The Felicia Day/Destructoid situation

[m19]

He acted like an ass. But the whole mysogyny witch hunt is starting to cross the line these days.

 

[Baron von Blitztank]

So who is Felicia Day? What does she do that's related to the gaming industry? and Why should I care?
I can't be arsed reading 11 pages of posts so I'm gonna need someone to bring me up to speed in preferably 65 words or less.

 

[mental_looney]

Shrug I liked her in new vegas and dragon age, it's probably not the best way to voice your opinion about someone who technically only acts within the industry and promotes it as a personal fan and occasional spokesperson which plenty of other actors do.

He probably wouldn't have been caught if he didn't tweet it directly to her rather than just voicing his thoughts.

 

[secretsantaone]

I know you didn't actually say that, but it does suck when someone takes something you said and or did and presents it as a fallacy.

When did I do that?

You said that Felicia Day's popularity wasn't based around her looks or sex appeal. I showed you a video where she's clearly using her looks and sex appeal to garner attention. You responded by saying that because the video is a joke, it doesn't apply, which is kind of like saying Army of Darkness isn't violent because it's so over the top.

I'm not saying she's on Olivia Munn's level, but if she looked like Hepler, she wouldn't be nearly as popular.

I doubt this video success was due to Day's sex appeal so much as it was funny to watch and easy to listen too. As far as Army of Darkness, the amount of violence doesn't change sure, but its quality certainly does when it's played as slapstick. It's for less shocking to see a man shoot his evil twin when they just did a bit from the 3 Stooges beforehand. It's the same with this video. The sexy (and I only state that cause you find it quite titillating, apparently) Felicia Day is only part of the joke. The intent is clearly not to turn on, but to amuse. And it is amusing.

So a person sees a thumbnail for a video in which a fairly attractive woman is being spanked while wearing a skimpy, fantasy inspired dress. Are they going to watch it because they want to see more of the girl, or because they hope to be amused by commentary on online sexual roleplay?

If you answered the latter, I'm afraid you're pretty naive.

On a related note, why do you think they chose this particular topic to make a music video about, and would it have had the same effect if an ugly girl had played Day's part?

 

[lapan]

A stupid comment blown way out of proportion.
Felica Day doesn't have to "provide anything useful to gaming" to be involed in PR. Getting fired and flamed over it is an overreaction though.

An apology should have been enough to clear this up, both sides reacted stupidly.

 

[xefaros]

F.Day was an actor not a gamer,she just found a smart way to get money simple as that.No one should apologize for calling her what she is:A attention horse with geeky audience

 

[everythingbeeps]

I'm not a Felicia Day fan by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm squarely on her side here.

Ryan's (whoever the fuck he is) initial comment was far too antagonistic to be deemed merely a "stupid comment". He's a complete twat.

Also, this from OP's post:

"While some of his comments could be interpreted as insulting..."

You THINK? All of his comments ARE insulting, and very deliberately so. No interpretation needed.

 

[Danzavare]

The simple fact of the matter is that as a professional, particularly one involved in online media/journalism, you should have the sense to not say overtly offensive and idiotic things. This fellow has no sympathy from me, I say good riddance and I hope his job goes to someone that can carry themselves properly.

As for Felicia Day, I've only really seen her on the Guild and I'd count that as a positive contribution to gaming culture. It may not be everyone's cup of tea (I stopped watching it after season 2) but it certainly counts as a valid attempt in my books. It's a contribution, not one that changed the face of gaming culture (That'd be a short list of people) but a valid one nonetheless.

 

[newdarkcloud]

To the people defending this Perez guy, I don't really understand why.

While he may have had a legitimate question, it was asked it an antagonistic and condescending way. Any point he may have had is immediately washed away by the tone of the tweets.

