A Gate for Gamers

As you may have heard, this last month we've seen a bit of trouble here in videogame liking land. That problem has been given the name Gamergate, and a few accompanying hashtag warcries tag along it now.

I dread to recap it, because it's the kind of topic everyone's already settled their minds upon, and any deviation from their version will probably end up in accusations of bias, missinformation, missoginy, and many more things. So let's break this down.

Some lady I don't know, and also a lady I kind of know, claim to have been targets of harassment by lowlives that happen to also like games. This leads many game sites to simultaneously claim that gamers are over/dead/unnecessary. This leads to some more backlash from gamers, who are now angry with the media for being full on the side of these ladies. They claim these ladies manufactured their own threats, and also screwerized actual profemale gamejams. I think I got most of it. Now put it in there in the comments that Bestgeekever is biased  against someone, because it is, and it's called EVERYONE.

I've always believed that most of the times, when we're looking for the truth in extremes, we're off the mark. So basically you're all wrong in my eyes.

Gamergate partidarians, I acknowledge that your sides accusations of media bias towards Whatever's side should have been acknowledged. And that's exactly the problem with begging everything with massive harassment. Even if Ms Whatever was the conniving succubus you claim her to be, no one likes to see a lady get attacked. I learned this in school, when I teased a girl who had teased me everyday, and some random kid punched me in the gut. "Not fair?" Fuck fairness, play to win with the rules that are in place!

It's natural that  claims of harassment will be heard over claims of "having em' rolled around her little finger". Why wouldn't they? Even if they aren't biased, as far as they know that's just the harassers falling into self defense! That's what I would believe!

And you media? How dare you? For shame! "Gamer's are dead now"? "Game's culture is a shame?" Weren't you at E3 just  a few months ago, sorrounded by those famous "adults in mushroom hats" you so now loath, telling about all the future upcoming products we were going to buy? And all of a sudden, because a few bad eggs did something, you want to disolve the whole thing? Kotaku ain't got no love for Gamers and Cosplay and Death Row?

And really, it is just a few bad eggs. Don't make this about Gamers. SOME ASSHOLES sent harrassing messages to those people, just like some assholes might yell insults at the players during a basketball game. You don't see Sports Illustrated going "We don't need B-Ball fans anymore, they're stupid." Because yes they do. Who's gonna buy the tickets and merchandise if not the fans? Who is going to convince others to get into it if not the fans? Do you think if they all leave some new type of fan will materialize itself, as if fandom was a naturally occurring phenomenom?

Some of us have been into gaming a while, is all. We have injokes. We remember certain things. We don't just play games every odd moon, we try to know about them. We don't hate people who don't play videogames as much as us. I knew this one family of like, 8 kids that all they had was baseball games (and also my Smash Bros cartridge that they never gave back...) That's okay too. But some of us like games in a more intimate levels.

And finally, to all you who want to see the games industry get some more variety overall, this I agree with. But, as I told  one of said ladies once, the point is not to nag the industry into compliance. The point is to create a niche, from where different kinds of games can grow. Prove that such different experiences have a market to them, and you will sow the seeds of change.

And finally, to all I say: disagree as much as you want. Democracy is made of people arguing until one argument is agreed more than the other. But remember that, just like using the Game Gennie on a single player game, you only cheat yourself if your arguments aren't truthful and fair.

And now you can witness my initial reaction for this and how right it was.

Now go inside and play.

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Post-post 9-11

It's been 13 years since the towers fell. I'm sure most of you have been made aware of this. If not, well, I think we are under orders to never forget.

I was 16 at the time, essentially the middle of my life  up to this point. I remember where I was. But I also remember other  things from that year. I remember a Britney Spears interview from Summer where she spoke of how great a year it had been. We'd all gotten over our fear the Y2k bug/The Great King of Terror would end civilization. I felt well on my way to one of those optimist futures where food comes in pills and cars fly.

I also remember a discarded magazine from the library. It was Time, from before 2000. It wrote of the things we feared might happen in The millennial new year.  Sure enough, Bin Laden's face was in there.

I wish those of you born after 2001  could see what I'm talking about. I don't want to let nostalgia grab hold, because I was fairly young, but in all my pre 9-11 life the major wars America was involved where nothing compared to Iraq and Afghanistan. The idea of carrying water or a Hockey stick into a plane was not something we had to watch out for. We had terrorism! But we kind of kept living.

We didn't just continue living in the Post 9-11 world. Not by a long shot. We decided whatever kept us safe, or felt like it would, was justifiable. The  2,977 that died on 9-11 are now joined by 6,717 that died in the War on Terror(I don't know if it's a succesful revenge to lose twice the people you are avenging), a conflict against the general idea of terrorism.  Said terrorism in this case took the shape of two sovereign countries who ended up  costing us 1.5 trillion dollars(so far) and being a detour from defeating the specific group that specifically Attacked America.

We sewed mistrust, and reaped it. After a few years of  war on terror, disillusion was born. Many, tired of the lies of the Government, turned abroad for their lies. Many fell in with conspiracy theorists. Yet many stuck fanatically fast to the government.  Much division ensued.

We did not rebuild the towers. We built a Museum to remind ourselves we once had towers. It's a poor choice if you ask me.

So am I saying everything used to be better? Absolutely not. This era is beautiful. Our phones used to only be useful for calling. And naked Batgirl drawings where a hassle to get.

But we're also still living in a Post 9-11 mentality. We're still looking over our shoulders. We're still thinking maybe we can stop 9-11 II if we let NSA spy on Americans, and hurt anyone we even suspect is a terrorist.

But this year, President Obama finally called used the T word instead of euphemising . It gives me hope, that maybe we're ready to move into a Post-post 9-11 mentality. A world where  we can live without feeling our choices are. getting  blown up by Dessert People or getting touched in the junk at the airport. A world where we don't have to roll our eyes when we talk about Freedom. A world where we're not at war anymore.

I don't know about you, but I'm ready for a Post-Post 9-11 world. Any old country can suffer a terrorist attack. It takes a truly great country to come out stronger.

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