Welcome to our weekly feature, “Question Of The Week.” As you can tell from that entirely original title each week we pose a question to our panel and they chime in with their opinions. No one sees one another’s responses until the story is posted, so each contributors thoughts are their own. Responses are posted in no particular order.
And remember, as with all editorials, the views expressed in this editorial are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of Cliqist.com.
The question of the week for the week of 9/7/14 is :
Do you see any changes coming as a result of the #GamerGate situation?
[divider]Marcus Estrada
Yes, there have been some changes in response to #GamerGate, but not in ways that I would define as a success. Some women in the industry felt particularly targeted because of this campaign and related ones. It’s not to say online abuse is brand new (because it isn’t), but it seems this latest incident brought things to a head for them. They have decided to step away from games media all together at this time.
Another change has been a few sites creating rules regarding Patreon and other crowdfunding campaigns. They have decided to bar their staff from supporting others via funding because, to them, that implies a direct conflict of interests. I don’t see it that way and find it the improper solution to the problem. Instead of tackling real issues in the game writing sphere they’ve gone with a non-solution because it “looks good.”
To read more of Marcus’ work click here. To learn more about them check out our About Us page.
[divider]Greg Micek
I think there will be a number of changes, but not necessarily what people want. We’ve already seen the “us vs them” rift grow wider, to the point where the two sides are like watching Democrats and Republicans go at it. It’s unfortunate too, because it means that each side has completely vilified one another and that they’ve become caricatures of themselves. That dehumanizing effect allows people to speak disgustingly negative about the opposing group with the support of their own side. Rather than trying to meet in the middle and understand the complaints of the other side and create a constructive dialog, we’ve got attack campaigns from both sides trying to tear down the other.
The changes that the #GamerGate situation will bring about will be some minor policy changes amongst the enthusiast press and a brief traffic increase to smaller sites. However, the biggest, change is that it’ll further fracture relationships in the gaming world; which is weird, and unfortunate, because I’ve never seen so many people have so much in common and hate one another so much.
To read more of Gregs’ work click here. To learn more about them check out our About Us page.
[divider]Have a question you’d like our panel to answer? Post it below, or email greg@cliqist.com with your toughest crowdfunding questions! If you’d like to check out some of our previous Questions Of The Week., then go right ahead!
[facebook][tweet][Google][pinterest][follow id=”Cliqist” size=”large” count=”true” ]
