I've been telling people for a long time that the video game fandom is not nearly as accepting and inclusive as they or a lot of other people would like to believe.
And I'd like to give you three new pieces of data to back this up.
But first, a little set-up: After raising $3,442,033 in January of 2022 for an online-only Awesome Games Done Quick speedrunning week-long marathon for the Prevent Cancer Foundation, the event had been planned to return to it's pre-COVID Florida location for the January 2023 event.
In September 2022, in response to Nazi Gov. DeSantis' War On Woke in the state, GDQ pulled the AGDQ event from the site and made the event online-only for the third consecutive year, specifically stating the move was against the anti-inclusion, anti-transgender, and anti-LGBT moves made in the state of Florida making it impossible to hold the event in the state and ensure the safety of it's participants.
At least one Alpha Male Gamer (and I believe that was his name) blasted the decision on predictable grounds for a White cis-gendered male Republican fuck, it turns out the decision probably cost GDQ and Prevent Cancer Foundation some part of $770,000 -- the amount they lost year over year when the January event could only raise $2,672,553.
So that was the January event.
In February 2023 came the controversial release of transphobic cunt JK Rowling's Hogwarts Legacy game, seen as a hallmark for video-game-player bigots worldwide.
Upon it's release, and with the recognition that the game would probably otherwise have been a strong feature of the recently completed summer event, the heads of the Games Done Quick organization banned all Harry Potter games from the event, and from all events going forward, subject to further review.
The bigots took flight to that as well.
And, to me, there's a very real difference. It's one thing to have someone or something of a person you either later find out to be a bigot or that it's well hidden. But I do not believe it inappropriate -- when the bigotry is so on the table, out in the open, and face-up as Cunt Rowling has done -- to state that supporting the franchise going forward DOES mean you are part of the problem and a probable bigot.
But here are the two pieces of data to indicate the video-gaming fandom is as asleep as I fear it is:
First, the year-over-year loss of about $810,000 year over year for the summer event for the Prevent Cancer Foundation, leading to a total drop between the two events of almost $1.6 million -- from almost $6.5 million last year for the two big shows to $4,993,000 and change.
Second, after catching heat on the GDQ Discord for looking at the numbers cross-eyed this week, I was DM'ed by a person following some of the numbers, and he gave me this chart yesterday:
Don't worry about all the different lines, the point will be obvious when I tell it to you.
That is the viewership plot of all the GDQ weekly marathons since at least 2016.
The point? The white line you can clearly see at the bottom is SGDQ 2023.
The least-watched event, and it's not close.
I don't know what's going to happen going forward. It would be my hope that this is the economy -- but it has never been a secret that the GDQ corporation and it's events are heavy into transgender rights and the demanding of their enforcement.
I don't think it much beyond reality that many of the video-game incels of the culture are very happy with the charity results falling far short of last year, even with the economy...
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