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JonCole

"Ethics and Journalistic Integrity"

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My main exposure to her was during one of Giant Bomb's E3 after shows wherein she was far too drunk and abrasive for my tastes.

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So is she usually drunk and abrasive, then? Or just that one time?

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I wouldn't say she's usually drunk, but most of what I've read from her has been abrasive. I've been linked to her Twitter feed from time to time and just been confused by her aggressivity towards seemingly benign questions.

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Well I have nothing to say to that except I think you're crazy, so whatever!

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My opinion of her predates the whole GG fiasco, by the way. I confess to not being well-versed in everything she's ever done, but my limited contact with her work just put me off.

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http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/DavidGallant/20150126/234930/For_the_Sake_of_the_Industry_No_More_TotalBiscuit.php

heh

Not sure how productive this post is, but I completely agree with it, regardless. It won't happen, of course.

The sheer number of negative comments on that article amounting to either "TB was an asshole in a different way from the way you said, so your argument is invalid" or "TB is successful and successful people should be allowed to behave however they want" are why this'll never be a thing, no matter how justified.

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Skip to 58:10 to see Leigh Alexander politely but thoroughly demolish a gaters question:

http://new.livestream.com/accounts/6845410/gamesnow/videos/74254711

 

(via ghazi)

 

Haha, holy shit.  I remember seeing this tweet from Leigh just after she was talking about that presentation.  Without running through the rest of this Q&A, I bet that's the guy asking that question.  I can imagine why that guy would try to save face after watching that video.

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Haha, holy shit.  I remember seeing this tweet from Leigh just after she was talking about that presentation.  Without running through the rest of this Q&A, I bet that's the guy asking that question.  I can imagine why that guy would try to save face after watching that video.

haaaaaaaaa

 

haaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

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Actually, that's not the guy.  If you go to 1:02:20, that's the guy, he actually gets out a somewhat coherent version of the question described, the whole time trying to lay a deliberate subtext of "aren't you just trying to kill video games".

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Sandwiched in between those two questions is another question, from a woman studying computer engineering who asks Alexander how she deals with the fear, because that woman feels it as well, being surrounded by this culture every day.  I transcribed her response, as it ought to be seen, even if people don't have the time to watch the video:
 

Just this morning, I posted on Facebook that every time I give a talk now, I'm scared because I don't know what to expect. Obviously I don't want to go someplace where everyone agrees with me, it's fine for me to be asked questions like that.  But, I wish I could say that I had a magic solution to deal with the fear.  But I don't, it's part of my life now.  I persist in spite of that.  

I surround myself with things that inspire me. I play a lot of games that I like, I know I have a lot of good colleagues and I belong to some support groups for women facing similar challenges.  You might not know what it's like being a woman in games and not knowing if you're about to walk into a room with one of those guys that you read on the Internet, because they're there.  Even people who aren't going to hurt you, might want to confront you and tell you you're wrong in a way you might not experience if you had a less controversial opinion or had a less controversial gender.

It's scary, I don't have a good answer for you. You can do it, if I can do it, you can do it.

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I do love Leigh's portion of that GG question when she said to not read her work if you don't like it.

 

It's a problem people tend to have when it comes to not liking things. When the option to not digest the content exists, but they seem to not take it. As a Howard Stern fan, I have to say, "If you don't like it change the tuner." It's that easy. It'd be one thing if people were talking about promotion of real world action that is actually harmful. But in the world of opinions and entertainment?

 

Don't like it, go somewhere else. It's that easy.

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I wouldn't say she's usually drunk, but most of what I've read from her has been abrasive. I've been linked to her Twitter feed from time to time and just been confused by her aggressivity towards seemingly benign questions.

 

My main exposure to her was during one of Giant Bomb's E3 after shows wherein she was far too drunk and abrasive for my tastes.

 

It is really funny that you took it that way as my first exposure to Leigh was also during an E3 Giantbombcast and that was when I fell in love with her. It was really fun to hear her shooting shit and kind of not giving a fuck while talking about stuff. I guess it was for almost the same reason that I am very fond of Dan Ryckert - neither of them seem fazed by what is going on around them.

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She had a really great response, so thumbs up.

 

Yeah, I was (and I think regardless, with any person presenting, would be) bracing for upset, and she gave an assertive but gracious answer.

 

Edit:

 

Sandwiched in between those two questions is another question, from a woman studying computer engineering who asks Alexander how she deals with the fear, because that woman feels it as well, being surrounded by this culture every day.  I transcribed her response, as it ought to be seen, even if people don't have the time to watch the video:

 

I find it really surreal to simultaneously hear those things (gater questions and the above) from people in the same audience. I also keep seeing fault lines in university courses, usually some gater thing coming up tied to a specific place, and lecturers from there saying "I really hope this isn't one of my students" or developers going "These people are on the course I did".

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Skip to 58:10 to see Leigh Alexander politely but thoroughly demolish a gaters question:

http://new.livestream.com/accounts/6845410/gamesnow/videos/74254711

 

(via ghazi)

 

She was 100% prepared for that, and she fielded this marvellously. I've distanced myself quite a bit from Alexander since she heralded an 'abandonware' hence piracy site on twitter, but I know that right now, her voice is a very important one.

 

I'm surprised that gaters still attempt this argument though; a review without opininon, without subjectivity, without passion, without ideology, with just the bare marketing facts – that's decidedly not what anyone wants. Gaters accept opinions on matters of graphics, performance, or gameplay; but not on narrative, where it is most important. A games critique you'd find in a very similar way about comics, books, movies, or TV series becomes an injection of ideology in the gater world. As far as I know, El Totalbisquito himself has argued against that crappy idea (he is, after all, opinionated).

 

The gamergate ideology is alterable and elusive, just as most conspiracy theories. Imbecile arguments stand at the beginning and are then refined over time to sound just a little less imbecile, so that the opposite side is kept busy disproving the old bullshit disguised as new bullshit. You'd think that an argument as visibly idiotic as this one would quickly change in the cult's doctrine so that their declared political enemy can't verbally obliterate them quite as obviously any more. But maybe this element of utter conspiracy is too ingrained in gamergate core values.

 

Hopefully, this revealing archaism is gamergate's doom.

 

Don't like it, go somewhere else. It's that easy.

 

B-b-but what if Curator demands that I go there *sob*  :cry:

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Speaking of the Steam Curator has there been any messaging from Valve regarding being able to dismiss / block particular Curators from coming up?

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The whole Curator system actually struck me as THE conflation of press and publisher that shouldn't have happened last year, an actual epic industry ethics issue that consequently was ignored by the entirety of gamergate.

 

No idea what Valve's doing with that stuff nowadays. Steam's not my publisher, at all. B)

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Valve is currently busy getting into politics it seems. Steam may not be your publisher, but maybe they'll be your next head of state?

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Valve is currently busy getting into politics it seems. Steam may not be your publisher, but maybe they'll be your next head of state?

 

I took that news to mean that their in house economist is leaving Valve for a new job.

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It just occurred to me how utterly happy I am this GamerGate shit didn't happen while I was still at DigiPen. The thought of having to deal with what I'm sure are a not insignificant number of people who fall on the wrong side... Man. Only a couple years off. Phew.

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I took that news to mean that their in house economist is leaving Valve for a new job.

 

That's how reasonable people see it, but if you're a fan of conspiracy theories it's all about Steam branching out.

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