GameStop Employee Gives RapeLay Interview, Gets Fired
- Thread starter Andy Chalk
- Start date
Shouldn't it be a company policy to sack people who openly admit to potentially hurting their business? Or admit that they participate in regular illegal activity?
Exactly. The retail magnates come down hard (as they should) if an employee compremises a buisnesses potential revenue in any way.SnootyEnglishman said:
I was trying to see where he claimed to have any representation for his company -- it's certainly not anywhere near the quotes referenced here. It probably would've been more prudent if he had just answered their questions of "Where do you work?" with "A videogame retailer." Although there's no background there to say that the Globe reporter didn't catch him in his GameStop shirt on his lunch break and just started asking questions about the game, maybe only pausing to ask "How long have you worked at GameStop?" For all we know, the reporter may have asked "How long have you worked at the video game store?" and chose later to publish the name of the store himself.
The only exception to this comes later, when Littlejohn seems to make an off-hand remark:
Everything else, it's questionable as to what information he volunteered.
The only exception to this comes later, when Littlejohn seems to make an off-hand remark:
That could be construed a few different ways, like "Banning has never been an issue because GameStop will sell anything", depending on how far out of context you take his statement.The Globe said:
Everything else, it's questionable as to what information he volunteered.
Except he wasn't representing GS. This is BS. I can't believe The Escapist actually defends a chilling corporate policy like this.Matt_LRR said:
This isn't really about the media kicking up a fuss about RapeLay. If anything, it's about the general public opinion to do with it, which would have been pretty similar to how it is now even if the media had stayed out of it. Over here in the United Kingdom, we've seen very little of this 'frenzy' you mention.RowdyRodimus said:
I would say that it's just Gamestop trying to make a point by submitting to the public, if that makes sense. Or rather, trying deliberately not to make a point, though I'm not sure if the American populace is likely to boycott Gamestop until they issue a statement saying they hate the game.
Now I don't know about this sort of thing (I never did an honest day's work in my life), but are GameStop clerks eligible to back pay or something when they get fired? If they do, then this might just be a guy who hates his job and found an easy way to get fired. Or, more likely, he's just an idiot.
http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2008/12/why-defend-freedom-of-icky-speech.htmlMatt_LRR said:
I have nothing of great substance to add, so... I'll just leave this here
The saddest part of this story is that people in the media, or the viewers of said media, would ever think that a clerk at GameStop could be considered a "resident expert" on the video game industry, or even the underground game phenomena.
So I guess when an indie band does a controversial song, the media is going to the nearest music chain-store and asking a "resident expert" there on what the song was about?
No?
I didn't think so.
As was already said, this is just about the media failing as a business and making desperate grabs at anything that will make them money from ratings, or will harass outside industries into buying them off. They are worse than the mafia. Crazy statement, you say? Well, has the Mafia ever tried to sell War to the people, and in turn, profit off of said war? Nope. Gee... the media sucks pretty bad, doesn't it?
So I guess when an indie band does a controversial song, the media is going to the nearest music chain-store and asking a "resident expert" there on what the song was about?
No?
I didn't think so.
As was already said, this is just about the media failing as a business and making desperate grabs at anything that will make them money from ratings, or will harass outside industries into buying them off. They are worse than the mafia. Crazy statement, you say? Well, has the Mafia ever tried to sell War to the people, and in turn, profit off of said war? Nope. Gee... the media sucks pretty bad, doesn't it?
Having been identified as an employee of GS, he explicitly was representing Gamestop. He wasn't speaking on behalf of gamestop, or representing the company's opinions, but his statements reflect on the corporation. Absolutely they do.SaintWaldo said:
It's written into the emplyee agreement at GS that employees are to decline to speak to the press, and forward all requests for media to the corporate communications department.
Had he identified himself as "a gamer" or "a game retailer" this would be no issue. But the moment he names his employer he bacame a representative, and an unauthorized one at that.
That he got canned should be surprising to no one.
-m
...hold on. You're actually defending the idea of firing people who work for a company - that has no authority on what games to ban, or on any of the issues he actually spoke on - because he identified himself as an employee..
Did someone say.. "clear connections" a little further back there?
Did someone say.. "clear connections" a little further back there?
I would wager that RapeLay had absolutely nothing to do with why he got fired. He was right, of course, about everything he said, but he should've known that GameStop wasn't going to be to happy about him essentially endorsing piracy in their name.
I think it should be said, that it's probably not a big deal that he got fired from GameStop. It isn't exactly quality-of-life threatening to not have to work for a mechanical franchise store.
It's like saying, "Oh no, I got fired from pumping gas, what am I going to do now?! My honor, my pride... is... tainted!"
The guy surely doesn't give a shit, either. It was probably a part-time job anyway.
It's like saying, "Oh no, I got fired from pumping gas, what am I going to do now?! My honor, my pride... is... tainted!"
The guy surely doesn't give a shit, either. It was probably a part-time job anyway.
The title is very misleading. It makes it sound like he got fired because he said it was nothing but a game, but it was because he admitted to pirating it along with other things.
A little off topic... but do you actually simulate raping people in RapeLay, or is this just an urban myth?