Over 1,800 Gaming Professionals Condemn Hate Speech in Open Letter

[CaitSeith]

I agree, the amount of hatred about gaming is awful. Just look at these Twitter responses:

Devin Faraci - (Badass Digest)

Spoiler

KT Hache - (self proclaimed Social Justice Warrior)

Spoiler

K. Thor Jensen - (Videogames Journalist)

Spoiler

Adam Sessler - (Videogames Journalist)

Spoiler

Helena Horten - (Videogames Journalist for Vice)

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Joel Golby (Videogames Journalist - Vice)

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But gamers are of course the toxic culture.

Those examples are really great. It's kinda buffling. However, if I put 1% of the ones from the haters, one single page in the forum wouldn't be enough.

 

[God of Path]

perhaps these hateful people were never more than a minority and everyone exaggerated the issue

Does an activity in minority make it any more acceptable? Does ethnic cleansing, for example, become OK if only a minority of the Earth's population takes part in it? What of murder? Only a small proportion of any given population ever actually murders anyone else. Does that mean that people championing the cause of "less violence" should be written off because it's an exaggeration of a relatively small problem?

 

[R0guy]

This video is a pretty good summary of the whole situation,

 

[Vigormortis]

Yeah, that's not happening. I'm not crawling through 400 pages of barely contained rage, uncertain accusations and out of control emotions. It'd be like walking into the middle of a riot and trying to get an unbiased view on what was going on.

Please do take it with a grain of salt, of course, but much of what's asserted in the video is verifiable. Take that as you will.

 

[james.sponge]

Can you stop making political/ethical/philosophical statements and start making good games... like in the old times? Please?

 

[tyriless]

Wow, a lot of people with backwards opinion with way too much time on their hands here in this forum. This community is toxic, and it's not Game Journalism fault that it's that way. It's ours. Their responses are the appropriate amount of disgust to how we behave, or nearly as damning, what we don't say and allow. Sure, I can see it being often tactless (the ISIS comment), and maybe a call for more thought is in order, but their condemnation is right on the mark. We constantly ruin the fun and some cases lives, for thousands if not millions of people with our terrible attitude and behavior, or our acceptance of it.

A woman can't even play online for one hour without being sexually harassed, nor can she show up at convention and be accepted by all as a legitimate fan of the hobby, or criticize the content of a game without being threatened with assault, murder, and rape of her and her family. And that's just our issue with gender and their still race and sexuality to contend with, so yeah, we need condemnation, and furthermore we need to purge any and every person that thinks that any of the above is acceptable.

 

[NuclearKangaroo]

Nope same games we play together. L4D2 and TF2. Perhaps its less of an issue with the PC gamer community ?

perhaps these hateful people were never more than a minority and everyone exaggerated the issue

Often the minority in these cases that have the louder voice as everyone else is getting on with cappin points and pwning each other. Would say perhaps an age thing ? PC gamers seem to be older due to assumed cost of a gaming pc next to the assumed cheapness of a console.

maybe, tough i wouldnt dare say anybody playing dota 2 is over 12 years old hehe

theres harassment and hate in MOBAs, but its pure undirected hate, it has nothing to do with gender or race, if you are sucking in one of those games (or if everyone else is sucking but they dont want to admit it) you will get insulted

 

[Racecarlock]

We're not an oppressed minority, anita and zoe do not have the powers of a lawyer so bad he got disbarred, and nobody is trying to ban games. Stop making shit up.

 

[NuclearKangaroo]

perhaps these hateful people were never more than a minority and everyone exaggerated the issue

Does an activity in minority make it any more acceptable? Does ethnic cleansing, for example, become OK if only a minority of the Earth's population takes part in it? What of murder? Only a small proportion of any given population ever actually murders anyone else. Does that mean that people championing the cause of "less violence" should be written off because it's an exaggeration of a relatively small problem?

i never said such thing

but maybe if gaming sites didnt generalize so much they wouldnt have created this huge division between them and their readers

also did you just fucking compare saying mean words on the internet to murder and genocide? seriously?

 

[KazeAizen]

I agree, the amount of hatred about gaming is awful. Just look at these Twitter responses:

Devin Faraci - (Badass Digest)

Spoiler

KT Hache - (self proclaimed Social Justice Warrior)

Spoiler

K. Thor Jensen - (Videogames Journalist)

Spoiler

Adam Sessler - (Videogames Journalist)

Spoiler

Helena Horten - (Videogames Journalist for Vice)

Spoiler

Joel Golby (Videogames Journalist - Vice)

Spoiler

But gamers are of course the toxic culture.

They are. Give them a taste of their own medicine and all that.

 

[KazeAizen]

Can you stop making political/ethical/philosophical statements and start making good games... like in the old times? Please?

We are passed the point of sweeping things under the rug. They can make good games sure but ignoring what is going on in the community they are creating is bad. Especially if it is filled with all this vile stuff. In a sense it is also their responsibility to try and make it a better place since they are the ones creating it. So no. Not until the vile behavior is snuffed out or negligible they can't simply just go back to making games and doing absolutely nothing else.

