Hey, there, fellow Escapists! I'm a long-time lurker and a big fan of the site.
I recently decided that I wanted to challenge myself to write something meaningful. I've spent so much time over the last couple of years starting and dropping stories that I never came back to, that I was beginning to feel like it was just wasting my time. Not willing to just 'quit writing', I decided that I wanted to try my hand at writing something with a little depth and importance.
As a gamer, of course, it's hard to overlook the internet's biggest ongoing issue in the gaming world.
And so, with every intention to try to remain neutral and understanding, I decided that I was going to sit down and finally give the whole #GamerGate thing a really hard look. Of course, I'm not neutral. I'm a frustrated, irritable, oftentimes self-important jerk. It also didn't help that I'm very much opposed to the movement of enforced political correctness, which seems to have taken root at the very heart of the matter for those demanding social progress.
If I can't be a voice of neutrality, however, then at least I'll be a voice of moderation.
"Sympathy for the Devil's Advocate: My Time Following the #GamerGate Movement Thus Far" [Part One]
Before I begin, allow me to offer a little background on myself. I'm a mediocre musician. I'm a gamer. I'm an unpublished author with aspirations far beyond my limited talent, but I don't let that stop me from trying anyway. I fancy myself to be a funny guy, but I fear I've got at least a little of my father's awful sense of humor hidden away inside me somewhere. Above all else, though? I'm a very firm believer in the idea of human rights, civil rights, equal rights, and freedom for all.
Here are a couple less-important facts. I'm terrified of speaking in public, I suffer from severe anxiety, and I've been clinically depressed since about the sixth grade. I'm also a straight white man in his late twenties. When people tell me my Irish heritage doesn't 'qualify' as an oppressed minority and therefore my thoughts and opinions don't matter, I have to remind myself that punching them in the face doesn't make my position any more right. I have some anger management issues, too. It might be because I've got so much Irish in me.
But I digress. The first part of this would-be article is going to focus a little on me. Before I get too far into my thoughts and ideas on the GamerGate movement, I feel that it's important for people to understand the place that I come from and why I believe what it is that I do. So many editorials and one-off articles have come out of this thing without any context as to who is writing them, that it's easy for people on both sides to forget that there are actual humans involved. Actual humans with actual feelings, something I myself sometimes forget. So without further ado, allow me to introduce myself.
I am Attison Graves. That's not my real name, mind you, it's a character. Among my many other 'flaws', I'm an avid roleplayer and a lover of all things game. This year saw me going to my first-ever Board Game Night, where I horribly lost my first game of Settlers and won my first game of Timeline. My friends and family all know me as the 'loser son who never grew up and got out of his parents' house'. Yes, that's right, I am literally the stereotypical nerd living in his mother's basement. Only in my case, I live upstairs. With my girlfriend.
For as long as I can remember, I've loved... love. I've made it my life's mission to build bridges and spread tolerance and understanding wherever I may go. I don't get out much, thanks to the anxiety, but with the help of gaming I have been able to share my values and beliefs and make a lot of friends along the way and we all have pretty similar views on the need for equality and diversity in games. Nothing makes me happier than to see women making games, playing games, and critiquing games. Nothing makes me happier than to see my fellow "gamers" embracing people of all colors, creeds, genders, and sexualities. That's not to say that there isn't an extremely crass, extremely bigoted subset of individuals who attack any attempt to branch out beyond their demographic, but I can honestly say that I have never seen or been supplied with any evidence to suggest that this is "The Norm".
Of my three oldest childhood friends, one confided in me at a very young age that she was a lesbian. The other turned out to be a libertarian, and the other a complete sociopath... so that might be why I have such a strange worldview these days. I don't know. What I do know is, I've always firmly believed that it was important to treat people like people. Nobody deserves to be mocked or ridiculed for things beyond their control. Do something awful intentionally, and I'll gladly tell you exactly what I think of you, but I'll never judge you for being a gay/bi-sexual/pansexual black/asian/hispanic/eldritch horror of either gender. In fact, unless you take offense to my being on your side, I will happily stand next to you and shout down anyone who thinks that it's OKAY to be bigoted and cruel.
This whole kerfuffle strikes a chord near and dear to me, and I certainly have my own personal biases in the matter, but even more than that I find it absolutely fascinating. As someone with a deep unabashed love for philosophy, history, and psychology... the idea of engaging with a social movement built up around the hobby and community I have always believed myself to be a part of is terrifically exciting.
So, now that I've got my motives and personal background out of the way, Part Two will get into the nitty-gritty details of what I saw on my first day of staring at Twitter for 16 hours. In the meanwhile, I want to thank anyone who bothered to read this far down. If you have thoughts or opinions on the movement or my godawful writing, I hope that you'll share them civilly.
