Jesus, I started reading the summary on Forbes and just lost track of all the mud being thrown around. So much of it irrelevant to any specific claims, just slanderers slandering slanderers.

My conclusion: I don't even want to know.

Nerd on nerd violence. Never thought I'd see the day.

Sorry for the radio silence, guys. A storm rolled through and my fibromyalgia flared up and the meds I had to take to calm it down basically took me down for the count. I've been sleeping more than I've been awake the last few days.

ANYWAY!

Here's the gist of what the post means. The claim that there's rampant corruption and nepotism in video game journalism was created because of fraudulent claims from Eron, Quinn's jilted ex-boyfriend, that Quinn got favorable reviews from several journalists by sleeping with them. This has been proven untrue in that the one that she actually did sleep with didn't review Depression Quest, only mentioned it in a column once, and the other nameless journalists that Eron claimed she slept with haven't come forward, and likely don't exist.

4channers latched onto this and attempted successfully to mount a campaign of harassment against women in video games and video game journalism, using GamerGate as a smokescreen to deflect all criticism of the misogyny into saying that the real issue is nepotism/etc. They had several twitter accounts send messages to Adam Baldwin, and he coined the GamerGate hashtag, and it started picking up steam.

The harassment of women continued, aided by Quinn's ex, who confirmed doxxed details about Quinn's address and life, and led to people showing up at her house and her father's house. Many women in video game development quit their jobs because of the harassment against Quinn, Anita Sarkeesian, and them, same with many women in games journalism.

4channers in the IRC channels made up a female figurehead for the campaign, Vivian James (rhymes with Video Games), and proceeded to draw porn of her. The 4channers in the IRC channels created fake twitter profiles of people of color and used them to start and perpetuate the "Not Your Shield" hashtag, as well.

NOW THEN...

Quinn's already sent the logs off to the FBI case manager in charge of the case, as well as the local PD. What this means is that, should the logs confirm things (there are IP addresses and /whoises of everyone in the channels), there could be libel and harassment cases, as well as cases of people hacking into her various accounts. If these go to court, it could set a precedent for future online harassment cases, making prosecution stronger against them, and possibly leading to new laws cracking down harder on online harassment.

Now, is there actually a problem with nepotism, cronyism, and corruption in gaming journalism? Not nearly as much as gamergate would have you believe. Female devs aren't sleeping their way to the top of the ratings boards. There is still a problem with gaming journalism, though. Game companies are still pulling advertising if they don't get favorable reviews. Clickbait headlines are rampant. Lists are still put on multiple pages because of the ad revenue from loading everything multiple times to get through a 10-page list.

But keep in mind, youtube video makers aren't held to ANY journalistic standards, don't have a code of ethics, and they don't have editors or higher-ups that they have to put their work through in order to have it put out. They're often paid by game companies to review their games, and don't think it's necessary to disclose this.

The best advice I can give to those wanting to know if they should spend their money on a game is to wait for it to come out, to read user reviews, to ask trusted friends, maybe try it out with rental/gamefly/etc, and if all that isn't available, and if you have the means, just take the plunge and buy it yourself. Or, find one journalist that you like and trust, and make friends with them on twitter or tumblr or facebook or whatever, and ask them their honest opinion.

Good lord, that was a long rant. Anyway, pain's coming back, so time for more medication and less consciousness.

About 40% of what you said is false or at least stretching the truth. Please don't be as bad as the side you oppose.

False according to whom? Let me know what 40%, and I'll gladly make corrections should I be proven wrong.

"fraudulent claims from Eron"
As far as I know, he only said there were possible COIs, no real accusations.

"aided by Quinn's ex, who confirmed doxxed details about Quinn's address and life"
Where is the confirmation? I did find this in the chat logs: " maximumtacos: I cannot confirm or deny anything that might increase doxxing odds unfortunately"

He also put up something similar on his tumblr.

"Now, is there actually a problem with nepotism, cronyism, and corruption in gaming journalism? Not nearly as much as gamergate would have you believe. Female devs aren't sleeping their way to the top of the ratings boards."
While being a nucleating factor, it's not really the crux of the legitimate anger. I don't think you're being genuine with this statement.

Those are the main things.

He absolutely accused her of banging 5 dudes in his blog post (even put up the 5 Guys burgers and fries logo), and said almost verbatim that she's fucking for favors.

As for the doxxing detail confirmation, Zoe posted some private conversations that were given to her from 4channers confirming it, if I remember correctly.

