Jimquisition: I'm Going To Murder Your Children

[Makabriel]

What I find disturbing is that an anonymous person in Canada can read a ranting Facebook entry from a kid in America and somehow get this kid thrown into jail, but high profile developers and people with big companies at their back can't manage to get any of these idiots jailed for their threats..

Well, the kid was using a facebook account under his real name, as well as providing a picture and home address, making identification extremely easy.

These idiots are generally under accounts with names like JKBrah347 or some equally idiotic stuff. So, identification can be a bit of a problem. I also no jack shit about how things like IP tracking works, so I don't know if that could work.

That's why I added the "Big companies at their backs" part. These companies have money.. and lawyers .. and clout. It would send a BIG message to these idiots if they suddenly find themselves on the wrong end of Big Bubba.

 

[Ohlookit'sMatty]

You that old saying "This is why we can't have nice things!" It applies here // It really applies here! For the love of the Unholy Gods, what is wrong with some people?!?

There are two redeeming points out of this video, 1. Americans take dead threats Very seriously, so I hope those people get what's coming to them and B. I do like Jim's little promise at the end, if we are all nice for the next 7days (which should not be that hard people) we get to his is dragon dildo

-M

 

[Toilet]

Fans are rabid and insane in every medium and you only have to descend into the retard realms of Tumblr to know that. Remember when George Lucas got death threats concerning the new trilogy? Remember when Hideaki Anno got death threats about how he ended Eva? The only difference between video games and any other entertainment industry is how the creators are so quick to shift blame to the consumer. People don't like your product? Clearly they're arrogant entitled children, they're the ones at fault. You aren't to blame at all despite having worse business practices than any other entertainment medium. The fans can't grow up but the developers can, either ignore it and take it professionally like all the other creators out there or throw a hissy fit, insult your fanbase and quit like Phil Fish and Hepler.

The funny thing is that if you are a video game writer there is no else place to go, it's as low as you can go career wise. If you write full time for video games then you probably failed at every other attempt at professional writing.

 

[generals3]

All i gotta ask after seeing this video is how can the action of a minority in any way be representative of "gamers" ?! This video was probably the worst way to talk about this issue.

 

[Ipsen]

But it doesn't, because it has nothing to do with game culture, not provably anyway.

A female politician in the UK who had the audacity to suggest it'd be a good idea to have more women on our currency was threatened with rape. Mary Beard, a lady who is a classicist and TV presenter was sent bomb threats for speaking up about the previous issue as well as others.

Neither of those, nor other many similar stories have anything to do with gaming whatsoever. It is the perceived anonymity that comes with posting online that causes most of these kinds of things. People cannot see their victim, often post under an alias and frequently do not think of the consequences.

The idea that gaming as a hobby might have something to do with this is no different from the people who blame rock music for causing drug addiction and violent media for causing mass shootings.

That is not to say we shouldn't care when people do it, or deal with it, but we should be looking at the root cause, not pointing the finger at one of the many areas where such behaviour occurs. Because if gaming did not exist, the people who sent those threats would still almost certainly be the same kind of people who did the things I linked above.

I think Jim is absolutely spot on with what he says, it is a problem for gaming in the sense that these people are causing issues, and we should deal with it. But it isn't because of gamers or gaming. We need to be looking at what causes to people behave like this in the first place, and how to deal with it. Not point fingers at gaming, because that is not really any different from what the politicians did after the mass shootings, and that was widely criticised.

I'll disagree with this not being about game culture. In your examples, taking a certain perspective, they can highlight problems of politics and/or TV in and of themselves. They all have a connection (a woman making a stand), but it doesn't, and might not need to be made to find the route of the issue (not saying that's necessarily the case with Hepler here, but just to get that point on the table).

But even OT, these threats come back to bite all of 'us, the gaming community', if even for the simple fact that the message of a threat means something to all people, but in different ways. In my eyes, you can forget about what everyone outside of the game community thinks, this becomes OUR problem because we're threatening developers, the ONLY people who make the games that we enjoy and bind this group of people together. That AT LEAST earns them a spot somewhere in the game community circle. In this video, I think Jim was considering the possibility of cutting these people off from the community (which comes with its own problems).

