If you have ever looked at the trending page of Twitter at all since September, then you probably have seen #Gamergate or #NotYourShield. If you are not an active user of Reddit, 4chan, Tumblr, or any other forum website, then you probably haven’t. But you should.

#Gamergate is an ongoing battle on the Internet that is basically a bunch of anonymous people duking it out on Twitter and forums. The battle has become pretty intense, as people are sending very graphic and specific messages threatening to maliciously harm others. It’s gotten so bad that the FBI is investigating some of the threatening tweets.

How did this hate-filled war of arguments start? It actually began with an independent game developer’s sex life. The story goes that Zoe Quinn, an active feminist, supposedly cheated on her boyfriend by sleeping with a guy who works at the gaming journalism web-site Kotaku to supposedly have a favorable article written about her game, Depression Quest. Though nothing more than an article acknowledging the game exists, that didn’t stop the fire from spreading. After her ex-boyfriend created a blog post sharing all of the details of their relationship and everyone Quinn allegedly had relations with, the post described relationships that Quinn allegedly had in detail, but nobody knows if the details are true or made up. The Internet was infuriated with Quinn and gaming journalism websites. The ethics and trust in gaming journalism was put into question, and Quinn’s reputation and career as a game designer went up in flames.

The direction of the argument shifted to a sexist hate machine directed towards the industry, female gamers, and how women should be represented in video games, as the people with legitimate arguments for and against Gamergate were drowned out by hate-filled trolls (people who harass others on the Internet.) A heated debate ensued, with feminists and supporters of feminism/realistic representation of women on one side and a very colorful opposition on the other.

The supporters of #Gamergate (the people who don’t want change) tend to be anonymous, which allows them to lash out at, threaten, and attack the people against them. This has led to very malicious and hurtful messages targeting Quinn and many others with similar opinions as Quinn. According to a New Yorker interview with Zoe Quinn, Quinn was “doxxed,” a slang term used by hackers to describe the leaking of a person’s personal information onto the Internet for malicious purposes, similarly to the pictures of celebrities that were hacked and posted in August. The fact that people know Quinn’s private information has led to pranks and messages by many of the anonymous users. The pranks vary from simple prank emails (prank calls) to threats against Quinn. Quinn said that she has had to relocate to a friend’s house until she can change her address because of the dox.

The threats being made in those messages are very real. They are very graphic and are well thought-out. Some have even included very inclusive and detailed plans to harm Quinn and many others. The threats are graphic enough that the FBI is investigating some of the more brutal messages. Anita Sarkeesian, a female gamer, active feminist, and one of the more vocal people denouncing #Gamergate, has received countless messages harassing and threatening to kill her. There is a game on the Internet where the point of the game is for the player to beat up Sarkeesian as her face becomes more and more bruised. She also had to cancel a talk at the University at Utah after someone sent an email threatning to have “the deadliest school shooting in American history” if Sarkeesian spoke.

#Gamergate has become serious enough to cause Twitter to update its tools that allow users to report harassment. A non-profit advocacy group called the Women Action and the Media Group (WAM) has recently worked with Twitter to introduce a new and improved way of blocking users. According to a blog post by Twitter, users can block others from viewing the user’s profile. You can access a list of users you have blocked from the settings menu. More controls and features will be added in the coming months, according to Twitter. Currently this feature is only available to a small group of users, but will be added for public use in a short time. (724 Words)