Nintendo Addresses "Misinterpreted" Watergate Joke in Paper Mario: Color Splash

[Lightknight]

Yeah, despite being a spark on the event, Grayson (and the other five guys of the burger group) was just a low ranking journalist that liked a girl and did two small things he probably shouldn't of. Certainly not a sign of overall industry corruption.

I think the issue with the game jam was primarily a failure to recuse. Being in a close personal relationship with a prime subject of the article is a problem.

But really, what kind of small and petty stuff compared to huge corporate gifts and real scandals? There's just something hugely different in my mind between a single journalist doing something unethical out of love and someone doing it because they accepted a bribe/gift from the gaming company.

However, I do think you are trivializing the unethical nature of Grayson's indie article. It was absolutely unethical (especially with him cited in the game's credits too) but just nothing close to the degree of shit he got for it.

While I think you're being remarkably generous (if not sentimental) in describing that particular tryst as "love", it probably wouldn't have been seen as a sign of overall industry corruption if it hadn't turned out to be exactly that. That's apparent from the way the response wasn't an apology and a promise to do better from then on, coupled with a slap on the wrist for Grayson. But, as it happened, a massive collective screaming fit by the media to persuade the industry to stop "catering to" those awful gamers , coordinated on a secret mailing list where "journos" who were supposedly professionally covering "indie developers" were calling them "colleagues" as a matter of course.

So it was hardly a case of a single "journalist" lead astray by the tender feelings swelling in his bosom, but an entire culture of cronyism that had coopted the major players in the games media, and one that they were prepared to turn the whole culture into a battleground to defend. To me, that's a far, far more serious problem than quotidian cases of crass bribery.

That's what I said above. The five guys thing led to Grayson which sparked the whole thing, but then everything blew the fuck up with the Gamers are Dead collective work to take a dump on gamers.

Make no mistake, there was still an outrage before that day though. The industry engaged a censorship campaign anywhere the subject was brought up that streisand effected the whole thing to nutso levels. My first post in the topic was imploring the journalists to explain what was going on because there was clearly an outcry about the censorship on the topic and the only people talking about it were driving things in weird ways. They didn't listen to those calls for covering a story (and colluded not to in that email site they had going where Ben Kuchera even tried to shame people who were letting their users discuss it) and things got worse until the Gamers are Dead broke any remaining flood gates.

What I'm saying is that the thing that started all this nonsense was so very trivial. The worst thing Zoe did was that thing with blacklisting TFYC if their claims were true which frustrated feminist gamers to a degree when they heard about it. But one thing led to another and the coverage and censorship in response to the story is what really broke it.

I mean, is there a term for this? When the story itself isn't the story?

 

[StatusNil]

What I'm saying is that the thing that started all this nonsense was so very trivial. The worst thing Zoe did was that thing with blacklisting TFYC if their claims were true which frustrated feminist gamers to a degree when they heard about it. But one thing led to another and the coverage and censorship in response to the story is what really broke it.

I mean, is there a term for this? When the story itself isn't the story?

Maybe the story was a perfect miniature model of the real story? That also served as an exquisitely apposite metaphor for the raging fire this smoke lead to?

That said, in retrospect it's clear that it wasn't quite such a trivial little scandal from the point of view of the "journos", because their whole campaign of pushing these "indie darlings" was built on notions like the moral superiority of these people. They were selling the idea of the incorruptible, "independent" Artistes, which was certainly the major theme of the big article in The Edge magazine on that game jam fiasco that I recall reading. The whole righteous sexual moral code thing was of course a major factor in all that too. I mean, it's not like the peerless quality of the actual games was the selling point. The idea was that people would want to join the "indie" bandwagon because they thought it was all cool and hip. And being just another hypocrite preacher simply... isn't. That was their whole shtick blown.

In a way, the embattled "harassment" narrative is the next best thing to being so cool people will follow. The Campaign just had to pivot a little further into victimhood territory.

