Timeline/Before GamerGate

28 Nov 2007

 * Game reviewer and editorial director Jeff Gerstmann is fired from his position at GameSpot closely following his negative review of Eidos Interactive's game Kane and Lynch: Dead Men. Due to the heavy advertising of Kane and Lynch: Dead Men featured on GameSpot at the time, rumors erupt that Gerstmann was fired due to giving the game a poorer review than what Eidos Interactive paid for.

20 Feb 2012

 * Ben Kuchera posts an audio clip on SoundCloud, containing an argument between David Jaffe and Stephen Totilo over the way social justice writer Kate Cox portrayed Jaffe in an article where she wrote about Twisted Metal.

15 Mar 2012

 * Jeff Gerstmann speaks openly about his 2007 termination from GameSpot. He confirms that his termination was directly tied to his negative review of Kane and Lynch: Dead Men, and that publishers threatening to pull advertising in response to disappointing game review scores is a common occurrence in the game journalism industry.

30 May 2012

 * Kotaku writer and social justice writer Patricia Hernandez uses the word "rape" against an opponent in an online multiplayer game, then proceeds to badger and berate the gaming community in general about common forms of trash talk used in all multiplayer games and sports.

24 Oct 2012

 * Writer Rab Florence writes an article for Eurogamer that criticizes the current state of the gaming journalism industry. He lambasts the close relationships between game journalists and the innapropriate amounts of commercialism and bought publicity that occur among them.  Following a complaint made from Lauren Wainwright—a game journalist that Florence quoted in his article—Eurogamer removes parts of his publication.   Rab Florence resigns from Eurogamer the following day due to threat of legal action.  The subsequent uproar among gamers in response to the backlash against Florence and the flagrant displays of greed and collusion among gaming journalists is referred to as "Doritogate," in reference to the viral image of Geoff Keighley surrounded by Mountain Dew and Doritos that was featured in Florence's article.


 * After her complaint got Rab Florence fired, Lauren Wainwright was found to have several conflicts of interest of her own for covering and reviewing Square Enix games while also doing consultant work for them. Critics of her conduct were accused of abusive behaviors, misogyny and making rape jokes.

05 Nov 2012

 * After public outcry for attempting to remain silent on the issue, Kotaku Editor In Chief Stephen Totilo finally acknowledges "Doritogate".

18 Feb 2013

 * The production build for Depression Quest is finalized. Nathan Grayson is included in the "Special Thanks" section of the credits for undisclosed reasons.

11 May 2013

 * A blogger at N4G compiles a history of Kotaku's editorial focus on dubious panic about sexism and misogyny and other unethical behavior.

13 Aug 2013

 * Gone Home releases to rave reviews from all major gaming publications and is praised as a groundbreaking game in terms of design and storytelling. GameSpot, Kotaku, Polygon, Gamasutra, and Metacritic all praise the game heavily despite it being denounced by the gaming community for its shallow gameplay and plot and a length that did not justify its AAA price-point. As a result, Gone Home's treatment by the games media is often held up as an example of industry cronyism and agenda promotion.

11 Dec 2013

 * The Internet Aristocrat discusses how social justice politics taint video game development and how nepotism, cronyism, and censorship run rampant within the indie dev community with his "Mighty Number Nope" video. The video calls out Dina Abou Karam and the changes that were made to Mighty No. 9 after it was funded by Kickstarter.

12 Dec 2013

 * Zoe Quinn posts on Twitter, claiming that she is being harassed by Wizardchan. These allegations were never verified.

08 Jan 2014

 * Nathan Grayson publishes an article in Rock Paper Shotgun about 50 indie games that had been admitted to Steam via Greenlight. The title of the article is "Admission Quest" a reference to Zoe Quinn's game Depression Quest, which was part of the "batch" of games that had been admitted. The graphic header for the article is a screenshot from Depression Quest, despite the game itself being text-based. In the body of the article Depression Quest is described as a "standout" and "powerful Twine darling". This is followed by a list of the 50 games that were admitted, which included Depression Quest. The meta-tags for the article also include Depression quest. There is no disclosure of the nature of his involvement with the game or of his relationship with the developer.

28 Feb 2014

 * Maya Kramer and Zoe Quinn discover the The Fine Young Capitalists women-only game development contest. Within a short time, they and several followers take issue with the project, believing that it excludes transgender people and asks its entrants to work for free. Former Destructoid writer Jonathan Ross doxxes the contest organizer by sharing posts from his Facebook page. TFYC's website is crashes due to the traffic, something which Quinn and Kramer celebrate.

31 Mar 2014

 * Nathan Grayson publishes an article in Kotaku about the failure of the reality television show project GAME JAM. The main sources quoted in the article are Robin Arnott, Adriel Wallick, and "Depression Quest creator" Zoe Quinn. There is no disclosure of the nature of Nathan Grayson's involvement with the game or of his relationship with the developer. The concluding paragraphs of the article are about Zoe Quinn's aspirations to run a game jam of her own.

01 Apr 2014

 * The domain RebelGameJam.com is registered by Yavanna Kramer. Yavanna Kramer is also the registrant of MayaKramer.com, which links to a twitter account for the "Cuties Killing Video Games" line of fashion items as seen worn by Zoe Quinn.

13 Aug 2014

 * In the wake of fan outrage over Microsoft's announcement that the sequel to Tomb Raider would be an Xbox One exclusive and not multiplatform like the previous one, Ben Kuchera of Polygon took it upon himself to defend this blatant anti-consumer move, going so far as to tell his audience "Here's what's hard for gaming fans to do: We need to stop looking at these deals purely through the lens of someone who wants to play the game." The arguments used in the article to justify this practice were highly questionable.