NBC News Traces the Link Between GamerGate, Trump Supporters, Alt-Right
NBC News Traces the Link Between GamerGate, Trump Supporters, Alt-Right
Video examines GamerGate and its links into the Alt-Right movement and Trump's election.
3 days ago
The Ku Klux Klan protests on July 8, 2017 in Charlottesville, Virginia. The KKK is protesting the planned removal of a statue of General Robert E. Lee, and calling for the protection of Southern Confederate monuments. Chet Strange/Getty Images
"Before white supremacists, neo-Nazis and white nationalists marched in Charlottesville, Virginia in August they were organizing behind a computer screen," according to a video piece by NBC News. "And a lot of that organizing happened through a messaging service called Discord which was original created to connect video game players to one another.
"This is just the latest in the long-running, shared history between the gaming community and the alt-right."
In the video, which ran Monday night on NBC News' Think, a page dedicated to opinions, analysis and essays, experts on video game culture discuss the disturbing cross-over between the Alt-Right and some gaming communities, including GamerGate.
GamerGate arose in 2014, ostensibly over concerns about ethics in game journalism, and quickly coalesced into a group of self-identified members whose concerns expanded to include the rise of what they labeled "PC culture" and "social justice warriors." The more vocal of the group typically harass people, more often women and minorities, who question some of the status quo of game content in the video game industry. GamerGate harassment is most often sparked by the expansion of gaming content, settings and characters to include more women, minorities and the examination of modern social issues.
In the video, Emma Vossen, a PhD candidate at Waterloo Games Institute, says that the same techniques used by GamerGate members were also used by Trump supporters. The video goes on to examine those similarities and how one may have fed into the other.
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who cares about a bunch of antisocial cacs playing video games. As long as the nerds stay in their virtual reality bubble everything will be fine.