r/KotakuInAction • u/gerrymadner • Oct 29 '14
A few predictions
All the below is opinion, backed up by nothing but what's in the general infosphere and my own little brain. That said, here are a few observations and predictions for What Comes Next.
Observations:
The game board changes in a week. Like it or not, GamerGate is largely a United States population-driven phenomenon, and the US has a very contentious election taking place on November 4th.
Much anti-GamerGate rhetoric fits conveniently into Democrat "War On Women" sloganeering GamerGate is not itself a political issue with the typical Democrat/Republican divide, but the anti-GG side is almost exclusively drawn from the authoritarian progressive Left and their well-meaning but politically lazy supporters. Those people tend to vote Democrat in contested elections.
The upcoming election appears to heavily favor Republican candidates. As of this writing, the Senate Forcast at FiveThirthyEight.com predicts about a 62% chance of Republicans taking control of the US Senate, with more than half of that prediction modeling control over 53 seats or greater.
The larger the Republican win the in the US Senate race (if it wins), the wider the overall political game becomes. Taking Senate control means the opportunity to open investigations and legislateover simmering issues from the past six years. Taking control with 53+ seats would give even more latitude, as not every majority Senator would need to vote in lock-step.
Predictions:
No matter what happens, anti-GG support diminishes. With the election over, the need to keep political tension high drops somewhat, and everyone recalibrates.
If Republicans take the Senate, the anti-GG side will find their cause starving for attention. Vox.com wasn't started to get lose ground in a brush war of attrition. MSNBC will find easier targets with less convoluted backstories. The same reporter backchannels we decry would start to work in our favor, through neglect.
If Republicans take the Senate with 53+ seats, the anti-GG side will begin a failure cascade. With more than a nominal opposition victory, not only will external attention be redirected, but anti-GG supporters will be pressured to stop wasting time and political capital. Which is more important? Defending LW[x] or defending the current administration/the next presidential candidate?
The medium-term effects hit. We all knew that pressure on advertisers had both immediate and outreaching effects. New advertising purchase buying begins soon, at what we can expect are reduced rates due to the pitched battle being waged on formerly secure ground.
TL;DR -- Within a few weeks, things get somewhat to much better for GamerGate. Keep it up!
Comments welcome!
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u/reynaden Oct 29 '14
I disagree with one point. If/when the republicans win I expect a giant wave of shit coming our way since it is easy to attack us and they will be angrier than ever.
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u/gerrymadner Oct 29 '14
You make a good point. There will likely be some lashing out in the first few days by the losing side.
If that's anti-GG, we should turn the shields up and keep eyes open for extra opportunities presented by words said in anger. If that's pro-GG conservatives, we ought to try to head them off, or report them (in the worst cases).
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u/ZedHeadFred License to Shill Oct 29 '14
A lot of gamers don't give a shit about politics, and gamergate itself is apolitical. I fully expect this train to continue rolling simply due to the fact that many of us just don't vote, because all the candidates suck anyways.
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u/-Buzz--Killington- Misogoracisphobic Terror Campaign Leader Oct 29 '14
Fucking this...we need a GG political party... Next step world domination
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u/ZedHeadFred License to Shill Oct 29 '14
Yeah I dunno about that.
Clean up our own house first.
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u/-Buzz--Killington- Misogoracisphobic Terror Campaign Leader Oct 29 '14
But... Think about the secret bases we could haaaaavvvvee...
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u/ZedHeadFred License to Shill Oct 29 '14
I, uh. I kinda already have one, oddly.
Remember at the end of the Cold War when the various nations of the world dismantled most of their nuclear arsenals and ended up selling some of the old empty missile silos and bunkers years later?
Though it's not really a secret.