Furthermore, because he was a journalist for Destructoid, his comments on a public forum represent them and their views, whether he's aware of it or not. This is different from Larry the janitor at Destructoid making a comment like that. This would be similar to the Escapist hiring a new personality, then having that new personality ask Morgan Webb how she contributes anything to video games. Since that person now represents the company in his public persona, they are entirely justified in firing his ass. He had a chance to get a good job and blew it by being a dumbass.

Lastly, if it was Nolan North or Nathan Fillion being attacked, would I call it sexist? No. Because you don't see stories of male celebrities in video games getting asked to justify their existence in gamer culture. It doesn't happen. We're calling it sexist because that's what it is.

 

[Agent_Dark]

F.Day was an actor not a gamer,she just found a smart way to get money simple as that.No one should apologize for calling her what she is:A attention horse with geeky audience

Why is she not a gamer though? Because she's a woman? Why is there automatic doubt about a woman being a gamer?

For the record, I'm quite convinced that she's the real deal. She was well obsessed with Skyrim, as evidenced by a video she posted showing off all her phat loot in her game (she even sent off her save file to Bethesda when she was convinced her save file was bugged and stopping her from completing a quest). She voice acted, mocapped AND made a web series for one of her favourite game franchises (Dragon Age). And it's not like she was being doing that purely for the money from EA either - in a web interview with BioWare's lead writer for Dragon Age she displayed detailed knowledge of the story plot. She was heavily into World of Warcraft, which is clearly evident by her web series The Guild which she created, produces, writes and acts in. And she's producing for a web show with Will Wheaton which is exclusively focused on table top gaming.

TLR - Felicia Day is clearly a gamer, and to say otherwise is being either plain ignorant, trolling or somehow stuck in a (yes I'm going to say it) sexist mind set that an attractive woman on the internet automatically can't be a gamer.

 

[Eyelicker]

Okay, I get it bro, you like metal, don't have to shove it down our throats with that extremely cumbersome and convoluted analogy. No one cares. Thanks for the laugh though. And no, it's nothing like that at all.

It's exactly like that.
It would be someone who's job is to know and understand, and then report on their respected community. Then, having done no personal research on an interviewee, they instead blatantly and disrespectfully question their contributions to said community, intentionally belittling and insulting them along the way.

Or...it's someone questioning someone's perceived over-representation in a medium, and nowhere near as one sided as you put it. I'm sure he knew about her and her contributions, and felt sick off seeing her so much in place of people he felt were more deserving. This is his opinion, no matter how inflammatory it obviously is, and he has the right to express it.

You like metal, so I'll give you this analogy: It would be more like a journalist questioning the relavance of the chick who plays keyboard for Bleeding Through, who was over represented as fuck a few years ago, and interviewed everywhere, despite playing nothing but simple as fuck parts. Your Nergal analogy would hold up if it was directed at Gabe Newell, but not here.

 

[Insideout Ink Demon]

i think sexism is wrong(and most -isims)
but an extreme response by the employer to sack the offender doesnt help anyone. he'll probably walk away harbouring more ignorance and hate due to the injustice he no doubt sees he was subjected to.

you can not force tolerance, only hope to show/teach/lead by example.

Firing him help's Destructoid's image, or it at least prevents a black mark to their image. They lost next to nothing in firing him, as this guy was an intern and hadn't contributed anything of note other than a sexist question on Twitter.

They're not firing him to teach him a lesson. They're firing him because he publicly made an ass of himself and, by proxy, the company he worked for.

i understand that side of it, good publicity etc etc. but to clarify, i meant this doesnt really help the battle gainst sexism.
CAPCHA: i like you

Sadly, nearly nothing does.
You can't unmake someone sexist.
Perhaps you can make them realise that sexism is wrong (by perhaps punishing them if they are), but they have to decide to not be sexist by themselves.
I used to think being nice would work, but it doesn't. All you get is `you're not like other women WHO ARE ALL TERRIBLE`.

very true, nearly nothing does, but if someone in the media eye offered to educate offenders rather than chastise, it may convert a handful. its about the only idea i've got to help

 

[BarbaricGoose]

Ignoring all the idiotic comments he makes on his Twitter account, I can safely say, simply by the picture he's used for his Twitter account, that Ryan is, in fact, a douche.

