Today I learned that it's only sexist if you're being an ass to all women. Oh, and that firing someone who calls a woman a glorified booth babe is about defending the woman, not about solving our industry's problem with sexism. Because an individual can't be sexist to another individual.Eyelicker said:
The Felicia Day/Destructoid situation
- Thread starter MrMorphine
- Start date
Theres no doubt that the guy was being a total douchebag about it. The way he asks these questions are just wicked and stupid, reminds of the piece on Mega64 were they kid around about Felicia. Ofc those guys were joking and mocking people like Ryan Perez. But i really think its totally wrong to fire this guy for having his opinion. To me (non-american) its funny how they try to fight sexism by taking this guys freedom of speech away. You might be gaining something but your losing something way more important.TheMagicLemur said:
Its also clear that these are all Ryans opinions and not Destructoid. Also how they are not anti-women.
When you are very publicly associated with, say, a game journalism site, and you make shitty comments involving videogames and someone who may or may not be involved with videogames in a public forum (Twitter), you are representing that site with your statements whether you intend to or not. No one took his freedom of speech away. He wasn't locked in jail or put in the stockades. Destructoid felt (rightly) that he made the site look bad as a representative of it, and decided to distance itself from him.Nero18 said:
Freedom of speech means the government can't censor you for dissenting. It does NOT mean freedom from all consequence.
Regarding sexism: Yeah, they aren't misogynistic comments, but I will say it seems a woman has to work very hard to "prove her worth" in the boy's club that is "gamer culture".
I still believe that Destructoid has no right to fire him because of this. Sure the government isnt stepping in or something but the next time some game-journalist wants to tweet about something he/she has to think about the fact that they might get fired. Indirectly the company sets up its own rules of freedom. I personally dislike Destructoid more after this than i dislike Ryan to be honest. I know that if this would happen in my country (sweden) im sure the media would follow the story with great focus. The company doesnt have rights to fire because of opinion. Especially in this case were the opinion in itself isnt to extreme, just how it took shape is terrible.TheMagicLemur said:
To me the comments were very specific about this one person and cannot be compared to the entire gender. The question as i see it is "I see you all the time, why are you famous? Or why should you be famous?". The same question that we ask ourselves about many other celebs.
She's kind of just a geek icon. Gets into enough stuff, and is actually into the stuff she's in, and popular enough that she kind of gets to be a flagbearer.
As to her contributions to gaming...well...I forgive her for Mark of the Assassin, even if it was terrible and made spaghetti out of stapled lore, and am not opposed to her doing voice work, but find she kind of works best in an awkward-but-cute kind of way. Not the golden goddess of geekdom that she was viewed as, a year or so ago, but a reasonable female geek celebrity.
As to her contributions to gaming...well...I forgive her for Mark of the Assassin, even if it was terrible and made spaghetti out of stapled lore, and am not opposed to her doing voice work, but find she kind of works best in an awkward-but-cute kind of way. Not the golden goddess of geekdom that she was viewed as, a year or so ago, but a reasonable female geek celebrity.
*shrugs*
I can understanding wanting to have your own personal opinions and biases, but you know where you should share them?
Maybe in emails. Maybe in a chat room. You know where not? Places like Twitter and Facebook, where everyone can read that crap and it never goes away.
You'd think that after the Spoony and Channel Awesome debacle, people would stop doing stupid stuff like this on Twitter.
I can understanding wanting to have your own personal opinions and biases, but you know where you should share them?
Maybe in emails. Maybe in a chat room. You know where not? Places like Twitter and Facebook, where everyone can read that crap and it never goes away.
You'd think that after the Spoony and Channel Awesome debacle, people would stop doing stupid stuff like this on Twitter.
More people making a big thing out of nothing. People seem to always be so protective of any women in the industry that is criticized.MrMorphine said:
Is Felicia Day cool? I think so.
Does she play video games? Yep.
The question about "contributing to the video game community" is vague, I feel. Felicia Day is not a programmer, and so is Ryan Perez. I dunno...I just think he was being an idiot by wording his Tweet wrong. Do I feel Felicia Day does nothing for the community? Not really, but I believe it isn't just her. I feel like Spike TV's VG Awards don't contribute positively to the video game community if you think about it.
