During the BlizzCon 2014 opening ceremony this morning, Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime addressed GamerGate, calling out "a small group of people" which has been "doing really awful things and making some people's lives miserable."
Though Morhaime didn't specifically say "GamerGate," he notes that this has been occurring "over the past couple of months," making it entirely clear that he's referring to the Twitter hashtag which has, since August, represented a campaign ostensibly meant to fight for ethics in games journalism.
The origin of the movement and actions of some GamerGate supporters, however, don't align with that goal: The banner has been used to demand that writers stop expressing social criticism, and most notably and despicably, harass journalists and developers, especially women, so far as to send death threats.
Morhaime didn't necessarily decry the entire movement, but he did decry the behavior most associated with it. "They are tarnishing our reputations as gamers," he said, concluding with a clear call to action:
"Let's take a stand to reject hate and harassment, and let's redouble our efforts to be kind and respectful to one another. And let's remind the world what the gaming community is really all about."
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