Gaming Journalism 2014: Blogs For Cash

[dew]

geekmarine said:

And look, even if it was unethical - shouldn't that fall upon the guys she had sex with to maintain their journalistic integrity or whatever? What, they just couldn't hope to possibly resist her wiles? They had no choice? Bullcrap, if ethics are a concern, that falls upon the guys she slept with.

What in the name of Holy Fuck is this? Your answer to slut-shaming and professionally tarnishing the girl is to hit the guy instead? Isn't the correct option supposed to be "both or neither", or is positive gender discrimination required in this day and age? Afaik the Kotaku guy is getting his share of Internet rage, he just isn't in the epicenter, because he was "merely" a partner in crime.

You and the other SJWs claim that were the roles reversed, people would be admiring his Alpha panache instead of slut-shaming & ostracizing him.
1) I don't think so. The Internet is full of retarded trolls, but it also loves whiteknighting and a good cause to fight (shady deals in the game reviwing biz). And goddamn, sex & corruption is always a fun combination.
2) It's a hypothetical argument SJWs present to silence the claims about the massive scale damage control that followed. It has no relevance to the case at hand.
3) If the gaming world is so unfair to women, how was all that damage control even possible? Could it be that being accused of allowing real-life misogyny take place (by a semi-famous SJ person, nonetheless) scared some site admins shitless? Then where's my online phalocracy?

[geekmarine]

Shockingly yes, if, as is being suggested, this is something akin to a bribe, then I'm going to take the radical stance of suggesting that maybe, just maybe, in this crazy, mixed-up world, maybe it's just possible that the person accepting the bribe is the one at fault here. Maybe she's at fault, too, for offering the bribe - but yeah, I'm gonna take the radical position here of not immediately assuming that because she's a woman, the sex must be a bribe. That's where I'm getting tripped up. I just keep seeing this as an issue of libido, but apparently because it's a woman involved, there's no way she'd screw guys just because she like screwing, and that's what's irking me about this. Looking at what I've been able to find, it just seems that everything stems from the initial assumption, "She doesn't just fuck because she likes to fuck lots of guys."

It's a lot like how I just happen to see an interesting argument, and you automatically assume that I'm a SJW, and that anything I say must be part of some deliberate course of action "for the cause," rather than me just throwing in my two cents' based on a scandal I really don't give a crap about. Just found it interesting that usually when there's a sex scandal, the sex itself is the scandal, but in this case, no, the sex wasn't the scandal, it was a means to an end, a hazy, ill-defined end, but the point was there was no possible way the sex in itself was the goal. I'm not trying to make some grand point, only saying that I find it interesting that it's a woman, so the sex couldn't be the goal. Just seems to me that it's just as likely that she's wild freaky, and her conquests happen to be related to her industry, because shock of shocks, that's where she's likely to meet people.

And hey, cheating is a terrible thing, no doubt, judge her all you want for that, just saying I think it's entirely possible that she was just cheating for the sake of cheating, like most people who cheat do. And it kinda weirds me out that people seem almost offended by that - like it's easier to accept if she was cheating for other reasons, but if she was just doing it for pleasure, oh no, that's the worst thing in the world, so horrible there's no way she could just like fucking.

[Kontra Kommando]

I guess the gist of this video could be summed up at 14:30-15:13.

lol, the narrator's rant made my morning.

I've heard several allegations of sex being used for influence in Hollywood as well. Usually, actors and actresses get their roles by performing sexual favors for the producers and directors. Its quite possible that many industries are motivated by sex. Even in politics, I bet. Ironically, those industries are also filled with a bunch of sanctimonious, disingenuous liars as well.

[geo]

dew said:

Your answer to slut-shaming

A lot of women have that fetish like Asians and germ fetishes.

If Asians have doorknob fetishes they should really get into rollercoaster hand bar licking.

[dew]

geekmarine said:

And hey, cheating is a terrible thing, no doubt, judge her all you want for that, just saying I think it's entirely possible that she was just cheating for the sake of cheating, like most people who cheat do. And it kinda weirds me out that people seem almost offended by that - like it's easier to accept if she was cheating for other reasons, but if she was just doing it for pleasure, oh no, that's the worst thing in the world, so horrible there's no way she could just like fucking.

See, this is what I have a problem with. Alright, she wants to screw around? Fine, the ex-bf is a whiny bitch and a pretentious SJW himself anyways. Cmon, he was ready to forgive her despite her sleeping around behind his back and lying about it. Also his melodramatic swooning over an 8 months long true love relationship, 3 of which they were on "a break", just reeks of desperation.

BUT I find it unethical and slimy that she's also a revered SJ person that pontificates about the importance of monogamy and mutual trust and blah blah blah. There's a hilarious part in the ex-bf's blog where he describes her strong position on cheating, apparently in order to be more hardcore than all the other SJWs. She claimed that not informing your partner about your infidelity and then having sex with them constitutes sex without consent. She was raping the guy the entire time! Oh man, I actually admire her for not bursting into laughter when she was feeding him that drivel.

