Internet shitstorm of the week

[Skykid]

So let me get this straight: a young woman named Zoe Quinn writes a game called Depression Quest and releases it on Steam, has sex with some people at some point in her life, and now every male on the Internet is in an uproar about it?

What am I missing here?

I'm at the point where I'm having to draw a bold line between gaming as I know it and being associated with the current generation retardedness of this once fine hobby.

Why is it that the nerd empire feels so aggrieved by a woman having sex? A reflection of sexually frustrated socially backward teenagers stomping their feet in anger at not being involved?

Obligatory reading:

Why I feel bad for and understand the angry gamergate gamers

[soprano1]

Why is it that the nerd empire feels so aggrieved by a woman having sex? A reflection of sexually frustrated socially backward teenagers stomping their feet in anger at not being involved?

Pretty much.

[Sasupoika]

Well, it was that she slept with them to get good press for her game. This is what people are actually angry about.
Plus she has been doing rather questionable things, like pretending to get hacked, doxxing and then playing the victim. And on top of that she almost destroyed a game jam for women in order to promote her own.

I can't remember surely, but issue does go deeper than that.

[Teufel_in_Blau]

LOL, why so late, Skykid? Shit is already over, now the Fappening is the hot thing on the Internet. But it's ok, you are just getting old.

I didn't followed the story too closely, only the stuff I catched on Neogaf but if I remember correctly, she slept with her boss (some dude who makes indie games) and at least one or two authors from some game sites (Kotaku and/ or Rock Paper Shotgun?) and a few other dudes. The funny part is that the guys were all married. Is it really THAT hard for you to imagine that she could use that in the future to her advantage? A little blackmailing here and there: "You, boss, give me money to promote my next game or your wife will take half of your money, and you, you little jorunaorlaiolst, write me a good review or he whole Internet will know how small your dick is!"

IMO, this is a legitim concern, imagine if some famous movie reviewer would fuck around with a certain director, wouldn't that at least raise some eyebrow here and there? The fact that all major websites were censoring the people talking about it didn't really help. Remember the guy who made "Cards against humanity"? Fuckers attacked him for DEFENDING himself from rape accusations. Here it was ok to talk about his private life because he has a dick and therefore he is always dangerous. Remember, Skykid, your dick is a weapon and every guy is a potential rapist. I guess this is what they call the male privilege.

[Xyga]

now the Fappening is the hot thing on the Internet.

Are you kidding me ? The Fappening is soooooo last week.

[cave hermit]

This isn't about a woman having sex, this is about a woman having sex with 5 different journalists in order to get good press on her glorified choose your own adventure novel, committing increasingly absurd acts of censorship, ruining an event that supports the cause she is allegedly for in order to stroke her own ego, and essentially ruining the game journalism industry by destroying its credibility and integrity (well, not to imply garme jarunalizm had integrity to begin with).

So yeah, do more research before jumping to conclusions.

[Teufel_in_Blau]

Oh shit, you're right, Xyga. I forgot that the Xbox One got released in Japan this week.

Spoiler

[cools]

LThe funny part is that the guys were all married. Is it really THAT hard for you to imagine that she could use that in the future to her advantage?

I'd missed this bit.

Cunning, find men unable to say "no, I'm married". Good for her.

[Sly Cherry Chunks]

Charlie Brooker said it best. Unfortunately, "ronery virgin misogynist" has been a tired old strawman ever since.

So how about those Jlaw nudes?

[BulletMagnet]

Was it ever confirmed (or at least confirmed-ish) that she'd done it with those guys at all, or is this one of those "rumor repeated enough times that it becomes fact" situations? I haven't been following this thing closely, but off the cuff I'm unaware of any supposed party to this whole thing that has stood up and said "yup, totally boinked in exchange for favors", or more importantly of anyone being disciplined/fired for it.

[Xyga]

I know people who slept for unreleased rom dumps.

[Skykid]

You guys talk like all this stuff is corroborated by hard evidence... She fucked some dudes, who said it was a case of prostitution in return for favourable game reviews?

Maybe her jaded ex boyfriend is just a total cocknocker enraged enough by her cheating/his rejection that he sought to make a scene and start a fire with the internet's largest angry nerd club: videogamers.

I'm not sure I understand the reason for such an explosive reaction beyond the ronery virgin hypothesis.

[Sly Cherry Chunks]

^its easier to believe, right?

[BIL]

Whatever the root cause, as long as purveyors of shitty games and shitty websites keep getting burned I'm enjoying the show.

[Teufel_in_Blau]

You guys talk like all this stuff is corroborated by hard evidence... She fucked some dudes, who said it was a case of prostitution in return for favourable game reviews?

Maybe her jaded ex boyfriend is just a total cocknocker enraged enough by her cheating/his rejection that he sought to make a scene and start a fire with the internet's largest angry nerd club: videogamers.