Regardless of where you stand, above all else: be excellent to one another.
I recently decided that I wanted to challenge myself to write something meaningful. I've spent so much time over the last couple of years starting and dropping stories that I never came back to, that I was beginning to feel like it was just wasting my time. Not willing to just 'quit writing', I decided that I wanted to try my hand at writing something with a little depth and importance.
As a gamer, of course, it's hard to overlook the internet's biggest ongoing issue in the gaming world.
And so, with every intention to try to remain neutral and understanding, I decided that I was going to sit down and finally give the whole #GamerGate thing a really hard look. Of course, I'm not neutral. I'm a frustrated, irritable, oftentimes self-important jerk. It also didn't help that I'm very much opposed to the movement of enforced political correctness, which seems to have taken root at the very heart of the matter for those demanding social progress.
If I can't be a voice of neutrality, however, then at least I'll be a voice of moderation.
"Sympathy for the Devil's Advocate: My Time Following the #GamerGate Movement Thus Far" [Part One]
Before I begin, allow me to offer a little background on myself. I'm a mediocre musician. I'm a gamer. I'm an unpublished author with aspirations far beyond my limited talent, but I don't let that stop me from trying anyway. I fancy myself to be a funny guy, but I fear I've got at least a little of my father's awful sense of humor hidden away inside me somewhere. Above all else, though? I'm a very firm believer in the idea of human rights, civil rights, equal rights, and freedom for all.
Here are a couple less-important facts. I'm terrified of speaking in public, I suffer from severe anxiety, and I've been clinically depressed since about the sixth grade. I'm also a straight white man in his late twenties. When people tell me my Irish heritage doesn't 'qualify' as an oppressed minority and therefore my thoughts and opinions don't matter, I have to remind myself that punching them in the face doesn't make my position any more right. I have some anger management issues, too. It might be because I've got so much Irish in me.
But I digress. The first part of this would-be article is going to focus a little on me. Before I get too far into my thoughts and ideas on the GamerGate movement, I feel that it's important for people to understand the place that I come from and why I believe what it is that I do. So many editorials and one-off articles have come out of this thing without any context as to who is writing them, that it's easy for people on both sides to forget that there are actual humans involved. Actual humans with actual feelings, something I myself sometimes forget. So without further ado, allow me to introduce myself.
I am Attison Graves. That's not my real name, mind you, it's a character. Among my many other 'flaws', I'm an avid roleplayer and a lover of all things game. This year saw me going to my first-ever Board Game Night, where I horribly lost my first game of Settlers and won my first game of Timeline. My friends and family all know me as the 'loser son who never grew up and got out of his parents' house'. Yes, that's right, I am literally the stereotypical nerd living in his mother's basement. Only in my case, I live upstairs. With my girlfriend.
For as long as I can remember, I've loved... love. I've made it my life's mission to build bridges and spread tolerance and understanding wherever I may go. I don't get out much, thanks to the anxiety, but with the help of gaming I have been able to share my values and beliefs and make a lot of friends along the way and we all have pretty similar views on the need for equality and diversity in games. Nothing makes me happier than to see women making games, playing games, and critiquing games. Nothing makes me happier than to see my fellow "gamers" embracing people of all colors, creeds, genders, and sexualities. That's not to say that there isn't an extremely crass, extremely bigoted subset of individuals who attack any attempt to branch out beyond their demographic, but I can honestly say that I have never seen or been supplied with any evidence to suggest that this is "The Norm".
Of my three oldest childhood friends, one confided in me at a very young age that she was a lesbian. The other turned out to be a libertarian, and the other a complete sociopath... so that might be why I have such a strange worldview these days. I don't know. What I do know is, I've always firmly believed that it was important to treat people like people. Nobody deserves to be mocked or ridiculed for things beyond their control. Do something awful intentionally, and I'll gladly tell you exactly what I think of you, but I'll never judge you for being a gay/bi-sexual/pansexual black/asian/hispanic/eldritch horror of either gender. In fact, unless you take offense to my being on your side, I will happily stand next to you and shout down anyone who thinks that it's OKAY to be bigoted and cruel.
This whole kerfuffle strikes a chord near and dear to me, and I certainly have my own personal biases in the matter, but even more than that I find it absolutely fascinating. As someone with a deep unabashed love for philosophy, history, and psychology... the idea of engaging with a social movement built up around the hobby and community I have always believed myself to be a part of is terrifically exciting.
So, now that I've got my motives and personal background out of the way, Part Two will get into the nitty-gritty details of what I saw on my first day of staring at Twitter for 16 hours. In the meanwhile, I want to thank anyone who bothered to read this far down. If you have thoughts or opinions on the movement or my godawful writing, I hope that you'll share them civilly.
Regardless of where you stand, above all else: be excellent to one another.
