Nov. 12, 2014

By Josh Hafemeister

Twitter users may have seen the flurry of hashtags in recent weeks – Gamergate – the controversial culture war causing a stir in the online world. The movement started earlier this year primarily for two reasons.
One was a call for discussion about corrupt and biased journalism in the video game industry. This call was a result of accusations of a game developer allegedly sleeping with a journalist.
The other reason is because feminist and gaming critic Anita Sarkeesian criticized video games and their representation of women this summer.
What the movement has since become is a much more vitriolic and heated argument between gamers, journalists and feminists.
Those who oppose Gamergate, women especially, have been subjected to threats of hacking, rape and murder. These events have highlighted just how vitriolic and ugly the online world is, particularly to women.

Research findings
The online world containing vitriol and individuals prone to harassing others should be no surprise to all who peruse the Internet.
The Pew Research Center published a study of people who witnessed harassment or received harassing messages while online on their website, pewinternet.org, on Oct. 22. The survey was conducted from May 30 to June 30 of this year. There were 2,849 participants.
The survey found that 26 percent of young women between the ages 18-24 who participated have been stalked online and 25 percent were sexually harassed.
Twenty-seven percent of participants, men and women, were called offensive names while online and 22 percent were deliberately embarrassed.
Sixty-six percent said the most recent incident they were witness to or a part of occurred on a social networking site or app, and 16 percent said it occurred on an online video game.

Feminist threatened before speech
Sarkeesian planned to give a speech about women’s portrayal in video games in October at Utah State University. Shortly before the day she was to give her speech, university staff received an email from someone claiming to be a student of the university. The email threatened “the deadliest school shooting in American history” if Sarkeesian spoke at the university, according to Saeed Ahmed from cnn.com.
“Feminists have ruined my life and I will have my revenge, for my sake and the sake of all the others they’ve wronged,” the email said.
Sarkeesian spoke to the school, asking if they would forbid guns or at least search anyone attending her speech. The school declined, stating that state law allows students to carry firearms in  public places, including the university.
Sarkeesian cancelled the event after receiving the school’s answer.

Actress, gamer ‘doxed’
Actress and gamer Felicia Day, known most recently for her reprising role on the television show “Supernatural,” spoke out about Gamergate in a tumblr blog on Oct. 22. In the blog, Day called gamers to stand up against the harassment and threats.
“Don’t let other people drive you away from gaming,” Day said. “Games are beautiful, they are creative, they are worlds to immerse yourself in. They are art. And they are worth fighting for, even if the atmosphere is ugly right now. A small minority are putting up barbed wire walls between us who love games.”
Shortly after the blog was posted, her home address and personal email were also posted, according to Brandon Griggs on cnn.com. This practice is called ‘doxxing’ which, according to Griggs, is considered a form of punishment to some people.

Actor’s daughter harassed on social media
Zelda Williams, daughter of the late comedian and actor Robin Williams and someone who has not commented about Gamergate, also received harassment on her social media accounts.
Shortly after her father’s death, someone sent grotesquely photo shopped images of her father to her, and others sent her disturbing and abusive messages. Williams had asked her twitter followers to report the abusive tweets, according to Griggs on cnn.com, but it did not stem the tide. Williams closed her twitter and Instagram accounts shortly thereafter.

Statistics from Pew

• Some other statistics found through the Pew study said:
• Sixty percent of Internet users said they witnessed someone being called offensive names.
• Twenty-five percent of Internet users said they’ve seen someone get physically threatened.
• Nineteen percent have said they’ve seen someone sexually harassed online.
• Eighteen percent said they’ve seen someone being stalked online.

For more infomation, see www.pewinternet.org.