I'm not sure I understand the reason for such an explosive reaction beyond the ronery virgin hypothesis.

Same can be said about Max Temkin. His name is forever attached to a rape accusation. Guy got famous and rich because of a game he created and suddenly a women remembers being raped by him. Media jumps onboard and he explains that this is isn't true but won't go against her because he don't want to discourage women who really got raped going to the public with it. What making our lovely gaming news sites from this? Well: http://kotaku.com/a-different-way-to-re ... 1605542083

If it was ok to treat Temkin like a rapist WITHOUT ANY FUCKING evidence, and even writting a whole fucking article about how he didn't apologize enough for something he didn't do, why in the fucking world isn't it ok to raise concern about a women who is KNOWN to fuck up events for the good cause just for her own personal benefit, who supposedly slept with a bunch of dudes from the industry? Don't you think that this is a little bit hypocritical?

Now we have shit like #gamergate and how I, as somebody who loves and enjoy some good video games, should feel ashamed to be one. Back in the day they called it childish, now they calling it misogynist.

[DEL]

I remember Kirstie Alley saying that she slept with as many Execs as possible to get her break in the business.
So its all normal behaviour. You should hear what goes on here at the European Commission for jobs for husbands and promotions etc.

[Mortificator]

You guys talk like all this stuff is corroborated by hard evidence... She fucked some dudes, who said it was a case of prostitution in return for favourable game reviews?

Maybe her jaded ex boyfriend is just a total cocknocker enraged enough by her cheating/his rejection that he sought to make a scene and start a fire with the internet's largest angry nerd club: videogamers.

I'm not sure I understand the reason for such an explosive reaction beyond the ronery virgin hypothesis.

Same can be said about Max Temkin. His name is forever attached to a rape accusation. Guy got famous and rich because of a game he created and suddenly a women remembers being raped by him. Media jumps onboard and he explains that this is isn't true but won't go against her because he don't want to discourage women who really got raped going to the public with it. What making our lovely gaming news sites from this? Well: http://kotaku.com/a-different-way-to-re ... 1605542083

If it was ok to treat Temkin like a rapist WITHOUT ANY FUCKING evidence, and even writting a whole fucking article about how he didn't apologize enough for something he didn't do, why in the fucking world isn't it ok to raise concern about a women who is KNOWN to fuck up events for the good cause just for her own personal benefit, who supposedly slept with a bunch of dudes from the industry? Don't you think that this is a little bit hypocritical?

Now we have shit like #gamergate and how I, as somebody who loves and enjoy some good video games, should feel ashamed to be one. Back in the day they called it childish, now they calling it misogynist.

Flipping out over someone having sex isn't pathetic, because a guy in a completely unrelated situation got accused of rape once.

OK.

[MadScientist]

You guys talk like all this stuff is corroborated by hard evidence... She fucked some dudes, who said it was a case of prostitution in return for favourable game reviews?

The game has zero reviews posted on metacritic, so I don't get why people are jumping on this as the prime example of corruption in the gaming industry. I didn't see people lose their shit this much when Ubisoft were handing out free tablets to journalists at a watch_dogs event.

[Teufel_in_Blau]

Flipping out over someone having sex isn't pathetic, because a guy in a completely unrelated situation got accused of rape once.
OK.

So, it is ok to treat a guy like a criminal without any evidence but if the person is a women, we should all just shut up? Women can't do no wrong, right?

[Skykid]

Look, I don't really give a shit who fucked who or who raped who. I'm just getting pissed off that every time I tell someone I'm a video gamer or into video gaming they're going to have the vague interpretation that that equals misogynistic rapist.

If the ultra nerd brigade would just chill the hell out and stop drawing huge attention to these complete non-scandals they wouldn't be perverting the hobby's image so horribly.



On other shitstorms, I just looked into the Fappening and awww yeah. Winstead here I come.

[Volteccer_Jack]

Was it ever confirmed (or at least confirmed-ish) that she'd done it with those guys at all

Yes.

Kotaku's position is "they had a close personal relationship while he wrote about her but didn't actually pin the penis on the vagina until a week or two after those writings so no prob", which is like something you'd read on The Onion.

Quinn didn't even do anything except be a terrible person. All they had to do to prevent the whole shitstorm was punish the men involved. No prize for guessing why the men fell over each other rushing to make the issue about the woman.

[brentsg]

I think the shitstorm arose because she had a persona of someone who represented the opposite of what she turns out to be IRL. She'd marketed herself in such a way that she became a huge hypocrite. Also she's a girl in game circles so that's going to attract some attention.

[Skykid]

. What making our lovely gaming news sites from this? Well: http://kotaku.com/a-different-way-to-re ... 1605542083

Well if that isn't the most idiotic article I've read this year. Is that person actually an employed journalist or blogger/outside contributer?