Mr. Perez brings up an interesting point about our community, but it got jumbled up in a perceived sexist attack.
Does she play video games? Yep.
The question about "contributing to the video game community" is vague, I feel. Felicia Day is not a programmer, and so is Ryan Perez. I dunno...I just think he was being an idiot by wording his Tweet wrong. Do I feel Felicia Day does nothing for the community? Not really, but I believe it isn't just her. I feel like Spike TV's VG Awards don't contribute positively to the video game community if you think about it.
Mr. Perez brings up an interesting point about our community, but it got jumbled up in a perceived sexist attack.
This is why you should be sober before going online. Drunken tweets only bring pain and misery.
OT:
I really have to ask, is this Ryan Perez that influential? Some guy on the internet thinks an actor is overrated. Add a yellow background or some geek trivia and you have Yahtzee or Moviebob.
Yes, calling Felicia Day a booth babe was pretty stupid, but why is this such a big deal? It was on twitter, not a full written column. You don't go to twitter for thoughtful and engaging discussions.
Is the gaming community so insecure in its treatment of women that it needs a scapegoat for a manufactured controversy?
OT:
I really have to ask, is this Ryan Perez that influential? Some guy on the internet thinks an actor is overrated. Add a yellow background or some geek trivia and you have Yahtzee or Moviebob.
Yes, calling Felicia Day a booth babe was pretty stupid, but why is this such a big deal? It was on twitter, not a full written column. You don't go to twitter for thoughtful and engaging discussions.
Is the gaming community so insecure in its treatment of women that it needs a scapegoat for a manufactured controversy?
Sooo... did she respond?
I mean, it's a personal attack of course (rather rude, but I'd hardly consider it an attack on women (unless Ms. Day apparently represents an entire gender all of a sudden)), but there's still a question there at the end of the day.
So again, did she respond?
I mean, it's a personal attack of course (rather rude, but I'd hardly consider it an attack on women (unless Ms. Day apparently represents an entire gender all of a sudden)), but there's still a question there at the end of the day.
So again, did she respond?
The sad thing is that men and women continue to draw lines between themselves, then blame the other for their differences.
Felicia Day is as much a gamer as any 'gamer girl' who think that playing Mario games and having played a Legend of Zelda game when they were a kid makes them qualify for the position. She's probably contributed to gaming the same way she's contributed to being a good actress. Hell, fucking Kirsten Stewart (idk if I spelled her name right, but it's Twilight *****) could out act Felicia Day and that's saying something.
Dante DiVongola said:
I met Ms. Day in Germany last year on a scifi convention, she had some talks there and many people asked her a lot of game specific questions.
(germans+questions = interrogation)
She knows her gaming, trust me.
Heck, later on, we even had a nice talk about Mass Effect 2 and why it's impossible to kill Paarthurnax in Skyrim.
Can't get over the fact she was romancing Thane, but that aside....
She's a nice person, knows her stuff, and does not deserve such treatment by a rogue factor.
(Destructoid is awesome in general, so i call this a solo flight by that dick)
Go hate on that Chobot thing or sumtin'....
And as for Kirsten Stewart....watch The Runaways, that flick redeems her Twilight run.
Calling women "bitches" is not cool btw.
Wow the mods are really falling asleep here, I've read through this and about 15-20% of the comments should be deleted (not for their opinion, but for the language used).
She's an entertainment personality that brings video games into new lights of entertainment mediums. That's what she does, and that's why she's known in the gaming community. She's a fan that knows how to work with video game stories or characters and bring them into what some gamers see as better video game themes movies or web series that are done WAY better then anything Holly Wood has been able to achieve.
Who's this other guy? What has he contributed? A few reviews? Some jokes about gaming culture?
Who's this other guy? What has he contributed? A few reviews? Some jokes about gaming culture?
I think that when you often publicly represent a company, it's fair that they'd be concerned that what you're saying reflects their opinion. I do think that really all that should have happened is a "this man's comments in no way reflect the views or opinions of Destructoid etc. etc." followed by a stern talking-to about how, given that he's known as a writer for them, he should maybe think before saying whatever stupid thing falls out of his head.Nero18 said:
Also, technically he wasn't fired, just pressured into resigning. He could have said no and taken the issue to court.