As far as I can tell, the crux of the legitimate anger is just that there's no one to trust in games journalism, and that it's not okay for journalists and developers to be friends in any capacity. Does that sound more on-point than my previous statement?

They can be friends, it's just that they should disclose their friendship when writing articles about them, and don't abuse their positions to write pretentious editorials in their favor.

I think that's on editors/news directors, as well. If the reporter has a connection with the subject, unless it's an interview instead of an editorial, then assign a different reporter to cover it. Problem solved.

"fraudulent claims from Eron, Quinn's jilted ex-boyfriend, that Quinn got favorable reviews from several journalists by sleeping with them"

He accused her of fucking 5 people, not fucking them to get ahead.

"Zoe posted some private conversations that were given to her from 4channers confirming it, if I remember correctly"

I'm not aware of these.

Apologies, you're right on the first one.

The private convos were on her twitter, I think, though I'm willing to concede the point because I don't have enough energy to go through her twitter to look for them.

On the same subject, there's a website called We Hunted the Mammoth that's about documenting the misogyny on the internet. MRAs, PUAs, TRPers, and 4channers and the like. The guy behind it just started going through the IRC log dump last night. It's rather illuminating.

1) Thanks for being an asshole and either not reading the comment or just willfully being a fucking ignorant jackass and writing a shitty untrue tl;dr.

2) Zoe Quinn didn't bang ANY dudes for reviews.

3) Who Zoe Quinn has sex with is none of anyone's motherfucking business, especially not her jilted ex's or 4chan's.

4) If you have an actual, well-reasoned response that isn't just libel, please go ahead and comment again. Otherwise, continue to go to hell.

1) If I'm going to be loathed, I want to earn it.

2) I concede that's very possible, verging on probable. But she pretty much has to be the worst lay imaginable not to have several of her conquests trailing after her like puppies. That's the most incredible part of this whole rotten story.

3) In a better world, yes. Unfortunately Eron Gjoni (I really hope that's the name on his birth certificate, otherwise...what a cunt) aired their dirty laundry. I'd have been happier not knowing about it, but since I do, I have an opinion about it. That opinion is, cheating on a partner is a shitty thing to do*. It doesn't justify getting harassed, but it does mean there's no glory to be had defending either side here.

4) Hell is other people.

*By all means, conflate this with slut-shaming if you like.

1) I'm sure a few jokes about feminists being the same as tampons (stuck up cunts!) or making fun of people with Downs syndrome would suffice, so just link to your twitter if you want to be loathed.

2) It's not "verging on probable," it's been proven that the claims were made up by Eron. Again, why you seem intent to bash her further just speaks to your lack of character and just adds more credibility to your being a loathsome person. And for the record, everything you said after "But" is the slut-shaming.

3) Cheating on a partner IS a shitty thing to do, but Eron's the only one saying that she cheated on him, and I don't trust that guy any further than I could throw him. I've heard that they had been broken up when she had the relationship with the other guy, and given how Eron pretty much signed off on the entirety of the harassment of her, her friends, and her colleagues by the 4channers, I don't have any inclination to believe a word he says.

Update! Two videos posted by Zoe Quinn showing live IRC chat, the second of which shows her ex-boyfriend Eron in the chat channel doing an Ask Me Anything with the 4channers!

So? What was being asked? What were his answers?

Ok, I looked into it a bit here https://static.r-a-d.io/files/irc/burgersandfries.txt

The timestamp for when he entered the chat is Aug 24 20.08.20. Ctrl+F "eron_g" and highlight all to make his posts stand out. Nothing really that scandalous. In fact, downright reasonable and polite, given the massive controversy surrounding the whole ordeal. Hardly the "talking shit" Quinn made it out to be.

Is there a synopsis for those that are unfamiliar with what's going on?

A Forbes synopsis, which is actually pretty informative.

The synopsis I took away was "Juvenile internet drama upsets people who should be old enough to not give a single fuck about this type of bullshit asshattery." #mylawn #getoff

I quite like Kain. He's the only reason I ever check in at Forbes.com/games. Nice summary.

Yeah, he's all right for a glibertarian.

I stopped calling myself a gamer and associating with people who did that online years ago but seeing this summary just makes me shake my head. Why are 'gamers' so retarded? I was gonna write a whole long thing but I just want to put that basic question out there. What is it about people who identify so strongly with the hobby of gaming above all else such absolute morons?

