5 Things #Gamergate Is Doing Wrong Gamergate is making mistakes that are causing a loss in momentum

The lasting power of #gamergate has exceeded the expectations of even its most vocal supporters. Three months since it began, a large and active community of gamers are still working at uncovering gaming journalism’s stench. They have brought awareness to thousands of people while even creating economic pain to certain sites by causing advertisers to pull out.

But momentum seems to have stalled. The enemy is adapting to its tactics and have retrenched. We’re entering a “new normal” where actions that worked in the early days of #gamergate will no longer see effectiveness. Here are five additional things #gamergate should fix:

1. They deeply care what SJW’s think of them

#Gamergaters are trying to convince everyone that they are good people.

“We don’t support threats! Look at us try to stop someone from saying mean things!”
“We support women! Look at us donate money to women causes!”
“We’re not really transphobic! Look at all these trannies in #gamergate we support!”

They are trying to show the world that they help old ladies walk across the street and buy candy for little kids, but their opponents simply don’t care about their good deeds. They can donate a million dollars to a women’s shelter and it won’t convince their most vocal enemies to spread lies and disinformation about them. Hell, they could open a women’s shelter and breastfeed starving African babies but it still won’t matter. They are hated no matter what they do simply because of the beliefs they possess.

SJW’s hate you and will always hate you, and by trying to construct a friendly image, you simply buy into their frame and let them dictate the terms of the conversation while you’re always playing defense and tone policing your most effective activists.

Look at me: I’ve been called misogynist and rapist for years, but has that stopped me from building my sites, getting my message across, and having a large support base? They’ve thrown everything at me but you’re still reading this right now, aren’t you? Ignore them and do only what’s necessary to win, not what’s necessary to have a favorable public image, because even if you are a good person, they will simply make up lies about you.

2. They are going after huge targets

I hate Gawker more than anyone, but the campaign against it won’t accomplish much, even if Gawker goes out of business. Consider the following statement:

“#Gamergate is a campaign funded by Buzzfeed and Huffington Post to bring down it’s main competitor.”

While this statement isn’t true, understand that destroying Gawker will simply send its readers to existing SJW sites, meaning you’re actually helping the exact same type of rich SJW media owners you want to take down. If Gawker was the only corrupt media company in existence, the campaign would be correct, but as you’ve now realized, the entire media establishment is on the side of SJW’s, so taking down Gawker wouldn’t accomplish a whole lot. That leads to number three…

3. They are overly dependent on email campaigns

A few advertisers did pull from Gawker, but many of them weren’t even active. The email campaign has been going on for weeks and not much movement has been made. The reason is simple: corporations are on the side of SJW’s. They have calculated that they will make more money by supporting establishment sites than siding with #gamergate, a comparatively small group. Until #gamergate gets to a massive size where boycotts would seriously hurt the bottom line of these corporations, most email campaigns will be done in vain.

If you insist on email campaigns, focus on tiny companies that would get freaked out at only a hundred emails that threaten to boycott its service. Most larger companies simply won’t give a damn.

4. They are trying to run before learning how to walk

After a few quick victories, #gamergate got cocky and made its goals more lofty. While reading things such as “Gawker must burn” triggers our bloodlust, trying to take down an establishment company with millions of dollars in reserves via a decentralized and nascent group with newbie activists leans towards the side of foolish.

Are there individuals you could take down instead by exposing their bullying or anti-male ideas? Do they have corporate sponsors? It’s much easier to get a person fired from a company than trying to bankrupt a company, but the fact that not one person has been fired because of #gamergate suggests that the owners of these companies are SJW’s themselves.

5. They are not creating their own institutions

Destroying your enemy can be satisfying, but unless you’re building your own platform in parallel, one that acts as a bunker for your tired soldiers, you’ll have nothing to go home to but scorched earth. Twitter is not safe, because feminists are active in moderating it. All those followers you’re gaining can be wiped out when your account is suspended for “harassment.” Reddit is also not safe, because a feminist has just been hired as CEO and one click could wipe out everything in /r/KotakuInAction. We must stop relying on SJW-friendly platforms.

We can’t get big venture funding money for anti-SJW sites, but we can use Kickstarter, Patreon, and Indiegogo to create sites that cater to those who support #gamergate. This site is just but one of what could be a dozen professional outfits that give gamers a media alternative. Let SJW’s have their Polygon or Kotaku and circlejerk to their delusions, but until we have our own sites to come back to after battle, we’ll always be resigned to platforms that can kick us off at will.

It’s hard not to get excited over #gamergate, but the big money that back SJW’s have put up their defense barricades and are now ready for a protracted war. It would be prudent for us to see #gamergate not as a temporary battle but as a permanent split in the gaming community that has created a new and separate audience. That separate audience still needs gaming news and reviews, so let’s give them places where they can find it.

In the meantime, focus your attacks on the individual, not a massive corporation. Stay humble and understand that you are going up against powerful interests that won’t evaporate because of an email campaign or two.

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