Your crisis, my consent: The battle for power and language in the aftermath of Gamergate

This editorial seeks to expand the somewhat limited discourse surrounding consent in games by situating the controversies of Gamergate and its subsequent iterations within the broader context of the extreme political zeitgeist. This framing illustrates how the language and rhetorical strategies commonly employed to advocate for prosocial consent practices are often co-opted and mocked by those opposing so-called ‘woke’ ideologies, highlighting deeper philosophical challenges in conceptualizing consent within game studies. Through a comprehensive literature review, this work traces the evolving understanding of consent in games, drawing on post-2016 election queer and feminist scholarship from a 2025 perspective. This analysis uncovers an ethos of care that addresses the dynamics of consent in play while framing consent as a nuanced, knowable and actionable concept. The editorial concludes by introducing the accompanying collection of essays, which build on this foundation to further advance the scholarly discourse on consent in games.