Ctrl-Alt-Del: GamerGate as a precursor to the rise of the alt-right

Abstract

Videogames and the gaming industry in the 21st-century generate more employment and revenue than either the professional music industry or the Hollywood film industry, making videogames both highly lucrative and extremely influential on a cultural level. When we consider the significance of cultural artifacts—like videogames, or television, films, or books—on the development of cultural mores and our understanding of society, leadership, and followership, it is therefore important that we consider the influence of an industry as large and widespread as the games industry. In this article, I examine the particular influence of an online movement known as “GamerGate,” how it connects to the history and origins of the internet and videogames, how it connects to the subsequent rise of the alt-right, and what we can learn about the alt-right as a small but significant portion of contemporary Western culture—including what we need to do to dismantle it.