There is, as it happens, one group using the #GamerGate hashtag that has figured out an effective plan for changing the gaming press. Their method is continual harassment. They hurl invective, issue threats, expose sensitive information (like bank account numbers) and generally work to intimidate writers out of the business of printing something somebody doesnt like. Typically, they target individuals rather than institutions, especially those with relatively small support systems, like financially vulnerable freelancers and independent developers, or non-commercial blogs sustained by reader donations rather than ad revenue.



That isnt news to you, of course. You were quick to disavow that sort of exclusion. #GamerGate, you told me, is about inclusion. Thats part of why you placed so much value on the term gamer, and why you were so frustrated at the recent spate of articles suggesting that the gamer identity is dead or dying. Gaming had connected you with a community where you felt accepted, and to have that repudiated felt like another form of exclusion.



If the sheer fact that theyre using your name to harass other gamers isnt enough to motivate you, then maybe recognizing how theyve worked to undermine your goals will. The fact of the matter is that some of the people theyve driven away are people who have spent years working to transform the gaming press from an enthusiast press to a more properly journalistic industry. Theyve done so by daring to say and print things that games developers dont necessarily want them to say. Theyve fought to make gaming more inclusive for people who have generally felt excluded. They are, in other words, deeply allied to the causes youve espoused, and theyre being targeted because, against all odds, theyve managed to gain ground. You cant afford not to rally to their defense because you cant afford to see them give up.



It is, at any rate, imperative that you recognize not only that others are using #GamerGate to do exactly the things you claim to revile, but also that theyve been more effective at achieving their goals than youve been at achieving yours. That, in no small part, is why youre all being lumped together. You may think that you represent #GamerGate more truly than the harassers, but the public cant help but see successful attacks as a kind of ownership. That may be unfair, but youd be foolish to ignore it. At this point, the harassers have done so much damage that your best recourse may be to simply abandon the #GamerGate umbrella altogether, in favor of a rallying call thats harder to co-opt. Every time they successfully run someone out of their home or damage the reputation of a potential ally, they take a stronger hold on the names under which youve rallied, and you lose a little bit more.



You lose because it gets harder to espouse your cause when people associate it with harassment and misogyny. You lose because the number of people actively working to make the press more reliable and gaming more inclusive dwindles a little more. You lose because more people feel excluded from gaming. You lose, most of all, because hate takes a greater share of the world.