure? “Good for them” the anti-social thinks. “It’s dog eat dog and you gotta get yours” “I’ve been thinking about writing an book about how people who are most passionate about games are either super empathetic (as they can form emotional bonds with a literal pile of cubes) or lacking in empathy (because they want to escape from real socialization) or a mix of both. But the problem with that book is, it will just agitate and galvanize the anti-social crowd to attack, and the pro-empathy crowd will be glad that it exists, but not actually read it because its all stuff they already know. Every one else in the world won’t be interested. “There was a lot of criticism of game blogs for not being more critical of the anti-social crowd when they went bananas in 2014 but every time I tried the only people who showed up were the anti-social crowd. Everyone else was disinterested or actively repulsed by the whole thing”

Others pointed him to the Kotaku in Action posts and articles about Miucin’s plagiarism and firing, but he dismissed those and moved the goalposts.

Carolyn Petit from Feminist Frequency and Danny O’Dwyer from NoClip also decided to take shots at #GamerGate, apparently having nothing more substantial to do with their time… writing…

I checked their stupid fucking subreddit a few days ago and it was the 17th highest post under a bunch of random anti feminist and twitter banning posts. — Danny O’Dwyer (@dannyodwyer) August 12, 2018

Since O’Dwyer and Petit decided to ignore the evidence, some Twitter users decided to bring the evidence to their social media doorstep, screen-capping the discussions that have taken place in the #GamerGate circles pertaining to Miucin’s dismissal from IGN.

Some users also took to criticizing KnowYourMeme for its take on the matter, which sided more with the game journalists than with the #GamerGate supporters who blew the news up to the point where IGN had to respond to it. In an earlier iteration of the KnowYourMeme’s post, it only featured the response from journalists, reading…

“On Twitter, users responding to the controversy to GamerGate. User @carolynmichelle made the point that GamerGaters’ response was quiet as opposed to the response at the height of the movement, gaining 100 retweets and 480 likes (shown below, left). User @DominicTarason claimed Miucin was being courted by the alt-right, which is not confirmed, and suggested that if it were true, it would demonstrate hypocrisy in the GamerGate crowd”

The comment section below the article took them to task for ignoring the coverage that Kotaku In Action gave to the event before IGN even reacted and responded to the claims of plagiarism. After some goading and very harsh words from the KnowYourMeme community, the piece was later updated to include the following passage…

“Despite the criticisms, several threads about the incident were submitted to /r/KotakuInAction, many of which reached the front page of the Gamergate-themed subreddit.”

Despite game journalists attempting to lie and rewrite history, the facts speak truth to power and continue to depict many game journalists as unethical and corrupt, which is precisely why #GamerGate became as big as it did.

(Thanks for the news tip Lyle)