Abstract
During Gamergate, feminists adopted a multitude of different strategies, many of which relied on the new capabilities permitted to them by the internet and social media. In the same vein, anti-feminists also adopted new and diverse approaches to conducting an anti-feminist backlash, with there being a far greater reliance on the use of ‘positive PR’ and ‘information wars’ than in previous iterations. Beyond just the implications for the gaming community, Gamergate is representative of how both activism and ‘anti-activism’ operate in the digital age.
This concluding chapter draws broader conclusions on the feminist response to backlashes, as well as the overall significance of Gamergate in relation to wider culture. The chapter reflects on the meaning and motivation behind Gamergate, what it tells us about the gaming community, and the cycles of anti-feminist backlashes that Gamergate is a part of.
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Notes
- 1.
The concept of ‘post-truth’ was so critical that the Oxford Dictionaries named it their ‘word of the year’ for 2016.
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O’Donnell, J. (2022). Conclusion. In: Gamergate and Anti-Feminism in the Digital Age. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-14057-0_7
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