Antifeminists threaten numerous opposers of Gamergate; an internet war focused on misogyny in video games.

Gamergate Logo. Source: emblemsbf.com

Gamergate, although not quite a household term, shines a beacon of light on the still ever present issue of modern day misogyny. Gamergate is, as the Washington Post puts it, an “internet cultural war,” centered on sexism in video games. On one side of Gamergate you find Anita Sarkeesian, a feminist media critic, and Zoe Quinn and Brianna Wu, both independent game developers. On the other side, you find hundreds of anonymous Internet users who can only be described as antifeminists.

Anita Sarkeesian.
Source: Tropes vs. Women in Video Games

Antifeminists and misogynists are the gamer archetypes that fuel the harassment that comes with Gamergate. Modern video games are known for, as Rated M for Mature Matthew Wysocki and Evan Lauteria puts it, underdressing and over-sexing female characters. Anita Sarkeesian is credited for addressing the misogynist undertones of video game in her web series “Tropes vs. Women In Video Games.” Once Gamergate began to draw media attention, Sarkeesian voiced her opposition towards it, making her a new target.

The targets for Gamergate have expanded and are receiving the same threats of death and rape.

Zoe Quinn. Source: The Guardian

The original target of Gamergate is Zoe Quinn. Quinn is an independent game developer who created the browser game “Depression Quest.” The game received positive reviews in the media, but was met with backlash by gamers who believed it did not deserve the acclaim. Eventually, these gamers created an online harassment campaign which then developed into “Gamergate.” This was just the beginning of many months of numerous death and rape threats directed at Quinn.

The harassment spread to Sarkeesian after a release of new episode of her web series. She too received death and rape threats. She eventually had to cancel an upcoming event at Utah State University after the school had gotten three anonymous threats; one that cited gamergate, and other that cited a previous antifeminism fueled mass shooting.

Source: Twitter

As Gamergate’s following grew, a new target was selected. Brianna Wu, an independent game designer like Zoe Quinn, had her home address posted online for any gamergate supporters to follow through with the numerous death and rape threats. The threats became so serious that she was forced to flee her home.

In a two month time frame, more than 2 million tweets have been sent out using the hashtag #gamergate. Social media analytics company BandWatch sampled 25% of the tweets and discovered that in that two month period, Zoe Quinn received 10,400 tweets with the hashtag. Despite being the source of inception for Gamergate however, her numbers are only one third the amount of tweets Sarkeesian and Wu got during that time. Sarkeesian received 35,188 tweets while Wu received 38,952 tweets. These numbers only further justify how out of hand Gamergate has grown to be. 

Zoe Quinn is capitalizing on her harassment by writing a book about her Gamergate experience. The book hasn't been released yet but is already in the talks to receive a film adaptation.

Crash Override: How To Save The Internet From Itself is the title of Quinn's upcoming memoir to be published by Simon & Schuster publishing. The book isn't expected to be released until September 2016, but Sony has already purchased the film rights to the book, with Scarlett Johansson slated to star as Quinn. In her proposal for the book, Quinn stated that "Gaming and internet message boards used to be niche interests, mostly for young men. In the past few years, however, they've gone mainstream." Her proposal supports the massive attention Gamergate has received and the large amount of contributors to it.

The severity of Gamergate's attacks have gone as far as falsely accusing Gamergate opposer Veerender Jubbal for terrorism.

Jubbal Photoshopped, Left. Real Image, Right.
Source: The Guardian

Veerender Jubbal is a Canadian journalist and games critic who is also a known Gamergate opposer. Jubbal is also a practicing Muslim who wears a turban. After the tragedy of the attacks in Paris occurred on Friday, a Gamergate supporter photoshopped an image of Jubbal to make him appear as a terrorist. The image became so viral that popular Madrid newspaper, La Razón, posted the image stating he was a prime suspect for the attacks. The altered image added a suicide vest and a Qur'an to Jubbal's photo. After La Razón realized their mistake, they quickly retracted the article and apologized, but the damage was done. The image had stretched farther than before and Jubbal was being coined as a terrorist around the world, despite being a Canadian who has never even visited France. Jubbal's response to the cyber attack was a tweet stating: "Gamers are absolute garbage like I have been saying for a full year. People will not stop harassing me and bothering me."

Jubbal is only the most recent victim of Gamergate attacks. Between the threats of death and rape, and the accusations of terrorism, it is clear the Gamergate supporters are dangerous with a large enough support to make international impact.