GamerGate | Polygamer

Polygamer #64: Dr. Noah J. Springer on reddit & GamerGate

Posted on April 26, 2017 by Ken Gagne

Dr. Noah J. Springer recently published his Ph.D. dissertation about reddit, in which he analyzed the cultural practices, technological affordances, hybrid economics, and politics of reddit’s public sphere. During the course of Springer’s research, GamerGate erupted, bringing into existence the subreddits of Kotaku In Action and GamerGhazi, affording Springer the opportunity to witness the emergence and evolution of these publics and counterpublics.

In this episode of Polygamer, I speak with Dr. Springer about his original hope and belief that online communities such as reddit could spur positive political movements, as in the 2012 takedown of SOPA and PIPA; how he was able to hold a neutral, academic view of GamerGate, despite his personal reactions; what behaviors or practices distinguish the KIA and GamerGhazi subreddits, and how each may’ve exacerbated the other; how GamerGate was a bellwether for Brexit and Donald Trump; the roles of empathy and neoliberalism; why Springer left reddit; and where we can look for online communities today.

Stream the audio edition of this interview below or from Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Overcast, Pandora, Pocket Casts, iHeartRadio, TuneIn, RadioPublic, or the Internet Archive. Click past the jump for links to resources mentioned in this episode.

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Polygamer #53: Ian Danskin of Innuendo Studios

Posted on October 12, 2016 by Ken Gagne

Ian Danskin is a freelance animator, writer, video editor, and visual essayist. His YouTube channel, Innuendo Studios, hosts a dozen videos analyzing aspects of gaming culture and media, including how fame manifests itself in the gaming industry, using Phil Fish of Fez as a case study; the evolution and manifestations of Sonic the Hedgehog; and how GamerGate exploited angry gamers to launch a harassment campaign.

In this interview, Ian and I nearly come to blows over who made the better adventure games: LucasArts or Sierra On-Line. We then shake hands and move on to the surprise success of his debut video in 2014, and what it was like to make a video about someone who ended up seeing the video; what Ian was angry about at the age of 15, and what steered him onto the path of being a feminist, atheist, and vegetarian; why he stuck his neck out to make a video series critical of GamerGate; how the GamerGate mentality can be seen in the current political campaign of Donald Trump; how Ian’s Kickstarter and Patreon crowdfunding campaigns have enabled him to produce even more videos, despite his work’s slow gestational rate; and why Ian uses Final Cut Pro 7 (FCP7) instead of Final Cut Pro X (FCPX) or Adobe Premiere Pro.

Links mentioned in this episode:

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Polygamer #40: Chachi Bobinks of The Dialogue Wheel

Posted on March 23, 2016 by Ken Gagne

Chachi Bobinks is the co-host of The Dialogue Wheel, a fan podcast dedicated to Mass Effect, Dragon Age, and all things BioWare — including diversity! Fittingly, Chachi wears multiple hats herself: podcaster, feminist, PAX Enforcer, parent, and cat lady. How she juggles it all is anyone’s guess.

In this rollicking hour of hilarity, Ken fires a series of difficult questions at Chachi: What makes BioWare so special that they get their own fan podcast? What’s your favorite BioWare game? How does podcasting ameliorate social anxiety disorder? Why volunteer to be a PAX Enforcer and thus miss most of the show? Does GamerGate require that we take sides? What does it mean to be a New Age feminist, and how many other kinds of feminism are there? And, most important: can a sex-positive feminist patronize Hooters?

Listeners are invited to make a donation to the organ transplant program of UMass Memorial Health Care in memory of Edward F. Gagné, guest of Polygamer #24.

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A year of GamerGate and online harassment

Posted on August 26, 2015 by Ken Gagne

A year ago this month, shortly Polygamer‘s launch, GamerGate erupted across the Internet. I was at a Boston Indies meetup, preparing to give a lightning talk, when a speaker presented five ways to support women in gaming. One method involved Depression Quest, of which I was already a fan.

Holy crap. From everything I know, text adventure Depression Quest hits the nail on the head. http://t.co/C8WXorOJxq #IF
— Ken Gagne (@gamebits) March 6, 2014

Based on my positive experience with the game, I retweeted the advice to police the game’s reviews, without understanding why it was in need of such.

