This is part 2 of a story about South by Southwest’s cancellation of two gaming panels. To read part 1, click here.
While most of the mainstream technology media insist that the online movement known as GamerGate is a harassment movement, that same media ignores the actions and accusations of those claiming to oppose such harassment.
Following the cancellation of the two South by Southwest panels, those who oppose GamerGate (and who refuse to address the claims of media bias or unethical media practices) began making accusations.
Game developer Brianna Wu claimed in a tweet that, as she understood it, the “Open Gaming Alliance” (she probably meant the “Open Gaming Society”) had been suspended from Twitter “for harassing me and others.” She also claimed “It was openly planned” on Kotaku in Action, a Reddit forum (subreddit) dedicated to discussions of GamerGate’s portrayal in the media and ethical lapses in games media.
As for the Twitter account being suspended, neither OGA’s nor OGS’s Twitter accounts are currently suspended. OGS’ (the group involved with the SXSW panel) was suspended for a short time back in March. Perry Jones told the Examiner the claims were “bull—-” and based on a single tweet long ago in which Jones sarcastically tweeted at Wu about removing an image of a cleavage-heavy video-game character.
Around the same time, there was a backlash against Lionhead Studios for a tweet featuring a woman with cleavage holding two mugs of beer with a caption that read: “The Foaming Jugs,” a reference to an in-game tavern. The studio apologized for the tweet. Jones said at the time of his Twitter suspension that he “essentially gave Brianna Wu a taste of her own medicine,” as she had been a driving force behind Lionhead’s apology.
Jones told the Examiner that that is his only communication with Wu and called his short suspension “an overreach of Twitter’s definition of ‘harassment.'”
Wu responded to the Examiner in a condescending tone similar to the humor Jones used back in March, writing: “Yeah, Ashe. I had a really high-level secret source on this one. The Open Gaming Society.” She included a screenshot of OGS’ explanation for their suspension, which I referenced above.
Wu added: “I think if you team up with Scooby-Doo, you can solve that mystery. <3”
Wu did not respond to a follow-up question asking for evidence of harassment (sarcasm is not harassment) and for clarification about why she believes Jones’ tweet is harassing. If Jones’ tweet was harassment, how is Wu’s response to me not also harassment?
Jones also denies that the panel was “openly planned” on r/KiA. Jones said he didn’t even create a Reddit account until the panel was created and due to the little time he had to plan and present a panel, he was not able to get input from Twitter, Reddit or anywhere else. “We took most of the comments available into consideration, but in the end the decision, speakers and topics came from the top(me),” Jones said.
Sarah Nyberg, another outspoken critic of GamerGate, tweeted that “founding members of the ‘Open Gaming Society’ were involved in my original doxxing in January.” (Doxxing refers to the tactic of posting someone’s personal information online, usually to incite harassment.)
When asked by the Examiner if she was claiming Jones had doxxed her, as he was the only founding member of OGS, Nyberg clarified that she was referring to “members listed in the founding documents.”
Jones responded in an email to the Examiner with a link to that founding document and said there were no “founding members” of OGS — just him. He said the people listed in the document were not founding members but rather “people who read the document and gave their criticism.” He reiterated that he “was the sole founder of the organization and the sole author of that document.”
Zoe Quinn, whose online harassment following a breakup was used as part of the foundation to claim GamerGate was a hate group, insulted the SavePoint panel as a group of “randos-at-best” compared to the “professionals and experts on the online harassment panel.” She called the comparison “Quite frankly, f—— disgusting at best.”
The “randos” of the SavePoint panel were Lynn Walsh, a professional journalist and president-elect of the Society for Professional Journalists; Mercedes Carerra, an adult film actress and activist (who has had her fair share of harassment); and Nick Robalik, a game developer and head of PixelMetal Games. To describe them as “randos” is, well, rude. We can’t at the very least be courteous and acknowledge that both panels consisted of professionals and experts?
And to speak of Walsh directly, she was a “neutral observer” on the August GamerGate panel (just to reiterate, I was also on the panel, but on the pro-GamerGate side). In an email to the Examiner, Walsh described her disappointment over the cancellations.
“I am disappointed to hear of the cancelations because I was looking forward to sharing my experiences as a journalist and talking more about responsible and ethical reporting,” Walsh said.
Anita Sarkeesian, a feminist who critiques games as sexist, tweeted that “SXSW should reinstate the online harassment panel and release a statement apologizing for including the GamerGate panel in the first place.”
Sarkeesian did not respond to an Examiner tweet informing her that the SavePoint panel, like the anti-harassment panel, didn’t mention GamerGate. Nor did she respond to a question about whether people should be allowed to talk about ethics in games journalism, on which much of the panel was to focus. She also didn’t respond to any number of other Twitter accounts asking similar questions.
Panelists on the anti-harassment panel also insisted that theirs was not about GamerGate. Panelist Katherine Cross, a sociologist and Ph.D student, tweeted that she “had zero interest in litigating or discussing the [GamerGate] panel at SXSW.” She also said fixating on GamerGate “leads to an unproductive myopia” and that her panel would focus on broader topics.
Another panelist, Randi Harper, also tweeted that her panel “was not GamerGate-related.”
It seems unlikely that GamerGate could have been avoided in either panel, unless the question-and-answer session was heavily policed or removed, even if the panelists themselves made no mention of the movement.
In response to the cancellation of both panels, Buzzfeed released a statement threatening to withdraw its support from SXSW unless the festival reinstated the two panels. Jones also said he would find a way to “organize, fund and host the panel ourselves.” He added that he would try to host the panel “around the same time as SXSW to allow for the largest possible audience.”
Jones ended his announcement by imploring supporters of both panels to avoid criticizing SXSW over the cancellation.
“I know all of you, on both sides, must be incredibly upset that this has happened, but take our honest advice; Step away from your computers/phones for a moment,” Jones wrote, adding, “Let’s all be calm and civil about this.”
Correction: An earlier version described Mercedes as a game animator. She is not, but says she would love to learn someday.