[geekmarine]

Well, y'know what they say, "The lady doth protest too much, methinks." After all, how often does it turn out that someone who's an outspoken opponent of something is guilty of that very thing they speak out against? And how often are they outspoken because of some secret guilt over that fact? It's like the gay-bashing minister who turns out to be doinking a different male prostitute every week.

I'm not saying the cheating isn't wrong in its own right (boy, try deconstructing that one). But it just seems more and more to me that her problem is the cheating in itself. It just seems from my perspective that she has a problem with cheating, got herself in an unfortunate situation due to her indiscretion, and because of that people assume that it's worse than it is. Again, things like her strong anti-cheating stance - could be sincere, or could be she's vocal about because she knows it's a problem of hers, and it's easier to hide your problems when you're very vocal about how they're wrong.

Either way though, I highly doubt she'd go so far out of her way to compromise her principles just to get a little favorable press. If anything, it might've been the opposite - her connections allowed her to meet these people, she got to bang 'em, and only afterwards may have realized the implications.

Or she's a horrible person all-around and only slept with the guys to get good reviews. I suppose I should clarify. I'm not saying that cheating isn't bad or anything, but it's just that I'm willing to consider the possibility that this a "personal problems" type situation that spun out of control, rather than her intentionally going out to fuck these dudes specifically for the purpose of getting good press. Sex is complicated enough, no need to go the extra mile there.

[geo]

Well now I guess the slut shaming continues her nude photos she took as a model are coming out. Irrelevant though.

[Technician]

WHO CARES WHO SHE FUCKED. You people are stuck on this damn slut-shaming point. Why is that? Because you don't want to actually see she's a crook, a fraud, a manipulator. She can't do no wrong. Every outlet is defending her and deleting any opposition.

geekmarine, you're just as blind as the rest. How did you skip over everything else she's done in this thread? She played victim to Wizardchan, the Internets go to lolcow, a little while ago and claimed they doxxed her and that generated a huge shit storm in the gaming press that got her huge amounts of attention and money for her game. It turns out that the info that was "leaked" was a phone number for a plumbing company and a nonexistent address. She doxxed herself. Even the escapist made a public announcement about the scandal and still took her side regardless of the fact she was a liar!

This is why I make little snide remarks when we inevitably have an atheist thread. All of a sudden the community is rational and subjective when debunking absurd Christian bullshit but when some dirt interferes with our other lefty views, we throw all that objectivity out the window and start quot-mining, remaining willfully ignorant and completely missing the point to preserve our predisposition to protect the minority.

[Scripten]

Technician said:

Even the escapist made a public announcement about the scandal and still took her side regardless of the fact she was a liar!

Not getting into this situation any more than to ask: Aren't they just asking people not to harass other people? It doesn't look like they're taking her side as much as saying that the internet blowing up at this chick isn't solving anything or doing anything but causing antagonism.

[geo]

The face that launched a thousand ships she is. By ships I mean ships full of trolls.

[Linguica]

Phml said:

Stinks of tryhard who tries to think of himself as having moved on from childish things and can tower over those losers who still play that old game, wow nerds haha. Meanwhile the rest of the world collectively sighs at yet another smart guy who somehow still hasn't figured out that "old enough, fairy tales" saying.

careful, your projection is showing

[reality 2.0]

I should be enjoying myself. Sex scandal? Check. Everyone losing their minds? check. all hell breaking loose in sites I like? check. drama (and lots of it)? check. proof that modern vidya gaem journalism is corrupt to a degree and is lacking in a sense of ethics? check. but you know what, I simply can't give a fuck on what's going on. These idiots want attention and that's how they get clicks on their sites and how they boost their careers. I bet they wanted this to happen and we're doing what they want us to be doing. Let's not give them any more attention.

[geekmarine]

If I missed actual wrongdoing on her part well, and Technician maybe you'd agree, it's because of all the damn slut-shaming. It's kinda hard to even focus on anything else when all anyone wants to talk about is how she doinked a bunch of guys while in a relationship and oh how wrong that is. And it is wrong, don't misunderstand me - I just feel if there's a damn story here, that's not it. It's just that... yeah, I know this is the Internet, I know there's no hope of expecting better, but it's kinda hopeless when the Internet trolls all just wanna lead with "Der, she's a slut, hurr hurr!" and leave it at that. Like that's the big story here. Anything else is considered irrelevant because the ultimate wrongdoing is oh, she acted like a slut, so as long as we hit that point, it doesn't matter. And too many people are so quick to jump on that bandwagon.

