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Hello everyone, I'm Kevin McDonald (Tachyon Blue) and I've interviewed 70+ people involved with GamerGate in a variety of capacities for an upcoming multi-volume series of books. The first volume is already finished and now I'm running a Kickstarter campaign to raise money to pay artists, pay for a web domain, get a better home office setup, and other expenses. As part of the campaign to promote the Kickstarter and also engage with the public, I'm hosting an Ask Me Anything topic here, on Apolyton Thank you to the staff and community for allowing me to host this, I very much look forward to reading and answering your questions! The Kickstarter launched on December 9th!
I'm more than happy to answer any questions and hear out feedback that you may have. I will be responding to the Ask Me Anything posts live for at least two hours on Sunday, December 29th from 1PM-3PM EST. However, by all means feel free to submit your questions ahead of time in this thread, as I will be going through both live questions and the pre-submitted questions. Ming warns me that there may be many jokes, well that's okay, I've got some thick skin and like to have some fun, so have at it.
If you don't want me to read your username aloud on stream as I type my reply to your post, please say so at the start of your question.
TL;DR
I've interviewed 70+ people involved with GamerGate. These interviews are being transcribed into book format. Each of the main volumes will include several interviews with GamerGate people, most of which are available on my YouTube channel, though some are book exclusives. At the end of each volume, there is a "Tachyon's Take" where I give my perspective on a specific topic relating to the GamerGate conversation. There will also be a data volume, comprised of data that I've gathered on the persepctives of GamerGate supporters, opponents and neutral observers. Below is more information, mostly from the Kickstarter page, in case you have additional questions. A full list of people I've interviewed will be available on the Kickstarter page after it launches on December 9th.
The Story
In September 2023 I set forth on an ambitious adventure to investigate and document the stories of the people involved with GamerGate on both sides. In the year since that journey began, I've interviewed 70+ people on both sides for this multi-media project. Many of these interviews are publicly available on my YouTube channel, though others are exclusive to the book series.
So what was GamerGate? I went in without a definition and would try to see what I would find approaching things as neutrally as possible. What I found over the course of these 70+ interviews is a consistent message from the people involved; it was about ethics in games journalism. Nearly everyone involved who supported GamerGate is in agreement that GamerGate was about ethics. You would think that with near unanimous agreement, the GamerGate topic would be relatively simple to understand, though you would be mistaken, as some of the people wanted to add other topics to the conversation other than just ethics in games journalism.
Aside from ethics in games journalism, the two subsequent leading definitions of what GamerGate was about, are artistic freedom and opposition to censorship. Having input data from twelve of the pro-GamerGate interviews so far, these two contingents are both sitting at 41.7%, though with scores more interviews to go, it remains to be seen if these contingents will ultimately exceed 50% support or if other minority factions will emerge in the data. I am also collecting data from the interviews with neutral and anti-GamerGate people separately, though I haven't input enough data from those interviews yet to start drawing conclusions.
Why should we care? GamerGate is a topic that has been misrepresented to a degree that is almost unbelievable. The misinformation that one could find out there about this topic is so vast in scope, that it is difficult to overstate. Almost every claim imaginable has been thrown around a movement about video games. From mundane claims that supporters of the movement endorsed harassment against critics to outlandish claims that GamerGate elected Donald Trump to the American presidency, to frankly just bizarre fever dreams about the movement colonizing Mars. No, I'm not joking.
The topic of GamerGate looms large in the eyes of many a hack writer. While it may be humorous and generate ad revenue to write article after article about how GamerGate was responsible for the world's ills, it is irresponsible and it is misinformation. With so much misinformation out there on this topic, I think it is important that the true story of what happened be told, from the eyes of the people involved on both sides. Its important that historians, educators, journalists, academics, and anyone else interested in learning about the topic, have a reliable resource that they can turn to for understanding what happened.
About the Author
I'm Kevin McDonald, also known by my online handle, Tachyon Blue. I was involved with GamerGate from 2014-2018 under the alias "Netscape" and I organized the GamerGate meetups in Saint Louis, Missouri. I also organized panels at Arch Anime and Natsucon, two conventions in Saint Louis to discuss the topic with the public. In 2019, I wrote my first book, GamerGate: First Battle of the Culture War, to try and document what happened. In 2020, I largely left the internet and focused on real life.
In July 2023, I returned to the internet as a livestreamer focused primarily on political and gaming topics. I was mostly homebound due to some vehicle troubles at the time and was inspired by the livestreamer Destiny to try my hand at combining the worlds of politics and gaming on stream. I've made wide-ranging content since, everything from hosting panels, interviewing people on the ground in Ukraine, debating political issues, discussing films like Alien: Romulus and playing games on stream. I very much had and still have a "taking all comers" type of approach and have engaged with a wide array of people from various backgrounds and political values.
