"Ethics and Journalistic Integrity"

[sclpls]

The Verge author rewrote the paragraph TB was criticizing (it's noted in a correction at the bottom of the piece), the current published version is quite a bit different from what he posted.

FWIW, TBs longer comments just basically remind me of the kind of bullshit I could go and read on almost any gaming forum on the 'net. I rarely see anything particularly original or well thought out in his writing (I don't watch his videos, don't know if they are better).

 

Thanks for pointing out the rewrite, I think it's a much better piece for it.

[Nachimir]

I'm not inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt. I think a bunch of people making fence-sitty statements feel somewhat trapped by their audiences, but not TB.

 

Also, an excellent Wondermark strip kind of related to my experience of Twitter this past month.

[SecretAsianMan]

Let me first preface this by saying I didn't read the article yet and know pretty much nothing about TB.

 

Well just because the end result is he ends up on the side of the gaters doesn't mean that was his intention.  I think his ultimate position isn't that social issues in games are good or bad but something he'd rather not have to deal with in his escapist hobby.

 

My problem with this is that this is also the position of a lot of gaters.  They don't want to have their games invaded by political statements or social issues, not realizing they already have been.  They refuse to acknowledge that issues like sexism are pervasive and have been that way for decades.  Ignoring a problem doesn't mean its not there nor does it make that problem disappear.  If TB doesn't want to talk about it himself then fine he doesn't have to.  But he should know that there are people out there who also share this view and which side they're on.

[Twig]

Also, an excellent Wondermark strip kind of related to my experience of Twitter this past month.

Hahaha man that is almost exactly the typical gater method of argument. Love it. (Hate it.)

[Synnah]

Is TotalBiscuit the Richard Dawkins of video games? Find out in this shocking exposé. I don't know how to end this thought.

*fart noise*

[Nachimir]

It's probably impossible to represent accurately or perhaps mine at all, but I'd really like to see a venn diagram showing people who've argued "video games shouldn't have politics or social issues in them!" and people who've argued "video games are art f u roger ebert!"

[SuperBiasedMan]

"Respect my video games without expecting me to respect others!"

[Bjorn]

It's probably impossible to represent accurately or perhaps mine at all, but I'd really like to see a venn diagram showing people who've argued "video games shouldn't have politics or social issues in them!" and people who've argued "video games are art f u roger ebert!"

 

Obviously there is some overlap, but I actually associate the gaters as typically being anti-art and often anti-intellectual (whether that is a fair characterization or not). I've seen plenty of gamers over the years agree and try to push the idea that games shouldn't be considered art, cause they're just fun and don't have to be all serious and shit.  An attitude like that dovetails quite nicely into the attitude that many gaters have.

[Gormongous]

My problem with this is that this is also the position of a lot of gaters.  They don't want to have their games invaded by political statements or social issues, not realizing they already have been.  They refuse to acknowledge that issues like sexism are pervasive and have been that way for decades.  Ignoring a problem doesn't mean its not there nor does it make that problem disappear.  If TB doesn't want to talk about it himself then fine he doesn't have to.  But he should know that there are people out there who also share this view and which side they're on.

 

You beat me to what I wanted to say this time, SAM. When I read TotalBiscuit, I see someone who'd love to be perceived as an outside mediator who can speak to all sides of the issue, but who only knows how to be that by playing a fence-sitter, even though he's one that repeatedly falls off onto the side of his own preference (or at least experience). The middle ground between "there are huge problems with sexism in games" and "there are no problems with sexism in games" is not "there are problems with sexism in games, but they're all in your head." I'm sure TotalBiscuit isn't intentionally saying that, if only because his posts with regards to #GamerGate and Steam Curation both show a lack of self-awareness at the role of his voice in the discussion, but the result is yet another "reasonable" commentator siding with the reactionaries.

[Flynn]

He had a followup tweet speculating they might have been fulfilling a quota. What a fucking turd. Man I hate that dude. He's the smug face of douchey gamers to me.

 

I'm sad to see someone who I have followed for some years acting like a bully now that he's made it big.  I used to root for him to succeed, especially as he's almost entirely PC gaming.  He keeps implying other people don't believe what they say and are acting under agendas.  Of course if someone didn't like the women in a game, they must be satisfying a SJW quota...

 

And then he doesn't understand why people are reluctant to come on his discussion panel!

[Bjorn]

Reading an NPR story on something completely different, this quote jumped out at me as being applicable to a lot of "controversies", including the folks who try to take a middle ground stance on gamergate.

