There’s Nothing Civil About It

We are at war. Make no mistake; we are taking sides. As people rally behind ideals and banners, beat their swords against the proverbial shields and taunt and jeer from one side or the other, we are in the final phases of an all out attack. What started out as a revelation of impropriety against a gamer developer with gaming insiders and journalists has now escalated into declarations of intent between these so-called “Social Justice Warriors” and those they perceive as gaming trollops; the cancerous, morally unscrupulous lower denizens of a society that has, ironically enough, bolstered and supported their endeavors in the professional triple A and independent gaming development markets.

What started out as a questionably newsworthy controversy has degraded into nothing more than name calling and threats of reprisals, both physical and ideologically. What appalls me the most, however, have been the various reactions between professional industry journalists who’ve turned what should be unbiased, non-judgmental news bits into vitriolic op-eds that have done nothing but add more fuel to the already out of control conflagration of emotional turmoil. It’s to be expected, I think. Both sides of the campaign need the appropriate level of propaganda to make their arguments valid. The problem is, there are innocent people being grouped on both sides of the border now.

When you throw a grenade in a room full of people, it’s not an indiscriminate piece of hardware. It’s not just going to kill  the men. It’s not just going to kill the terrorists. It’s not going to ignore the child. It’s going to kill and maim and cripple everyone within the blast radius. Innocent. Guilty. It doesn’t matter. And that is what many supposedly professional video game journalists are doing right now. They’re using an instrument of truth as a blunt trauma weapon. Clear, unbiased journalism of any kind should be a shield. One that protects the innocent, while denying the guilty. One that should never discriminate and should never judge. Many of these so-called professional game journalists have lost sight of that. They’ve lost sight of the ethics that makes a journalist great. They’ve turned the shield into a sword. And they’ve perverted the very code that we, as journalists, should all live by.

“… public enlightenment is the forerunner of justice and the foundation of democracy. The duty of the journalist is to further those ends by seeking truth and providing a fair and comprehensive account of events and issues. Conscientious journalists from all media and specialties strive to serve the public with thoroughness and honesty. Professional integrity is the cornerstone of a journalist’s credibility.” ~ From the Preamble of the Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics

Why? Because they think they’re under attack by the very people they live to serve. And make no mistake, journalists of all stripes are exactly that. Civil servants. We serve the public’s best interests by enlightening them. We do not judge. We do not condemn. We seek truth and report it. A good journalist does not sensationalize it just to have it suit their own personal agendas. That’s not journalism. It’s a perversion of facts. Yes, sometimes what we do is not going to always be popular, it’s not going to always be safe. But when we speak of the diversity of the human condition boldly, then we’ve done the right thing.

“Avoid stereotyping by race, gender, age, religion, ethnicity, geography, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance or social status.”

And that is exactly what has happened here. Kotaku, Gamasutra, Arstechnica, Blogs, and a whole slew of related topics suddenly sprang up almost within a 48-hour time frame after nearly a week of silence. All condemning and judging an audience of people over the actions of the few. Yes, our side is not that innocent. When you make death threats to female personalities, when you threaten their families, their friends, and steal their personal information, you’re just giving the other side the ammo they need to paint a broad canvass of gamers as misogynistic, self-entitled, trollops. Though I may not agree with some of the opinions (and that’s all they are, they’re opinions; and opinions are neither true or false) of Anita Sarkeesian, I do respect her ability to express it. I’m not going to attack her personally. My only opinion of her is that, while she comes across as intellectually brilliant at times, I do find her approach to be dry, boring and unexciting. Other than that, I wish her well. I always will.

But for those that deem it necessary to attack her personally, I have no patience for people who do that, and I feel nothing but pity for those that do. But so far all we’ve seen of the argument is one-sided “op-eds”. We’ve yet to see any real gamer-centric media site dive into the heart of the matter, dig through the dirt, find that one kernel of truth, and report on it extensively. You know, the way actual journalists are supposed to do. Because, well, that’s the job they signed up for.

“Journalists should: Examine their own cultural values and avoid imposing those values on others.

Recognize that gathering and reporting information may cause harm or discomfort. Pursuit of the news is not a license for arrogance.

Remain free of associations and activities that may compromise integrity or damage credibility.

Clarify and explain news coverage and invite dialogue with the public over journalistic conduct.”

You might be wondering why I’m posting all of these quotes. It’s to remind people who write for a living that although you’re able to string together a paragraph or two of words more creatively than most, that doesn’t make you any better than the audience you’re writing for. Certain ethical obligations exist between yourself and the audience that should never, ever be crossed. When you do, that doesn’t make you a professional. It just makes you another kind of hired thug.

The problem is, no one’s perfect. Not even myself. It’s no secret that I find certain gaming news sites to be nothing more than corporate shills. Especially when, in the past, they do everything but bend over and thank big named publicists later for throwing money at them for being their propaganda whores. And don’t get me started on the whole “Let’s lick a PS Vita” and use sex to sell hardware. The corporate chumminess is apparent. Doritogate. Gamspot and Gerstmann. Now it’s The Quinn-spiracy and the GamerGate fight.

I do think that the lack of an ethical backbone is damaging the professional game writer out there. There’s nothing to remind them of their purpose. They simply load grape-shot into a cannon and go with what sticks on target. The problem is they’re taking out the audience in the process. Having an ethical code of conduct is paramount to avoiding incidents like this. Hell it might even humble more than a few of them out there. While I won’t hold this idea to everyone out there writing professionally, the ego is somewhat appalling at times. It’s become apparent within the articles listed above. We don’t need that in a rational argument. We need unbiased truth. But rational thought is apparently incapable of swaying the hate and fire being slung from both sides of the fence. Rational thought is not leading this fight. Empty emotion is. And that’s a shame. It really and truly is.

Mostly though, I’m just tired of the fighting. I’m tired of looking at websites biting at the hand that feeds them just to get at the finger that needs to be cut off. We’re both wrong in this fight. We’ve pitted long-standing friend against long-standing friend, creator against fan, and the innocent against the trolls. Just to prove a point. We all need to grow up here. All of us. Professional and gamer alike. I’ll say it right now; I am a gamer. The moment I picked up a controller and started gaming, that made me a gamer. It’s a badge that I wear proudly on my sleeve, just as proudly as I wore the badges I displayed when I went to war in the real world. I’ve fought for my right to voice my opinions. I’ve shed my own blood for it. I’ve seen friends die. I’ve seen the desecration of the innocent. I’ve been there. No one ultimately wins in a war. No one side is completely just and honorable and innocent.

The same can be said of this fight. Proverbial blood will be spilled, hate will turn rational men and women into savages, and the innocent will suffer all the more for it. Because no matter what the battlefield looks like, real or ethereal in nature, war, well….

……war never changes.

And I weep for the future that will be shaped by it.