Thanks for recording this 2 part interview. As a casual gamer, gamergate was my first clue that that something in culture and discourse was going sideways. This is a great combination of reliving things I witnessed and having gaps in my knowledge filled in. What is this dudes X handle?
So much stuff from this series that I have forgotten about. Skyrim and Witcher 3 were probably the last 2 great games. And so many titles/franchises that have been treated like the gimp from Pulp Fiction.
GamerGate was truly ground zero for the battle over what we now call “woke”, “DEI”, etc. in hobbies and nerd culture. The “I just want to game” preceded “I just want to grill” by almost a decade.
Also, Sargon (Carl Benjamin) had been making anti-feminist videos before GamerGate. In fact, I only witnessed the outbreak of GG in 2014 because I had already been following Sargon and a few others in that sphere. It’s the only time in my life where I’ve watched the birth of a movement or internet moment. I tend to find out about these things very late.
Concerning the comic book version of GG - They adopted the title but with a twist - Comics Gate, with the primary figure being DC Comics artist Ethan Van Sciver (ComicArtistProSecrets). He was ran out for being pro Trump and vocal about it, and not disavowing his association to Richard C Meyer (YaBoiZack), a popular YouTuber who was calling out the "SJW" influence he was noticing in comics.
There were also a number of cancellations of other comic pros for sexual assault accusations, but they were not friends with Ethan Van Sciver. Ethan ended up becoming a popular YouTuber and has successfully crowd-funded many of his own comics and helps promote other artists who've been cancelled.
This shit has gotten so bad I refuse to play a new game until months after release when it’s been vetted by the community. Why pay 60$ for possible slop when you can buy a pre-2015 classic for <5$ on steam
I posted on Twitter on my old account that I was going to play Diablo 4 several months before it came out, and about 100 people said this exact same thing! Btw Diablo 4 was kind of a bummer of a game!
As a 2003 Gen Z kid what I remember most about gamergate was the innocence to it. Gamergate was my entry to politics as a middle schooler with no online supervision.
Well that was fun. I want 2 million $$$ NOT to play Borderlands 4. Seems fair. So here's a funny. I was an X-r getting INTO ''serious'' online gaming DURING gamergate while teaching specialty English at polytech colleges and traveling the world in 2014. I was aware of all the online chaos going on at the time and the rise of 4rth wave aggrofeminism (misandrists #killallmen mentally diseased flipside of incels), but really only caught the edges of gamergate at the time, as I was ALL IN on ESO and busy just playing!!
Another funny - I got the basic Ed. of D&D when I was 13, and have been playing all my life. Orcs are fucking EVIL. Sorry Wizards of the Coast. Eat shit and die motherfuckers. Orcs...ARE....FUCKING......EVIL. So while 2nd ed. was my personal favorite, and I LIKE what they did with 5th ed. I will never spend another dime on this retarded fucking company and if I do run another campaign it will be in the spirit of the original D&D creation by GG - totally open ended and up to the DM - a Lawful Good albino orc? Sure - but - he/she is an ANOMALY - A FREAK - One in a million. Otherwise? Those ''norms'' are there to make the unusual STICK OUT. If the unusual is everyday it's just everyday - nonsense. One cool thing about tabletop RPGs is that they're written by YOU - as DM or whatever - not some PC/WOKE/Misandrist douchebag. THE WORLD IS YOURS. You can use Forgotten Realms or whatever as a basis, but there's always a bit about how ''IT'S YOURS" - do with the base material as you wish. As for the wheelchair wizard, no biggie, maybe he's a stoner couch potato wizard that wants to adventure from his ''throne'', or maybe it's a floating toilet (to be positioned over WOC corporate headquarters for a big poopy sesh hopefully). We had a drunken dwarf in Ravenloft who would be so pissed on booze (both character and player) that he'd pass out during pitched battle (with giant zombie ogres). Why not? Whatever is FUN!!! Lawful Good gay orcs EVERYWHERE aren't fun. They're just fuckin GAY. Kinda like Tannis and Ava in Borderlands III - I still play BLII - it's fucking Awesome and Zero rules as a protagonist - but the ''franchise'' is dead to me after BL3. FUCK that game. LIBtard douchebag CRAAAAAP. The industry isn't perfect. Play the good shit and don't send the bastards a dime for the CRAAAAAAAAAP games. Ancient Savage Xr gamer rant OVER. Love your dialogue, it's hilarious and an enlightening primer to fill out the corners of what I missed of gamergate and gaming politics during this period. I LOVE Skyrim. I'ma hit Witcher III for the first time soon. STOKED. Cheers^^
I think it's become pretty clear to most of us what ''woke'' really is, but I suppose ''most of us'' is a relative quantitative variable. Should be a good show, I'll check it out for sure. Online politics now are so heavy duty psyop/psywar now it's kinda unbelievable. It's good to see people stepping up to the plate and being rational and analytical about it all - unlike my rant above - which I can't quite apologize for, but realize and acknowledge that it is admittedly and almost comically over the top. For good reason I might add, lol.