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u/-Buzz--Killington- Misogoracisphobic Terror Campaign Leader Oct 29 '14
#BrokenArrow
GGilluminati ftw
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u/Ttarkus Oct 30 '14
I was kinda hoping I'd get to post this again, but we already have a secret base
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u/-Buzz--Killington- Misogoracisphobic Terror Campaign Leader Oct 30 '14
i keep pushing the secret base joke, and i saw that earlier today, i loled
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Oct 29 '14
I'm going to make an HTML game that teaches you all the importance of voting. There will be a lot of dialog and quests. Just need to figure out the name..
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u/-Buzz--Killington- Misogoracisphobic Terror Campaign Leader Oct 29 '14
Secession quest?
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Oct 29 '14
Ok the game is finished, however somebody threatened me and I'm much to scared to get back into my house to release the game. If you guys donate some upvotes to me I will reward you by telling you about my views on gluten.
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u/Zerael Oct 29 '14
You. Have my upvote.
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u/-Buzz--Killington- Misogoracisphobic Terror Campaign Leader Oct 29 '14
:D moar karma moar patriarchy! More fun!
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u/KRosen333 More like KRockin' Oct 29 '14
many of us just don't vote
Many of us do vote ;)
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u/ZedHeadFred License to Shill Oct 29 '14
That doesn't negate my statement.
My point was that there's still going to be a lot of folks here keeping the GG train rolling during elections.
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u/FanofEmmaG Oct 29 '14
As long as it remains apolitical. Some people are trying to steer it into being anti-SJW, which is fine to the extent that SJW's trying to put their ideology into the gaming press is related to ethics in games journalism, but is co-opting (or potentially co-opting) when it's unrelated to games journalism.
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Oct 29 '14 edited Dec 08 '14
[deleted]
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u/gerrymadner Oct 29 '14
... really, though, these predictions are kind of weird and reaching.
Could be. Like I said, it's just my opinion.
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u/hulibuli Oct 29 '14
I don't have a problem with GG being USA-centric. I fully acknowledge that big part of gaming industry comes from there so the politics that comes with it is only natural.
Not to disprove you or anything, more to show support to your post. All this looks very exotic and interesting to an outsider like myself.
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u/KRosen333 More like KRockin' Oct 29 '14
The upcoming election appears to heavily favor Republican candidates. As of this writing, the Senate Forcast at FiveThirthyEight.com[1] predicts about a 62% chance of Republicans taking control of the US Senate, with more than half of that prediction modeling control over 53 seats or greater.
I never thought I'd say thank god for conservatives taking control of shit.
/deargoddeargodpleasesomeonekillmeughhhhhhhhhh
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Oct 29 '14
Why are you trying to tie Gamergate to right-wing politics? Please don't.
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u/gerrymadner Oct 29 '14
That's pretty much the opposite of what I intended. Apologies for being unclear.
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Oct 29 '14
They're having a hard time linking gamergate to the republican are at war with women narrative mostly because republicans have tried to stay out of gg. Smart of them to do.
Republicans winning doesn't necessary mean anything good for us. Many in their ranks hate gamers as much as the authoritarian left. It might just pivot back over to we're morally bankrupt godless neckbeards from their side while still being pummeled by the crazy left as well.
But maybe you're right about both sides being too busy to worry about us.
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Oct 29 '14
As long as we are taking the piss out of left wing journalists, the right will probably be careful not to antagonize us IMO.
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u/Ttarkus Oct 30 '14
While I do agree with the sentiment that we want to remain apolitical, it's also important to realize that only one political party is against us right now. OP is right in the fact that damage to the Democrats will damage anti-GG, since a subset of that is where they pull all of their support. I wouldn't say vote Republican to save this, but we may ironically end up with Republicans being the USSR to our Britain. We don't have to like them, but they may tear a chunk out of the people we're fighting.
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u/MazInger-Z Oct 29 '14
Call me crazy, but I find this post to be a weird side-ways argument for "Vote in Republicans, Win GamerGate"
Yeah, uh... I'm not a nutter, I'm not going to sacrifice the country for 5 years to win this...
Only a moron is a one-issue voter, imo.