I feel like this is the only place I can post such a thing. This is about the whole GamerGate thing and the constant attacks by both sides. It is also about the treatment of a mostly peaceful group. You must understand two things before reading what I have to say further. I will also not be naming anyone or any forum other than one *exception.

  1. Trolls are abundant online but especially in the gaming world, it sucks but those on the outside take them at face value. You simply can't, it's the internet and the overwhelming majority of the time it is nothing but empty words and attempts to get a rise intentionally. Please look up the word intentional, that's what a troll does. This is how it has always been, long before GamerGate and long after.

  2. There are a lot, A LOT of male gamers who are social outcasts. They have anxiety and suffer from depression. Real, crippling depression. The kind where you can't get out of bed some days because you want to die but are too much a coward to do it. It's vicious cycle of trying to get motivated to do anything and constant loneliness. We don't have social skills, and becoming an adult doesn't magically grant you them. Being bullied and outcasted and shamed for nothing other than we seem odd or weird or ugly. Adulthood is going to be pretty damn challenging with none of those basic skills being allowed to manifest in a healthy way.

Now for the meat of the post. GamerGate is still a thing and it seems *4chan has also succumbed to the censorship of it now. I don't even care about talks about journalistic integrity anymore. I am growing sick with anger and grief at the continued treatment of people I heavily identify with. People who have always been kind and generous to those who treat them with the slightest bit of human decency. There was a developer who made a game, about depression. It was receiving not so hot reviews and very little attention. She seems to have many friends at/in various gaming sites, no issues getting attention in a romantic sense, and seems to be a pretty average adult based on what little I know. Many would and have argued she is simply unhappy and has no idea what depression is. I also share this opinion, as I can have no way of truly knowing, it's opinion. Suddenly a few comments on forums this person would never have reason to go to by a few troll-worthy commentators and it explodes into full Misogyny. She talks about how she is all about love and empathy and how the game is supposed to help people. The very people her and her SJW army is attacking and shaming. The people I described above. Sad, lonely, inept human souls who are lost in a world full of people. People that routinely mocked for being adult virgins and for enjoying the only hobby that makes them feel good about themselves.

I am one of those people. The "Congratulations" screen on many Nintendo (as in the original) games are among my very few positive childhood memories. That's flat out pathetic, I know. As an adult now I admit I have it much better than most of my brothers. I am at least not hideous and I can occasionally strike up a conversation with a woman but for the most part my life has been full of awkward interactions or being labeled as "rapey" and "creepy" despite never asserting anything sexist whatsoever. Typically by women I have never even tried to approach. I overly respect other peoples spaces and feelings because of how deliberately mine weren't growing up. I wish that kind of treatment on no one, not even my most hated enemies. I have only truly hated three people in my life. Two were male, the last a female family member. Hate is reserved for truly despicable people in my eyes.

So when I see a fairly well off woman getting mad and crying sexism at people who are exactly like me. I get mad, really mad. The maddest I have been in years because we are still being mocked for being different and all those gaming sites are lumping us with the trolls as if we are mutually exclusive to each other. These people that preach love and understanding but resort to petty name calling and dismissing us on the "gamer" title alone. The same people who have never been physically attacked for walking down a hallway. Who have never been sucker punched for trying to ignore their bullies at the advice of so called responsible adults. Who have never been tricked into fake dates for the sole purpose of further embarrassing and humiliating them.

So when I see these same people complain about some remarks on some random forum as if it was the same in scale. I just want to explode at them. You don't know what it's like, your life was so easy and you can't even see it. Maybe they do and just are truly horrible people. I hope it's just ignorance but sometimes I wonder if it's really just the latter... just needed to get that off my chest.

Please don't post hateful comments or start naming people. I don't want this to become a circlejerk of hate. I just want people to understand people like me better than they currently do.