GamerGate: Actress Felicia Day Stands Up For Women In Gaming, Has Personal Information Released

Felicia Day just learned firsthand that wading into the GamerGate debate has real consequences.

The Supernatural actress and avid gamer recently shared her thoughts on the gaming industry’s controversy, writing a scathing post on her Tumblr.

Most simply put, the GamerGate scandal involves a game developer named Zoe Quinn who was accused of sleeping with gaming critics in order to get good reviews for her games. The accusation opened up a wave of controversy and led to hate mail and personal information about Quinn.

The issue has evolved into an ongoing and ferocious debate, with critics saying it is about the treatment of women in gaming and supporters saying the true issue is the objectivity of gaming journalism.

This week Felicia Day entered the debate, saying that the growing misogyny has turned her off to gaming.

“Seeing another gamer on the street used to be an auto-smile opportunity, or an entry into a conversation starting with, ‘Hey, dude! I love that game too!’ Day wrote. ‘But for the first time maybe in my life, on that Saturday afternoon, I walked towards that pair of gamers and I didn’t smile. I didn’t say hello. In fact, I crossed the street so I wouldn’t walk by them. A small voice of doubt in my brain now suspected that those guys and I might not be comrades after all. That they might not greet me with reflected friendliness, but contempt.'”

The post had immediate consequences. Within hours, Day was reportedly doxxed (internet lingo for having her personal information released online) within an hour her GamerGate post.

But Felicia Day also has some supporters including former NFL punter Chris Kluwe, an avid gamer himself. On Twitter, he wrote that Day was only targeted for her gender and noted that critics never went after him after his own biting criticism of GamerGate, saying “instead, you go after a woman who wrote why your movement concerns her.”