From a movement that began by requesting better journalistic ethics, GamerGate evolved into what some have called a hate movement over the past few months.

As a movement based almost entirely on 4chan, an anonymous online forum, it can be hard to pin down what GamerGate is attempting to gain, or even what GamerGate is about. According to TIME magazine, some gamergaters claim the movement is intended entirely to bring awareness to poor journalism ethics. However, many who use the gamergater label have harassed prominent women in the gaming industry, going so far as to send highly specific death threats and attempt to get the women to kill themselves.

TIME magazine reported that in August 2014 programmer Eron Gjoli wrote a series of blog posts about his relationship with indie game developer Zoe Quinn; specifically about the end of their relationship. The post that sparked GamerGate accused Quinn of sleeping with game reviewer Nathan Grayson to get a good review on her game “Depression Quest.”

From there, it took on new life. Although many Gamergaters believe it is still a movement only requesting better ethics in gaming journalism, it has also been linked to anonymous death threats towards, and the release of personal information of, four specific women: Quinn, feminist critic Anita Sarkeesian, game developer Brianna Wu and, as of Oct. 23, actress Felicia Day, TIME magazine and Gawker reported.

All of these women were attacked only after they spoke out against sexism in the gaming industry, or the abuse that was occurring, according to TIME. In the case of Day, her details were released after expressing fear at the idea of saying anything remotely negative about the movement.

“I have not said many public things about Gamer Gate,” she wrote on her Tumblr blog Oct. 22. “I have tried to leave it alone, aside from a few @ replies on Twitter that journalists have decided to use in their articles, siding me against the hashtag. Why have I remained mostly silent? Self-protection and fear.”

Only minutes after the post went up, her personal details were released by a user named “gaimerg8,” reported Gawker.

What is perhaps the frightening part of the GamerGate is the ease with which the threateners seem to find these women’s personal information.

“I don’t think it takes that much for people to find out,” said Carol Taylor, Ph.D., department chair for computer science. “I think we’re more public than we ever have been before, and like I said, all they would have to do is [ask], like, well where does she live?”

There is no true expertise required to find the personal details most people try to hold close to their chest, such as their address or personal email.

“There just is so much information that gets compiled on you. I don’t think it would be that hard. You wouldn’t have to be a cyber expert, let’s put it that way,” said Taylor. “They’re normal people that have some kind of a reason to research [Brianna Wu].”

While GamerGate has become a nationally-recognized controversy, the harassment of women in the gaming community is more common than some may think.

Gaming development instructor Brian Kamp asked students in each of his three classes what they thought of GamerGate: “All of the women who game basically said at some time they’ve been, I don’t know if discrimination is the right word, but have been intimidated or people just won’t play with them because they’re women.”

What GamerGate brought to the forefront was the active and continued harassment of female gamers.

“There obviously have been threats and intimidation used toward women in the gaming industry and players,” said Kamp. “And I don’t think you can discount the ‘and players’ of that.”

Lorna Harris, Gamers’ Club president and EWU junior, said while playing “World of Warcraft,” she was asked to be in an online relationship with a male gamer. When she said no, he began spreading rumors about her.

“It got to the point where I couldn’t even log in without them saying things, and I was well-known throughout the server, and it just got to the point where I was like, ‘I don’t even want to do this,’” she said.

Kamp called the defensiveness shown by many male gamers against the women who speak out against sexism, misogyny and abuse in the gaming industry, “pathetic.”

“I can’t think of another word that describes it more than just pathetic,” he said. “Because what we’re really talking about is the male section of the gaming industry, whether it be production or play or whatever, not being able to come to grips with the fact that there might be female players. That’s just pathetic. But what goes to a deeper reason I would call it pathetic is that they’re games.”

Beyond the one problem she had, Harris has not had many problems in general as a gamer.

“There will just be some guys who, they’ll think you don’t know a lot about it, and then you start talking about the details of the game and they look at you, like, stunned,” she said. “Sometimes, with the incoming freshmen, when they’re asking about the Gamers’ Club and you tell them, ‘Oh, I’m the Gamers’ Club president,’ and they like take a step back like ‘Whoa! that’s awesome!’”

Despite the good, though, Harris does believe there can still be an overreaction — whether positive or negative — to female gamers.

“[Male gamers] should pay more attention to the way that females behave, and they should just treat females like gamers,” she said. “Gamers are gamers. We just want to play our games.”