Most notably bubbling to the surface during 2014's 'summer of hate' at the height of the GamerGate controversy, a very prominent minority of gaming 'fans' decided that a great way to spend their vast quantities of free time would be to maliciously and anonymously target gaming journalists, in the name of what they saw as ethical violations by industry critics. Not only did GamerGate highlight the endemic presence of sexism and misogynistic attitudes commonplace in online spaces, it drew particular attention to the severity of online trolling against women in the medium. These attitudes didn't really evaporate in 2015, but were in fact amplified as the medium attempted to make gaming more diverse and inclusive for people of all races, sexualities, and genders. Many trolls wrongly assumed the belief that geek culture - and gaming along with it - is in the unique possession of straight, white males. Those misconceptions have been eroded by some very intelligent authors and personalities within the industry, and that is very commendable, but it can often feel as though these strides are going nowhere when the constant retorts taken by social media abusers revolve around calling their opponents 'White Knights' or worse still, 'Social Justice Warriors'. Such things lead to any forward movement not being able to move forward or be addressed in a mature manner, and the entire fandom surrounding gaming looks worse because of it.
Resident movie guy at WhatCulture who used to be Comics Editor. Thinks John Carpenter is the best. Likes Hellboy a lot. Can usually be found talking about Dad Movies on his Twitter at @EwanRuinsThings.
