The Felicia Day/Destructoid situation

[Not G. Ivingname]

Who is Felicia Day and why should we care about what she contributed to gaming or not?

OK, I actually know who she is, but the question stands - how is she connected to video games and all the rest?

She is an actress that has been a voice actor in games (she was Veronica in Fallout New Vegas) and appeared in several gaming related web shows (such as guilds), and noted to be a HUGE nerd (said she is addicted to World of Warcraft).

 

[Vault101]

So, to sum up and conclude; No, a person should not be fired for their personal opinion, assuming of course that they can keep it to themselves.

Which this guy couldn't.

but its not as harmless as a personal opinion...its some dick going out of his way to say to somone "justify yourself to me!"...not saying he deserved that

social media (and the audience) are a fickel thing...and sadly this error of judgment cost him dearly

Being a dick is kind of par for the course on Destructiod.

Point. Do you have one?

 

[J. Mazarin]

Certainly celebrities never take on a public persona to garner a specific audience, I'm sure that never happens...

...And that obviously proves that's exactly what she's doing. Obviously. Because when I want any kind of insight into Ms. Day's mind, I come directly to the Escapist to talk to my good pal Salvan. After all, he knows Felicia's deepest, darkest secrets about how she really doesn't like games at all and is just in it for teh nerd credz.

No but seriously, what you're saying is silly in ways that I'm having a hard time conveying.

So... let's work with this quote here:

Ever think she's acting like a gamer because she's not attractive enough to be a leading lady and not talented enough to be a dramatic actress?

If I was a complete fucking assclown (in addition to having a healthy disdain for you personally), using your logic I could say something along these lines:

"Hey! Hey Escapist! Hey everybody here! You see this mindlesspuppet guy? You see how he wrote some reviews for anime? Well, I think the only reason he did that was because he's too much of a talentless hack to write about news or games. So, in order to get some reviews in, he just acted like he enjoys anime because everyone knows people who like anime are shallow tools who have no taste in writing."

But I would never say something like that, because it would be both rude and incorrect to you and anime fans alike; you know a great deal about anime, and it shows in your writing. In my experience, such a knowledge comes from genuine enjoyment of something.

And that "enjoyment" is what a lot of people feel they share with Felicia; a love of games.

So tell us great one, what information do you have that proves she's just playing up the gaming crowd? Because right now, your argument seems to be "C'mon, she's totally a fraud. Trust me."

But way to comment with no real insight, argument, or anything of value.

That's the majority of posts on these forums, haha. Glad you're not the one in charge.

 

[Evan Waters]

I'm sorry, but what male gamers for example? Most the time male gamers don't have to "prove themselves" because that's pretty much the first thing they did to gain notoriety.

If Yahtzee, Jim Sterling, Toby Turner, TotalBiscuit etc didn't make it painfully apparent they are gamers in the first place no one would know who they are. Hell, it was one of the first things Nathan Barnatt did before the crazy dance videos and he really didn't need to.

So you're saying that anyone who isn't immediately identifiable as a "gamer" must "prove themselves" before talking about or working in games?

AND if that person doesn't meet your arbitrary, meaningless and completely opaque standards you or people like you're get to ask "questions".

Nope not at all.

Remember MTV cribs back in the day? Practically every celebrity talked about playing Xbox with their friends and such, this was fine. None we're going out of their way to be a part of gaming culture, acting like any sort of authority on it, or stating that they played Xbox to increase their fanbase.

So... what? Again, what evidence is this that she's lying about her gamer status?

Also, nah, plenty of talent writers and artists in the gaming industry don't give two shits about gaming -- it's just a job to them.

Jennifer Hale has been in a ton of games because she is an incredibly talented voice actress. She has never pandered to the gaming audience, hell, the first we really heard from her was ala ME.

Felicia Day is significantly less talented, but gets work and featured at expos because of notoriety she gained via gaming communities and her niche audience of gamers that put her on a pedestal because she's "female gamer".

Less talented in your subjective evaluation, you mean. I'm not going to knock on Jennifer Hale, she does very good work (though I'd argue KOTOR was her big breakthrough in the gaming world- of course, she'd done video game VA work before.) But Day's been pretty good in the stuff I've seen her in. She's not undeserving of success. Is this really just resentment that Day gets more or at least comparable press to Hale? Because the latter ain't exactly hurting for job offers either.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

Also Felicia Day is quite famous and pretty damn awesome and not very random.

Personally, I've always known her as "that actress chick that nerdbaits"

The only thing she's done in gaming is play a sexed-up lesbian in F:NV (That I'm aware of). THAT is why she's famous.

Frankly, it's embarrassing that a b-level actress is fawned over so much JUST BECAUSE she is a female. for funzies, let's make this a comparison. Vin Diesel, that action movie guy, is an absolute role model and also loves him some D&D. Why does the tabletop gaming community ignore that fact that he exists? If Vinny was an equally "gifted" female and nothing else changed, just how much attention would be thrown his way?

So yes, in closing, FDay is just a nerdbaiting B-level actress with nothing worthwhile in her resume.