 

There's a great blog, Science-Based Medicine — and one of the writers on that blog pointed out that when you split the difference between information and misinformation, you still end up with misinformation.

[Problem Machine]

Yeah. If you have one clock that's 2 minutes fast, and one clock that's broken and always says it's 6:37, the correct solution is not to find the average of the two values.

[Ben X]

Yeah. If you have one clock that's 2 minutes fast, and one clock that's broken and always says it's 6:37, the correct solution is not to find the average of the two values.

 

Unless the time is 6:38.

[Problem Machine]

Unless the time is 6:38.

YOU WIN THIS ONE, GADGET. NEXT TIME, NEXT TIME.

[Henroid]

Is TotalBiscuit the Richard Dawkins of video games? Find out in this shocking exposé. I don't know how to end this thought.

Tegan have I ever mentioned you're the best?

 

TotalBiscuit to me seems like a guy who will be contrarian to the popular (or maybe 'right' / fair opinion) for its own sake, while trying to avoid being one of the fanatical crazies / assholes about whatever is going on. Its a means to gain an audience. And it's not new at all; if anyone listens to talk radio for the last 30 years you could probably finger some personalities who have built their career doing the same thing. Which is why I take extra special issue with it, because TB has grown up in a world where that kinda crap has been and continues to get called out. He should know better.

[aeolist]

Raph Koster has been trying to get some kind of actual debate going here (which is difficult considering that GG is an amorphous blob of sometimes conflicting opinions where the only consistency is that hatred for certain people leads to constant attempts to dig up dirt on them no matter how many times they fail) and yesterday this happened:http://imgur.com/a/LgZBN

It's kind of long/dreary/depressing but if you can power through it you'll get to savor the unprecedented sight of Derek Smart bowing out of a flamewar. It made me laugh for about 10 minutes earlier today.

[BusbyBerkeley]

Hooooly shit that is hilarious.

[cowuponacow]

What would a middle-ground stance on Gamergate actually look like?

[Merus]

I'm sad to see someone who I have followed for some years acting like a bully now that he's made it big. 

 

This is weird because he's been very fond of the bully pulpit for years. It is not shocking to me at all that the man who started out mocking and belittling WoW players he disagreed with would end up doing the same with a much larger audience. He's a Nice Guy of video game journalism.

 

you'll get to savor the unprecedented sight of Derek Smart bowing out of a flamewar

 

Burying the lede here a bit, aeolist

[Flynn]

You could be right, I never followed any of his WoW stuff.  It also may have come across differently when he wasn't coming from such an influential and powerful spot.

[juv3nal]

What would a middle-ground stance on Gamergate actually look like?

 

That brings to mind the John Oliver bit on global warming: http://commodifiedsouls.tumblr.com/post/86307896054/itscarororo-teesa-the-only-accurate-way-to

 

 

a middle ground stance seems to me about the same as saying 15 and 5 are equal in value?

[Problem Machine]

Raph Koster has been trying to get some kind of actual debate going here (which is difficult considering that GG is an amorphous blob of sometimes conflicting opinions where the only consistency is that hatred for certain people leads to constant attempts to dig up dirt on them no matter how many times they fail) and yesterday this happened:http://imgur.com/a/LgZBN

Holy shit. The way that dude totally lost his shit that Leigh, A MERE WOMAN, would dare talk back to him is super telling.

[Henroid]

Okay good, I'm not the only one who noticed that the guy's tone changed when Leigh joined the conversation. And she did so without slinging shit; she mentioned that people were missing the point she made in her " 'gamers' is dead" piece (which is one of the thing I've fought hardest to clarify with GG supporters).

[aeolist]

Yeah he specifically hates Leigh (his own words): http://www.reddit.com/r/KotakuInAction/comments/2hwlpj/here_is_a_leak_of_jimmy_wales_talking_about/

 

He posted this himself (along with some emails of him haranguing Jimmy Wales about the GG article on Wikipedia being too "pro-SJW") for some reason I can't understand.

[Gormongous]

Okay good, I'm not the only one who noticed that the guy's tone changed when Leigh joined the conversation. And she did so without slinging shit; she mentioned that people were missing the point she made in her " 'gamers' is dead" piece (which is one of the thing I've fought hardest to clarify with GG supporters).

 

It's really fascinating, not only his misogyny and the embarrassment it causes him, but his sheer fury that a woman gets to define the terms of the discussion by virtue of being better spoken and more knowledgeable than him. It's like he's a sleeper agent being activated when Leigh appears and posts an extremely good response to his goalpost-moving.