Let me explain #Shufflegate for those of you who don't know what it is: Nintendo added a clever reference to the Watergate scandal in Paper Mario: Color Splash, and some idiots thought it was an attack on Zoe Quinn. It's not. Case solved, show's over, we can all go home.
Okay, perhaps a little more elaboration is needed. Zoe Quinn is a victim of internet harassment, and catalyst of the GamerGate incident. She catches a lot of hate. On June 22, Ms. Quinn took to twitter to vent her frustration at a perceived sleight by Nintendo:
Without going too deep into the history of Gamergate, Quinn believed the “Five Fun Guys” was a reference to the Five Guys insults hurled at her, and the career ruining “Shufflegate: Exposed” line was a reference to #GamerGate. She went on to defend her position by saying that Nintendo had a history of disregard for the harassment of women because they fired Alison Rapp “after GG targeted her.“
She conveniently left out the part where Nintendo fired Alison Rapp for moonlighting as an illegal prostitute, even pushing her sexualized photo shoots on the same social media account she used as a representative of a family-oriented, child-friendly company.
I can let Ms. Quinn's outburst slide, to an extent. That's not what this article is really about. She has been on the receiving end of the sh**ty part of the internet's ire for years now, so her first response is, understandably, emotionally fueled. What irks me about this affair is how, after this little outburst, hordes of NeoGaf and social media white knights and some game writers/critics (that aren't fit to be considered my peers) ran with the story, instead of getting the facts straight beforehand. I guess they have to milk that outrage for relevancy and clicks, this is a really competitive social group and business, after all.
I take things at my own pace though, so let me hit you with all the information you need to make an informed decision as to whether this was a joke aimed at a victim of harassment or a Mario-themed joke about the Watergate scandal. Let's look specifically at the Five Fun Guys:
On June 17, 1972, at the behest of then US President Richard Nixon and other upper level figures of his administration, five men broke into the Democratic National Committee's office to plant wiretaps and burglarize the building. They were caught and put on trial for conspiracy, burglary, and violation of federal wiretapping laws. This event was a catastrophic scandal, that went to the highest heights of the US government. It was kind of a big deal, and it became known as "the Watergate scandal."
Over 50 government officials had their political careers ruined. Of particular note, was the role hush money played in ending Nixon's political career. Originally, it was unclear if the president had committed a criminally indictable offense, with some believing such an offense was needed to proceed with his impeachment. Consenting to pay said hush money to the Watergate robbers was regarded as obstruction of justice, one of the nails in Nixon's political coffin.
The shitstorm around GamerGate wouldn't even amount to a shit streak on the Watergate scandal's dirtiest underwear. GamerGate got its fucking name from Watergate, as does just about everything that is suffixed with -gate. Every English-speaking human being of slightly moderate intelligence should have a passing familiarity with Watergate, and know the suffix -gate is used to denote a scandal, while relatively few people, outside of a specific social group, know what GameGate is. So which event do you think they were referencing?
How much self-centrism and ignorance does the thinly skinned population of the gaming community have to wallow in until we're no longer allowed to put historical references in video games, for fear of offending some minor props on history's off-Broadway stage? How blind to truth and reason does our community have to be before it's cool to be giant fucking hypocrites and call for dog-piles on those we disagree with, even for imaginary sleights against our crew? How stubborn do these jackasses have to be to refuse to admit they were wrong and to apologize to a company, or anyone really, they falsely painted as some sort of social evil?
When it comes to gaming and social justice, the answer is exactly this much.
To kick off 2021, we have a glorious return to one of the best franchises…
Last summer, we got our first official look at Hogwarts Legacy. The RPG set in…
Today, it was revealed that Ubisoft would be helming a brand-new Star Wars game. The…
Housemarque shared lots of new details about their upcoming PS5 game Returnal. Today, we learn…
Huge news concerning the future of Star Wars games just broke out. Newly revived Lucasfilm…
GTA 5 is probably the biggest game of all-time. It has sold over 135 million…