By Scott Tibbs, November 8, 2016
It is ridiculous that women on Twitter who dare to have an opinion on video games far too often have to put up with abuse from limp-wristed pathetic crybabies. After a woman criticized a tweet by a company that makes gaming computers, she was targeted for abuse by Gamergate activists. Razer's now-deleted Tweet was a picture of a gaming laptop with a SD card slot and the following text: "You call yourself Pro? S my D."
Here is the tweet that offended Gamergate activists, followed by another one. Note that these are copy-pasted quotes of the tweets, not my own language.
- As someone who actually has been in competitions and uses a LOT of razer hardware, I'm really fucking disappointed. @Razer -- 10:31 AM - 1 Nov 2016
- I can't keep up with my mentions right now. Just too many men crying about my tweet and/or telling me to kill myself. -- 1:39 PM - 1 Nov 2016
The tweet from Razer was crude, unfunny, juvenile and unprofessional. Some people might roll their eyes and move on, and others may object publicly. Personally, I favor the former response.
One could argue that the Randi Harper took it too seriously, especially as a slight against women gamers. The reaction to her, however, was completely ridiculous. This woman should kill herself because she has an opinion you do not like? Really? But it can be far worse, as many women in gaming have gotten death and rape threats for saying things Gamergate activists find offensive.
(Note: This is not to say that all Gamergate people engage in this behavior.)
As someone who has been playing video games for almost thirty-five years, this is just embarrassing. This is "social justice warrior" nonsense only from the other side - an attempt to shout down and silence opinions they disagree with. It does not help the cause of opposing political correctness in the gaming world to be engaged in reprehensible bullying against women. Good arguments are lost in the noise. Grow up, people.
