
Previously, we've stupidly attempted a slightly different approach to much of the rest of the games media.
We tried to come at the whole horrible situation from a sort of empathic, humanistic perspective - taking our own feelings and opinions out of the equation, and adopting a (with hindsight) sort of weak-livered, ineffectual, middle ground that made the well-intentioned (if misguided) suggestion that life is never entirely black and white, and that we could have a stab at treating each other with empathy because we weren't getting anywhere. Alas, it just ended up making us look stupid.
Unfortunately, for failing to explicitly condemn either camp, it meant we ended up getting grief from both GamerGaters and Social Justice Warriors alike. We received a stark lesson in why hippy-drippy sentiments such as "Why can't we all just get along, maaaaan?" are doomed to failure when you're dealing with entrenched positions and historical bruising on both sides.
Anyway. Whatever. Life's too short, and commenting on GamerGate isn't something we ever intend to do again.
Howeverrrrrr....
Some of you may be aware of a Patreon-funded documentary entitled The Sarkeesian Effect. Currently, at the time of writing, the film is backed by some 376 patrons, with over $8,000 pledged for every time the team behind the video posts an update on the progress of the production.
What's the film about? In short: The Sarkeesian Effect was/is being put together by a couple of GamerGaters called Jordan Owen (personal style: bear) and Davis Aurini (personal style: creepy illusionist), and here it is in their own words:
"The Sarkeesian Effect will be a feature-length documentary covering an ongoing phenomenon in video game and tech circles, culminating in the recent outrage known as #GamerGate: the progressive infiltration by disingenuous 'Social Justice Warriors' - individuals who claim high minded ideals while operating unethically.
"The documentary will start with, but not be limited to, the eponymous Anita Sarkeesian, the face of Feminist Frequency, and one of the most well-known voices of Social Justice."
READ ON
So long as you don't accidentally give them money, it's worth having a read of their entire Patreon page (and then head over to our one once you've scoffed - by all means accidentally give us money), because it's... well... it's... well... basically... See... we went to this party one time, and we got cornered by this very intense guy who had a ponytail and wore a trenchcoat, who told us he had written an episode of Star Trek: Voyager. He told us all about it in great detail, and we were very impressed - even if he was a bit, y'know... weird.
However, the truth gradually dawned on us that, while he had indeed written an episode of Star Trek: Voyager, it was not one that ever got made. Or, indeed, would ever even remotely come close to getting made. Frankly, so full-on was he that we half expected to wake up that night to find him standing over us with a Klingon bat'leth, ready to slit our throat. Basically, when we read the Patreon page for The Sarkeesian Effect, it's impossible not to hear his voice.
FLANKS
Unfortunately, The Sarkeesian Effect has seemingly become yet another crowd funded project to embrace the damp flanks of The Tragedy Dog; Owen and Aurini have had a quite spectacular public falling-out, which it is quite difficult not to take at least some degree of pleasure/amusement in, regardless of who you are. Not least because one of the aims of the documentary was to unearth the wanton squandering of crowd funding donations, by the likes of Sarkeesian and Zoe Quinn.
Regrettably, both men are now claiming to be the victim in the situation, and each has pledged to finish what will undoubtedly be a searing and professional-level documentary - leading to the threat of two competing The Sarkeesian Effects. Imagine!
But why rely solely on us stoke the grimly sputtering fires of your pleasure? Here's Owen doing it himself (in the interests of balance, we'd love to link you to Aurini's take on the situation, but it's impossible to link to his stupid blog without donating Bitcoins first - great!):