 

[God of Path]

i never said such thing

I misunderstood the purpose of your post, then.

but maybe if gaming sites didnt generalize so much they wouldnt have created this huge division between them and their readers

Thank you for clarification. However, while there is some anecdotal evidence of some disagreement "between [games journalism and its publishers] and their readers," it seems rash to make so certain a statement. That is, just how large is this "huge division"? Has any significant impact been had, other than to perhaps boost site numbers?

also did you just fucking compare saying mean words on the internet to murder and genocide? seriously?

well, after reading this:

perhaps these hateful people were never more than a minority and everyone exaggerated the issue

it seemed as though the line of reasoning you proffered was as follows:
The issue is over-exaggerated
The people who were responsible were nothing more than a minority
Therefore the issue need not be addressed in such manner

which when one follows as a line of reasoning, one finds startling and unwanted consequences, like the justification for ignoring any act. This logic would entail a justification for willful ignorance to any heinous crime. All this shows is the extreme fault in this line of reasoning. It seems foolish to elaborate in so formal a fashion, but my previous attempt was misinterpreted to construe the equation of a written scuffle to genocide. My sincerest apologies.

 

[Verlander]

Radical feminists? These forums are beginning to look like they've been taken over by some paranoid fringe far right movement. Corruption in journalism? Are you people even reading what you're writing? The open letter is the most reasonable thing ANYONE's said in this edition of the special olympics, and people are still unhappy?

"Oh noes, someone insulted a group of people dedicating their time to harrassing people, making dangerous threats, and exposing their personal life to the world, how unreasonable"

They are. Give them a taste of their own medicine and all that.

They can dish it out, but they sure can't take it. It's pathetic really.

 

[AkaDad]

I bet if you put all the stupid things games journalists have said then compared that to all the death threats and stupid things gamers have said just against Anita it wouldn't even be close.

Look at any female game reviewer's comments and see how many comments are about her boobs or how pretty or ugly she is.

Look at the way gamers treated Carolyn Petit for her GTA 5 review.

Gamers have been treating reviewers and journalists like shit for so long it's not even comparable.

If you didn't engage in all the shitty behavior then I'm not talking about you, so don't bother me with your comments telling me how great you are and that it's only a handful of gamers that act like dicks.

 

[RedDeadFred]

It's a nice ideal, and one that I agree with. Unfortunately, due to human nature and the anonymity that the internet provides, there are always going to be assholes who do and say asshole things. Publicly telling them that we don't like what they're doing is not going to change anything. People simply need to try a bit harder at not letting assholes on the internet bother them (I understand that that's easier said than done if it's a large group of people targeting you). Don't give the assholes the satisfaction of even discussing them (yes I'm being somewhat hypocritical right now). Don't feed the trolls. Isn't that supposed to be internet 101. I know these people may not THINK they're trolling, but with the bile they spit at people, they should be treated as such and ignored.

 

[NuclearKangaroo]

snip

dude there is such thing as "not a valid comparison", even if i had meant what you said i meant

anyways, yes i do say theres a huge disconnection right now between gaming sites and its readers, how would you explain all those articles that came out claiming the end of gamers? or saying gamers shouldnt be your audience? or that fun shouldnt be the main aspect to be judged from a game? (seriously, fun is not absolutely important for a game now? fucking what?)

the escapist is one of the few sites to take a mild stance on all of this, many sites simply fail to acknowledge theres a whole other side to this debacle, instead labeling us all who are agaisnt zoe as misogynists, or intolerant, or other utterly terrible and disgusting things

 

[R0guy]

Radical feminists? These forums are beginning to look like they've been taken over by some paranoid fringe far right movement.

It'd be super-paranoid to say that someone claiming video games contribute to rape-culture won a GDC 2014 award or anything... Oh wait.

 

[Pogilrup]

I'm afraid that this letter isn't going to help things at all.

IMO it has a subtle tone that feels condescending and demanding.

That and it never asks for the journalists to improve their behavior as well.

 

[Pogilrup]

Can you stop making political/ethical/philosophical statements and start making good games... like in the old times? Please?

A woman can't even play online for one hour without being sexually harassed, nor can she show up at convention and be accepted by all as a legitimate fan of the hobby, or criticize the content of a game without being threatened with assault, murder, and rape of her and her family. And that's just our issue with gender and their still race and sexuality to contend with, so yeah, we need condemnation, and furthermore we need to purge any and every person that thinks that any of the above is acceptable.

Wow that's a lot of self flagellating hyperbole for one post!

Love how you write off ISIS as "tactless" but then claim "millions of lives" (that's "millions") are "ruined" (not "mildly inconvenienced", not "upset", actually "ruined").

The solution - "a purge"

And you probably wonder why few people take this PC posturing drek stuff seriously!

If you didn't engage in all the shitty behavior then I'm not talking about you, so don't bother me with your comments telling me how great you are and that it's only a handful of gamers that act like dicks.

I'll make this clear for you by what I mean by purge: I want you removed from this site. You're shouldn't be welcome here. The existence of your account and your ability to comment is a detriment to community and has no value. I would like to see The Escapist take a heavier hand in moderating people like you. You're viewpoints are terrible, and have no business to be expressed. I will take ever opportunity I can to make my disgust known to the moderators, the editors, and to the content providers not to tolerate your comments and others like it. I have and will continue to submit feedback to encourage they lower the threshold of suspension and outright banning, until this site and the community it represents becomes a little more bearable. Maybe it won't change a thing, but maybe it will. In short, no this isn't posturing. I want you gone, and I'll keep pushing for it until it happens.

You know I'm having trouble taking you seriously.

Thing with Poe's Law and such.

 

[ByzantineEmperorInExile]

Yet another blatant attempt to spin Stephen Totilo's incompetence and game journalism lack of ethics into a "hate speech" story. By now you gotta be really blind to believe these people.