GG’s Impact On Academia: Another Side

A storify is floating around by 8BitBecca, talking about her problems with funding in Academia and the way Gamergate has made her interest – Videogame Historical Archiving – harder. I do not doubt everything she has to say is true. I have no doubt she is absolutely correct about her environment.

But!

For myself, attending my university (and I am at a much lower level than anyone doing a doctorate or thesis), I have heard another side of this, a different take on it. Specifically, what I’ve been hearing is that Gamergate served as a catalyst for academics in teaching and research. In that it’s shown an interesting angle for anthropologists, who want to examine tribalism and conservatism. It’s stirred feminist scholars to examine tech and gaming culture. And in my little corner of media studies, there are teachers who are considering the overlap between videogame cultures and produsage cultures. We do basic units on feminism in online spaces in even non-game subjects.

I guess what I’m saying is: It’s not all bad. This stuff is still going to happen. It won’t happen in your culture, in the Centre Of The World America? But I know it’s going on at my university.