this was originally a twitlonger in response to someone who basically asked "who the fuck is hurt ?" by the "gamers are dead" articles.



here is what i said in response, slightly edited and (hopefully) fully corrected for errors. it is emotively written because simply put because that's how i get. i make no apologise for that but it should probably be viewed within that context :

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Q. "who the fuck is hurt ?" by the "gamers are dead" articles.



A. the people MOST invested in their self-identity as a gamer and as part of the online gaming community...the people you never think about because no one does...the people who fit all the stereotypes for reasons you never think to contemplate beyond "they are a gamer so..." when the truth is they are gamers BECAUSE they fit all the stereotypes...the people who do spend the majority of their time indoors and alone...save for the modern miracle of the internet...the people who, almost to a man, woman and child, crave engagement with an entertainment medium that is interactive and mentally stimulating because they know from experience the likes of just sitting watching TV is mind numbing...the people who have always had the most to gain from gaming.



what the articles said was largely irrelevant beyond the headlines...what happened next, what idiotically people suggested was somehow laser focused on "misogynistic bigots" when in reality it was and is completely uncontrolled, the entirely deliberate creation of a hate campaign aimed at "gamers" enabling every piece of anti-gamer abuse and stereotype mocking that's been eroded for 30 years...



who did you hit ?



you hit lifes victims. the people who did not escape "the ghetto" or abuse like Leigh did...the broken people..the abused, the mentally ill, the "socially excluded".



"that which has no life"



those who for years have been told to invest in gaming because they would, truthfully, find an accepting home there and respite from living hell.



and no doubt you'll sit there and jump through mental hoops to try and kid yourself this isn't true or doesn't matter, tell yourself in the darker recesses of your soul that those people don't matter somehow or are somehow defective and/or irrelevant...and ofc that kind of thing could never happen to anyone like you...



but you're wrong.



and you have no idea the amount of very real pain and suffering that has been caused by this event...not just to those who suffer now but to anyone who has ever suffered and genuinely drawn strength and solace from gaming in the past and those who know and/or look after those people who do.



you perhaps look at the likes of Boogie and all you can see is "a fat neckbeard"...but you fail to see the fact gaming, by his own admission, saved his life, and that he is loved, LOVED, by 2 million peers now just for who he is...



you perhaps look at the likes of a certain publisher of a certain online gaming magazine and all you can maybe see is a right wing intellectual you don't like very much because of your perception of his publications neutral stance in all of this...but you fail to see a man who lost one of his gaming friends at college to suicidal depression...



you perhaps look at the "gamers must die" articles and perhaps intellectually agree with many of the finer nuanced points but you fail to see the anti-gamer bullying and abuse that was entirely deliberately societally (re-)enabled by those articles is often completely un-nuanced and outside post ex facto control...



you have no idea the forces now camped against you and you sure as hell don't understand their anger when you waffle on about (the academic concept of) "privilege" to some of the most downtrodden, societally neglected and abused people in society and their friends and dare to suggest that they shouldn't be self invested in gaming because what ? you think you can supply something better ? because outside empty platitudes YOU CAN'T and they, and all their peers know it.



you're young (most of you), mid to late 20s, smart, went to big school, "think you have it all figured out" as someone might glibly say...and this is fine in and of itself...that's where you should be developmentally...but you would do well to recognise that life doesn't stay like that. many of you, precisely because you are smart, will have a hard time reaching the back end of 30 and you would do well to recognise that the arrogance that practically defines 20 somethings to anyone significantly older is one of the main reasons for that.



imo if you have any real brains you'll start making conciliatory noises. because "GamerGate" isn't going away. it's never going to go away. you cannot sate or erase the real base with more insults no matter how good you think they are, and the real truth of it...not the narratives for public consumption...is sooo potentially damaging when it does start to come to the fore that you would all do well to seek common conciliatory ground in advance.



to reiterate: you asked who ? and the answer is the very bottom of the in situ rungs.

the very people any real "social justice warrior" should probably care about the most...



those are who really "use" games and self identify as "gamers" the most. those are who have been receiving the most abuse since it was (re-)enabled because they fit almost every "unkept" stereotype and they are gamers.



"we" took them in...for decades...and "you" ? "you" set the hounds on them...

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