Gamergate: Ten years On
Usually 10 year anniversaries are pleasant things to celebrate. Sadly that is not the case with Gamergate, which took place a decade ago this month. For me, this curious and unpleasant debacle was something that happened online and it didn’t impact upon my life directly. I wasn't threatened in any way, I didn't receive a tide of abuse and I didn't have to quit social media or my job. However for some people, that is exactly what did happen. I, like many others, just stood on the margins as events unfolded and looked on, agog as this exquisite car crash of a “movement” that proceeded to shoot itself and the wider gaming community collectively through the foot. It is no coincidence that this happened as gaming was becoming a mainstream pastime and slowly shedding a lot of the negative connotations associated with it. Gamergate purposely arrested that process.
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