I started out playing AD&D and Axis&Allies and attending GenCon in the 80's. I never considered video game players gamers any more than golfers or bowlers or people who play a lot of Monopoly or Poker. Back when complicated PC games came with hundred page manuals I could see extending the term.

A gamer in more recent context seems more like a movie-goer, in it's just someone who happens to be watching a movie (or playing a video game) at the moment.

But there's still a difference between one who watches movies and a "film buff". It's all about how much enthusiasm one has for something. Like everyone eats, but "foodies" are people who really get into it.

I think its just an endemic problem with people who feel very passionate about identifying themselves as a particular group. If you met someone who was very vocal about how white they were, and what being white meant to them, well id imagine it points to something a little broken.

I was just telling a friend the other day that regardless of the subcultures that I involve myself in, I invariably dislike the other people in it. Be it gaming, tabletop gaming, disc golf and even cycling, for the most part the rest of the people in those subcultures are garbage humans. At least they are while they are doing their hobby/passion/activity.

Case in point: Camping a couple weeks back and playing a round of disc golf at the local course, which has tonals hanging from the trees. Some of us are pretty good, some are newbs, whatever. At one point, this douchey French-Canadian guy yells at us from a hole back.

"'ey guise, can de last person dat 'it the tonal stop it from moving? If I fuck up an ace because it's swinging, I'll be pissed off!"

I wanted to launch a fucking disc at his face. Fuck you, you shirtless trog, the tonal swinging a few centimeters is not going to ruin your chance at a hole in one.

Used to care, read it, tried to care again, couldn't.

This, pretty much.

Okay, I've delved through all of these tweets. Let me see if I have this right:

The whole #gamergate debacle was either created or co-opted by a few "men's rights activists" on /v/ with the purpose of fostering infighting and dissent amongst "social justice warriors".

I don't see how those logs prove that, though. I don't really give a shit anymore, so I'll wait until there is a more complete story to read.

Ready to move on to #SpiderWomanAssGate, huh?

Is that the new version of Goatse?

Milo Manara did a Spider-Woman cover that got panned by the professionally butthurt, then it was pointed out that Spider-Man does similar poses all the time, so they were kind of full of derp.

I'm more offended by the horrible arm and neck placement. At least the cover on the left is somewhat plausible. Might as well call the cover on the right Giraffe-Woman.

Somewhat plausible = please ignore those legs.

Come on. It's cool seeing Sadako move beyond her grudge and use her other worldly powers for good.

That's what I got too. Oh, and 4chan is still the sweaty unwashed asshole of the internet.

She should just date a nice wholesome fedora wearing guy.

Actually, aside from that RogueStar douche, I don't see what's so objectionable about what they were posting. Looks a lot like what I saw when I took part in Chanology.

Is there a more complete transcript?

I have seen a screenshot where someone is talking about trying to attack and cripple Quinn in public, but pretty much the universal response is, "Shut up, Zoe."

Haha, yeah. I remember a lot of that during Chanology.

Except then, it probably really was members of the Sea Org.

because, well yeah. :P

I don't understand what she's blowing up here. It's always been 4chan pioneering this from the beginning due to every other forum banning people from talking about this. I wouldn't call it astroturfing, as every gaming community from reddit to neoGAF went to 4chan to discuss this. So yes, those hashtags began on 4chan but I don't see why that matters, they were still community sourced and it's not like people were paid money to start tweeting with them..

There is coopting of this movement happening within 4chan itself. While /v/ is trying to stick to calling out video game 'journalists' on being shit, there is a large faction on /pol/ who is staunchly right-wing, partially racist and extremely male who basically want to deal blows to feminists and social justice 'warriors.' I do think /pol/ is winning this tug of war and using this movement to promote their agenda, and I think you're seeing this infighting within those IRC logs.

I've been following this from the beginning because lol internet drama. I don't give a crap about the whole Zoe Quinn thing, but her exboyfriend really is a dick and probably deserves jail time if he's doing shit like giving out her address.

/v/ posted the whole chat log for that session, if anyone cares.

https://static.r-a-d.io/files/irc/burgersandfries.txt

I haven't read through it myself yet, but I will later.

We Hunted The Mammoth started working his way through it last night, actually.

The Escapist has been pretty cool about the whole thing. They posted two editorials today with some really good insights.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/video-games/editorials/12223-The-Escapist-Publisher-Issues-Public-Statement-on-Gamergate

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/video-games/editorials/12222-Why-I-Still-Call-Myself-a-Gamer-During-Gamergate