Conservative as in conservation? Because religious conservatives would be on the side of believing that Oregon Trail is too violent and needs more bibles.
Conservative in that Gamergaters believe the status quo is just fine and they want to preserve it. I mean, I guess the feminists who want Gamers to examine their media are progressive, because they want gaming culture to progress to a more egalitarian state. I just find it strange that just because someone would like to criticize a genre of a specific entertainment medium, people are loosing their cool. Art creators and consumers (and society as a whole) should always be self-reflective. To be otherwise invites stagnation.
As a game dev with a film background, I find the difference in the way the two art-forms are approached by their fans to be startlingly different. The amount of hyperbole being thrown around at the slightest criticism is nuts. What Gamergate seems to be so concerned about is that we have "SJWs" who dislike aspects of certain game genres and want more variety in their games.
To put the "progressive" game critique in context, this is akin to the argument:
"I think it is perfectly fine to criticize classic Westerns for their often racist portrayal of Native Americans, but that doesn't mean I want Westerns as a genre to go away, nor does it mean that I think every Western ever is guilty of this stereotyping. If I don't want to watch only Westerns and also think that there should be heartwarming animated comedies, I don't think that means that I hate movies."
In short, this thread, Oy. Churbs is remarkably patient.
Maybe I should stop trying to delve into this debate again, but I find it really bizarre how a movement that is nominally about "ethics" is so steadfast in defending 8chan's hosting of borderline child porn. Dan Olson a.k.a. Foldable Human did an expose on 8chan's conduct in that regard (warning, heavily censored images of the questionable material in the article) and its defense of "well, it's not technically illegal, so free speech wins" and they're still clinging onto it. Most laughable argument I've heard is "there's tons of sordid crap on the internet that you scroll past and ignore. Just do the same thing here." Funny how that advice never applies to anyone they disagree with.
Gamergate actively rejects and silences people who bring this up.
The reason is that 8chan is their safest bastion where they can be themselves. Admitting that they have quietly allowed horrible things to happen admits their own lack of ethics.
It should also be noted - Gamergaters accused Dan Olson of being a pedophile, because he downloaded child porn from 8chan. They also simultaneously denied there was child porn on 8chan. And presumably that they've been at war with anyone but Eurasia recently.
They also tried to report him for distributing it...
Which he didn't do. His report contained only examples of the near-CP that was also on 8Chan while including chats containing people talking about CP.
They tried to get him arrested by the FBI for what was in his report, while claiming that his report was proof that 8chan didn't have real CP.
I just...
Don't.
I once argued with a GG rando on Twitter. They tried to tell me that 8chan's policy of deleting the content and not reporting it was normal and expected, and then asked me to prove that the websites I used weren't the same way. When I proved that Twitter sends info to the Center For Missing and Exploited Children, he said I had the "start" of an argument, but that 8chan's actions were still okay because free speech and anonymity and business model and blah blah blah.
The unfortunate truth is that many people are still actively being harassed by them. Their forums continue to deadname trans individuals, dox people they're against, and support harassers and stalkers. I'd love to just ignore them, but the people I follow are still facing ongoing torment.
Honestly, can we put a moratorium on these GamerGate fools until they do something actually news worthy?
Does raising a stink over the complains for the now pulled Batgirl cover count? Because they did in the exact same manner as they do with everything else and the whole ordeal has all the same trappings. It's also sad to see the discussion of the cover now overrun by troglodytes who think that "white knight" is an insult to other people, rather than revealing themselves as shitbags when using the term as such.
The issue lies in that it was invented in a way to minimize the legitimacy of supporting feminists. A "white knight" only says nice things about feminism and defends women so that he can sleep with them. It is a projection of the values of "non white knights" onto other men, claiming that no man would really support this woman unless he was just trying to get laid. It ignores the myriad of reasons a man has for defending a woman in this situation. While there certainly are men who do things just to get laid, we don't need a term for that. Once we see a man trying to "be a feminist to get laid," it will be obvious and we can start ignoring them. White Knight is used exclusively to try and defame and decry men who make feminist statements regardless of someone's actual knowledge of their intentions, and so I don't see a need for it to be used.
Most of the time when I see someone called a "white knight", it's not someone supporting feminism, it's someone standing up for someone who's not being oppressed and doesn't want help. Something like this:
But, I went to r/whiteknighting (I assumed it existed) to find that and looking through the first few posts convinced me that I'm wrong. It's a word that could be used legitimately but isn't because people suck. Like SJW (possibly just opened another can of worms).
Like SJW (possibly just opened another can of worms).
Nah, no big can of worms there. The term, as best I can tell, originated from progressives, originally to refer to people who'd gone SUPER off the deep end. Then moderates cottoned on, then assholes, and then the progressives and moderates abandoned the term for the most part, leaving it almost solely the domain of assholes.
Like SJW (possibly just opened another can of worms).
Nah, no big can of worms there. The term, as best I can tell, originated from progressives, originally to refer to people who'd gone SUPER off the deep end. Then moderates cottoned on, then assholes, and then the progressives and moderates abandoned the term for the most part, leaving it almost solely the domain of assholes.
