Steve Alexander
Steve Alexander was a lifelong gamer until #GamerGate ripped the veil from his innocent (albeit bloodshot) eyes. Unlike most of his generation, he does not believe in Facebook, Instagram or Snapchat and can be reached at [email protected] You can follow him on Twitter.
Recently, I was delighted to write concerning the demise of Joystiq, an anti-#GamerGate website which joined the mainstream gaming media in writing puff pieces about Anita Sarkeesian and denying #GamerGate claims for ethics in gaming journalism. While Joystiq being shutdown as a result of actively disconnecting themselves from their audience was cause for optimism, I cautioned in my article about how these writers seem to have jobs again before managing to miss a paycheck:
Recent history has shown us that whenever an SJW writer is fired, they are almost immediately rehired at a more SJW-friendly outlet. Just ask Patrick Klepik, who was fired from Giant Bomb following blacklisting allegations, and had a job as Kotaku before he could lick the envelope on his resume. Gawker Media, of course, owns Kotaku, and did their own little shuffling act when they moved Sam “Bring Back Bullying” Biddle from Valleywag to Gawker proper. And let us not forget Ben “Tetris is Commie Propaganda” Kuchera, who got an entire online publication (the Penny Arcade Report) wiped off the web before resurfacing at Polygon.
Being right can be bittersweet. Joystiq had barely shutdown before former staffers managed to announce Joystiq X Engadget, a section of Engadget devoted to gaming and staffed by former Joystiq members, and of course they managed to keep on their most polarizing member—none other than Caucasian female Jessica “Gaming While Black” Conditt.
AOL fails to learn the first time
As long as your computer is off for four days out of the first 45, you can browse for free!
One would think that parent company America Online, that 90’s purveyor of endless CDs later re-purposed as drink coasters and white trash ninja stars, might have learned from the money pit that was Joystiq. Alas, their conviction to the financial bottom line was not strong enough, and instead of burying the entire staff, they decided to infect Engadget with their most social justice friendly game writers, Jessica Conditt and Ben Gilbert.
Ben Gilbert has already been on the Engadget staff for some time, and has authored such “quality” pieces as “The most important news at CES is a $300 million response to GamerGate“, concerning the financial extortion of Intel by groups like Rainbow PUSH and Feminist Frequency, the latter of whom received hundreds of thousands of dollars for their part in the shakedown.
Interestingly enough, Ben Gilbert claims a friendship with none other than Five Guys founding member Nathan Grayson. He admitted as much while being interviewed by BBC Business Matters. The topic was, you guessed it, #GamerGate. Because why wouldn’t you want to interview someone who admits a friendship to one of the central figures of #GamerGate? It can almost be inferred that BBC Business Matters went looking for bias.
Certainly there was no shortage of people interested in talking about #GamerGate. Medium author Oliver Campbell, for example, has done many a speaking engagement concerning this very thing. (Note to Jessica Conditt—you may want to speak to Mr. Campbell concerning his experiences being black in the gaming community. Or, you know, just read his article concerning it.)
“These writers ruined this failing site? Give them a job on this healthy site!”
You would think that a brand new section of a website, composed of members of a website that just failed, might keep themselves in check until the readership has established itself. But that’s not very social justice, now is it? Joystiq X Engadget was at it in just their third article (counting Ben Gilbert’s annoucement of Joystiq X Engadget as their first article), fighting against perceived sexism.
They took issue with a League of Legends tournament in the more conservative nation of the Philippines because an all-female tournament wished to restrict the entry of any player who was born male. This move, while it makes sense to anyone who can recognize that men are typically better at these games than women and would be at an advantage (reference: Sasha “Scarlett” Hostyn, a transgender player dominating the Starcraft 2 scene), offended the LBGTQ community, and of course Joystiq X Engadget couldn’t get the article out fast enough (the rule restricting men from entering was later rescinded).
While their articles have been relatively inoffensive since (so, about a week now), I wouldn’t bet against the social justice shitposters.
The common refrain
It seems, like cockroaches, these failed writers have managed to scurry to yet another safe haven. My only consolation is that with sites like the one you are reading, as well as The Ralph Retort and TechRaptor, soon they won’t have another nook to scurry to. After all, Gamasutra and Kotaku have already taken hits to their readership. Polygon has had to lay off staff members as well. It’s only a matter of time before the San Fransisco blogger scene is out of a job (and shilling on Patreon to keep the heat on) while the new pro-#GamerGate gaming media continues to rise in influence.
We could be looking at a future where the pro-#GamerGate developers don’t require masks and voice changers to keep their livelihoods. I look forward to that day.
Read More: Anti-Defamation League Evokes Prohibition-Era Propaganda That Targets Children