Think Eddie Munsen from S.4 of Stranger Things - I teach guitar from time to time, working on riffs from the first 2 Metallica albums now - because they're MINDBLOWINGLY AWESOME. Orcs are the dark side of elves - maybe not in WOW or ESO, but in D&D, unless you're in some far out demi-plane where everything is in reverse or something, Orcs are the epitome of hatred, darkness, chaos, destruction, and the desire to KILL, KILL KILLL!! My last 5th ed. purchase was ''Candlekeep Mysteries'' when I noticed they were using bizarre pronouns like ''they'' where ''he/she'' should have been and had a DEI correctness monitor in the credits - paid staff to enforce ideological garbage - ENOUGH - they'll never get another dime out of me or mine - until/unless they put Dimebag Darryl on the cover of the new Players Handbook cowboys from Hell style with a huge flaming battle axe. Righteous. Peace^^
This topic has been so good. It’s almost beautiful how the gamers initially lost the battle to bringing down a juggernaut of a game like Concord in total flames. I think this whole spirit of defiance to the established order has it’s inception in gamer gate.
Funnily enough the "Gamers are dead. You're just consumer" slight has come full circle. We can just not buy (or PC masteracers can just pirate) their shit.
I remember when the new Star Wars came out I and other nerds were furious about Disney declaring all the old EU, including the Thrawn Trilogy which was mentioned, non-cannon. Plus the original trailers showed Finn with the lightsaber and made it look like they were ripping off Kyle Katarn from the Jedi Knight game series. I had totally forgotten until now.
Astral, this was a great listen. It really resonated with me, bringing back memories of my own upbringing in gaming. I was a hardcore gamer from the age of five, spending summer breaks playing PS1 and PS2 games with my cousins—GTA: San Andreas, Gran Turismo, Midnight Club, Call of Duty, and so many more.
Back then, I was completely plugged into the gaming world. I eagerly awaited every E3 conference, hanging onto every new announcement, and my mom bought me gaming magazines every month.
Then came The Last of Us. I played the first game, and to this day, I still think it was one of the best games ever made. I remember the feeling after finishing it—a deep void, the kind you get after closing the final pages of an incredible book. It was that good.
That era was also when online gaming truly took off. Modern Warfare 2 lobbies were a wild, unfiltered mess—filled with trash talk, chaotic fun, and, of course, the infamous late-night voice chats at 3 AM. It was a golden age of gaming, pure and simple.
And then… everything changed.
Gaming as an entertainment platform got hijacked. Protesters, so-called "activists," and corporate greed bled the soul out of the industry. Classic franchises turned into hollow cash grabs, nothing more than empty shells of their former glory.
The last game I bought at full price was Modern Warfare (2019)—and even then, it could never recapture that feeling of coming home from school, meeting up with friends online, and playing for hours just for the fun of it. Maybe it's just part of growing up, but it feels like the joy has been sucked out of gaming, replaced by corporate profiteering and forced "progress."
At least Cyberpunk 2077 turned out decent—eventually—despite its overhyped launch and two years of being a broken mess.
I want Remus on once a month to emphatically and passionately explain some random internet subculture topic
Yes, please more Remus! I love his commentary!
He says “I shall give them what they want”
Thanks for recording this 2 part interview. As a casual gamer, gamergate was my first clue that that something in culture and discourse was going sideways. This is a great combination of reliving things I witnessed and having gaps in my knowledge filled in. What is this dudes X handle?
It’s in the show notes with a link
So much stuff from this series that I have forgotten about. Skyrim and Witcher 3 were probably the last 2 great games. And so many titles/franchises that have been treated like the gimp from Pulp Fiction.