TLDR; This is a people problem (as you have stated).

But you DID mention 'game culture', which brings about a new question: Do games control game culture, or do gamers control game culture?

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Snip

He actually went out of his way and made an extra episode purely to discus the crap that was getting flung at Phil Fish.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/jimquisition/7831-Go-Fish

You know what, true. He did do an entire episode on that. But that was like a bonus episode. More often then not the weekly episode is about how male gamers are absolute scum and we should be lucky to have any woman who graces the video game industry with their presence.

 

[Erttheking]

Snip

He actually went out of his way and made an extra episode purely to discus the crap that was getting flung at Phil Fish.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/jimquisition/7831-Go-Fish

You know what, true. He did do an entire episode on that. But that was like a bonus episode. More often then not the weekly episode is about how male gamers are absolute scum and we should be lucky to have any woman who graces the video game industry with their presence.

Ok, now you're just plain seeing things where they aren't. At what point did he ever say anything even CLOSE to that? If it the sexism videos he's done in the past? Because someone isn't sexist against men when he points out flaws in an industry that are less than favorable towards women. That's like saying that advocating against racist elements is saying that all whites are scum, that isn't what's happening here.

 

[Ipsen]

All i gotta ask after seeing this video is how can the action of a minority in any way be representative of "gamers" ?! This video was probably the worst way to talk about this issue.

Because they call themselves 'gamers' too? I mean, until the chaff is removed from this community, all someone has to do these days is call themselves a 'gamer', have a console, and be able to type a message on the internet. I won't say that this is the BEST option (or even good), but we've strived for inclusivity for a while now, and it's worked, to an extend, adding too the help of social media. Now, with crap like this happening, we could stand to have the flexibility to change OUR OWN community, if we're even going to call it that. If not, we need another name for this collective.

 

[generals3]

Because they call themselves 'gamers' too? I mean, until the chaff is removed from this community, all someone has to do these days is call themselves a 'gamer', have a console, and be able to type a message on the internet. I won't say that this is the BEST option (or even good), but we've strived for inclusivity for a while now, and it's worked, to an extend, adding too the help of social media. Now, with crap like this happening, we could stand to have the flexibility to change OUR OWN community, if we're even going to call it that. If not, we need another name for this collective.

See now even if we assume there is "a gaming community" generalizing based on a small minority is silly. It's like saying "muslims are terrorists". And secondly there is no such thing as "the gaming community". A gamer is someone who plays game, just like a driver is someone who drives a vehicle. That doesn't mean there is a "driver community". Being a gamer describes what you do, not what you're part of.

 

[tontje]

Such a pointless episode. Stuff that is already obvious to most of the crowd except for those silly few who won't see or learn from this video like this anyways.

Also don't make generalizations by calling those crazy few "the gaming community" it's just short sighted to do so.

(In my opinion that it's stupid to take internet threats/rants serious anyways)

 

[Miss G.]

Dragon Age 2 wasn't particularly good for a lot of reasons. Hepler's criticism started when she complained about having to play videogames to experience the story.

Is that such a bad thing, though? Mind you, I don't have her problems with gameplay for the most part, but sometimes I do wish I could just skip to the next part of the story. e.g Instead of watching a Lets Play I would've loved to have owned Bioshock and Bioshock Infinite instead if I could handle 1st person POV anything and/or cared about shooting in general. I almost didn't get The Last of Us when all I wanted was the story because shooting is a foreign concept to me and the only game I've played that even had the option of shooting in it was Deadpool, and because the Let's Player that I follow likes to do games in 2-4 hour live sessions that are set days-weeks apart so followers can have the chance to support these games and finish them themselves (it works).

 

[V8 Ninja]

I didn't know this [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QLz0CqtMVc] still had to be passed around.

That video doesn't excuse behavior that involves threatening the lives of someone's children. I'm all for criticism, but outright hatred has no place in critical analysis nor any place in the reaction of said analysis.