OT: Calling her out publicly when you're an intern is a bit stupid, gotta say.

Erm firstly you know I'm a woman right? I'm hardly fawning over her. From what I have seen of her work she is an actress that really gets into gaming and general geekdom just the same as Nathan Fillion. The reason why Vin Diesel doesn't get so much attention along with self professed gamer Megan Fox is because they don't get involved very much. Whereas gaming and geekdom is definitely Felicia's 'thing'

Why do women have to go the extra mile to prove themselves when it comes to gaming while guys are just believed off hand? It's so bloody noxious.

 

[major_chaos]

This is true, in that he would have never made this comment about a Felix Day who leveraged his Joss Whedon geek cred into voice-acting gigs in games. (You don't see this guy going off on Nolan North or Nathan Fillion, for instance.)

Well he did say Wil Wheaton was "an opportunistic puddle of miscarriage soup" so he is at least partly an equal opportunity asshole.

But in that case, he was:

A) responding to a pretty scathing remark.
B) not using a gendered insult.

Fair enough, I was mostly trying to be humorous, as I'm cursed to not be able to take anything %100 serious unless the situation is life threatening. Also that is most certainly the fastest I have ever had someone reply to me, I envy your ability to type quickly.

 

[mindlesspuppet]

snip

Nice knock at her there with the boob comment. Nice to know what really matters to you!.

You brought them up, not me. But, yeah, it was too easy to overlook.

She has mentioned gaming many times in her interviews done specific work for games and this is from her blog

I know, for ME, when I started this road with The Guild, I had NO women to look at who were not wearing bikinis while they gamed. There was no ?relatable? woman/girl figure for me to look to, and that?s why Codex, Clara and Tink are EXACTLY NOT THAT: Because that?s not who I personally gamed with, that bikini-chick. I gamed with moms and angry college students and shut-ins. So to be accused of pandering Girl Gamer, of BEING A CASUAL (whatever the EFF that means)?well, it hurt. But the comments from MY viewers, who didn?t wanna be bullied, that made my night. So thanks to all of you who commented, even if you didn?t like the video, who defended ?casuals? and ?girl gamers?. Whatever label you slap on it, it?s just another way to hate.

So it's down to you whether to believe her or not. Like I said. Just like whether we believe Nathan Fillion or Yahtzee.

Everything in that quote is simply fluff. I could write a similar paragraph as my experience being a female gamer, despite the fact I'm not actually a female. If you've seen interviews with her from expos and such, they don't really play well to her favor when the topic is actually gaming. So yes, I choose not to believe her.

 

[Evan Waters]

Also Felicia Day is quite famous and pretty damn awesome and not very random.

Personally, I've always known her as "that actress chick that nerdbaits"

The only thing she's done in gaming is play a sexed-up lesbian in F:NV (That I'm aware of). THAT is why she's famous.

Frankly, it's embarrassing that a b-level actress is fawned over so much JUST BECAUSE she is a female. for funzies, let's make this a comparison. Vin Diesel, that action movie guy, is an absolute role model and also loves him some D&D. Why does the tabletop gaming community ignore that fact that he exists?

We don't. Dude got to write the intro for an anniversary D&D book and in any gaming forum I've been in, there's a general acknowledgement that Diesel is One Of Us and it's cool that Riddick's a gamer.

Granted, it doesn't lead to him getting much more work but that's because tabletop roleplaying games generally don't have a lot of use for acting professionals.

 

[Mark Hardigan]

What does Ryan Perez add to gaming? Isn't he, and all reviewers, just glorified neck-beards that get paid to spread their useless opinions around on the internet?

See? I, too, can play this game. 1. Pick out something you dislike about someone (apparently with Ryan, it was "it has a vagina") 2. use such thing as a spring board to suggest that person does not add anything to X and therefore is useless. 3. ??? 4. PROFIT!

People like Ryan are nothing short of arrogant neck-beards with nothing better to do than to justify their own existence by demeaning others. At best, his "argument" is just misogynistic ad hominem/feminam.

 

[Kahunaburger]

The only thing she's done in gaming is play a sexed-up lesbian in F:NV (That I'm aware of).

Uh... what? From what I remember of Veronica from FO:NV, she wore monkish robes (and upgraded to power armor, because companions who like to melee with shotgun gauntlets don't do it unprotected on my watch,) talked fast, and had some unresolved differences of opinion with the Brotherhood of steel. Not exactly the first character I'd choose to describe as "sexed-up."

THAT is why she's famous.

It's probably more accurate to say that she's famous because Joss Whedon. See also: Nathan Fillion.

Frankly, it's embarrassing that a b-level actress is fawned over so much

Nerds, man. The B-list is our A-list. No need to bring sex appeal into it.

