Journalism and Bias in the Gaming Industry

[Blarghagh]

Continued from here: http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/80106-journalism-and-bias-in-the-gaming-industry/page-27

 

Same ol' stock description starting every thread here:

 

For the uninitiated: The 'Gamergate' controversy was sparked in early 2013, as the release of Zoe Quinn's "Depression Quest" was criticized from gamers who believed that the game had received a suspicious amount of attention in relation to it's quality and scope. Eron Gjoni (Zoe's ex boyfriend) wrote a blogpost accusing Quinn of having had an affair with Kotaku journalist Grayson, prompting the critics to conclude that the attention and success of "Depression Quest" was due in part to unfair bias and nepotism in the industry.

 

Several articles from both sides of the issue has highlighted inconsistencies in the stories of both Grayson, Quinn and Eron as well as the many other examples that have followed.

 

Gamergate is wideley seen in the public, as a culture war over the diversification of gaming, artistic recognition and social criticism of video games and the gamer social identity.

 

For the posters in this thread:

Many bloggers and populists have tried to steer the discussion into areas they feel are the underlying issue - ranging from simple bias, to widespread misogny or misandry. I would however prefer that we keep this discussion as objective and clean as possible and so I will be keeping an a extra close eye on this thread. This certainly does not mean that you may not discuss any issue you feel, but rather that you should be thoughtful of  how  you discuss it with those you disagree with.

 

Especially in regards to these three guidelines:

 

Discrimination: Obsidian has a zero-tolerance policy with regard to racial, ethnic, gender, religious, disablement, and/or sexually discriminating remarks.

Harassment: We ask that the users of this board treat one another with respect, even when opinions differ. Personal attacks that are intended to cause unwanted attention, embarrassment, or harm will not be tolerated. In addition, Obsidian does not tolerate disrespectful and/or slanderous posts about its competitors, developers and publishers. Such posts will be subject to editing or deleting, with its posters censured or banned.

 

Objectionable Content: The use of abusive, vulgar or profane language, even if hidden through the use of symbols or other characters is not tolerated. Intentionally posting workarounds to our language filters are prohibited. Posts may be edited or deleted at any time by the moderation team, and depending on the severity and frequency of said posts, the poster may be censured or banned.

 

Any posts in violation of the Forum Guidelines will either be removed or modified and authors of such posts will receive warnings and/or have their content placed under moderated review.

 

AS BEFORE, PLEASE CHECK YOUR IMAGES FOR PROFANITY. IF THE IMAGE CONTAINS UNCENSORED PROFANITY THAT THE BOARD WOULD NORMALLY CENSOR, WE WILL REMOVE YOUR ENTIRE POST.

[Orogun01]

Can't you guys just remove the image? I agree with keeping the forums clean but it seems like a punitive measure rather than a preventive one.

[Blarghagh]

That's what we usually do, but just removing the image didn't seem to stop anyone from posting it anyway, so that wasn't much of a preventive measure. And at the heght of the controversy, having to check every screencapped  wordy article, reddit thread or twitter war for profanity was a massive timesink and too easy for them to slip through.

[Meshugger]

 

That fake japanese accent

 

Arigato gozaimazu, Nippon-chan!

[Malcador]

So Gamergate ran Moosa off Twitter, heh.

[Meshugger]

Nobody can be chased out of Twitter. He simply ragequit when people called him out. 

[Keyrock]

Who's Moosa?  I'm quite ignorant when it comes to social media personalities, on account of the fact that I have zero presence in the social media world.

Edited June 29, 2015 by Keyrock

[Meshugger]

Reviewer at Polygon. Thinks that Witcher needs more black people and very confused about Slavic folklore.

[BruceVC]

Nobody can be chased out of Twitter. He simply ragequit when people called him out. 

 

You don't seem concerned that GG has effectively stifled debate and a dissenting voice in the great GG narrative?

 

What happened to the belief in free speech....I suppose its more selective and shouldn't be protected all the time ?

[Meshugger]

That has to be the most disingenuous BS that i've ever heard from you. No one forced him to shut up but himself. You cannot help someone that refuses to speak.

[Malcador]

Who's Moosa?  I'm quite ignorant when it comes to social media personalities, on account of the fact that I have zero presence in the social media world.

One of these freelance guys that writes at Polygon, sometimes Guardian. Not so much a Twitter personality, I think, but he comes close.

[BruceVC]

That has to be the most disingenuous BS that i've ever heard from you. No one forced him to shut up but himself. You cannot help someone that refuses to speak.

 

Nah, I'm sure I've said more disingenuous things in the past...I must have  ?

 

Please don't get mad with me, you are the  one who has to live in this new Internet where people get bullied into silence by people more belligerent and vociferous than them 

[Orogun01]

 

That has to be the most disingenuous BS that i've ever heard from you. No one forced him to shut up but himself. You cannot help someone that refuses to speak.