 

[Josh123914]

Wait, i thought you meant the Nixon watergate scandal! That was a weird moment i had of considering Nintendo addressing US political corruption.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watergate_scandal

So did I. I hereby change this thread to one about Richard Nixon.

Discuss.

I think Nixon was innocent; WatergateGate was obviously a plot by the Zionist-Illuminati Conspiracy to put black helicopters in our water!

"Our Constitution works!" Says Gerald Ford after Nixon's resignation, Ford being somebody who was Commander-in-Chief for 2 years without winning a single election.

Also, 'implied'? Let's not. What I'm saying is that for people who think she is meaningless, everyone who dislikes her seems to just be waiting to burst in and go 'MAN SHE'S SO IRRELEVANT AM I RIGHT GUYS???' at the slightest mentioning of her ever. REAL meaningless, if you've gotta bust down a door and scrabble over everyone else to proclaim how meaningless she is to you.

Wrex how many people in this thread have expressed disdain for her actions, and yet have never ventured into GID?

There's been what? At least 100 individuals who've contributed so far, and I can count on my fingers the amount of posters here that are from Mr. Pip's if that's any indication.

She manipulated info to make it out as though Nintendo of all companies had it out for her, yet you wonder why forum-goers would find that to have discussion value? If it seems like everyone was pouncing at the chance to call Quinn out for this, its because the immediate reaction among a lot of people at once appears to be a sigh of disinterest and a bit of reaffirmation of suspicions. Not many ways to convey that through text, so it gets repetitive.

 

[Wrex Brogan]

Also, 'implied'? Let's not. What I'm saying is that for people who think she is meaningless, everyone who dislikes her seems to just be waiting to burst in and go 'MAN SHE'S SO IRRELEVANT AM I RIGHT GUYS???' at the slightest mentioning of her ever. REAL meaningless, if you've gotta bust down a door and scrabble over everyone else to proclaim how meaningless she is to you.

Wrex how many people in this thread have expressed disdain for her actions, and yet have never ventured into GID?

There's been what? At least 100 individuals who've contributed so far, and I can count on my fingers the amount of posters here that are from Mr. Pip's if that's any indication.

She manipulated info to make it out as though Nintendo of all companies had it out for her, yet you wonder why forum-goers would find that to have discussion value? If it seems like everyone was pouncing at the chance to call Quinn out for this, its because the immediate reaction among a lot of people at once appears to be a sigh of disinterest and a bit of reaffirmation of suspicions. Not many ways to convey that through text, so it gets repetitive.

...2 questions: what the fuck does GID have to do with this, and what the fuck is a 'Mr. Pips'? Also, should I be giving a fuck about this Mr. Pips if it isn't a delightful 50s energy drink? I'm going to be disappointed if it isn't a delightful 50s energy drink, that's for sure.

And uhhhh... sure, sign of disinterest/reaffirmation of suspicions, whatever, but does everyone have to do it? Shit, if you really don't care about her, it's REAL easy to avoid her. I've pulled it off quite wonderfully, I just get into these threads whenever too many people throw some elbows into the dogpile. Hate her with the fury of 10,000 suns, I don't give a shit, but when you're jumpin' in with a couple dozen other people to scream about JUST HOW MUCH YOU DON'T CARE like a My Chemical Romance fan, I'm calling shenanigans. Be honest with your feelings, don't get all tsundere and shit with it.

Also, discussion value? That is a... generous approach to this topic. Real generous. I've always found little value in threads that are little more than hate-sinks focused on people, but that's not something I can really level blame at the OP for given it's just a news post.

(All usage of you is 'general' in this, before anyone busts my balls.)

EDIT: Wait, right, JOSH! Gotta balance the whole 'name call out' thing since everyone keeps calling me Wrex for some reason. Like, it's touching and all, but I figure something is directed at me when people quote it, you know? Don't gotta get all 'personal address' with it.