Yes, he deserved to be fired. Good riddance. If you are in the public eye, like it or not, you have to sugar coat things if you want to keep your job. That means that you can't insult another person for no reason at all and expect everything to be willy-nilly. The guy's an idiot (and still a douche) if he honestly expected this to go literally any other way.

 

[Rack]

So who is Felicia Day? What does she do that's related to the gaming industry? and Why should I care?
I can't be arsed reading 11 pages of posts so I'm gonna need someone to bring me up to speed in preferably 65 words or less.

She writes The Guild and The Guild is brilliant.

 

[newdarkcloud]

Or...it's someone questioning someone's perceived over-representation in a medium, and nowhere near as one sided as you put it. I'm sure he knew about her and her contributions, and felt sick off seeing her so much in place of people he felt were more deserving. This is his opinion, no matter how inflammatory it obviously is, and he has the right to express it.

Yes, he has the right to express his inflammatory opinion. However, we have the right to call him a dumbass and a douchebag for expressing it and Destructoid has the right to fire him for it. The "rights" argument doesn't hold water. Nobody's arguing whether he COULD've done it, but whether he SHOULD've done it.

 

[chimeracreator]

You like metal, so I'll give you this analogy: It would be more like a journalist questioning the relavance of the chick who plays keyboard for Bleeding Through, who was over represented as fuck a few years ago, and interviewed everywhere, despite playing nothing but simple as fuck parts.

I can't say I follow music but it would be more akin to someone saying:

I keep seeing [you] everywhere. Question: Do you matter at all? Do you even provide anything useful to metal, besides "personality?" could you be considered nothing more than a glorified groupie? You don't seem to add anything creative to the medium.

That also strikes me as pretty offensive. As for getting fired because of it, it makes sense in my opinion. He had an internship at a company that covered gaming news. Part of journalism is keeping a trusted public image so your audience wants to hear what you say and so you can get interviews. His tweets made him toxic so he no longer could do either, so they canned him.

 

[Eyelicker]

Or...it's someone questioning someone's perceived over-representation in a medium, and nowhere near as one sided as you put it. I'm sure he knew about her and her contributions, and felt sick off seeing her so much in place of people he felt were more deserving. This is his opinion, no matter how inflammatory it obviously is, and he has the right to express it.

Yes, he has the right to express his inflammatory opinion. However, we have the right to call him a dumbass and a douchebag for expressing it and Destructoid has the right to fire him for it. The "rights" argument doesn't hold water. Nobody's arguing whether he COULD've done it, but whether he SHOULD've done it.

Yeah, and I think firing is taking it too far, and wouldn't happened was it not for the huge white knight misogyny witch hunt at the moment, and no one would have given a fuck had he said this about a guy. THAT's why I think it's fucked up.

 

[Eyelicker]

You like metal, so I'll give you this analogy: It would be more like a journalist questioning the relavance of the chick who plays keyboard for Bleeding Through, who was over represented as fuck a few years ago, and interviewed everywhere, despite playing nothing but simple as fuck parts.

I can't say I follow music but it would be more akin to someone saying:

I keep seeing [you] everywhere. Question: Do you matter at all? Do you even provide anything useful to metal, besides "personality?" could you be considered nothing more than a glorified groupie? You don't seem to add anything creative to the medium.

That also strikes me as pretty offensive. As for getting fired because of it, it makes sense in my opinion. He had an internship at a company that covered gaming news. Part of journalism is keeping a trusted public image so your audience wants to hear what you say and so you can get interviews. His tweets made him toxic so he no longer could do either, so they canned him.

Might be offensive but it could also be a valid point. Part of journalism is also making valid points.