Moving On: Do people really do this? I understand that people can get attached to works of fiction, but do people really feel the need to threaten the creators? Can't the displeased people say "I don't like this, I dislike the creator/writer" in a somewhat mild manner and move on? It's not like we're talking about politics or government policies.

 

[Mr_Terrific]

Yeah...should have went with the DLC episode as this is completely pointless since she got a book deal.

I also find it funny that Jim will jump down our throat for the Hepler thing but won't say shit to Marcus Beer or any of his peers who fuck up this industry just like the dipshits that threaten children.

Speaking of children, some loser threatens to murder a school full of children receives the support of damn near everyone in gaming because he was "joking" but when multiple people do it to Hepler, it's clearly serious threats and they all should be imprisoned.

I want my damned DLC episode....dammit.

Dude did a whole episode on the Phil Fish fiasco. Go look for it.

Yeah and he didn't say shit about Beer. No fuck you's or any of what he's saying in this video. He's not going to attack his peers.

 

[TreuloseTomate]

Jim said, this episode had to be made, but why? The last couple of episodes have been rather pointless. Making deaththreats on the internet (or in general) is stupid and wrong? No shit.
I find the delayed DLC topic far more interesting.

 

[I.Muir]

You know I had no idea this was still going on the Hepler front.
Also don't lump all of us with them.

 

[Riobux]

I'll quote myself:

"I have never felt so distrusting, annoyed and disturbed by the video game community in years reading this. With regards to the death threats of the Call Of Duty developers, while it's absolutely wrong they got death threats thrown at them, I could at the very least numb myself with the possibility that maybe it's just what that type of game audience brings. However, Bioware, a developer of RPGs, has inspired scorn in the gaming community so much that she's recieving death threats towards her, the rest of her team and her family? Not even for doing anything bad or may have an effect on the game. I can't help but believe more than ever that the gaming community deserves companies like EA and Activision. The type of company that exploits and belittles their fan base. Just because they deserve it for acts like this. They deserve Fox News giving ill-informed opinions of activitys, and they deserve Anita Sarkeese to exploit people for money. They deserve every negative thing at this point in my eyes."

I'll admit this was written before it was revealed that she left to write a book rather than due to the threat, but the point still stands. As someone who feels passionate about equalities and despises inter-group judgements, it's incredibly hard for me to now care about the plight of gamers. This entire incident has left me with a part of myself dead inside. A small part, but it's so very dead. At least groups like PETA, Westboro Baptist Church and the KKK aren't self-entitlted brats.

 

[grumpymooselion]

Well, this is sick and disturbing. Harassment and threat of violence isn't the way to go when you don't like something, I agree. However, while I feel Hepler deserves to be defended on the level of people threatening her life, and harassing her, I need to put something out there:

I didn't like the writing on projects/portions of projects she was associated with. I didn't like the writing in her book. And, as to her daring to be creative, I don't agree that she was. The actual writing she produced was on the same level as the generic romance nonsense my mother reads, and admits to only reading because it's brainless, stupid and [bad] - her 'junkfood' that's not good for her brain, but she likes it now and then anyways while wholly considering it bad at the same time. I view Hepler's writing in very much the same way. I suppose you can still consider it creative, on a certain level, so maybe I'm alone in finding it absurd to defend her 'creativity' . . . which I suppose it fine. Again, she deserves the full force of the law in defense of her safety, and her children's safety. She deserves our support for sticking it out, and for continuing to work for some time despite the negative feedback, but I'd still never defend her creativity and I don't care who we're talking about. I won't defend bad work. I will defend a person against harassment whose work I don't like.

I also didn't like her commentary on wanting to skip gameplay. It's not that the idea is bad, it's that there's an entire genre of games that already do it (visual novels with choose your own adventure aspects) that she could have gotten involved with instead. My issue was as simple as that, "if you want to skip gameplay, there's an entire genre that already does that." It really did just sound like she wanted to be working on another kind of game entirely, and that's fine. She should have been working on another type of game entirely, I can't help but think that would have made her and many of her critics happier. Visual novels, from what she described as her preference, would be a format of game she'd enjoy writing for, and there's definitely an audience out there for visual novels (many of whom seem to enjoy writing styles very similar to hers, writing style I don't personally like, but hey . . . there's an audience for that in the visual novel genre).