 

Nah, I'm sure I've said more disingenuous things in the past...I must have  ?

 

Please don't get mad with me, you are the  one who has to live in this new Internet where people get bullied into silence by people more belligerent and vociferous than them 

 

That's politics and the world in general and that's how we got to this point already, by letting noisy crusaders make others believe that they were a chorus. When both sides are mirroring each other it feels kind of pointless to just say that one is the guilty party.

[BruceVC]

 

 

That has to be the most disingenuous BS that i've ever heard from you. No one forced him to shut up but himself. You cannot help someone that refuses to speak.

 

Nah, I'm sure I've said more disingenuous things in the past...I must have  ?

 

Please don't get mad with me, you are the  one who has to live in this new Internet where people get bullied into silence by people more belligerent and vociferous than them 

 

That's politics and the world in general and that's how we got to this point already, by letting noisy crusaders make others believe that they were a chorus. When both sides are mirroring each other it feels kind of pointless to just say that one is the guilty party.

 

 

I agree but lets not deny this situation with Moosa is not something we should condemn?

Edited June 29, 2015 by BruceVC

[Barothmuk]

Reviewer at Polygon. Thinks that Witcher needs more black people and very confused about Slavic folklore.

*Keeping in mind I have not read the review, not played the Witcher 3 and know little of the actual controversy.

 

Obviously I’d support the inclusion of greater ethnic diversity in the Witcher-verse as for one, they exist in the setting, and two it’d combat that tired old meme that Europe has only ever had white people until the modern era.

 

That said it does annoy me when people (usually Americans) apply their cultural experiences to places they know jack**** about and reduce complex issues of race to simply “whites > non-whites”. Historically East-Europeans have been invaded, occupied, conquered and all around ****ed over by every surrounding power and to this day face continued systematic racism (e.g. opinions of east-European immigrants in Britain) and international subordination. To simply lump a piece of art that was created by and reflects the history and culture of an often neglected people into the simplistic category of “white” and assert that the historical circumstances of East Europeans is no different to those of white anglo-saxon Americans only shows your ignorant and American-centric worldview (FFS one section of the Witcher’s lore is analogous to the horrors of WWII on the Eastern front – an entirely ignored and downplayed tragedy in modern history).

 

And since I’m on the topic:

 

 

That huge purple area has not always been European. It was brutally conquered and colonized by the Russians in the 1500’s-1600’s. Dumb liberal Americans really need to stop speaking about **** they know little about.

[Bartimaeus]

 

Alexander the Great would like to have a word with you.

 

(edit): Never mind: I guess this is supposed to literally refer to the modern day countries, not the region/land itself. Turkey being blue also makes zero sense. Carry on!

Edited June 29, 2015 by Bartimaeus

[Hurlshort]

Hey, let's give the Golden Horde some credit, they controlled a pretty big chunk of land too.

 

[Meshugger]

Pfeh, the current paradigm is that white people are the reason of everything wrong. Forget about the Mongols, Huns, Moors, Persians, Ottomans, Assyrians, Babylonians, Sumerians and so on. Besides it would be racist in some way.

 

Topical: https://twitter.com/leighalexander/status/615150172847349760

 

(lol)

[Orogun01]

I agree but lets not deny this situation with Moosa is not something we should condemn?

If you work in customer service dealing with angry customers comes with the job, its not just helping people but putting up with their ****. If you're a journalist, reviewer on the internet then you have to deal with people making angry comments. It comes with the job, what I don't get is this fascist liberal notion that people should be good.  Yet despite that they believe in freedom of choice, just not every choice apparently. There is a very ivory tower disconnect with every that demands that people; other people, change rather than learning oneself to deal with bad people.

[GhoulishVisage]

I don't quite understand what happened with Tauriq Moosa.
He seemed to namesearch himself and then take exception to people making fun of his statements, then he said he'd had enough and left twitter.

He wasn't even tagged into the conversations.

 

[Meshugger]

I think that he is a narcissist with a depression is bringing the fun to everyone.

[Malcador]

I think that he is a narcissist with a depression is bringing the fun to everyone.

Careful, he might register here...

[Oerwinde]

Should we call him He Who Shall Not Be Named? Seems mentioning his name summons him.

[Fighter]

 

 

LOL. This is not normal behavior.

[aluminiumtrioxid]

what I don't get is this fascist liberal notion that people should be good.

 

...It's not like society doesn't have a complex set of incentives and punishments aimed at enforcing exactly this "fascist liberal notion" (dafuq).

 

Moreover, what I don't get is the notion that somehow the freedom to be not-good is more important than the harm caused by people being not-good.

Edited June 29, 2015 by aluminiumtrioxid