In September 2023, after much consideration, I decided to revisit the topic of GamerGate nearly 10 years later with fresh eyes for my first livestreamed project. I knew my own experiences and I knew the pro-GamerGate perspective, but I wanted to try and investigate what happened, see things from different angles, document the stories of the people involved, and create a thoroughly researched work for anyone interested in learning about the topic.
In "real life" I'm dedicated to getting this project finished. However, when I'm not working on this, I enjoy politics, gaming, history, science fiction and fantasy, fan conventions, festivals, holidays, camping, and tabletop RPGs. I also enjoy spending times with my friends and family.
Tachyon's Takes
In addition to the interviews, each standard volume of the book will also feature a final chapter written by Tachyon Blue that explores a specific area related to the GamerGate conversation. I am still in the process of determining the full list of topics that will be explored in each Tachyon's Take, but some areas I am looking at include:
The Data Volume
In addition to the interviews and Tachyon's Takes, I am also using two different data collection methods for this project. The first method is that I have mostly used three separate standard question lists for the pro-GamerGate, anti-GamerGate and neutral interviewees. The voice interviews go well beyond the question lists and the question lists have changed over time. However, as I am asking most people the same questions, I am gathering data from the interviews based on my good faith interpretation of how they answered many of the questions on their respective list. I ran the original question lists by Mist Sonata, who is anti-GamerGate and Yuune, who is neutral on GamerGate, to help make sure they were neutral.
Here are the three standard question lists as of November 12, 2024:
Pro-GamerGate: https://pastebin.com/KtqBmjPU
Anti-GamerGate: https://pastebin.com/qPXqWhZc
Neutral: https://pastebin.com/n36rCzjD
The second data gathering method I am doing is that I have sent out optional surveys to the people I've interviewed, with three surveys in total, one for pro-GamerGate people, one for anti-GamerGate people and one for neutral people. These three surveys are mostly identical, so the reader can compare how each group answered each question.
Interviewees had between March 22 until the morning of May 1, 2024 to complete the survey. Of the people I've interviewed, 27 pro-GamerGate interviewees took the optional survey, 4 anti-GamerGate interviewees took the optional survey and 6 neutral interviewees took the optional survey. I offered extensions to 1 pro-GamerGate, 1 anti-GamerGate and 1 neutral person due to them having major life events occurring during the survey period.
Here is a public demonstration of the questions asked in the surveys: https://forms.gle/BJ5MxPY69Y9TXq6AA
The data collected from these two different data gathering methods will be in the Data Volume, which is included in hardcover with the Vivian James Bundle and The Complete Set, Hardcover+Digital. The Data Volume in digital only format is included with the Gilda Mars Bundle, Sealion Bundle, Lillian Bundle and The Complete Set, Digital. The Data Volume will be the final volume.
I'm more than happy to answer any questions and hear out feedback that you may have. I will be responding to the Ask Me Anything posts live for at least two hours on Sunday, December 29th from 1PM-3PM EST. However, by all means feel free to submit your questions ahead of time in this thread, as I will be going through both live questions and the pre-submitted questions. Ming warns me that there may be many jokes, well that's okay, I've got some thick skin and like to have some fun, so have at it.
If you don't want me to read your username aloud on stream as I type my reply to your post, please say so at the start of your question.
TL;DR
I've interviewed 70+ people involved with GamerGate. These interviews are being transcribed into book format. Each of the main volumes will include several interviews with GamerGate people, most of which are available on my YouTube channel, though some are book exclusives. At the end of each volume, there is a "Tachyon's Take" where I give my perspective on a specific topic relating to the GamerGate conversation. There will also be a data volume, comprised of data that I've gathered on the persepctives of GamerGate supporters, opponents and neutral observers. Below is more information, mostly from the Kickstarter page, in case you have additional questions. A full list of people I've interviewed will be available on the Kickstarter page after it launches on December 9th.
The Story
In September 2023 I set forth on an ambitious adventure to investigate and document the stories of the people involved with GamerGate on both sides. In the year since that journey began, I've interviewed 70+ people on both sides for this multi-media project. Many of these interviews are publicly available on my YouTube channel, though others are exclusive to the book series.
So what was GamerGate? I went in without a definition and would try to see what I would find approaching things as neutrally as possible. What I found over the course of these 70+ interviews is a consistent message from the people involved; it was about ethics in games journalism. Nearly everyone involved who supported GamerGate is in agreement that GamerGate was about ethics. You would think that with near unanimous agreement, the GamerGate topic would be relatively simple to understand, though you would be mistaken, as some of the people wanted to add other topics to the conversation other than just ethics in games journalism.
Aside from ethics in games journalism, the two subsequent leading definitions of what GamerGate was about, are artistic freedom and opposition to censorship. Having input data from twelve of the pro-GamerGate interviews so far, these two contingents are both sitting at 41.7%, though with scores more interviews to go, it remains to be seen if these contingents will ultimately exceed 50% support or if other minority factions will emerge in the data. I am also collecting data from the interviews with neutral and anti-GamerGate people separately, though I haven't input enough data from those interviews yet to start drawing conclusions.
