How did The Escapist's culture change so much?

[megs1120]

I posted a link to an Escapist article on my facebook wall and got a response along the lines of "eww, the escapist is a bunch of gamergate creeps" and it got me thinking. I've been coming to this site since back when it was an online magazine, I've been a paying subscriber for years, but somehow I'd missed the transformation taking place.

I felt that it was a safe place, where we weren't like the people on Joystiq or PC Gamer, we were more civil, more considerate. The Escapist was a place where a comic like WHITE GUY DEFENSE FORCE GO! ( http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/comicsandcosplay/comics/critical-miss/10597-WHITE-GUY-DEFENSE-FORCE-GO ) could be run with a minimum of controversy, where there were people like Movie Bob who could give more analysis to a movie than just "EXPLOSION GOOD".

Now I look at the list of popular forum posts and they're all about how men are oppressed, how women are stupid, exactly the sort of stuff that I'd loved this site for avoiding. How did the site's culture change so fast? Is it a coarsening of the gaming community at large, or is it just the new people? Was I wrong to think that this site was ever any different than all the others?

 

[Scarim Coral]

I just assuming the site change according with the times (internet news and social etc) since a few years ago there was no such thing as "gamergate", Mass Effect 3 wasn't made and Anita Sarkeesian was setting up her kickstarter.

In saying so I do know alot of people left during the Extra Credits controversial.

 

[megs1120]

I just assuming the site change according with the times (internet news and social etc) since a few years ago there was no such thing as "gamergate", Mass Effect 3 wasn't made and Anita Sarkeesian was setting up her kickstarter.

In saying so I do know alot of people left during the Extra Credits controversial.

That would make sense. The Escapist has lost a lot of the old contributors, maybe their fans left with them.

 

[Zontar]

Now I look at the list of popular forum posts and they're all about how men are oppressed, how women are stupid, exactly the sort of stuff that I'd loved this site for avoiding.

As someone who frequents the Off Topic forum, the Religion and Politics forum, the Gaming Industry Discussion forum, and the Gaming forum, I'd like to know where you saw that, because that isn't anywhere in those ones.

As for what you missed, over the years special interests have tried to push certain ideas, images and narratives which run counter to reality, and this site is one of many which has a sizeable part of its user base which pushed right back.

 

[megs1120]

Now I look at the list of popular forum posts and they're all about how men are oppressed, how women are stupid, exactly the sort of stuff that I'd loved this site for avoiding.

As someone who frequents the Off Topic forum, the Religion and Politics forum, the Gaming Industry Discussion forum, and the Gaming forum, I'd like to know where you saw that, because that isn't anywhere in those ones.

As for what you missed, over the years special interests have tried to push certain ideas, images and narratives which run counter to reality, and this site is one of many which has a sizeable part of its user base which pushed right back.

Calgary Expo shuts down Honey Badger booth - Full of people outraged that a bunch of gamergate trolls were kicked out of Calgary Expo for trying to shit up panels

Calgary Expo Rules Declare "Criticism" and "Judging" to be "Psychological Violence" - Full of people outraged that the Calgary Expo's rules prohibit shitting up their convention because women can't take the heat

GamerGate Goes to Washington - Full of people outraged that Zoe Quinn was allowed to speak at a congressional briefing on cyber-bullying

Those are the top forum threads suggested on the front page. It's a pattern, and it indicates that this isn't the sort of chill place that The Escapist used to be.

 

[Zontar]

Calgary Expo shuts down Honey Badger booth - Full of people outraged that a bunch of gamergate trolls were kicked out of Calgary Expo for trying to shit up panels

Calgary Expo Rules Declare "Criticism" and "Judging" to be "Psychological Violence" - Full of people outraged that the Calgary Expo's rules prohibit shitting up their convention because women can't take the heat

GamerGate Goes to Washington - Full of people outraged that Zoe Quinn was allowed to speak at a congressional briefing on cyber-bullying

Those are the top forum threads suggested on the front page. It's a pattern, and it indicates that this isn't the sort of chill place that The Escapist used to be.

Ah, so basically you didn't actually read any of those threads and listened to what someone else who hates GamerGate with an irrational passion told you they where about. Because there's really no way one can come to those conclusions based on what was said in those threads (or what happened in reality either).

 

[megs1120]

Thanks for being civil, by the way, I was kind of (very) afraid I'd catch a bunch of flak for bringing up this topic. Maybe things haven't changed as much as I'd thought.

Edit: err, maybe not

 

[Thaluikhain]

Now I look at the list of popular forum posts and they're all about how men are oppressed, how women are stupid, exactly the sort of stuff that I'd loved this site for avoiding. How did the site's culture change so fast? Is it a coarsening of the gaming community at large, or is it just the new people? Was I wrong to think that this site was ever any different than all the others?

Well, there's always been a problem with trolls provoking people into getting banned. I'm also led to believe that the Escapist got big enough that it attracted the attention of certain groups in the darker corners of the net, and they came forth to support the oppressed straight white male gamer.

