"Ethics and Journalistic Integrity"

[twmac]

Is there a storify of this delightful outburst?

[Reyturner]

Is there a storify of this delightful outburst?

TB:

""

[Problem Machine]

But beyond that he also reveals that he holds the incredibly problematic opinion of considering developers his moral and intellectual superiors in every way

Well, to be fair...

[Christopher]

twmac, on 28 Feb 2015 - 10:03, said:

Is there a storify of this delightful outburst?

Someone on the gater subreddit made a screencap. It's pretty disgusting:

He's basically been saying this in increasingly angry tones for at least half a year. Here is an equally bizarre conversation with him from when Chris and Jake tried to talk him down last October, also about Alexander. It's kind of weird that in his tantrum yesterday he claims that it takes a lot to get him to go after one person in particular, given he's been personally attacking Leigh Alexander on the basis that writing an editorial about the gamer identity on Gamasutra is somehow a breach of journalistic ethics for so long now.

I guess I'm in agreement with Total Biscuit on one point, at least: Total Biscuit is garbage.

[Problem Machine]

Jesus that is some fucking garbage. Reyturner's portrait is very true to life.

[Apple Cider]

Implying that Leigh is an alcoholic is untrue and frankly, incredibly crass.

[Ninety-Three]

So that whole thing is accurately summarized by Reyturner, but I'd like to talk about one part in particular. I found it weird that TB took her statement to be going after Ken Levine. To me, the statement seems on par with "I wonder if David Fincher is ever kept awake at night, haunted by how many people think Tyler Durden is totally awesome". Taking that as an attack on Levine seems like the classic gamer mentality of "But I like this thing! How dare you say it is anything less than perfect!"

 

Though maybe him being defensive is too optimistic an interpretation, and TB was just using it as an excuse to be a dumpster fire.

[Christopher]

So that whole thing is accurately summarized by Reyturner, but I'd like to talk about one part in particular. I found it weird that TB took her statement to be going after Ken Levine. To me, the statement seems on par with "I wonder if David Fincher is ever kept awake at night, haunted by how many people think Tyler Durden is totally awesome".

 

You're exactly correct. The immediate context of her comment was a gater with the username atlusnodded/John Galt pestering her on twitter. She was joking about the gamer libertarians created by people with low media literacy who played Bioshock, basically.

[pkirkner]

I'm pretty amused that this most recent tantrum stemmed from Bain not understanding a joke about people not understanding Bioshock.

[Christopher]

I'm pretty amused that this most recent tantrum stemmed from Bain not understanding a joke about people not understanding Bioshock.

 

Honestly I think like 67% of all this nonsense could have been avoided if the average gater had the reading comprehension and social skills necessary to understand that sometimes women also make jokes. The transformation of jokey offhand tweets into a nonsensical .pngs with MSPaint redlines and hourlong youtube rants that claim to reveal a nebulous conspiracy has always been a key factor in the harassment.

[Bjorn]

He's the Bill O'Reilly of video games.  He knows he has an angry audience that wants to hear a particular message.  That audience worships certain elder men in gaming as gods, so those men will always be defended, further enshrining their divinity.  That same audience hates certain people, particularly certain women, and Bain is happy to look for excuses to demonize them. 

 

I'm surprised he hasn't coined his own version of the "No Spin Zone" yet. 

[Christopher]

I'm surprised he hasn't coined his own version of the "No Spin Zone" yet. 

 

I mean, he basically has, just without the explicit branding. Being a purely rational observer speaking from the perspective of absolute neutrality is his whole schtick. (It's also the schtick of a lot of nerds generally, but that's another issue...) And the tensions between the transparently false claim to emotionless rationality and the reality of constant emotional outbursts and hurt feelings in reaction to the the most minuscule slights are what make both him and O'Reilly (and Colbert, albeit self-awarely) comical figures. The gap between the public persona created by their observed behavior (emotional, constantly lashing out) and the public persona they're attempting to project (purely rational/logical/unbiased) is laughably huge.