 

[Amaror]

pointless episode... This stuff is not done by "gaming culture", but by some crazy fucks that are stupid.
They don't watch your episodes and if they do, they won't get your point because they're, well, crazy.
This Episode was like a newspaper headline: "Eating babies is BAD!"

 

[bells]

Anybody who thinks this episode is unnecessary is lazy.

Anybody here who thinks they shouldn't hear this "because..." is freaking lazy.

YOU are the passive part of the problem. you are ENABLERS.

People who do this shit will no doubt not care for what Jim just said? Yeah. Fine. It's quite true. However, whenever that shit happens the larger group just perks their noses up and goes "Oh but i'm not like theeeeeeeeeem" "They are ANOTHER group entirely" "Oooooooooooh dont pile me up with THOSE guys..." fucking STOP THIS SHIT.

YOU get the community you enable around you. Just as much as the stupid kids that do the kinds of things Jim is talking about, many see and replicate. They just go at it and pile on, trying to make it a "thing" for the "lulz". What DOESN'T happen is the reverse power. What doesn't happen is people telling to cut that shit out. calling them on their bullshit.

Because as soon as this happens, the lazy ones start fanning themselves "Ooooooooooh its pointless to ague, i'll just let it be. i'm not like THOSE guys... no no no they are a complete different group. How unfair TO ME that i have to hear this that has nothing to do with ME"

Fucking entitled lazy babis, cut it out. It's because you lame it out, because you don't stand up for this stuff that we have these problems in the first place. You are ENABLERS. Passively allowing this culture that is beyond gender or race and it's just caustic to us all.

Stop defending yourself and justifying your self and finding a thousand different excuses to put yourself in your own little special bubble because you are not helping. you are not even being neutral, you are MAKING IT WORST.


if you see people acting like in the case Jim mentioned, CALL THEM OUT ON IT. Dont just walk way and look to the side.

 

[generals3]

Anybody who thinks this episode is unnecessary is lazy.

Anybody here who thinks they shouldn't hear this "because..." is freaking lazy.

YOU are the passive part of the problem. you are ENABLERS.

People who do this shit will no doubt not care for what Jim just said? Yeah. Fine. It's quite true. However, whenever that shit happens the larger group just perks their noses up and goes "Oh but i'm not like theeeeeeeeeem" "They are ANOTHER group entirely" "Oooooooooooh dont pile me up with THOSE guys..." fucking STOP THIS SHIT.

YOU get the community you enable around you. Just as much as the stupid kids that do the kinds of things Jim is talking about, many see and replicate. They just go at it and pile on, trying to make it a "thing" for the "lulz". What DOESN'T happen is the reverse power. What doesn't happen is people telling to cut that shit out. calling them on their bullshit.

Because as soon as this happens, the lazy ones start fanning themselves "Ooooooooooh its pointless to ague, i'll just let it be. i'm not like THOSE guys... no no no they are a complete different group. How unfair TO ME that i have to hear this that has nothing to do with ME"

Fucking entitled lazy babis, cut it out. It's because you lame it out, because you don't stand up for this stuff that we have these problems in the first place. You are ENABLERS. Passively allowing this culture that is beyond gender or race and it's just caustic to us all.

Stop defending yourself and justifying your self and finding a thousand different excuses to put yourself in your own little special bubble because you are not helping. you are not even being neutral, you are MAKING IT WORST.


if you see people acting like in the case Jim mentioned, CALL THEM OUT ON IT. Dont just walk way and look to the side.

And now please tell us what we actually should do? THis is the internet and most people hide behind anonymity. They don't give a shit about what you or I think. And the only possible thing they'd get is returning the favor towards them and troll them. But than you're not really any better than them.