"Gamers" are people who play games. That's it. To think that the term "gamers" means anything more than that is probably the saddest thing I've ever heard.

Really, no more should be said about this or that term. Let's face it, it's hard to argue with Merriam-Webster about this sort of thing.

But instead you have people saying some game journalists and those who play games are MRA's and others are SJW's and those who prefer not to pick a side are apparently still in the wrong for whatever flavor of the week reason people can think up. Plus now you have some completely asinine "#GamerGate" making the rounds on Twitter. I've seen that hashtag used for so many different arguments tonight. I've seen it used as a case against sex discrimination in the gaming industry. I've seen it used to highlight supposed corruption with gaming journalists. I've seen people use that hashtag and say that it isn't about discrimination or corruption. There's apparently an issue (or issues) but nobody can really make up their mind on just what exactly everyone is supposed to be upset about. It's a free-for-all on being upset.

This isn't what I signed up for.

I started years ago as a member and then eventually a mod on a gaming site. I moved on to CS-Nation as a member, then a news poster, and then bumped up to Community Manager. I dealt with the absolute insane period where everything was in complete disarray with CS-Nation's merger with Total Gaming Network. I dealt with the period where I was belittled by the person who, at that point, ran Total Gaming Network which effectively kept our two sites separated for almost as long as the database issues did. I dealt with the entire period of anything and everything having to do with the former parent company of TGN, MyIS. Throughout everything I stuck with it and have persevered to this day.

I do what I do because I like to play games. That's it. I like to talk about games, I like to share news about games. Now suddenly, every gaming journalist is under some sort of a boycott because of the actions of a few individuals. There was a list of media outlets and journalists to avoid because they were labeled by a faceless group as being pro-SJW. There are plenty of others that are under scrutiny just for being white and male in the industry.

What. The. Fuck.

Is this what this industry has become? Is this really the kind of bullshit that all existing and upcoming people in the industry are going to have to deal with from now on? I know that in the grand scheme of things I'm a nobody.

I'm not a Kotaku. I'm not a Polygon. I'm not a Ben Kuchera. I'm not a Zoe Quinn. I'm not a Leigh Alexander. I'm just someone that now falls under some arbitrarily placed umbrella because the actions, in-actions, and words of others.

That's bullshit.

Sure, hate on some gaming sites because they have poorly written articles. Hate on them because they wrote a review and gave a game a score you don't agree with. Hell, hate on gaming sites because they write some articles that are obviously clickbait material.

Just don't hate on a site because it happens to cover games. Don't hate on a site because of some perceived notion that they may be censoring comments or coverage, or not giving adequate coverage to your particular "side" of a particular controversy.

No, the term "gamer" isn't dead just because one person wrote an article saying that it was or that it should be. Sure, maybe your skewed notion of what a "gamer" is is now dead, but not mine. Of course, that doesn't really matter once that boulder starts rolling down the insane mountain that is social media.

Again, this isn't what I signed up for well over a decade ago. However, this is the kind of complete insanity that makes me want to quit and wash my hands of this entire industry. Every side is wrong. Every side is right. Every side is killing the industry.

I guess that if, or when, that happens, at least some people would be quite happy.