Gaming has definitely been a fairly popular "recruiting ground" lately. The article mentions it, but I think part of it is that platforms like Steam, Discord, and Reddit make it easy for them to...
Gaming has definitely been a fairly popular "recruiting ground" lately. The article mentions it, but I think part of it is that platforms like Steam, Discord, and Reddit make it easy for them to set up and attract people into groups that aren't really monitored or moderated at all.
For example, people can invite someone into a Discord server for voice-chat related to a game they're playing, and the server just happens to also have a channel where they post racist memes. If the "target" notices and isn't open to it, about the worst that happens is that they think the server's a bit gross or leave. Other people might stay (whether because they didn't notice that aspect or don't care), and that makes the server grow, which helps normalize and legitimize it for other people that join in the future.
A lot of gamers get very attached to and involved in the groups/guilds they play with regularly, and I can definitely see how it could end up with people thinking things like, "I really like playing with these guys, maybe they're kinda racist sometimes but they're just joking around and trolling". It's not a big leap from there for people to start making racist jokes themselves to fit in, and eventually it drifts more into a mindset that they don't even recognize why they hold.
There have been quite a few articles about these sorts of recruiting groups on the different platforms over the last year or so. Some examples:
Some games just simply don't have a large enough population playing them that sometimes it's not even "I like these guys even though they are racist" but more "I have to put up with these guys...
Some games just simply don't have a large enough population playing them that sometimes it's not even "I like these guys even though they are racist" but more "I have to put up with these guys even though they are racist in order to finish this content". Regularly accomplishing things with a team of individuals leads to camaraderie and the same path towards racist/sexist jokes may happen even when there's an initial hesitance or disgust.
I think the biggest issue, however, is not adults being exposed to this behavior but children and teenagers. People in these age groups often state inflammatory things simply because they are inflammatory and they're still learning what is socially acceptable and what isn't. They may even look up to individuals who are regularly attacking society. Sometimes it's hard for them to understand what is right and what is wrong, and by combining that with an echo chamber of their ideas, especially since it's amongst friends and potentially a rather large group of people, they are being mislead as to how "popular" these ideas really are. If you have 400 people online saying x and your class at school is only 100 kids, it doesn't matter if you're the only kid in your class who thinks that way - you know 4x the people with a different mindset.
I'm with you. This is old news but apparently folks haven't been tuned into it. Gamergate was seen as a breeding ground for Bannon's alt-right "The Anti-Defamation League recently said it is...
Exemplary
I'm with you. This is old news but apparently folks haven't been tuned into it. Gamergate was seen as a breeding ground for Bannon's alt-right
"The Anti-Defamation League recently said it is taking its fight against hate to the world of video games and Gamergate. Gamergate has been linked to tactics used by the Trump administration, particularly under former chief strategist Steve Bannon. In a book by Joshua Green titled “Devil’s Bargain: Steve Bannon, Donald Trump, and the Storming of the Presidency,” Bannon lauds Gamergate as a feeding tube for the alt-right. “You can activate that army,” Bannon is quoted as saying. “They come in through Gamergate or whatever and then get turned onto politics and Trump.”"
If I may interject, I believe the disagreement here is that your intital comment may have been off-topic in relation to the linked article, but completely on-topic in regards to the issue...
If I may interject, I believe the disagreement here is that your intital comment may have been off-topic in relation to the linked article, but completely on-topic in regards to the issue at-large... given exposure to the history of this story.
Oh, of course it was. That's the reason that Breitbart, Milo Yiannopolous, etc. all latched onto it, they recognized it as something they could take advantage of.
Oh, of course it was. That's the reason that Breitbart, Milo Yiannopolous, etc. all latched onto it, they recognized it as something they could take advantage of.
Right, sorry. It's always tricky having online discussions because you don't know what the other person knows. Thankfully this site is small enough that that should kind of go away over time.
Right, sorry. It's always tricky having online discussions because you don't know what the other person knows. Thankfully this site is small enough that that should kind of go away over time.
Here is a link to a description on wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamergate_controversy If I had to sum it up succinctly: "Boys and men-who-never-grew-up harass and threaten the lives of...