 

[the_dramatica]

There was a mass exodus on 4chan /v/ near the end of 2014, when moot decided to ban all gamergate discussion.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Now I look at the list of popular forum posts and they're all about how men are oppressed, how women are stupid, exactly the sort of stuff that I'd loved this site for avoiding.

Eh. Stay in Gaming and Off-Topic and you'll more or less be fine. Game Industry is the forum you want to avoid if you're looking to avoid this sort of thing. You're also overstating the problem somewhat, although there's definitely been a demographic shift.

 

[dragoongfa]

There was a mass exodus on 4chan /v/ near the end of 2014, when moot decided to ban all gamergate discussion.

And those ended up in an other chan, channers hate regular forums with a passion.

 

[TakerFoxx]

As I understand it, back when GamerGate first started to get rolling, the Escapist was one of the few websites to allow discussion of it. As a result, many GamerGaters from other sites simply just migrated here and stuck around, while a lot of those who were already here that didn't like GamerGate left as the controversy got worse. That could have something to do with it.

 

[PsychicTaco115]

A lot of more 'prominent' users also drifted more towards user groups than threads

Don't be afraid to use the Ignore function if you have to. It's there for a reason! :3

 

[tm96]

Just don't bother with the Games Industry subforum its not worth the headache.

 

[Sleepy Sol]

Prominent users left or relegated themselves to usergroups over both real and perceived controversies that occurred here and elsewhere on the net.

I don't really think the culture has changed that much, though, in all honesty. There's always been certain lines you don't cross, there's always been certain ways you post to avoid moderation, always been a nature of passive-aggressiveness among certain parts of the forum.

Maybe it's just personal perceptions and biases talking, but I think recent events in the past year only exacerbated problems that were certainly already around. Just not as prominent.

But really, just take Guppy's advice and avoid GID if you don't care for any of the latest internet controversies revolving around the gaming industry. Not difficult to do at all.

 

[Hero in a half shell]

The Escapist was seen as really high brow and snobbish when I first came here:- Really tough mods, really tough forum rules, an emphasis on proper discussion with nonsense comments being penalised...

It still has strict rules - (No low content posts, no personal attacks, no all caps posts, no mentioning the T word)... I think it's more the gaming society that has changed.

We have become preoccupied with representation and politics, and it's kind of the game critics and the burgeoning equality movement that have brought us here.

For many people, gaming and politics, gaming and gender, gaming and inclusion, gaming and representation have become inseparable. You cannot review a game without mentioning these issues, and that brings out people's personal opinions, which we are just really bad in general at dealing with.

This is a videogames website that likes to discuss the more highbrow aspects of videogames, and the most highbrow debate going on at the moment is heavily connected to Gamergate;

Is there inequality in videogames representation of women?
Does a negative portrayal of a fictional woman have a negative effect on women in real life?
Should we encourage more female developers into the videogame industry and how?
Should we encourage more female protagonists in videogames and how?
Is videogame journalism corrupted if the journalists and developers are friends/living together/in business together/giving each other money/sleeping together
How can we hold videogame journalists and game developers to higher standards of ethics?

These are the highbrow issues affecting videogames today, and while a lot of lowbrow tactics may be being used to debate them (especially in other websites) That doesn't make them less of an issue, in fact it kind of increases the need to take a step back and try to have a logical debate picking through all this guff to sort out the facts and come to proper conclusions over what is happening in the videogames industry at the moment, why is it happening, and how can we turn that into real positive changes in the industry.

 

[Andy Shandy]

It's hard to say exactly when of course, but when Anita Sarkeesian became a big thing - whether you agree with her or not - people seemed to become more confrontational, particularly on certain subjects. The place also being one of the few places to house GG - whether you agree with that or not - hardly helped matters in that regard.

However, it's not all gone to shit. While I'd avoid most of the new Game Industry Discussion forum if you're looking to avoid...conflict, good discussion can still be had in Gaming and Off-Topic, most of the time. Plus, usergroups are still great (even if one did implode recently xD)

 

[Mazinger-Z]

As for what you missed, over the years special interests have tried to push certain ideas, images and narratives which run counter to reality, and this site is one of many which has a sizeable part of its user base which pushed right back.

And that's only because other outlets basically locked comments, banned users and basically smothered any dissent in its crib. Ben Kuchera laid into Greg Tito for even allowing a platform of discussion, and the Internet as a whole seem very remiss to have a conversation because of the 'drama' which begs the question as to when did we as a society start shying away from discourse.

 

[Tiger King]

There kind of always has been a hotly debated topic here.
A few years ago it was gun control threads, then briefly it was transgender stuff and now it's this gamer gate thing.
I have stayed out of these social justice topics, largely because I have always viewed the escapist as a place to momentarily 'escape' the real world for a bit.
Gotta say the forum does have a different 'feel' to it these days, though I think it is because a lot of the more familiar, possibly outspoken voices, abandoned ship during the height of the gamer gate apocalypse.

I mean I dunno, I guess in time the forum will take on a new 'feel' and new posters will rise to become thread champions and they will guide us to the promised land. Or at least that's what the prophecy says.

So yeah, long opinion short: times change, people come and go taking their outspokeness with them.