GameStop Employee Gives RapeLay Interview, Gets Fired

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
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GameStop Employee Gives RapeLay Interview, Gets Fired


A GameStop employee who gave an interview in which he said the infamous RapeLay [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/the-needles/7388-Lets-Not-Ban-RapeLay] is "nothing more than a game" found himself fired shortly thereafter, but the reason for his dismissal may have less to do with the game than with how he got it.

Near the end of April, Derek Littlejohn spoke with GameStop [http://www.pointparkglobe.com/news/game-spurs-debate-causes-controversy-1.1433366] for two years and was thus presumably something of an authority on videogames. "I've both heard about and played RapeLay myself, and I find it as nothing more than a game," he said.

"It's relatively easy to pirate these games, when all one has to do is type in the name of what they want and add 'torrent'. Usually, some sort of link turns up," he continued, explaining the futility of banning the game. "Kids know technology in this day and age, and these games are not hard to find." Furthermore, he said, people who "put in the work and dedication" to create something, even something like RapeLay, should have the right to present it to the public.

A few days later, according to Game Rant [http://gamerant.com/gamestop-employee-fired-rapelay-interview-jeff-20612/], he was fired. Nobody is saying exactly why at this point and that's unlikely to change unless Littlejohn himself decides to speak up, but the connection seems clear enough: The interview got him canned.

Many retail companies have policies that expressly forbid employees from speaking to the press, although it's usually more of a knuckle-rapping offense than one worthy of termination. Unless, that is, the employee in question makes detrimental or damaging comments about his employer, like, say, telling the world how easy it is to pirate games and then explaining exactly how to go about it. Something like, "All one has to do is type in the name of what they want and add 'torrent'," for instance.

It's easy to look at GameStop as the heavy in this case, unjustly smacking down an innocent employee who was speaking his own mind on his own time. But by identifying himself as an employee, he went from being an anonymous guy on the street to a GameStop rep, in spirit if not in fact. Giving a crash course in game piracy in that capacity wasn't too bright; there may be more to it than just that but I think the reality is that if there's anything at all surprising about this case, it's that in the end, RapeLay itself probably had very little to do with why he was actually fired.


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cobrausn

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Dec 10, 2008
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What an idiot. Glad he got fired.

Having said that, people who work for gamestop should be considered an expert in very little other than general game knowledge and retail practices.
 

chronobreak

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Sep 6, 2008
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He admitted to piracy, and gave a non-company sponsored interview. Bad move, man. He brought it on himself.
 

Jack and Calumon

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Dec 29, 2008
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Thus why GameStop people should keep their mouths shut and just ring it up.

Calumon: 30 minutes just to ring up Ratchet and Clank. I got soooo bored.
 

SnootyEnglishman

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May 26, 2009
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Smart move dumbass. Should have known that when you're giving an interview and you identify yourself as a worker of a worldly recognized retail chain that mean you don't tell people how to do thing which would derail them from the business.
 

vfaulkon

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Jul 21, 2008
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Must've been the kinda person that would go get wasted while underage in college, have pictures taken of him at the bar by his friends, then post the pics on his Facebook page the following morning. Shmuck.

I'm with chronobreak. Never, EVER do an interview while representing your employers unless your boss has given you the go-ahead.
 

Dr Ampersand

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Jun 27, 2009
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Well he must be the talk of the town. Must be fun getting fired when talking about how you acquired a game where you rape people. Religious nuts must love him.
 

Jared

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Jul 14, 2009
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Well...he will certainly learn a lesson...you dont go off talking about things like that if you work in the business...its asking for trouble...which he found
 

Matt_LRR

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Nov 30, 2009
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Dude should have adhered to GameStop's "don't talk to the press" policy.

Dumb.

That said, if the media paid more attention to statements exactly like his we might see more reasonable policy making and discourse with regards to the industy.

The game isn't available here, and is only obtainable through piracy. Banning it will achieve nothing, because you already can't buy it here anyhow. Regulating this game simply sets an uncomfortable precedent, and fails to actually regulate access to the game at all.

He's 100% right in what he says.

-m
 

The DSM

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Apr 18, 2009
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He admitted to piracy.

Thats not a good move when working in the videogame selling industry...
 

PapaJupe

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Jul 31, 2006
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He was fired from Gamestop because he didn't harrass the interviewer about putting $5 down to reserve another game.
 

Flauros

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Mar 2, 2010
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Is that why i got fired from being a cable repairman? Just because i showed them how to pirate cable?
 

The_ModeRazor

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Jul 29, 2009
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I guess it was more about the pirating than the game itself.
And!
Kids don't know technology. Adults don't know it either.
Do you know how that fucking box in your room actually works? How your Firefox, or Crysis runs?
No? Then you don't know technology. You just know how to use it. (hooray for hypocrisy: I don't know how it works either :p)
 

oppp7

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Aug 29, 2009
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I thought when you brake the law you don't talk about it? Ninjas got him.