How will the recent controversy effect your media consumption?

[Grouchy Imp_v1legacy]

It won't affect my use of this site at all. I use The Escapist to give me the heads up on upcoming releases and development projects, so whatever has got the reactionaries in an obnoxious flap this week impacts on me not in the slightest. And you know what? The 'controversy' that got them riled up before that didn't bother me then, and whatever the next 'controversy' is that'll get 'em all riled up in a couple of weeks won't bother me either.

 

[Goro]

Well, I was going to play Mario Kart but I was in the shed and found my Dreamcast so I'll be playing Soul Calibre II for the forseeable future!

TlR. Couldn't be bothered making the time to find out if I even cared in the first place.

 

[GundamSentinel]

Not at all. I don't visit many other gaming sites besides the Escapist (and even that less and less), and I've learned long ago which content to avoid here or what to take with a grain of salt. I don't do twitter either (because it's a wretched hive of scum and villainy) and have a very select group of Youtube subscriptions.

I come here for people with a shared interest in fun games (and sometimes other media/happenings) and as a result, I completely avoid all social commentary, feminism, w/e threads and features on this site and just come here for the things I actually like.

 

[TheIceQueen]

Not in the slightest. I never went to Gamasutra or Kotaku. I mean, Kotaku is part of the Gawker media. Why would you take anything they say seriously? "Today's gossip is tomorrow's news." That alone should tell you what you need to know about them. Polygon was boring and has/had a crap layout and Russ Pitts wasn't all too important there like he was here. Anyone who took Bob's word that seriously clearly hadn't been listening for very long. He has been well known to be abrasive. I watch him just because it will fill five minutes of my day and no more.

 

[kasperbbs]

I'm not even sure what this controversy is about, some sites censoring duscussion about some woman's sex scandal or is it something else entirely? Well whatever, i don't really care and it wont affect me in any way.

 

[maxben]

No changes whatsoever. My regular content creators remain my regular content creators. I tend to stay clear out of opinion/deep content except for Jim, TB (by extension the Coop Podcast), and Shamus as I like them the most.

 

[spartan231490]

Oh, you mean all the articles that were disparaging of gamers? It won't effect me at all. My skin is a lot thicker than that, and I intend to send a message the only way that really matters, with my purchases.

 

[Erttheking]

Not in the slightest.

The Escapist is really the only gaming site I frequent, and nothing from the past week has really soured my experience. Sure there's the regular smelly threads, but they've always been around. A tad larger this time obviously.

Yeah pretty much this. Not planning on changing my habits because of this at all. Mainly because it's still too much of a clusterfuck to tell what's going on.

 

[Kingjackl]

It hasn't changed much, most of the stuff I listen to was pretty good about the whole thing. The GAP touched on some great points; aside from acknowledging (crucially) that the affair was the least relevant part about the whole thing, they also talked about the harmful effect that so-called 'SJW's and the role of that in the gaming press can have on legitimate feminism. Junglist used to be my least favourite contributor to the podcast, but his contribution to their episode on the subject was particularly insightful. Joaby is still the man, though; I think he might be the first serious game journo I know who actually addressed the incident with Wolf Wozniak and Phil Fish and explained just how hypocritical and fucking abhorrent that was. While he didn't claim to believe there was any corruption in game journalism, what is it if not corruption to ignore the awful behaviour of a figure because they happen to be in your wheelhouse?

If there was anything it did change though, it was my appraisal of the Escapist's Big 3 personalities, Yahtzee Jim & Moviebob. Recently I'd been beginning to write Yahtzee off as a curmudgeonly old dinosaur, whose hateful misanthropic persona was looking tired next to Jim's more delightfully grandiose equivalent and Moviebob's more progressive views. The fact that he'd taken to spouting PC Master Race views so shockingly ignorant they would make TotalBiscuit gag was just icing on the cherry. However, I think this incident greatly restored my appreciation for Yahtzee for how he responded to it:

Yahtzee: I make it a point of pride to examine both sides of the story. Don't harass, don't censor, don't turn this into an 'us vs. them' situation, people on one side only perceive the assholes on the other side, all men don't oppress all women and neither do all women oppress all men, don't create barriers between social groups, don't generalise.

I'm simplifying of course, but these are all excellent points he raised. This whole story has gotten pretty damn ugly and I like that Yahtzee was willing to acknowledge that there's more to it than harassment and slut-shaming. Now, compare that to Moviebob:

Moviebob: OH YOU'RE ALL MISOGYNIST INSECTS, I CAN'T WAIT FOR OUR LORD AND SAVIOUR DEVIN FARACI TO COME IN AND TEACH YOU ALL A LESSON...oh, he's fat-shaming Boogie2988 and going on about white privilege because trading one set of social generalisations for another is equality. That's okay, I didn't *technically* say anything bad to anyone specifically so let's sweep that under the rug and go back to laughing at teenagers posting meaningless death threats.

Ignorant, hypocritical and completely lacking in self-awareness. I'll admit he's calmed down since then, but I get the feeling that's only because someone finally went and pulled on his leash. I still like Moviebob's work, but his attitude is a big problem.

 

[necromanzer52]

Right. Someone's gonna have to explain some things to me. I keep hearing people talk about some kind of a recent controversy, but my attempts to find out what they're on about have proved fruitless.
Can someone please either fill me in, or provide some links to the relevant incidents.

 

[Dollabillyall]

Right. Someone's gonna have to explain some things to me. I keep hearing people talk about some kind of a recent controversy, but my attempts to find out what they're on about have proved fruitless.
Can someone please either fill me in, or provide some links to the relevant incidents.

