It is indeed a sad day for female gamers and women everywhere.
Intel confirmed it has pulled its ad campaign from the game developer website Gamasutra after a controversial op-ed on the site fueled a controversy over sexism and media ethics late this summer known as "GamerGate."
Leigh Alexander, a games and tech culture writer, penned an op-ed for Gamasutra that ran on Aug. 28, 2014. In it, she criticized gamer culture for being superficial, sexist and full of bullies.
Alexander wrote that the gaming community needs to rise above some high-profile incidents involving the harassment of women in the community over the summer. One was the targeting of indie game developer Zoe Quinn whose ex-boyfriend Eron Gjoni wrote several blog posts about their relationship and accused Quinn of infidelity and sleeping with prominent individuals in the gaming industry, including a writer for Kotaku. Another was the revelation that the threats against Anita Sarkeesian, the creator of the Tropes Vs. Women web series, had gotten so bad that she had to flee her home. Yet another was the creation of an anti-feminist mascot by a group on 4chan.
These incidents not only fueled greater support to end the harassment of women in gaming, but they also inspired a campaign by a group of gamers defending the gaming community that Alexander and her supporters denounced. This group became known as Operation Disrespectful Nod, which used "#GamerGate" on Twitter and other websites such as 4chan, Reddit and GitHub to organize its campaign to fight back against websites, such as Gamasutra, Ars Technica and Polygon, that published stories criticizing the behavior of gamers.
Intel pulling its advertising from Gamasutra seemingly marks a victory for that campaign. "We take feedback from customers very seriously, especially as it relates to relevant content and ad placements," Intel spokesman Bill Calder told The New York Times. Gamasutra also confirmed the ad pull in a tweet.
@BuckSexington Yes, our partners at @intel were flooded with complaints over a recent opinion piece, and they did pull an ad campaign.
— Gamasutra (@gamasutra) October 1, 2014
As The Verge pointed out, Intel's actions may give some legitimacy to "a movement that has shown itself to be anti-feminist, violently protectionist, and totally unwilling to share what it sees as its divine right to video games." This isn't the first time the issue of sexism in gaming has made national news, and it certainly won't be the last, especially if other advertisers decide to make a similar move to Intel's in the future.
