Zoe "Bully the Suicidal into Becoming An Hero" Quinn, aka Chelsea Van Valkenburg if I recall, sucked her way into minor relevancy with her "friends" in gaming journalism. This led to a blog post by her cucked boyfriend calling her out (though limp-wristedly) as the BPD whore she is, which then led to people finding out why her "game" was given coverage at all. This led to the incestuous nature of the entire gaming industry being exposed, with major studios like Naughty Dog taking direct advice and influence from then-relevant feminist figures.
This was the backdrop for the first organic (not staged or funded) massive social media movement (which in hindsight is the catalyst for social media's heavy lean on politics and was the inspiration for the establishment-backed Black Lives Matter, which cropped up only after Gamergate and used many of the same methods but with George Soros funding). However, it was never just about "ethics in gaming journalism".
It was about Yuri Bezmenov. See, while 4chan's /v/ was getting back-stabbed by Moot other boards, namely a less retarded /pol/ (it was at one point less retarded), got involved. /pol/ didn't care about vidya but it did care about using the opportunity to spread awareness of 1) Jews, 2) Commie corruption, 3) Anti-White propaganda.
The first didn't happen much and the third only really became apparent long after GG. BLM and such are to thank for #3 coming into focus. #2? That was the success.
No one, absolutely NO ONE, used the term "Social Justice Warrior" outside of the Internet and no one knew a thing about Bezmenov or Cultural Subversion/Cultural Marxism. As Gamergate continued on, /pol/ and other users used Gamergate to post Bezmenov videos, post college campus footage edited to his lecture and interview, etc.
The memes were priceless, as was seeing the zeitgeist of the country--and abroad--suddenly shift. People started learning about Common Core. People saw connections between videogames and DARPA. Even the Gates Foundation got some exposure. Normalfags would have written it all off if not for the entire incestuous industry suddenly running to big daddy Hollywood for help. Stephen Colbert hosted the feminist chick and argued that gamers were racist. Later, that same woman and Zoe Quinn would appear before the UN to cry about gamergate or whatever. Wikipedia's bias was exposed, as was big tech. Gamergate even got so big that it even got a Law and Order episode made of it, wherein some ISIS-tier White kidnappers rape a brown feminist figure after beating a woman in a restroom because she touched a videogame.
But even as the movement dissolved into grifters, having launched many careers during its time for both sides of the political isle, the reality of Cultural Marxism and the overt evidence that all mainstream media, big tech and even gaming are hard-left leaning neo-marxists (to various degrees) could never be unseen. Even Zoe Quinn got an administrative position at Twitter just because she was of the political cult as the rest and had cried enough tears to earn her a paycheck.
People like to blame Gamergate for starting the boycotts of companies over political reasons. That already existed and was prevelant, even in gaming, but many people weren't around for the start and fall of Gamergate. People don't remember what the point of it was, and that was simply to show the world the actual nature of the political cult which was leading the country to ruin.