This!
I don't even know wth this is about and for some reason nobody will give a clue.

 

[Andy Shandy]

Simply put, it hasn't. Well, perhaps maybe less looking at replies some people get on Twitter, but that's it. The reason I follow A, B, C; X, Y, Z; S, J, W; L, O, L (wait, that last one doesn't work!) hasn't changed.

Actually that's not true, I have sworn off some of the places that people recommended in the you-know-what thread that some users thought were "unbiased reporting" which basically meant "what I wanted to hear".

 

[Bob Thenecromancer]

I'm sorry whats going on? My internet was out for about a week so I have no idea what happening.

 

[anthony87]

It won't.

The only effect all this shite has had on me is that I've finally started using the "Ignore" function and I'll probably end up retreating into User Groups even more than I had already.

 

[tippy2k2]

Right. Someone's gonna have to explain some things to me. I keep hearing people talk about some kind of a recent controversy, but my attempts to find out what they're on about have proved fruitless.
Can someone please either fill me in, or provide some links to the relevant incidents.

Shit, I've been following the story (as best as I can for I am only mortal!) and I STILL don't see what the hell everyone is pissed off about. From what I've gathered:

-Zoe whatshername boinked a number of people. A few of said people were game journalists. Other game journalists did not report on who Zoe whatshername was boinking and therefore all game journalism is corrupt

-Game journalists and developers have basically come out and said either:
A. The shitheads that are sending death threats and whatnot are giant shitheads. Many people seem to be changing the word "shitheads" to "gamers" because most of those Gamers shouldn't exist and Gamers are terrorist articles are pretty clearly talking about the shithead part of gamers and not all gamers

B. The game journalists and developers are commenting that the gaming scene is incredibly toxic. Never mind that GAMERS have been crying this for years; it seems once the journalists/developers say it, it becomes a grave insult rather than what they themselves have been preaching. I'm wondering if it's like the parent who rips their child constantly but will flip their shit when anyone else says anything that can be remotely taken as a possible slight against their angel...

So...that's what I'm seeing. Take it for what it's worth.

Oh, and if it wasn't obvious from my post; this "controversy" will not affect my consumption habits in any way, shape, or form.

 

[Bob Thenecromancer]

I'm sorry whats going on? My internet was out for about a week so I have no idea what happening.

This is the thread in question:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.858347-Zoe-Quinn-and-the-surrounding-controversy

Good luck, friend.

This is what got everyone's panties in a bunch? You know what I'm happy my internet went out......

 

[Something Amyss]

it won't

because the whole thing was fucking stupid and I fail to see why it managed to garner that many posts in a clusterfuck thread

say what you want about something like the ME3 ending at least people has a tangible reason to be pissed off...at least it was about an actual [I/]game[/I]

Pretty much this. Unless and until I see some actual hard evidence anything actually happened[footnote]other than a femalke developer both having and using a vagina[/footnote], I'm not going to give a damn.


It's sort of like asking how 9-11 truthers have impacted my consumption of news. Why should it?

Also, it's really weird how people went from "The Escapist is the only place we can discuss this safely" to "ewwww, SJW, unsubscribed!"

How exactly does one "self-censor"? Censorship is defined by Merriam Webster and Oxford Dictionary as inspection in order to destroy, remove or otherwise make unavailable content deemed objectionable.

One self-censors by then applying those things to themselves.

 

[Madame_Lawliet]

There was no controversy.
There was no conspiracy.
There was no corruption.
There was nothing.
There was just a whole bunch of stupid gossipy bullshit, harassment, slut-shaming, and misogyny in a community that's already rife with the stuff.

The silver lining? These jerks gave me a whole bunch of handy charts of "SJW" journalists for me to start following (hell, I was already a fan of most of them). So I now follow a whole bunch more people at Kotaku, Bad Ass Digest, Polygon, Gamasutra, Giant Bomb, etc.
I also Un-subbed from JonTron and bought up every Double Fine game I could get my hands on, but that was over the other thing.

And I'm actually thinking about buying Depression Quest, I don't even know what the fuck it is, I just want to write a positive Steam review of it as my way of saying "fuck the po-lice!"

As for whether I'm going to stick around the Escapist, 'course I am. I watch everything Bob, Jim, and Yahtzee produce (and that includes Game Overthinker, Jim's LPs, and Lets Drown Out respectively), and these forums are the only internet outlet I have left other then Tumblr and even that's waning. You ain't gettin' rid o' me that easily!

 

[CardinalPiggles]

I assume this "controversy" has something to do with Sarkeesian, I haven't been paying much attention to the whole affair anyway so I'll just continue to click on topics that are actually interesting and watch or read a few shows that I found interesting on this site.

I tend to stay away from any other kind of news site/forums too so I don't see much of any big news. This "controversy" won't affect my internet experience in any way.

 

[Revolutionary]

Most of what you said (OP) was all stuff that I've put into effect over the last year. Maybe I'm less "cultured" for it, but I'm a lot happier as a result. I've just unfollowed people who I'm never going to agree with and who are just abrasive, I completely quit tumblr, and disabled quote notifications on the escapist.

I'm exposed to less viewpoints but I'm happier having to not deal with the same recycled bullshit and drama every day. I'm able to just enjoy my life..you know...like a normal person. It's great. Turns out I don't have to sit there and nod while people call me a piece of shit.

I've done all this before the ZQ thing thing happened. I guess I'm slightly ahead of the curve in that respect. Look at my avatar, shit's kawaii as fuck, I'm going to go enjoy some Video Games now.