A congressional candidate whose claim to fame is whining about being a GamerGate victim recently spent several hours, not appealing to potential voters, but flogging a group of Trump-supporting players in a mobile video game.
Even worse, the game pay-to-win, which means there’s little in the way of legitimate competition.
Brianna Wu is a self-proclaimed “software engineer” and would-be politician whose campaign slogan is “She Fought the Alt-Right and Won.” She was previously in the headlines for ranting about moon rocks. This time around, she’s bragging about beating a group of Trump supporters in a Japanese mobile game Final Fantasy XV: A New Empire. Largely known for flashing her status as a “victim” of the GamerGate consumer movement, Brianna Wu is no stranger to making ridiculous statements.
“Enjoy this fantastic story of a bully getting his,” wrote Wu to her 70k-strong audience on Twitter. “In @FFXVMobile, there’s a lovely guild called ‘MAGA’ with a leader named ‘POTUS.’”
She shared screenshots of the group’s description, which jokes that “This guild requires that you work and carry your own weight. This is not Canada.”
Wu appeared to engage in direct messages with the leader of the group. She did not share her side of the conversation, preferring only to share POTUS’ reply. In the screenshot, the player responded aggressively, and allegedly wrote: “Come get grabbed by the pussy anytime you feel frisky.”
“I don’t use my real name in this game. He has no idea who I am,” Wu wrote, following with a tweet about her ranking in the game.
“I am the 22nd most powerful player. Only, he didn’t check that before threatening to sexually assault me. I burned MAGA to the ground,” wrote Wu, who bragged that POTUS will not be able to play the game until she releases him.
In mobile strategy games like Final Fantasy XV Mobile, players are encouraged to spend days, if not weeks building up their virtual bases, and sending their armies out to fight enemy players. The game’s essentially a knock-off of Mobile Strike and Game of War with a new coat of paint. Titles like Clash of Clans are making billions of dollars a year from the amount of money people spend to upgrade their armies and holdings.
While Wu did not disclose how much time or money she spent reaching her rank, it would be impossible for anyone who plays the game without paying to get there. Most, if not all her opponents are “whales,” or paying customers who spend excessive amounts of money to get ahead in the game.
Between constantly mentioning GamerGate and her single credential as a one-time game developer, Brianna Wu’s preoccupation with shaming some Trump supporters in a mobile video game should give anyone who’s donated to her Congressional campaign cause for concern.
Ian Miles Cheong is a journalist and outspoken media critic. You can reach him through social media at @stillgray on Twitter and on Facebook.