#GamerGate

I was in Brazil for the World Cup and I kind of veered off keeping tabs on what was going on in gaming, but I had no idea what this whole GamerGate thing was. I attempted to read some primers (vox has a good one) to get caught up…I just don’t get it. 

I keep reading that the term Gamer is dead…what is a Gamer other than a person who plays games? 

I always equated gamer as kind of a video-game equivalent of a movie-goer 

and then there is hardcore gamer or videogame nerd and of course you have film buff

I understand that MAYBE there is some sort of misogynic hardcore gaming culture - but to completely write off EVERYBODY that partakes in the medium by stating the term Gamer is dead is kind of provocative to be provocative. 

I can even understand First Person Shooters are dead or Fighting Games are dead, Nas had an album Hip Hop is Dead, the horror genre in film is dead…people always write that kind of stuff to start a discussion. Video games are an established medium and form of entertainment. 

My mom plays solitaire, my dad plays tetris, a good percentage of your facebook friends play Candy Crush - those are all gamers. 

Sure, there is this whole multiplayer component and some of the online vitriol is nasty - but you have A LOT of people who play Mario, and Last of Us without the multiplayer - mainly single player games and campaigns - Ico, Journey, Brothers, Braid, etc. 

I might be reading this whole #GamerGate thing wrong since I came into it late - but Gamers are not dead.