Overview

GoonerGate, also known as Gooner Gate or Goonergate Censorship, refers to a controversy in the gaming community sparked by content creators advocating for religious values regarding character design and content in video games, notably referencing the slang term "gooner." The controversy started in early December 2024 when YouTuber SicklyTheNinJa expressed his discontent via X / Twitter over the excess of lewd fan service in the design of the protagonist from The First Descendant game, which ignited a wider debate about the boundaries of artistic expression in gaming. The debate resurfaced in mid-January 2025 when YouTuber and Twitch streamer Melonie Mac posted a video addressing the GoonerGate backlash she claims to have received for being a "Christian content creator" advocating against "the queer stuff" and "perverts" gamers.

Background

On December 7th, 2024, X^[1] user @Pirat_Nation reposted a clip showing the design of Luna, a character from The First Descendant video game, showcasing her provocative animation and questioning, "Is this what gamers want?" The post (seen below) became a catalyst that sparked outrage from several Christian content creators to advocate for religious values and less lewd character design in video games. The tweet received over 2.5 million views and 38,000 likes in a month.

YouTuber and gaming content creator @SicklyTheNinJa^[2] replied to @Pirat_Nation's tweet on December 7th, writing, "This is not where the future of gaming should be headed. The constant promotion of half-naked women as the ‘greener side’ of gaming is getting ridiculous, and I’m beginning to think that these people who say they want to ‘save’ gaming don’t actually want to save it." His statement (seen below) amassed roughly 1.5 million views and 4,500 likes in a month.

SicklyTheNinJa and SmashJT GoonerGate Debate

As other Christian gamers started to voice their opinions about religious values and content in video games in early December 2024, YouTuber @SmashJT^[3] argued with SicklyTheNinJa regarding The First Descendant topic, which escalated to a "bizarre personal attack" on JT's family, as he claimed in a blog post on December 8th, 2024.

The creator also posted a video^[4] on the same day, explaining what the GoonerGate controversy is from their perspective (seen below), garnering roughly 64,000 views and 6,400 likes in a month.

Melonie Mac Go Boom's GoonerGate Response

On January 13th, 2025, YouTuber and Christian-oriented video game content creator Melonie Mac (Melonie Mac Go Boom) posted a video addressing the GoonerGate controversy, claiming she was purportedly canceled by the "anti-woke side" because she does not want "perversion in videogames."

In her video (seen below), Melonie stated she was against "the queer ideology" and "perverts" gamers. The video^[5] amassed more than 42,000 views and 3,700 likes in a week.

Online Reactions

The GoonerGate debate gained traction on X / Twitter, Reddit and YouTube over the course of a month going into mid-December 2024 and January 2025, with many users feeling that SicklyTheNinJa's comments on The First Descendant's supposed sexualized character design were patronizing and reminiscent of "moral grandstanding," which led to further polarized discussions about the role of morality in gaming.

For instance, on December 11th, 2024, YouTuber^[5] KNIGHTS WATCH posted a video titled "Can Christian Prudishness go too far?" in which he reacted to other creators' statements about the GoonerGate controversy, sharing his views as a Mormon and gaming content creator, receiving 23,000 views and 2,500 likes in a month.

On January 17th, 2025, X^[6] user @BlabberingC called the GoonerGate debate "dumb" and said, "you don't like it, don't play it. I thought 'this side' was about just playing fun and agenda-free games." The tweet (seen below) received more than 61,000 views and 2,000 likes in a week.

The topic also sparked some discussions on Reddit, such as Redditor u/TripleS034^[7] who posted a screenshot of a YouTube thumbnail to the subreddit /r/ShadWatch writing that "a couple of mid-looking manbabies crying that Jordan & Ciri aren't goonable enough," regarding Naughty Dog's Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet and Ciri's character design for The Witcher 4. The post (seen below) amassed roughly 270 upvotes and 270 comments in a month.

Search Interest

External References