Thanks for the great series
This comment is what we live for man and why we do this. Thank you
GamerGate was truly ground zero for the battle over what we now call “woke”, “DEI”, etc. in hobbies and nerd culture. The “I just want to game” preceded “I just want to grill” by almost a decade.
Also, Sargon (Carl Benjamin) had been making anti-feminist videos before GamerGate. In fact, I only witnessed the outbreak of GG in 2014 because I had already been following Sargon and a few others in that sphere. It’s the only time in my life where I’ve watched the birth of a movement or internet moment. I tend to find out about these things very late.
Concerning the comic book version of GG - They adopted the title but with a twist - Comics Gate, with the primary figure being DC Comics artist Ethan Van Sciver (ComicArtistProSecrets). He was ran out for being pro Trump and vocal about it, and not disavowing his association to Richard C Meyer (YaBoiZack), a popular YouTuber who was calling out the "SJW" influence he was noticing in comics.
There were also a number of cancellations of other comic pros for sexual assault accusations, but they were not friends with Ethan Van Sciver. Ethan ended up becoming a popular YouTuber and has successfully crowd-funded many of his own comics and helps promote other artists who've been cancelled.
Thanks for this follow up. It was too much to get into think did not know all of these details!
Yeah, it’s crazy how deep this insanity runs through popular culture.
Adam Baldwin was 'Animal Mother' in Full Metal Jacket first, before Firefly.
Yeah he’s awesome but that is less relevant to the whole story, firefly is a nerd fandom favorite
WOW.
The Thrawn Trilogy was the shit. Long Live the Star Wars Expanded Universe. Death to Disney Star Wars.
Yeah man, they were so good
This shit has gotten so bad I refuse to play a new game until months after release when it’s been vetted by the community. Why pay 60$ for possible slop when you can buy a pre-2015 classic for <5$ on steam
I posted on Twitter on my old account that I was going to play Diablo 4 several months before it came out, and about 100 people said this exact same thing! Btw Diablo 4 was kind of a bummer of a game!
Did you guys see American Krogan’s video on Mass Effect? It’s really good and available on Odyssee
As a 2003 Gen Z kid what I remember most about gamergate was the innocence to it. Gamergate was my entry to politics as a middle schooler with no online supervision.
Well that was fun. I want 2 million $$$ NOT to play Borderlands 4. Seems fair. So here's a funny. I was an X-r getting INTO ''serious'' online gaming DURING gamergate while teaching specialty English at polytech colleges and traveling the world in 2014. I was aware of all the online chaos going on at the time and the rise of 4rth wave aggrofeminism (misandrists #killallmen mentally diseased flipside of incels), but really only caught the edges of gamergate at the time, as I was ALL IN on ESO and busy just playing!!
Another funny - I got the basic Ed. of D&D when I was 13, and have been playing all my life. Orcs are fucking EVIL. Sorry Wizards of the Coast. Eat shit and die motherfuckers. Orcs...ARE....FUCKING......EVIL. So while 2nd ed. was my personal favorite, and I LIKE what they did with 5th ed. I will never spend another dime on this retarded fucking company and if I do run another campaign it will be in the spirit of the original D&D creation by GG - totally open ended and up to the DM - a Lawful Good albino orc? Sure - but - he/she is an ANOMALY - A FREAK - One in a million. Otherwise? Those ''norms'' are there to make the unusual STICK OUT. If the unusual is everyday it's just everyday - nonsense. One cool thing about tabletop RPGs is that they're written by YOU - as DM or whatever - not some PC/WOKE/Misandrist douchebag. THE WORLD IS YOURS. You can use Forgotten Realms or whatever as a basis, but there's always a bit about how ''IT'S YOURS" - do with the base material as you wish. As for the wheelchair wizard, no biggie, maybe he's a stoner couch potato wizard that wants to adventure from his ''throne'', or maybe it's a floating toilet (to be positioned over WOC corporate headquarters for a big poopy sesh hopefully). We had a drunken dwarf in Ravenloft who would be so pissed on booze (both character and player) that he'd pass out during pitched battle (with giant zombie ogres). Why not? Whatever is FUN!!! Lawful Good gay orcs EVERYWHERE aren't fun. They're just fuckin GAY. Kinda like Tannis and Ava in Borderlands III - I still play BLII - it's fucking Awesome and Zero rules as a protagonist - but the ''franchise'' is dead to me after BL3. FUCK that game. LIBtard douchebag CRAAAAAP. The industry isn't perfect. Play the good shit and don't send the bastards a dime for the CRAAAAAAAAAP games. Ancient Savage Xr gamer rant OVER. Love your dialogue, it's hilarious and an enlightening primer to fill out the corners of what I missed of gamergate and gaming politics during this period. I LOVE Skyrim. I'ma hit Witcher III for the first time soon. STOKED. Cheers^^
John Carter is coming back on the show to talk dungeons and dragons and all the fantasy novel and how they’ve gone woke
I think it's become pretty clear to most of us what ''woke'' really is, but I suppose ''most of us'' is a relative quantitative variable. Should be a good show, I'll check it out for sure. Online politics now are so heavy duty psyop/psywar now it's kinda unbelievable. It's good to see people stepping up to the plate and being rational and analytical about it all - unlike my rant above - which I can't quite apologize for, but realize and acknowledge that it is admittedly and almost comically over the top. For good reason I might add, lol.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfPAoz9GnWM&list=PLJA_jUddXvY62dhVThbeegLPpvQlR4CjF&index=6
5:40 Backlash? Ain't no Angry Jacks here yo - And the beat goes on.....
