patrickklepek

I agree with listening to your critics, especially when twitter seems like such an echo chamber. My question to you would be, what does "we can always do better" mean? Is "better" capitulation to your critics, or your own goals? Are they the same? I'm not sure I'd be happy with a situation where you agree with those critics mentioned such as Allen, that GB is terrible, that the people who visit GB are terrible. Writing this did more harm in their eyes and you didn't appease them at all.

@patrickklepek: To me, it mostly just felt like a guy venting and trying to make sense of everything that happened. He was definitely angry, but he avoided slurs and tried to back up all his claims as best he could. I didn't really get a slut shaming vibe from it at all. I'm not saying I agree with his decision to make it so public or the way the public responded to it, but I'm curious why you feel it was slut shaming. There's a good argument to be made about him posting it in multiple places to ensure people would see it, but the content of the post itself really did just feel like an ex ranting.

As for "the journalistic impropriety questions," I haven't followed any of that to the point that I'm not even sure what questions came up. Eron deals only with his relationship in those posts.

Again, I'm not trying to say that anything that came of this was warranted, just trying to make sense of the post itself. If it's true (again, big if) then that colors my opinion of Zoe (who I had nothing but respect for before). It's the kind of thing that had no real reason to ever grace my screen, but it did, and I can't pretend I didn't read it.

@patrickklepek: Well you are kind of to blame for this. Not you specific, but people like you with your position.

We are in a situation where there is a growing lack of trust and not to single you out, but you are here answering questions here so i will. Where are the articles we can trust i mean you are willing to give a platform to a lot of people, but you never show any willingness to call out any of your own bad apples.

I have seen this industry grow for longer then you, but all the reporting you see is very one sided and kind of weak. I mean you would never do a piece that would criticize some one like Anita or go deep after any of your own and that is helping to create this schism and it will only grow. You wrote little pieces that no way could come back to bite you in the ass.

Personally i don't care i predict the Gaming industry becoming nothing more then hype machines in the future and all gaming journalism moves to youtube and that will be sad, but that is where we are headed.

@tonch Thanks! I'm really bad at writing and very emotional about how one side gets rail-roaded on this issue. Sometimes I wonder if any of it makes sense.

@gaff Yes. The Adam Baldwin tweet was sort of about Quinn. It was directed at InternetAristocrat's part 1&2 videos. These videos deal with the corruption of journalists in the wake of the info posted. Not so much about her but why the accusations of corruption and a call for ethics on these sites was not just falling on deaf ears but actually being silenced by massive post deletions and accounts being banned. A favorite section of mine is about how somehow TFYC got doxed and dogpiled but somehow that's untouchable info we can't talk about...

@vinny: @patrickklepek: @alex: Thanks for being so damned reasonable on this topic. I don't really feel that there is a massive problem with journalistic ethics as the GG folks do, but it's been really upsetting to me to see some incredibly vocal (and influential) people dismissing all of them out of hand as "those are just a bunch of misogynists". While I have no doubt that some pro-GG people really do just hate women, to dismiss them all in that way seems to me to be unjustifiable and incredibly unfair. So I don't have a dog in the fight, as it were, but I'm happy that you guys are willing and able to rightly treat the topic with the nuance it deserves (and, though you may not agree with someone's views, treating said views as sincere and not merely a rationalization to be a jerk). Thanks guys, it's refreshing to see.

@patrickklepek: Serious question: If Eron's post about Zoe is actually true (I only just read it yesterday to catch up on all this and the man does offer a shocking amount of proof) then even though it's personal business, am I not allowed to take a stance on it the same way many people take a stance on someone like Orson Scott Card's personal beliefs when refusing to buy his books?

Again, I have no idea if it's been verified that his post is 100% factual, but if it is, as someone who was hurt by a very similar situation, I honestly don't want to support her as an artist anymore. I don't support or condone that kind of behavior the exact same way I don't support or condone that behavior from my own friends. It is an ethical stance.

And of course, I don't support or condone the people who have been harassing and threatening women in the games industry. Those people are vile.

Just wondering what your take on that is.

When you say "all parties", to whom are you referring? Do you mean the big three in terms of women in gaming who have been targeted like this (Quinn, Sarkeesian, Wu)? Because there are people who you have featured on GB before who have also been targeted by "gamers" (Myers, Alexander, Allen, Simins I guess?) and they are very vocal in their condemnation of Giant Bomb, its staffers (including yourself and @alex, to name a few), and its users. They're saying this letter was too little and far too late, and just another example of you guys not understanding the problem at all because of your biases and life privileges (i.e., you're straight white dudes, so you can't just say "hey everyone, stop being dicks" because it doesn't work and that's not taking the most advantage of your privileges).

It's all very frustrating, because I love Giant Bomb, and while I don't know these women very well, it upsets me that they hate GB (and that's hardly hyperbole. They have all but come out and said they hate almost everyone who comes here because we are fueling the problem that GB refuses to try and fix) And yet even furthermore, I get what they're saying and think they have good points: GB easily could have come out swinging far earlier against bullshit like GamerGate.

But why do patterns of abuse have to be of the same level to condemn them universally. A double standard and differing outrage levels only serves to further alienate people who feel like a double standard exists. The fact that we need to have this contest of "who made the worst death threat" is an exercise in insanity.

@patrickklepek Do you think it is possible for level-headed gamergaters to split from the movement, and start their own movement based on level-headed criticisms? I am not in support of gamergate, but maybe this is a potential solution?

Sometimes games are good and deserve 5 stars, shocking.