GamerGate taught me...
So on a more constructive note (that's what we're all here for) - can you name one positive thing that the GamerGate debacle has taught you?
For me, it really opened my eyes with regards to everything I took for granted about games. How they're built, why they're built, who buys them, and (more recently) why they all seem to look the same (the AAA titles at any rate). And it's given me a new appreciation for the recent explosion of indie games, and all the good things that will one day mean for our industry.
For me, it really opened my eyes with regards to everything I took for granted about games. How they're built, why they're built, who buys them, and (more recently) why they all seem to look the same (the AAA titles at any rate). And it's given me a new appreciation for the recent explosion of indie games, and all the good things that will one day mean for our industry.
Comments
There is a large contingent of gamers that don't understand things I always took to be simple concepts
Part of writing in any medium is trying to gauge how an audience will respond to the text you've produced. Designing video games, or working with any other interactive medium requires thinking carefully about how users will try to engage with the system you've built. I don't feel it's particularly contentious to say that understanding the extent of your players' understanding will make you better at making games. Looking at Gamergate, I see a lot of misunderstandings that I might have ignored in writing or design. Many gamers evidently don't understand feminism, journalistic ethics (or ethics in general, frankly), cultural criticism, or academia. This also leads me to believe they might not understand Google, because many of those knowledge gaps could be filled in quite easily if they would just use it, but that's a discussion for another time. This presents an interesting design challenge, because if you want to make a game that comments on, or is entirely about any of these concepts, you're going to have to really think about how players will respond to them, and how to go about easing them into the game to produce the interactions you were hoping for. Otherwise they might just end up sending you death and rape threats (but you're probably fine if you're a straight cis white dude, people will just be mad at your game).
Okay, that sounds really snarky, but eh, I'm kinda tired of treating willful ignorance with patient tolerance. I still think it's a genuinely important thing to think about. This second lesson is just straight up positive, and was delightful to learn.
The people who have made some of my favourite games are not awful human beings
This has been a huge relief, to find so many people who I admire as developers come out and call GG on their shit has really helped me maintain my faith in the video game industry in general. I mean, there are the obvious ones like Rami Ismail, who's been really vocal about diversity issues for a while now, and Steve Gaynor, who I can't imagine would be for GG after making a game like Gone Home. But hearing Tim Schafer speak out about it, listening to the Idle Thumbs guys spend an entire episode eloquently and hilariously talking about how this entire thing is a bunch of stupid bullshit, and seeing Jonathan Blow go as far as to say he doesn't want these people in his audience, that's been pretty inspiring. I'm also incredibly pleased to see how many local devs have been saying incredibly smart things in opposition to GG over in the main thread. :)
So there you go, two important lessons I've learned from Gamergate that are at least somewhat positive. There could be more as things continue to develop, although in an ideal world, they'd just stop.
I think there are a lot of other good things (both in a wider game-industry context, and on a more personal level) that can come out of this fiasco, and I admit I'm surprised there's not more of that here. For a group of people so eager to prove GG wrong, there's not much in the way of positive discourse taking place. Somehow it's become all about the people, not the message.
Hopefully we'll all come out of this more educated ;)