Gamergate

Gamergate is a controversy centered on accusations of sexism in the video gaming community. It came to a head in August 2014 due to personal attacks on game creators Zoe Quinn, Brianna Wu, and game culture critic Anita Sarkeesian.

This conflict has two sides, and both have engaged in harassment, doxxing (revealing of private info), and death/rape threats. Various social media forums have become heated battlegrounds on both sides of the debate.

The conflict has two sides:


 * pro-Gamergaters - They view this as a war against questionable ethics in video game journalism, feeling it is imperative to expose favoritism and and corruption in the gaming press (often simplified to plain "paid reviews" - some of those were exposed not long before the scandal).


 * anti-Gamergaters - They see this as an attack on women (both transgender and birth gender women) in the gaming industry, prompted by misogyny in the gamer culture, and thus the accusations of corruption in gaming journalism are merely a shroud for this aforementioned goal of marginalizing women in the gaming culture.

Games influenced or inspired by the events of this controversy

 * Depression Quest - An interactive browser game in Flash by Zoe Quinn centered around the issue of helping the clinically depressed protagonist overcome that depression.
 * Oppression Quest - A parody of the above, focusing instead more on the motives of the creator of Depression Quest (though she is never referred to by name)


 * Flame War - Taking sides guarantees you will be one side or the other of this.
 * Memetic Mutation - "Actually, it's about ethics in the video game journalism". Explanation: the detractors often paint GG as some sort of nebulous world-wide conspiracy; consequently, both sides like to repeat variations of this phrase - anti-GG sarcastically implying that the opponent tries to hide the nefarious nature of GG, and pro-GG sarcastically implying that the opponent is a Conspiracy Theorist.
 * Rule of Cautious Editing Judgment: Enforced on most websites that wish to discuss this in anything resembling a relatively neutral (not fanning the Flame War) fashion.
 * Serious Business: Both sides regard this event in this fashion.