If I had to sum it up succinctly: "Boys and men-who-never-grew-up harass and threaten the lives of females in the game industry who put forward or implement non-mainstream ideas into games"
Gaming has definitely been a fairly popular "recruiting ground" lately. The article mentions it, but I think part of it is that platforms like Steam, Discord, and Reddit make it easy for them to set up and attract people into groups that aren't really monitored or moderated at all.
For example, people can invite someone into a Discord server for voice-chat related to a game they're playing, and the server just happens to also have a channel where they post racist memes. If the "target" notices and isn't open to it, about the worst that happens is that they think the server's a bit gross or leave. Other people might stay (whether because they didn't notice that aspect or don't care), and that makes the server grow, which helps normalize and legitimize it for other people that join in the future.
A lot of gamers get very attached to and involved in the groups/guilds they play with regularly, and I can definitely see how it could end up with people thinking things like, "I really like playing with these guys, maybe they're kinda racist sometimes but they're just joking around and trolling". It's not a big leap from there for people to start making racist jokes themselves to fit in, and eventually it drifts more into a mindset that they don't even recognize why they hold.
There have been quite a few articles about these sorts of recruiting groups on the different platforms over the last year or so. Some examples:
Some games just simply don't have a large enough population playing them that sometimes it's not even "I like these guys even though they are racist" but more "I have to put up with these guys even though they are racist in order to finish this content". Regularly accomplishing things with a team of individuals leads to camaraderie and the same path towards racist/sexist jokes may happen even when there's an initial hesitance or disgust.
I think the biggest issue, however, is not adults being exposed to this behavior but children and teenagers. People in these age groups often state inflammatory things simply because they are inflammatory and they're still learning what is socially acceptable and what isn't. They may even look up to individuals who are regularly attacking society. Sometimes it's hard for them to understand what is right and what is wrong, and by combining that with an echo chamber of their ideas, especially since it's amongst friends and potentially a rather large group of people, they are being mislead as to how "popular" these ideas really are. If you have 400 people online saying x and your class at school is only 100 kids, it doesn't matter if you're the only kid in your class who thinks that way - you know 4x the people with a different mindset.
Haven't they been doing this since before Gamergate?
I'm with you. This is old news but apparently folks haven't been tuned into it. Gamergate was seen as a breeding ground for Bannon's alt-right
"The Anti-Defamation League recently said it is taking its fight against hate to the world of video games and Gamergate. Gamergate has been linked to tactics used by the Trump administration, particularly under former chief strategist Steve Bannon. In a book by Joshua Green titled “Devil’s Bargain: Steve Bannon, Donald Trump, and the Storming of the Presidency,” Bannon lauds Gamergate as a feeding tube for the alt-right. “You can activate that army,” Bannon is quoted as saying. “They come in through Gamergate or whatever and then get turned onto politics and Trump.”"
From "The Connection Between the Brett Kavanaugh Hearings and Gamergate"
https://variety.com/2018/gaming/news/mark-judge-brett-kavanaugh-gamergate-1202965915/
Donald Trump’s campaign really is Gamergate being played out on a national scale
https://www.salon.com/2016/09/15/gamergater/
Steve Bannon learned to harness troll army from 'World of Warcraft'
https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/talkingtech/2017/07/18/steve-bannon-learned-harness-troll-army-world-warcraft/489713001/
Donald Trump and Steve Bannon need angry young men. They’re using Gamergate culture to get them
https://qz.com/901761/donald-trump-and-steve-bannon-are-using-gamergate-culture-to-attract-angry-white-men/
The article doesn't include the word "Gamergate", and nothing related to it is mentioned at all.
I know it doesn't, but that went down in 2014, and I remember seeing gamers pushing right-wing nuttery as far back as 2012.
If I may interject, I believe the disagreement here is that your intital comment may have been off-topic in relation to the linked article, but completely on-topic in regards to the issue at-large... given exposure to the history of this story.
That's true, but I do think Gamergate was part of this process.
Oh, of course it was. That's the reason that Breitbart, Milo Yiannopolous, etc. all latched onto it, they recognized it as something they could take advantage of.
Right, sorry. It's always tricky having online discussions because you don't know what the other person knows. Thankfully this site is small enough that that should kind of go away over time.
What is gamergate?
Here is a link to a description on wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamergate_controversy
If I had to sum it up succinctly: "Boys and men-who-never-grew-up harass and threaten the lives of females in the game industry who put forward or implement non-mainstream ideas into games"