Fighting The Baddies In Gaming
This was an image I told Grok on Twitter to create for me because this is basically a mild version of what we thought we were up against.
I come to you today because I am in a state of absolute, undying and sustained anger. I’m absolutely livid.
I can’t count the cost that fighting these people have cost me.
It started with video games. Gamergate was huge news. Gamers who had no skin in that thing were called every “-ist” and “-phobe” and bullied into complying or being exiled off platforms and being denied access to things they’d paid for with their own money.
What recently came out, unsurprisingly but equally enragingly, is that USAID used your money and mine to foment the culture war. That’s not a joke. Check this out.
That’s right, the entire auspices of spying on you…was to censor what you say, how you said it and when or IF you ever said it. Your money went to that. Your money went to causing division on every platform.
In fact, Anita Sarkeesian and Zoe Quinn went to the UN to get the UN involved in decimating gamers or making them fall in line.
But, remember, “It’s just games, bro. Why does it matter, bro?”
Right…
It’s no big deal. Not at all. They just wanted to change gaming into something unrecognizeable to hurt people they’ve never met nor did they care about. We were made to fund that hatred and idiocy. It’s still going on, right now! That’s video gaming for you. Recent releases like Concord and Dragon Age: The Veilguard have fallen short of sales goals just to name a couple. Who’s being blamed for it? Yep, you and I are being blamed for it. Every time.
We’ve seen the cycle before, I don’t think I have to explain it again.
It was one of the many reasons I went back to tabletop games. It’s nearly impossible to completely decimate a publisher, with the exception of the case of The Red Room which I reported on in my first part of the article Courting Controversy. I’m still working on the other part but they release so quickly that I don’t know if part two will be dated by the time I write it. In the time since that article, they’ve released a massive expansion to Wretched Role Playing and another system called Red, which I haven’t been able to get into just yet with life being what it is at times.
I thought for certain that tabletop players were far more respectful than not. I found out, much to my disappointment, that the same thing was going on there. It was even worse in the tabletop realm. In fact, I wrote three or four articles about Dungeongate (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3) and in those three articles you can clearly see the problem.
Finding out that USAID had been financial backing behind Gamergate via Feminist Frequency, I had to wonder…were they also behind Dungeongate?
Well, yes, just not directly. Our government funded Take This and they encouraged game developers to denounce gamers who were being harassed by Sweet Baby Inc.
You remember Sweet Baby Inc. Yes they do “consultancy” via extortion for many video game companies…and one of their clients is none other than Wizards of The Coast. Looking at D&D 2024, this should not be a surprise. In fact, I wrote an article about that one as well.
Any independent game writer, designer, artist, etc who ran afoul of Sweet Baby Inc’s policies were nearly pursued to the ends of the Earth. In fact, Sweet Baby Inc called this entire fiasco “Gamergate 2.”
It lasted about as long as a nap and Sweet Baby Inc gained absolutely zero ground in the campaign. Kabrutus’ DEI Detected site is still up, much like Ocule and Diversity & Dragons’ lists of gaming companies that make games that are just fun to play.
To wrap this all up, I have to share some things with you.
First, I have to say that there are times where being the voice of reason in any situation absolutely sucks. Recently, after finding this out, I let a lot of very intrusive thoughts kinda take over. It’s why I haven’t written anything in awhile, save for what I posted to The Grove of Odin’s Substack.
I hate the people behind all of this. I hate that they used your money and mine to fund a war against us. I hate them for it. I’m not kidding. These people using your money and mine, pit friends against each other, they rent asunder families, they destroyed and divided communities and they dared to tell us that it was all the fault of one Donald Trump, our 45th and 47th President. What I detail in this article isn’t even the worst of it, there’s so much more they’ve done to this country. What it cost me were things I rightfully earned. Those things were taken from me without warning or anything resembling something that might have mitigated it. These people made an enemy of me and now, I absolutely will not rest until they’re exposed, arrested, charged and tried for sedition and, upon conviction, suffer punishments that will break them, demoralize them and leave them destitute and indigent. I’ve expressed to friends the very base desires I have if any of these people were to stand in front of me.
The unfortunate thing is that being right isn’t a bulletproof vest. I’ve had a group that I was once a part of contact me, inviting me to rejoin. That ship has long-since sailed and I declined the offer. I even let them know why. Was it related to this? In some ways, yes. At a time when I needed my people the most, I was told to shut up because it was making others uncomfortable. Wouldn’t want that, now, would I? I’m certain there’s more to come in the days, weeks and months ahead…but it won’t matter. If I’m not good enough when I needed my people most, what’s to stop it from happening again?
While I feel a bit vindicated, it’s hollow to me.
The one thing that makes it not so hollow is that I was following The Allfather’s advice…
“Where you see evil
Call it evil
And give your enemies
No peace…”
-Havamal: Stanza 127
The funny thing is, i thought the government was this level of corrupt since the 90s. I'm not surprised by what we're learning- I'm surprised that we're doing anything at all about it.
Let's hope the change sticks.
I also have no friends left from my pre-Trump years. Barely talk to my own family. But i wouldn't change a thing. I know they don't really have my back when things get tough. Or even if we disagree a little, sadly.
In a nutshell, they used our money to fund efforts to stomp out the idea that they were in fact, engaged in huge conspiracies.
The real fascists took pages from the Hitler, Stalin and Mao playbooks to control our information, which is ever the key to such power. I have no doubt in my mind that if allowed to persist, these activities would have formed such a state. An official department for disinformation getting shitcanned hardly mattered under the previous administration. They were doing it all along. They just wanted to make all the federal funding seem above board and necessary.