 

Total Biscuit is officially neutral on the issue of Gamer Gate like Bill O'Reilly is a registered independent. Both flaunt their nominal neutrality as proof of how they are above others' petty biases and emotions, but anyone who doesn't buy into that facade of "no spin" and refuses to pay deference to their status as perfectly rational neutral observers invokes a wildly disproportionate reaction.

[BadHat]

Anyone notice how every single TB rant eventually comes back around to him? Leigh is wrong because NO YOU'RE OUTMODED and I, TOTALBISCUIT left those industries behind. This article on not letting trans people die is innapropriate because I, TOTALBISCUIT am supportive of trans people and this messaging makes ME uncomfortable.

 

Like, really, it's uncanny.

[Fingus]

 

I'm getting a real kick out of the aristocratic wig and top hat being imposed on french revolution artwork.

[BadHat]

I mean... no. Come on. That's a parody. Please.

[Henroid]

I'm disappointed TB's line about 'senpai' teaching him to not be a terrible consumer wasn't included above, because it is something that people need to be fucking taught!

[Vainamoinen]

Would gladly join the bainhating. The man is a catastrophe.

 

As to his "opinion" on gaming journalism, cue Sterling's "Trap of gamer gratitude" video, because it's essentially the same thing. Bain has always been on the imbecile consumer wing of gamergate. I guess the grateful consumer principle can apply to journalists too. He's licking the soles of the biggies like a puppy, which is the usual gamergate strategy. All hail 2K, EA, Ubisoft and Valve.

 

"Independent", a-ha-ha-ha.

[Deadpan]

Well, to be fair...

 

Haha, yeah, in his particular case the line about being garbage compared to developers is very accurate in most cases, unless you extend the definition of developers to shitheels like Wardell and Villena, who honestly can't have that much time left in their day for any genuine productivity between keeping the constant flow of garbage from their mouths going.

[agorman]

All this stuff bums me out so much. Not that I'm capable of psychoanalyzing people from their twitter but i dont imagine totalbiscuit is a very happy person. All these things lead to is venom slinging and people further entrenching themselves in their beliefs...I just get depressed reading about it

[Blambo]

All this stuff bums me out so much. Not that I'm capable of psychoanalyzing people from their twitter but i dont imagine totalbiscuit is a very happy person. All these things lead to is venom slinging and people further entrenching themselves in their beliefs...I just get depressed reading about it

Yeah also twitter can be a crazy echo chamber of your thoughts without anyone writing a word. You can have 100 reply tweets making arguments against you but you would still feel right if you have your 5 favorites and 5 retweets.

Also the more I imagine gaters as frustrated lonely manchildren the more I want to give them out hugs and books.

[Merus]

Apparently Frank Underwood, the villainous protagonist of House of Cards, plays Monument Valley and The Stanley Parable in the most recent season.

 

It's a sad day when even Frank Underwood is more open to persuasion than gaters. (It's an odd creative choice I can't help but interpret as being, at least in part, motivated by the shitshow in the industry while they were writing it.)

[Nachimir]

I'm surprised no one thought of this Markov chain earlier (but then again I didn't either):

 

DrilBiscuit

 

"When you see games media sites celebrating the censorship of a video game and im here at the library trying to photocopy a fruit roll up"

"These SJW journalists are part of an elite culture and they won't let me fuck the flag, buddy"

[Denial]

These journalists are just aiming to end your identity and replace it with their own. Blocked. Blocked. None of you are free from sin.

 

Almost too perfect.

[Vainamoinen]

Fair enough - the cancer/chemo tweet I've seen really rubs me the wrong way though.

[Apple Cider]

I hate Dril mixups mostly because it takes someone really terribly unfunny and mashes it up with Dril, which at least attempts to be quirky and funny. The whole "they won't let me fuck the flag buddy" is directly reliant on the entire setup from the actual tweet.

 

Now that I think about it, the "this whole think reeks of gender" tweet would work though.