I like when people get that passionate about D&D
Think Eddie Munsen from S.4 of Stranger Things - I teach guitar from time to time, working on riffs from the first 2 Metallica albums now - because they're MINDBLOWINGLY AWESOME. Orcs are the dark side of elves - maybe not in WOW or ESO, but in D&D, unless you're in some far out demi-plane where everything is in reverse or something, Orcs are the epitome of hatred, darkness, chaos, destruction, and the desire to KILL, KILL KILLL!! My last 5th ed. purchase was ''Candlekeep Mysteries'' when I noticed they were using bizarre pronouns like ''they'' where ''he/she'' should have been and had a DEI correctness monitor in the credits - paid staff to enforce ideological garbage - ENOUGH - they'll never get another dime out of me or mine - until/unless they put Dimebag Darryl on the cover of the new Players Handbook cowboys from Hell style with a huge flaming battle axe. Righteous. Peace^^
GG made Netflix unwatchable. Not to talk about AppleHIV
I hope Battle Brothers makes the list of future game dedicated episodes. Great game.
This topic has been so good. It’s almost beautiful how the gamers initially lost the battle to bringing down a juggernaut of a game like Concord in total flames. I think this whole spirit of defiance to the established order has it’s inception in gamer gate.
Funnily enough the "Gamers are dead. You're just consumer" slight has come full circle. We can just not buy (or PC masteracers can just pirate) their shit.
I remember when the new Star Wars came out I and other nerds were furious about Disney declaring all the old EU, including the Thrawn Trilogy which was mentioned, non-cannon. Plus the original trailers showed Finn with the lightsaber and made it look like they were ripping off Kyle Katarn from the Jedi Knight game series. I had totally forgotten until now.
Astral, this was a great listen. It really resonated with me, bringing back memories of my own upbringing in gaming. I was a hardcore gamer from the age of five, spending summer breaks playing PS1 and PS2 games with my cousins—GTA: San Andreas, Gran Turismo, Midnight Club, Call of Duty, and so many more.
Back then, I was completely plugged into the gaming world. I eagerly awaited every E3 conference, hanging onto every new announcement, and my mom bought me gaming magazines every month.
Then came The Last of Us. I played the first game, and to this day, I still think it was one of the best games ever made. I remember the feeling after finishing it—a deep void, the kind you get after closing the final pages of an incredible book. It was that good.
That era was also when online gaming truly took off. Modern Warfare 2 lobbies were a wild, unfiltered mess—filled with trash talk, chaotic fun, and, of course, the infamous late-night voice chats at 3 AM. It was a golden age of gaming, pure and simple.
And then… everything changed.
Gaming as an entertainment platform got hijacked. Protesters, so-called "activists," and corporate greed bled the soul out of the industry. Classic franchises turned into hollow cash grabs, nothing more than empty shells of their former glory.
The last game I bought at full price was Modern Warfare (2019)—and even then, it could never recapture that feeling of coming home from school, meeting up with friends online, and playing for hours just for the fun of it. Maybe it's just part of growing up, but it feels like the joy has been sucked out of gaming, replaced by corporate profiteering and forced "progress."
At least Cyberpunk 2077 turned out decent—eventually—despite its overhyped launch and two years of being a broken mess.
Rant over.