Now, I know what you're thinking. "Mark, you're just cherry-picking comments from trolls! Plenty of people were polite! Also, I think you're incredibly attractive and I secretly pine for you!"

You're right on the last two. But as much as I hate to say it, I think those comments exemplify, if not a majority, then one incredibly fucking loud minority. Go to any video, article, or forum discussion about Quinn, and in most cases you'll find that the balance weighs heavily toward the dickwads.

Via Cracked (Comments)
Or go to an article about something totally unrelated, like movie trailers.

Now, look at Options A and B above again. Which one would you rather respond to?

The first one, obviously. No one with an IQ higher than "potato" wants to engage in a conversation with a person who has the attitude in Option B, because they know it would be like talking to a wall that keeps calling you gay. Somehow, it's shocking to the wall that you don't want to engage, and so it's convinced there must be a conspiracy.

Via Encyclopedia Dramatica

There's a baffling disconnect where gamers want to be taken seriously, but they also want to be able to call Quinn (or Anita Sarkeesian, or Brianna Wu, or Jennifer Hepler, or the woman who just chainsawed them in half in Gears of War) insults that the average convicted sex offender would consider over the line. They want to have their asshole cake and eat it too.

Well, guess what? If you can't talk like an adult, then you have to keep sitting at the kids table. But I'll let you in on another secret: it's not hard to talk like a sane adult human. Just ask yourself this simple question: "Would what I'm about to say get me yelled at or punched in my stupid fucking face if I said it in real life?" If your answer is yes, try to find a way to make the same point while using fewer slurs.

Robert Koene/Photodisc/Getty Images
"Wait, so you'd pay more attention to me if I didn't call you a ho-bag?"

I know that to most of you that advice is patronizing, but the comments on this very article will prove that gamers haven't mastered it yet. And that's strange and disappointing, because I can't think of any other hobby that struggles so much with basic human decency. And because these people think "slut" or "whore" are terms they can use and still be taken seriously, it's embarrassing to share an interest with them.

The answers are "no" and "I don't know. Who the fuck cares about her private life?" respectively. There, I've just put the entire scandal to rest. I don't know how Pulitzers are awarded, but if you need my address to mail me the Pulitzer ... Cup, or whatever, please feel free to contact me.

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"Thank you for awarding me this honey-glazed ham for excellence in the field of journalism."

The problem is that guys who have never faced discrimination because of their hobby or profession really do believe that this obscure ethical non-breach is the bigger issue. After all, it's a bigger issue to them. And I understand where they're coming from, because as a white, straight, Adonis I have never faced insults because of my interests, which leaves me free to focus my time and effort on other important issues, like when the fuck are we getting a new TIE Fighter game already?

But for women and men who are less selfish than I am, the continued harassment of women is obviously a bigger concern than an indie gaming sex "scandal." And there's another weird logical disconnect, because the same people who harassed Quinn think they're helping women.

Via Encyclopedia Dramatica

That's right, ladies, the people who use phrases like "fellating their queen feminists" are standing up for your rights (unless it's your right to have sex). Doesn't that put you at ease?

So they recognize that gamers have a problem with gender -- they just can't understand how they're contributing to it or why anyone wants to talk about it instead of their problems. Again, you can understand where they're coming from, because when you're not the target of threats it's easy to dismiss them as inconsequential. Luckily, there's this thing called "empathy" that can overcome that.

Digital Vision./Photodisc/Getty Images
"Wait a minute ... what if the women I'm threatening to rape have feelings?"

A minority of loud, male, and probably young gamers want to dictate what the rest of the gaming community talks about, because in their minds they know what's important and best for everyone. But by protesting one "problem" in the dumbest way imaginable, they reminded everyone of a much, much bigger problem, yet they're baffled as to why everyone wants to talk about the latter instead of what's important to them as white dudes.

I'm sorry, that's a simplification. Some of them are probably Asian.

Let's look at another example. Can you think of a video game that wasn't written well? Of course you can, because half the video games in existence are barely above fan-fiction quality when it comes to plot and dialogue. Did you happen to think of Dragon Age II? I'm going to assume you did, because it's my rhetorical question. If you don't like it, go write your own.

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"OK, all I need is a number and a bunch of dick jokes. Here I go."

Reviews of Dragon Age II concluded that, while it was a generally enjoyable game, it was a letdown from its predecessor. The writing was actually one of the less criticized aspects, but fans needed someone to blame for ruining their beloved franchise, so they criticized the lead writer, Jennifer Hepler.

Oh, and by criticized I mean they called her a cancer on the company, threatened to murder her children, said that her kids would have been better off aborted than having been raised by her, and encouraged her to commit suicide. You know, typical methods of criticism.

Image Source/Digital Vision/Getty Images
"I do this for your own good! You'll thank me later, fuckhead!"

These personal attacks were prompted by an interview she did half a decade before Dragon Age II's release. In it, she talked about how she didn't much care for combat in games. "Fans" interpreted this as Hepler being responsible for Dragon Age II's simplified combat system, because we all know that video game writers personally dictate game mechanics (it's kind of like how screenwriters decide what costumes the actors will wear, or how writers dictate where the genitalia drawings will be hidden in Disney animations).

But, hey, gamers weren't threatening Hepler because she was a woman putting her vagina emotions in a game for manly men -- they were threatening her because they didn't like how Dragon Age II had been dumbed down for the masses at the expense of hardcore fans. Just ignore that Hepler had little to do with that, or that when the same developer released Mass Effect 3 to similar disappointment a couple of years later the male lead writer didn't receive any sexualized threats. They were telling her to kill herself because they care about the quality of the gaming industry. It's just a total coincidence that the quality of the gaming industry is negatively affected only when women do things male gamers don't approve of.