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I’ve put forward the notion on countless occasions that the mainstream video game media will take advantage of every opportunity they get to throw their audience under the bus if it fits their narrative. Well, I couldn’t think of a better example of this than the most-recent event where an Anon created a petition to get Ubisoft to cancel “Far Cry 5” for its anti-American, anti-Christian message.

The petition was created at 12:28 pm on May 28th and it demanded to diversify the enemies, and make changes that would change the core of the game. So the very moment that the mainstream media found out about this matter, they wasted no time taking the opportunity to make gamers look bad by making it seem as though this was the norm in our community. Within six hours, 16 articles had been written by all the usual suspects (38 in total), and very few of which showed the slightest bit of skepticism when approaching the topic, the main one of these being Forbes.

The Petition as it is at the time of writing this article.

So that’s why I avoided writing about the topic when it first dropped a few days ago because it was an obvious fake, and I knew the truth would be out not too long following its release. Well, once practically everyone fell for it hook, line, and sinker, the truth was out. What makes it worse is that some of the writers knew that it was a fake. However, one writer, in particular (James Paley, CogConnected), was asked why he didn’t mention how obvious of a fake the petition was in his article. His explanation was that he wanted readers to come to that conclusion themselves (as seen in the picture down below).

As Brad later asks, why report on something if you want the audience to find out the truth themselves? What if they take it at face value and don’t see it for what it is? Then your entire reasoning falls apart.

You know, it’s no wonder that Mark Kern just recently stated that this is practically “Game Journo Pros II: Return of the Hacks”, because that’s exactly how it is, and I completely agree. Now, of course these journalists more than likely didn’t have anything to do with the petition at all beyond the articles they wrote, but they are taking a chance to attack gamers, just as they did with the “Gamers are Dead” fiasco of 2014.

This is absolute insanity, game journo pros part II indeed…

The original Anon of the petition made an update where they talked about the people who were possible suspects for the posting of the petition, finally reaching the conclusion that out of all the possible suspects to blame for the petition, they (the media) chose gamers as their target. They pointed the finger at a group of people who generally appeared to disagree with the point the petition’s purpose. It’s almost maddening.

I’m not sure about their “greatest success” though it is a pretty good one.

Susan Arendt (a freelance journalist with posts on Games Radar+ and the Escapist) posted saying that the “usual suspects” pointing out that the petition is by an obvious troll is invalid because “stuff like that gets said every day, completely sincerely” without ever providing a micron of evidence. But of course, she wasn’t the only one. Such as Mark Bernstein, who is apparently writing a book on Gamergate from the Anti-GG perspective. In his conversation on Twitter, he posts that the article is “Gamergate agenda. GamerGate illiteracies. Gamergate goals. And threats of violence.” Being completely ignorant as to the purpose of the group in the first place.

However, this seems to be just another instance in a long list of examples of how much the mainstream video game media resent and despise the audience they’re supposed to be writing for (remembering of course that not only video game media outlets wrote about the issue, but also outlets like Yahoo and DailyDot). How much deeper can they possibly dig themselves? How much longer can this go one before they come to the realization that this has to end? Why write for people you’re constantly attacking? These are questions I put forward to the media.

This is how you know that they think that we’re an easy topic.

best mom eva on sites attacking gamers over far cry 5

This sounds very familiar to the “Gamers are dead” narrative, doesn’t it? Simply put, this was yet another coordinated attack on Gamers by the “established” games media.

It honestly hurts that the mainstream media thinks so little of gamers that an obvious parody appears legitimate to a good number of them. Even the two media outlets that are most well-known for spreading misinformation, Kotaku and Polygon, chose not to write about this story. So why is it so popular to attack gamers at every twist and turn? And why is it okay to attack so many people without evidence of wrongdoing? (for clicks and views I suppose…).

mark bernstein on the far cry 5 petition

It sure didn’t take long before people (like Mark Bernstein, for example) started to blame everything on #GamerGate (what a shocker!).

Anyways, at this point, the petition has 1,856 signatures, which mostly consist of anti-gamers using the opportunity to make fun of gamers for the petition even existing, making themselves look worse once the truth is out. What makes this worse is that the next time this comes around, we know they won’t learn or wait a minute to get more information. The people who fell for this petition are so determined to prove that gamers are the incarnation of the devil and his demons. Simply put, they’ll take any scrap of information (no matter how insignificant or obviously incorrect) and use that as evidence that they’re right.

I think it’s quite obvious to pretty much everyone that the “Cancel Far Cry 5” petition page is fake, but I guess that Arendt thinks other wise.

Nevertheless, I still believe that the petition is fake even with the following update on the petition. As the petition maker has said that the petition has been a success even though the comments and signers are clearly against the point. Even so, I do not believe that would easily go over the petition creator’s head. Furthermore, given the obvious typos, I believe this to continue to be an obvious troll. Otherwise, there would be no point in keeping the inaccuracies where they are after everyone has talked about them. In other words. If the petition is not satire and the creator actually believes this otherwise obvious satire narrative, it must be made clear that he/she does not represent all gamers. I cannot express that enough.

And with that said, what’s your take on this matter? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section down below!

Sources and resources:
Brad Glasgow‏
Ian Miles Cheong
Mark Kern
Best mom Eva part 1
Best mom Eva part 2
Media blitz on fake Far Cry 5 petition
Mark Bernstein‏
Susan Arendt
Heat Street
Forbes
The “Cancel Far Cry 5” petition page
Baffling Petition Against Far Cry 5 Bubbles to Surface

Credit:
Robin Ek – Editor

***Disclaimer***
This is a personal opinion of the writer, and it doesn’t necessarily represent the other writers’ (nor The Gaming Ground´s) opinions.

***Disclosure***
I consider myself a member of GamerGate. I have no problems with Far Cry 5 on its base level.

Justin Easler
Senior editor
The Gaming Ground
Twitter: @masterjayshay