 

[Stewie Plisken]

...2 questions: what the fuck does GID have to do with this, and what the fuck is a 'Mr. Pips'? Also, should I be giving a fuck about this Mr. Pips if it isn't a delightful 50s energy drink? I'm going to be disappointed if it isn't a delightful 50s energy drink, that's for sure.

And uhhhh... sure, sign of disinterest/reaffirmation of suspicions, whatever, but does everyone have to do it? Shit, if you really don't care about her, it's REAL easy to avoid her. I've pulled it off quite wonderfully, I just get into these threads whenever too many people throw some elbows into the dogpile. Hate her with the fury of 10,000 suns, I don't give a shit, but when you're jumpin' in with a couple dozen other people to scream about JUST HOW MUCH YOU DON'T CARE like a My Chemical Romance fan, I'm calling shenanigans. Be honest with your feelings, don't get all tsundere and shit with it.

Also, discussion value? That is a... generous approach to this topic. Real generous. I've always found little value in threads that are little more than hate-sinks focused on people, but that's not something I can really level blame at the OP for given it's just a news post.

(All usage of you is 'general' in this, before anyone busts my balls.)

EDIT: Wait, right, JOSH! Gotta balance the whole 'name call out' thing since everyone keeps calling me Wrex for some reason. Like, it's touching and all, but I figure something is directed at me when people quote it, you know? Don't gotta get all 'personal address' with it.

Wrex. Wrex.

It's a news piece. It's published with the intent of people not just reading it, but also commenting on it. It's how the site makes money. This is why places like this exist. Quinn was a central figure in a fairly big controversy that we're almost all aware of to some extend. It draws attention. That's what we're here for, that's why we read these pieces. It's not a 'hate' thing, it's a 'celebrity' thing. If Quinn disappeared tomorrow, we'd forget about her; all of us, no hate, no love, nothing. Just oblivion. We'd move on to the next celebrity or saucy story. You may disagree with this culture or this direction of news media, but it's irrelevant to this one person in particular.

 

[Lightknight]

What I'm saying is that the thing that started all this nonsense was so very trivial. The worst thing Zoe did was that thing with blacklisting TFYC if their claims were true which frustrated feminist gamers to a degree when they heard about it. But one thing led to another and the coverage and censorship in response to the story is what really broke it.

I mean, is there a term for this? When the story itself isn't the story?

Maybe the story was a perfect miniature model of the real story? That also served as an exquisitely apposite metaphor for the raging fire this smoke lead to?

That said, in retrospect it's clear that it wasn't quite such a trivial little scandal from the point of view of the "journos", because their whole campaign of pushing these "indie darlings" was built on notions like the moral superiority of these people. They were selling the idea of the incorruptible, "independent" Artistes, which was certainly the major theme of the big article in The Edge magazine on that game jam fiasco that I recall reading. The whole righteous sexual moral code thing was of course a major factor in all that too. I mean, it's not like the peerless quality of the actual games was the selling point. The idea was that people would want to join the "indie" bandwagon because they thought it was all cool and hip. And being just another hypocrite preacher simply... isn't. That was their whole shtick blown.

In a way, the embattled "harassment" narrative is the next best thing to being so cool people will follow. The Campaign just had to pivot a little further into victimhood territory.

See, I disagree. The story with Zoe was a trivial and small one. Though I just remembered the whole wizard chan piece where Zoe publicly stated that they called her and breathed heavy while jerking it despite the fact that the caller never identified themselves and she had no way of knowing it was them. Various sites then reported it as fact and got all kinds of shit poured down on an entire community of people who may have had nothing to do with it. That in addition to the TFYC were the initial questions of cronyism where one person could just say a thing and get people accused or blacklisted without fact checking a damn thing. But the way the industry responded to it with collusion and coverups and censorship and even shitslinging at their customer base is what blew the doors off of things.

