To unpack that a bit more since it seems to be of great interest, I have steered clear of gamergate for at least three reasons:
- I do not consider myself a gamer.
- Much of the controversy sounds so familiar to what we have been hearing from social justice warriors about atheists and skeptics that I'd prefer to address these issues in the context of atheism and skepticism.
- I have outrage fatigue.
With a few brief exceptions over a decade ago, I never really got into PC gaming. I enjoyed a few titles for a while but had neither the interest nor the money to build the sort of gaming systems that were required to keep up with the latest and greatest. I have minimal experience playing with others online. I guess doing so never held much interest for me.
At the present time, my gaming activity consists of occasionally playing obsolete sports games on an equally console. If it died tomorrow, I wouldn't bother to replace it. So no, I don't see myself as much of a gamer at all.
What I will say is that sexism and misogyny were certainly evident the couple of times I dabbled with online gaming years ago. Same with racism, homophobia, and all sorts of other unpleasant utterances. This didn't surprise me in the least. I assumed that most of the people I encountered in these online gaming communities were teenage boys. Having once been a teenage boy, I figured that this stuff probably comes with the territory. This doesn't make it acceptable; it makes it typical.
On the question of whether sexism and misogyny are serious problems among gamers, I'll gladly defer to the avid gamers. They are in a much better position to evaluate this than I am.