 

[Vault101]

I don't see how you're getting that first point (attractive women only existing in the video game industry because they're attractive) from his statements; he pointed out one specific person rather than saying "All women involved in video games are like booth babes!" and he pointed out a practice that involves women rather than pointing to the idea that women involved in video games is some sort of shameless and useless act. On the second point...yeah, that went under my radar.

it doesnt matter if it was one specific person, sure theres no way I could say for certain if his comments are gender related.....but its kind of hard not to see it that way, the attitude towards women in the "gaming" comunity is....not exactally what you'd call great

...And that obviously proves that's exactly what she's doing. Obviously. Because when I want any kind of insight into Ms. Day's mind, I come directly to the Escapist to talk to my good pal Salvan. After all, he knows Felicia's deepest, darkest secrets about how she really doesn't like games at all and is just in it for teh nerd credz.

.

I think I once read that stuff like twitter and the internet makes us "feel" closer to people than what we actually are, hence why people are so willing to make assumptions/judgments

 

[Tanis]

'Forced fired because he had an opinion'.

Wow...bonk Destructoid .

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

snip

Then you can't believe anyone on the internet who says they are a gamer... by the same rules. Including Jim Sterling and Yahtzee.

 

[TAdamson]

Felicia Day is significantly less talented,

That's a completely subjective opinion and it's apparent that many people don't share it.

but gets work and featured at expos because of notoriety she gained via gaming communities

So she did some networking? Newsflash buddy: That's how you get work.

and her niche audience of gamers that put her on a pedestal because she's "female gamer".

So? Why do you care? I don't get particularly excited about Felicia Day but if some nerdy males and possibly females want to idolize her then fuck.. Why not?

She's quite attractive (Though as you've said that's a subjective thing.) She makes video content about gaming on YouTube (I don't particularly care for it but there's no accounting for taste.) She acts in games.

What about ANY OF THAT leads to her deserving being compared to the mostly clueless models who dress up for E3?

 

[Ympulse]

Erm firstly you know I'm a woman right?

You're a pile of meat behind a computer screen. I don't care what your gender is.

I'm hardly fawning over her. From what I have seen of her work she is an actress that really gets into gaming and general geekdom just the same as Nathan Fillion.

I had to look up Nathan Fillion. Goddamn he's everywhere.

Comparing the two is a bit dishonest. Nathan has more work done in the 'geek' subculture in the last 5 years than Fday has in her entire imdb listing.

The reason why Vin Diesel doesn't get so much attention along with self professed gamer Megan Fox is because they don't get involved very much. Whereas gaming and geekdom is definitely Felicia's 'thing'

Vin has actually worked with WotC in the past. I don't have links on hand, but he's gotten involved somewhat. Point taken, however.

Why do women have to go the extra mile to prove themselves when it comes to gaming while guys are just believed off hand? It's so bloody noxious.

Because nine times out of ten, the only reason the woman is where she is is because of the male-dominated stereotype the subculture is notorious for. If FDay was just some skinny guy, he would've left the scene by now for greener pastures, because he's just another dude in a sea of dudes.

That is the crux of my point. If you were to reverse her gender, what would she be? A B-level actor with nothing of note going for them. There would be absolutely no point to mentioning Fred.

 

[Vault101]

'Forced fired because he had an opinion'.

Wow...bonk Destructoid .

no, he was fired for making a really bad PR mistake, and being an ass

was it fair? no

does this illustrate the dangers of typing befoe you think? yes

 

[Blade_125]

Hmm... I wonder what Ryan Perez has "provided to gaming." Oh, wait, nobody asks that question because he has a Y chromosome and it's not a good question.

Yeah, far be it to see anybody EVER being cruel to a man. Not like losing his job for a few dumbass comments, that'd never happen.

Would a female games journalist get fired for saying that? Be it to Day, or any man/woman. Not that I agree with his comments, I neither give a fuck who he is nor what he said, and have just the tiniest inkling of who Felicia Day is. That being said, I've heard this question before, so perhaps it's not one man's issues with sexism.

He was fired because he made a stupid comment and the company he worked for was worried it would cost them business if they kept him. That is the only reason. Your comparison doesn't belong in the real business world.

 

[Overusedname]

Precisely this.

For the record, I think it was rude and completely uncalled for that he said that, but FIRING SOMEONE over this is insane.

I still feel the need to say however...Felicia Day is a very innocent party in all this. She's just an actress whose done some voice work for games and helps make a little webcomic about gaming culture. Oh god, how awful.

I think the sexism accusation comes from the 'glorified booth-babe' comment. Mr. Perez, the woman is a writer, experienced actor, voice actor, and a positive example of 'gamers' in the popular culture. Where in god's name did the 'booth-babe' comment come from?

All in all, the guys a dumbass, but he doesn't deserve to be homeless.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

Mentioned that I was a woman because I'm clearly not fawning over Felicia. My screen door doesn't swing that way.

Because nine times out of ten, the only reason the woman is where she is is because of the male-dominated stereotype the subculture is notorious for.

Really? Proof to back up those statistics? Didn't think so.

Felicia's Work is no different to Fillion's she has been in Fallout New Vegas had an entire Dragon Age 2 DLC built around her. Done some very good web series involving games. Starred in Supernatural (very convincingly) as a geek/gamer.

Her voice acting is actually very good. I wanted her to be in Skyrim because I enjoyed her character of Veronica so much.

You are only suspicious of her because she is a woman. If we reversed her gendered she'd probably get a lot more respect.