Like SJW (possibly just opened another can of worms).
Nah, no big can of worms there. The term, as best I can tell, originated from progressives, originally to refer to people who'd gone SUPER off the deep end. Then moderates cottoned on, then assholes, and then the progressives and moderates abandoned the term for the most part, leaving it almost solely the domain of assholes.
The rhetorical treadmill in action.
I do find it a bit interesting that the definition has remained essentially identical, it's just that the bar for "Off the deep end" has shifted from people who are genuinely saying some super dumb shit, to people who think you should probably just not be an asshole to people based on their gender, race or sexuality.
There's a bit of a split in the standard progressive community over it. Many of us seek to claim it back as a cool term since it makes GG/MRA/PUA/etc. so mad, but others don't want to be associated with Tumblr slacktivism at all.
Most of the time when I see someone called a "white knight", it's not someone supporting feminism, it's someone standing up for someone who's not being oppressed and doesn't want help. Something like this: IMAGE
Honestly, what do these people expect? For this girl in a relationship stable enough that she is making a half-complaint about her BF's videogame habits to dump her boyfriend and go be with some rando on reddit?
There's a bit of a split in the standard progressive community over it. Many of us seek to claim it back as a cool term since it makes GG/MRA/PUA/etc. so mad, but others don't want to be associated with Tumblr slacktivism at all.
I'm definitely on the latter team, there. You don't reclaim it from crowds like that for a start, it just doesn't work. And let's face it, trying to reclaim a term that the group started as a way of referring to people who were utter loons, to use it to refer to themselves rather sends the wrong message, I'd think.
What if we all give them no attention or posts in this particular thread for a month, they only have any amount of power as a group because they are being talked about. They are a non factor to muggles as they never made it on that medium.
Most of the time when I see someone called a "white knight", it's not someone supporting feminism, it's someone standing up for someone who's not being oppressed and doesn't want help. Something like this: IMAGE
Honestly, what do these people expect? For this girl in a relationship stable enough that she is making a half-complaint about her BF's videogame habits to dump her boyfriend and go be with some rando on reddit?
Yes because they are kids who have grown up without any social interaction with the opposite sex. They are mad that girlfriends are society's status symbol and just discussing a relationship is throwing their own failings at them.
There's a bit of a split in the standard progressive community over it. Many of us seek to claim it back as a cool term since it makes GG/MRA/PUA/etc. so mad, but others don't want to be associated with Tumblr slacktivism at all.
I'm definitely on the latter team, there. You don't reclaim it from crowds like that for a start, it just doesn't work. And let's face it, trying to reclaim a term that the group started as a way of referring to people who were utter loons, to use it to refer to themselves rather sends the wrong message, I'd think.
I think it just became a matter of "We're being called this term anyways, let's try and make the best of it!" Most were just using it ironically, trying to point out how ludicrous it is to be criticized for wanting social justice for marginalized folk, but I think I understand what you're saying. It's why I took "Social Justice Paladin/Bard" off of my Twitter bio recently. I realized that the idea was starting to die out and most of the people who started this were tired of it, and tired of being associated with all-talk and no-action crowd.
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As a game dev with a film background, I find the difference in the way the two art-forms are approached by their fans to be startlingly different. The amount of hyperbole being thrown around at the slightest criticism is nuts. What Gamergate seems to be so concerned about is that we have "SJWs" who dislike aspects of certain game genres and want more variety in their games.
To put the "progressive" game critique in context, this is akin to the argument:
"I think it is perfectly fine to criticize classic Westerns for their often racist portrayal of Native Americans, but that doesn't mean I want Westerns as a genre to go away, nor does it mean that I think every Western ever is guilty of this stereotyping. If I don't want to watch only Westerns and also think that there should be heartwarming animated comedies, I don't think that means that I hate movies."
In short, this thread, Oy. Churbs is remarkably patient.
The reason is that 8chan is their safest bastion where they can be themselves. Admitting that they have quietly allowed horrible things to happen admits their own lack of ethics.
Never allow their smokescreens to hide what they are really about:
https://twitter.com/Int_Aristocrap/status/577002945826320384
Which he didn't do. His report contained only examples of the near-CP that was also on 8Chan while including chats containing people talking about CP.
They tried to get him arrested by the FBI for what was in his report, while claiming that his report was proof that 8chan didn't have real CP.
I just...
Don't.
I once argued with a GG rando on Twitter. They tried to tell me that 8chan's policy of deleting the content and not reporting it was normal and expected, and then asked me to prove that the websites I used weren't the same way. When I proved that Twitter sends info to the Center For Missing and Exploited Children, he said I had the "start" of an argument, but that 8chan's actions were still okay because free speech and anonymity and business model and blah blah blah.
But, I went to r/whiteknighting (I assumed it existed) to find that and looking through the first few posts convinced me that I'm wrong. It's a word that could be used legitimately but isn't because people suck. Like SJW (possibly just opened another can of worms).