As the harassment and threats on innocent people are increasing, the video game industry's trade association has weighed in on Gamergate.

The Washington Post reports that a spokesperson for the Entertainment Software Association has just weighed in on Gamergate. The Entertainment Software Association is the video game industry's trade association in the United States. Over 35 well known publishers are a part of the ESA, ranging from Microsoft to Square Enix and Konami. The ESA claims that the female gaming population is on the raise, accounting for nearly 50 percent of the overall gaming audience.

“Threats of violence and harassment are wrong," said a spokesman for the Entertainment Software Association. "They have to stop. There is no place in the video game community—or our society—for personal attacks and threats.”

Gamergate has turned from supposed debate about journalistic integrity and ethics into a means where a group of supporters have been bashing women in the gaming industry, resulting in death threats, doxxing, hacking, the invasion of privacy and innocent people being legitimately scared for their lives. These targeted women have had to cancel public events, deal with police reports and even leave their own homes because of the threats they were getting.

For what it's worth, many supporters of Gamergate have allegedly faced similar issues. There has been a message of standing up against this type of harassment within the group online; however, the members continue to stand by this hashtag despite the gross behavior attributed to it. Now it would appear that there's no good to arise out of Gamergate, no matter how hard its supporters push. The only thing people will remember it for now is that it legitimately scared women who are pushing for diversity and an end to sexism in the video game industry with threats and invasions of privacy.

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