Think about it this way, had they just run articles of impropriety regarding Nathan Grayson's two articles as being an example of unethical journalism, then that would have been the story and it would have died away. They may have also needed to issue a retraction in the Wizardchan articles too.

Instead, they streisand effected the whole thing when they censored and banned posters on the subject just talking about something. They got together in a private email group and shamed each other into silence and continued censorship. They got together and decided to insult the term "gamer" itself by studder quotes and associating it with archaic ideas of the nerdy gamer while grouping all gamers who disagreed with them as being part of that group. They even continued to push the agenda that it was just about slut shaming Zoe when the real ire was now directed at them for their response.

It was nuts. Their response was nuts. It completely stole away anyone's confidence that they could successfully report on a topic that reflected negatively on their friends and colleagues.

 

[Tanis]

The only 'joke' here is that all she's done is make her opponents (Any of whom are scummy Trump supporters) look less crazy.

It's a complete disservice to any cause she may be part of.

Like when black people fake hate crimes.
Because, let's face it, there's enough of those without some fakes crying wolf.

 

[Schadrach]

I've been told that Quinn wanted to put all this drama in her past. Taking this as fact, why then level against Nintendo accusations like this, which anybody with half a brain will knows could only manufacture more drama?

Because while she might claim that, it doesn't make it true. She's intentionally courting drama under not entirely honest pretenses, just like the Wizardchan thing. If she didn't present the facade of wanting to put drama behind her, people might catch on that she's not being entirely honest and benefits from the attention (financially, in terms of Patreon donations).

The only 'joke' here is that all she's done is make her opponents (Any of whom are scummy Trump supporters) look less crazy.

It's a complete disservice to any cause she may be part of.

I'm sure "any of whom are scummy Trump supporters", though I suspect you meant to put an "m" in front of that bit at which point I'd disagree. I'd argue that there's more opposition to Clinton than actual support of Trump going on.

Personally, I'll probably end up voting Hillary this year, but I'll be holding my nose while I do so. I'd rather have Bernie (or Elizabeth Warren, should she decide to run next time), but if I must pick the lesser of two evils better the Wall Street funded member of a political dynasty who switches sides at the drop of a hat than Trump. Trump as president would be disastrous, unless he put the right people in advisory positions and actually listened to them.

As for your actual point here, it doesn't matter how she makes her opponents look, because her supporters simply ignore them anyways, and she does this because the drama is profitable for her. She makes about $36k a year from Patreon, but doesn't have to actually produce anything to do so, as many of them are donating because giving her money "fights sexism" in a nebulous way.

Like when black people fake hate crimes.
Because, let's face it, there's enough of those without some fakes crying wolf.

It's probably racist to claim that ever happens. Like how it's sexist to claim that women ever lie about rape.

Enter the massive SJW component here where sites were pushing an agenda that was incongruent with a non-trivial number of gamers (huh, writers are more liberal than the general public, who'd have guessed). This was really the mainstay of the debacle.

I'd argue that what people refer to as SJW, the regressive left, or similar terms is the relatively recent phenomenon (last decade or so?) of the left being increasingly willing to forsake liberalism when liberalism is inconvenient to progressiveness.

 

[Lightknight]

Enter the massive SJW component here where sites were pushing an agenda that was incongruent with a non-trivial number of gamers (huh, writers are more liberal than the general public, who'd have guessed). This was really the mainstay of the debacle.

I'd argue that what people refer to as SJW, the regressive left, or similar terms is the relatively recent phenomenon (last decade or so?) of the left being increasingly willing to forsake liberalism when liberalism is inconvenient to progressiveness.

There's been a pretty severe polarization of lefties and righties over the past decade. I hope it comes to an end or that a moderate party rises up an crushes them to dust (the parties, not the people).

It's a shame to see such polarization when the majority of people appear to be more in the middle. It means we end up identifying with a candidate based on which side we lean most on rather than getting to vote for a candidate we actually like.