The guy's being completely favourable in defending himself and offering a sympathetic courtesy at the same time and the article misreads every aspect as some kind of veiled cover up or non-admission of guilt. Useless. No wonder games journalism has such an awful rep.

EDIT 26/10/14: I noticed since this post was made the article has been revised. It must have really drawn some criticism. The footnote reads:

"Editor's Note: This piece has been significantly revised to better convey its original intent."

And a link is provided. I don't think the revised piece is that much better, but it's certainly testament to the quality of Kotaku's journalism that the original needed a desperate overhaul to backpedal on how dreadful and defamatory it was.

But it is what it is: grab a woman's breasts without her consent and she pushes you back? It doesn't matter that you were making out, that's sexual touching. You misread the mood? Or maybe your partner did? It is still by definition sexual assault. Because mood is a subjective thing. This is why consent is so important. How can you know your subjective view of your current situation is the same as your partner's without communication? You could argue that in most cases, these are minor offenses. You could say my earlier example is the sexual assault equivalent of stealing candy as a child, but it is nevertheless an example of sexual assault. And it should be recognized as such.

^ From the comments section. Not sure if serious.

So you're making out and you're sucking each other's faces off and you slowly bring your hands to the breasts... and that constitutes assault?

Initiating sexual relations even if it ends at light petting has to occur at some point or else the human race is doomed. Not sure about you guys but in my experience women don't usually place your hands on their boobs and say "you may now fondle me". Generally it's up to the guy to figure out a progression that everyone is comfortable with.

In what world is breast touching 'sexual assault' if you're already engaged intimately? How else are you going to get there?

English speaking countries are getting too absurd for words.

[Blinge]

Does someone need to explain to Teufel the difference between adultery and rape and which one is more severe/ actually a crime?
or does his country practice Sharia Law?

This story is ridiculous, no less than five guys? is there no exaggeration here at all? And even so, has any of these nerd warriors considered that maybe she (and the guys) just wanted to bone.. is the concept of a sexually active woman that scary

It all pisses me off because guys stand to benefit from more girls being into games >_<

[Mischief Maker]

I would have never wasted my hard earned money on that awful game "Papers, please" if it hadn't gotten a tongue bath from supposed curmudgeon Yahtzee.

Meanwhile "Aces Wild" is a fantastically well-designed action game by a one-man studio that never so much as got a mention on Rock Paper Shotgun. I found it purely by accident.

The sex is a red herring. It's rage against the game media for clearly giving special treatment to certain developers. Fez was showered with awards before it was even released because Phil Fish is part of indie gaming's exclusive clique. Zoe Quinn happened to sleep her way into the clique and so her awful art game got tons of media buzz and the money that follows.

This is no different from Doritogate. It's hard enough to deal with the family asking you when you're going to get a real job every Thanksgiving, the last thing games journalists want to hear mentioned is how they're corrupt shills, so they delete articles and cover things up. The fact that some of the expressed outrage includes irrelevant slut-shaming doesn't absolve the gaming press for their continuing failure.

[Teufel_in_Blau]

Does someone need to explain to Teufel the difference between adultery and rape and which one is more severe/ actually a crime?
or does his country practice Sharia Law?

According to Quinns very own definition she raped her boyfriend. Before the shitstorm, she said that having sex with other people while being in a relationship is equal to rape because your partner could catch a STD without knowledge and therefore risking your partners life, go figure. It seems to me that some of you people here have no idea what kind of person you are defending.

[Skykid]

Does someone need to explain to Teufel the difference between adultery and rape and which one is more severe/ actually a crime?
or does his country practice Sharia Law?

According to Quinns very own definition she raped her boyfriend. Before the shitstorm, she said that having sex with other people while being in a relationship is equal to rape because your partner could catch a STD without knowledge and therefore risking your partners life, go figure. It seems to me that some of you people here have no idea what kind of person you are defending.

So she's guilty of being a liar and a cheat and saying some things that make her look dumb.

I'm still missing a scandal here.

[Teufel_in_Blau]

I think Mischief Maker explained it the better than I ever could. I'm certainly lacking his short and to the point writing style.

[cave hermit]

Yeah basically the real problem here is the corrupt GARME JARNALIZM industry; there is pretty much no integrity left in it, getting good publicity from them comes down to bribes or connections. In this case it's the latter. The reason this whole thing is blowing up is probably because 1: Quinn is a manipulative hypocrite, and 2: because there is evidence (albeit questionable depending on who you ask) that corruption is happening here.

[Skykid]

I think Mischief Maker explained it the better than I ever could. I'm certainly lacking his short and to the point writing style.

Sure, you can say it's a red herring and actually rage against the media - but it's yet another female being used as a hate figure over incredibly tenuous and frankly completely normal human behaviours.

As MadScientist noted, there's ample reason to get pissed at gaming media, you don't always need to wait for a woman to get involved.