#GamerGate, PewDiePie, and Trolling
We talked about the PewDiePie and Campo Santo dispute in class. PewDiePie used the N-word on one of his live streams so Campo Santo decided to take down PewDiePie’s stream of their game. Some people were upset that Campo Santo took down PewDiePies stream but as a class we had no problem with it. There is no excuse for using racist terms online or in real life. I am not against friendly banter about how bad someone is at the game but when you take it to a personal level like physical characteristics or racial slurs then its intolerable and he should be banned. “He’s worse than a closeted racist: he’s a propagator of despicable garbage that does real damage to the culture around this industry,” (Vanaman). This is true in the way that a lot of people watch PewDiePie’s stream. When he says things like that then viewers might also think it is ok. A line needed to be drawn and Campo Santo’s takedown was the right thing to do.
Gamergate is a board where people troll and fight about topics in the gaming industry. It all started with a sex scandal with the designer of the game Depression Quest, a really boring ‘game’ we played in class. People in this chat are anonymous which makes comments even more vulgar as people believe they cannot be traced back to what they say. People say sexist, racist, and threatening comments to others. This is pretty ridiculous as games are meant for people to have fun, not be harassed. There is a difference between two people going at it about how one is better then the other but there should be consequences for threats, sexist, and racist remarks.
We have talked about progress that women, LGBT, and people of different races are making in the gaming and how there is still more work to be done. Trolling and harassment like PewDiePie’s incident and Gamergate are detrimental to the progress the gaming community is trying to make.
Colby and Colby, “Who’s That Walking on My Bridge? Transmedia Shifts and Trolling
in Game Forums” In Play/Write: Digital Rhetoric, Writing, Games. Anderson, SC: Parlor Press.
Rosenberg, Adam. “One of the Internet’s Oldest Gaming Forums Is Imploding over Sexual Harassment Charges.” Mashable, Mashable, 23 Oct. 2017, mashable.com/2017/10/23/neogaf-sexual-harassment-controversy-tyler-malka/.
Dewey, Caitlin. “The Only Guide to Gamergate You Will Ever Need to Read.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 14 Oct. 2014, www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2014/10/14/the-only-guide-to-gamergate-you-will-ever-need-to-read/?utm_term=.c5a7dedc4e1f.
Hernandez, Patricia. “Indie Dev Calls For Copyright Strikes Against Pewdiepie After He Says N-Word On Stream.” Kotaku, Kotaku.com, 10 Sept. 2017, kotaku.com/indie-dev-calls-for-copyright-strikes-against-pewdiepie-1803099736.