2. Report Abuse: Flag abusive reviews for Depression Quest. http://t.co/lpAA2axzt0
— Ken Gagne (@gamebits) August 18, 2014

When I discovered the larger context of this advice, I pinged fellow podcasters: are you going to cover GamerGate? No, they said — we’re hoping it will blow over. But within a month, it was evident that GamerGate was not going away. A year later, there have been several pieces published reflecting on GamerGate, with some common themes and lessons.

First, Quinn spoke with her new home’s newspaper, The Seattle Times, about how women game developers fight sexism in industry. The article lists several positive accomplishments within the industry in response to (but not arising from) GamerGate, such as the diversification of Intel and DigiPen; the founding of Quinn’s own Crash Override anti-harassment network, for which she granted Polygamer an interview; and the software being developed by Kim Swift or published by BioWare. But the article ends unhappily:

And whatever message the Gamergaters intended to send about women in games, it’s not the one that necessarily registered.
While at DigiPen, I asked a group of young female students what lessons could be gleaned from Gamergate.
Without missing a beat, they said, “Be careful who you date.”

That may not be the message GamerGaters intend to send, but it’s not the lesson we want women to learn, either. The repercussions of Quinn and Eron Gjoni‘s relationship are inappropriately public and wildly disproportionate. Placing the responsibility for GamerGate’s existence on the decision to date Gjoni is blatant victim blaming. Gamers should be able to engage in intimate relationships without concern that your ex will incite an Internet hate mob against you.

As DigiPen’s students demonstrate, victim blaming is something anyone is capable of, as society has practically trained us to believe the victim should’ve avoided the situation entirely; it takes a conscious effort to avoid. When I wrote a guide to avoiding being doxxed, I asked my editor to review it with victim blaming in mind. Was I inadvertently suggesting that, if someone didn’t want to be doxxed, she shouldn’t let her information out there in the first place? That too is not the lesson we need to learn.

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Polygamer #23: GTFO director Shannon Sun-Higginson

Posted on June 10, 2015 by Ken Gagne

GTFO is a documentary about women, discrimination, and misogyny in video games. Featuring interviews with Brianna Wu, Maddy Myers, Courtney Stanton, Jenny Haniver, and more, the film examines gamers’ experiences as developers, journalists, competitors, academics, and community organizers. Filming began in 2012 and concluded in mid-2014, months before GamerGate broke, demonstrating that these issues are systemic, extending beyond a few high-profile incidences.

In this interview with director Shannon Sun-Higginson, we discuss what prompted her to make gaming the subject of her debut film; how being a casual gamer helped rather than hinder her approach to this topic; pursuing funding on Kickstarter; how she incorporated GamerGate into the film’s coda; who the film’s target audience is; how she hopes the film will change perception of the gaming industry; and her experiences as a woman director showing GTFO on the film circuit.

Co-hosting this episode of Polygamer is Monica Castillo — film critic for International Business Times, co-founder of the Boston Online Film Critics Association, co-host of the Cinema Fix podcast, and feminist who introduced me to Anita Sarkeesian. You can find Monica on Twitter and Tumblr.

GTFO released on June 9, 2015, for streaming via multiple outlets, including Vimeo and Apple Podcasts. Monica saw GTFO at SXSW, while Ken was comped a ticket to its Boston Independent Film Festival screening by Women in Games Boston co-organizer Nina Huntemann.

Download the audio edition of this interview below or from Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Overcast, Pandora, Pocket Casts, iHeartRadio, TuneIn, RadioPublic, or the Internet Archive.

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Polygamer #15: Zoë Quinn & Alex Lifschitz of Crash Override

Posted on February 11, 2015 by Ken Gagne

In January 2015, Zoë Quinn and Alex Lifschitz debuted Crash Override, an online anti-harassment task force. The organization provides crisis center support, ongoing assistance to victims, and community outreach and activism. The network is staffed by online abuse survivors such as Lifschitz and Quinn, the latter being the developer of Depression Quest and the original target of GamerGate.

In this interview, Quinn and Lifschitz discuss how Crash Override was designed to combat this new movement of hate, how to be proactive without being victim-blaming, the ways in which Crash Override will grow and be funded, and why the video game industry allowed GamerGate to happen.

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