Zoe Quinn and Gamergate Genesis Myths
So, I apologize in advance for the massive post, but I don’t want to cut this off. It needs to be seen.
So, with Gamergate now fully under way, many individuals like to claim Gamergate is about misogyny and the desire for ethics is just a thin veil to harass women. They cite how the movement started, with the 5Guys Scandal. And the problem is, that is where they stay. So here is my attempt at helping you deal with those people.
The start of the debacle was with a man named Eron and his decision to dump private chats between himself and his recently former girlfriend, Zoe Quinn. These images, logs and statements painted a picture of extreme emotional and romantic abuse, as well as unethical behavior within the industry on Quinn’s part.
So, they say Eron just wanted to harass Quinn. But, consider if Quinn was a man. A man who not only manipulated, lied and emotionally abused his girlfriend, who not only cheated on her, but also admits to being a rapist by their own definition. The abused woman would’ve been hailed as a hero for whistleblowing such corruption, but instead, Eron is painted as a monster. You can find all the proof of her abuse and corruption, with screencaps here.
The 5 Guys and Why Zoe is Still Wrong
Of the 5 guys Quinn is accused of sleeping with, we know of 3. Grayson, Boggs and Arnott. This is important.
Misconceptions need to be halted. Quinn did not win a prize at GDC due to Arnott’s position as chair. Grayson did not review Depression Quest.
But. Things did happen. Zoe was unethical.
Grayson did provide positive coverage for Zoe Quinn. He did not review her game but he still gave her positive coverage. They deny being in a sexual relationship at this point but, really? Not even considering the fact that they could just be lying, they were still good friends by this point. Still unethical.
Arnott did not give her an award. This was due to confusion on her Greenlight mentioning the Indiecade under ‘awards’. What is unethical was Quinn, while in a sexual relationship with Arnott, was given a preferential place in the Night Games convention. This was effectively free publicity. Because of the guy she was sleeping with.
Additionally, both Grayson and Arnott, two people who were in a sexual relationship with Quinn, were colluding with Quinn to push a singular narrative about the Pepsi Game Jam. This was extremely unethical.
Additionally, Zoe slept with her boss, Boggs. That’s just unethical for obvious reasons.
Zoe Quinn Corruption Outside of 5Guys
Zoe Quinn accused Wizardchan of harassing her. Wizardchan immediately debunks this. Zoe Quinn lied about harassment. Proof is found here: In all five parts, its a long read.
Zoe Quinn spoke out against The Fine Young Capitalists in their promotion of women in video game development. Proof is found here: Two Parts.
So Why Isn’t It Misogyny?
So why isn’t this misogyny, right? Because people didn’t care about Zoe Quinn being a woman. Zoe Quinn promoted corruption and slept her way around for positive press, publicity and influence. This was never about her being a woman, never about her sex life outside of WHO she slept with.
It was about why the media wasn’t covering it when it was entirely happy to cover the IndieStatik scandal and the Max Tempkin rape accusations. But not Zoe Quinn.
It was not an excuse to attack a woman. Zoe Quinn was absolutely corrupt and that is what people were against.
You’re going to hear about why it was an excuse. Her nudes were leaked, she was doxxed, her twitter was hacked.
Her nudes were publicly available because she did public porn shoots. Note the tag in the corner. You cannot ‘leak’ publicly sold images.
The doxx were fake. They did not lead to her personal info. This has lead to the accusation that Zoe Quinn herself faked the attack. Remember, Quinn has a history of fabricating harassment.
Her Tumblr was ‘hacked’. Except Tumblr’s existing systems would’ve made the event nearly impossible. Again, it is theorize that she faked the attack.
Why She Isn’t Important to Gamergate
Because she isn’t. Nobody cares about her in the movement anymore. She was the catalyst that forced the movement into digging up more corruption. She was, ultimately, corrupt to the core and THAT is what gamers attacked. Not because she was a woman.
If anyone tries to pull that, explain the above points. Explain how she was corrupt and gamers attacked her corruption. Explain how the harassment of her either wasn’t harassment or was fake/botched.
Tell them about how Gamergate, in the early stages, raised 70k for TFYC to get women into game design.
If they don’t listen, they didn’t care. They only care because Quinn is a woman and they’re infantalizing her. They only care because it is ‘dirt’ on Gamergate, not because of facts.
And for getting this far, an apology for the huge fucking post, enjoy this trivia and picture. A group of pugs is called a Grumble.