Why should we care? GamerGate is a topic that has been misrepresented to a degree that is almost unbelievable. The misinformation that one could find out there about this topic is so vast in scope, that it is difficult to overstate. Almost every claim imaginable has been thrown around a movement about video games. From mundane claims that supporters of the movement endorsed harassment against critics to outlandish claims that GamerGate elected Donald Trump to the American presidency, to frankly just bizarre fever dreams about the movement colonizing Mars. No, I'm not joking.
The topic of GamerGate looms large in the eyes of many a hack writer. While it may be humorous and generate ad revenue to write article after article about how GamerGate was responsible for the world's ills, it is irresponsible and it is misinformation. With so much misinformation out there on this topic, I think it is important that the true story of what happened be told, from the eyes of the people involved on both sides. Its important that historians, educators, journalists, academics, and anyone else interested in learning about the topic, have a reliable resource that they can turn to for understanding what happened.
About the Author
I'm Kevin McDonald, also known by my online handle, Tachyon Blue. I was involved with GamerGate from 2014-2018 under the alias "Netscape" and I organized the GamerGate meetups in Saint Louis, Missouri. I also organized panels at Arch Anime and Natsucon, two conventions in Saint Louis to discuss the topic with the public. In 2019, I wrote my first book, GamerGate: First Battle of the Culture War, to try and document what happened. In 2020, I largely left the internet and focused on real life.
In July 2023, I returned to the internet as a livestreamer focused primarily on political and gaming topics. I was mostly homebound due to some vehicle troubles at the time and was inspired by the livestreamer Destiny to try my hand at combining the worlds of politics and gaming on stream. I've made wide-ranging content since, everything from hosting panels, interviewing people on the ground in Ukraine, debating political issues, discussing films like Alien: Romulus and playing games on stream. I very much had and still have a "taking all comers" type of approach and have engaged with a wide array of people from various backgrounds and political values.
In September 2023, after much consideration, I decided to revisit the topic of GamerGate nearly 10 years later with fresh eyes for my first livestreamed project. I knew my own experiences and I knew the pro-GamerGate perspective, but I wanted to try and investigate what happened, see things from different angles, document the stories of the people involved, and create a thoroughly researched work for anyone interested in learning about the topic.
In "real life" I'm dedicated to getting this project finished. However, when I'm not working on this, I enjoy politics, gaming, history, science fiction and fantasy, fan conventions, festivals, holidays, camping, and tabletop RPGs. I also enjoy spending times with my friends and family.
Tachyon's Takes
In addition to the interviews, each standard volume of the book will also feature a final chapter written by Tachyon Blue that explores a specific area related to the GamerGate conversation. I am still in the process of determining the full list of topics that will be explored in each Tachyon's Take, but some areas I am looking at include:
- Games Journalism (Volume 1)
- Artistic Freedom (TBD)
- Cultural Conversations (TBD)
- Harassment (TBD)
- SPJ Airplay (TBD)
- The GamerGate Wikipedia Article (TBD)
- The Media Coverage of GamerGate (TBD)
- The Politics of GamerGate (TBD)
- And others!
The Data Volume
In addition to the interviews and Tachyon's Takes, I am also using two different data collection methods for this project. The first method is that I have mostly used three separate standard question lists for the pro-GamerGate, anti-GamerGate and neutral interviewees. The voice interviews go well beyond the question lists and the question lists have changed over time. However, as I am asking most people the same questions, I am gathering data from the interviews based on my good faith interpretation of how they answered many of the questions on their respective list. I ran the original question lists by Mist Sonata, who is anti-GamerGate and Yuune, who is neutral on GamerGate, to help make sure they were neutral.
Here are the three standard question lists as of November 12, 2024:
Pro-GamerGate: https://pastebin.com/KtqBmjPU
Anti-GamerGate: https://pastebin.com/qPXqWhZc
Neutral: https://pastebin.com/n36rCzjD
The second data gathering method I am doing is that I have sent out optional surveys to the people I've interviewed, with three surveys in total, one for pro-GamerGate people, one for anti-GamerGate people and one for neutral people. These three surveys are mostly identical, so the reader can compare how each group answered each question.
Interviewees had between March 22 until the morning of May 1, 2024 to complete the survey. Of the people I've interviewed, 27 pro-GamerGate interviewees took the optional survey, 4 anti-GamerGate interviewees took the optional survey and 6 neutral interviewees took the optional survey. I offered extensions to 1 pro-GamerGate, 1 anti-GamerGate and 1 neutral person due to them having major life events occurring during the survey period.
Here is a public demonstration of the questions asked in the surveys: https://forms.gle/BJ5MxPY69Y9TXq6AA
The data collected from these two different data gathering methods will be in the Data Volume, which is included in hardcover with the Vivian James Bundle and The Complete Set, Hardcover+Digital. The Data Volume in digital only format is included with the Gilda Mars Bundle, Sealion Bundle, Lillian Bundle and The Complete Set, Digital. The Data Volume will be the final volume.
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