Actually, it reminds me of what happened with the situation in Ferguson - obviously not to the same degree, but that same mentality. "Oh, we got grainy footage of the kid allegedly robbing a convenience store, therefore we have the whole story and everything else is irrelevant." In both cases, there's pointing to a separate incident of alleged wrongdoing and a declaration that this proves that any other accusations must be true, end of story, and the problem is, people are quick to swallow that crap. I really hate to use the term "character assassination," but basically that's what it is - show a more clear-cut case of wrongdoing, unrelated though it may be, and use that to justify your other accusations of alleged wrongdoing. He robbed the store, therefore he must have been posing a threat to the cop. She was sleeping around, therefore she must have been deliberately trying to buy publicity by doing so.

I'm not making a grand declaration of guilt or innocence, just pointing out the flaws I see in making these grand, sweeping conclusions based on unrelated accusations. I need more to convince me, in this case, that she was using bribery to promote her games than, "Well, clearly she's a whore!" I need a little more evidence before I'll start making any assumptions about her motives beyond simply wanting to get laid. And that's where I see the problem - I know if the gender roles were reversed, people would not leap to the same conclusions. I'm not saying she'd be heralded as a hero if she were a guy, but I think if she were a guy, people would look at the history of sleeping around and just conclude s(he) (er, I'm not entirely certain of the appropriate gender pronoun in the case of a hypothetical gender swap) was just a horny bastard, nothing more. People, however they judge a guy who sleeps around, rarely assume that he must be doing so to curry favor - they assume he's doing it because he enjoys sleeping around. Change the gender, and suddenly there's no way it was just about pleasure, there had to be a business motive. Maybe there were other motives, maybe it was just for pleasure, but when you rely on stereotypes, such as the stereotype that men love sex and women hate it, it's hard to puzzle out which it is, because you begin making assumptions that might not be true.

[Flesh420]

This has been a fun thread to read. I never knew that Gaming Journalism hit such lows nor did I ever know that one fuckwad could be capable of sending a whole bunch more fuckwads into a whirl about some indie dev no one has even heard of, at least normal people. I mean this story has everything you see in Soaps: Crybabies defending sluts, sex, prostitution...and a game no one cares about. I feel like I just walked into an Apple store filled with the usual fanboys and fangirls.

Bottomline: This. Was. Fun. No one cares! Moar Meaningless Geeky Rage!!!!

[geo]

I went over to Steam and started reading reviews and the forum. What a circus that is. Everyone just saying 5 Guys: Burgers and Fries. Man people love being idiots.

Any female gamers chimed in on this or is it just men / boys?

1,200 reviews all about Burgers and Fries.

Here are quotes

9/10 i really got bang for my buck with this one

I played this game with four of my friends, and we all loved it. 10/10.


PS. Anyone know of some good burger joints around here?

Beat it in 11 minutes
Beat that
Thanks Five Guys Burgers and Fries

So bad it literally destroyed the videogame journalism industry.
∞/10

^^^^ Those are the positive reviews!

[AkiraZXE]

geekmarine said:

such as the stereotype that men love sex and women hate it

I'm still waiting to see where anybody has said this. It keeps getting said, again and again, her cheating is not the point. She neither had to like nor dislike whatever sex she had, if it just so happens that somebody with a history of manipulation just so happens to sleep around with a bunch of guys of who half of them just so happen to be in positions to improve her professional life and just so happen to take such actions, it's not exactly a logical leap to say that it was probably a motivating factor. Maybe it wasn't the only motivating factor, maybe it was, nobody's made any claim as to whether or not she enjoyed it, because it's irrelevant. Was it pure sex in exchange for favors? Was it an intimate relationship that included sex? Doesn't really matter, the focus is not on that she had sex, it's that she had sex with people who can and did use their positions to improperly improve hers afterwards. The slut shaming here is in your head.

You can look at her relationships with people who then wrote positive articles on her otherwise unpopular game, or who advertised her organization or whatever one would call it, or who used their popularity or following to jump to her defense and deflect criticism, and pretend it's completely and totally unrelated, but you'd have to be trying pretty hard.

And yes, there were other bits, as they've been laid out in the thread and in the various other links. It's been said a couple of times now, yes, she's been involved in plenty of other shitty scenarios. Yes, the men she slept with are also corrupt. There are sites and resources getting taken down because people are either afraid of or part of this whole ridiculous ideology which allows people like her to do what she does, and it runs very deep, but that's not the issue, and frankly the only way to deal with it is to deal with one person at a time. Apparently, the (invalid) claims of slut shaming are enough to ignore this, however. Part of why it keeps coming up is because people keep using that claim to shut everything down, which is part of that deeper issue.

The great irony of this whole situation is that nobody defending Zoe sees how putting her on this unreachable pedestal is really just going to harm women in the industry in the long run. Every time something like this happens, and nobody is held accountable, it does just a little more harm.

[Bucket]

Doomkid said:

Christ, it stands for.... "Social Justice Warrior"? Why the fuck does everything that 'trends' these days have to be so fucking lame as to make me cringe?

"Social Justice Warrior" sounds like a hipster bandwagon thing; it's a deliberate perversion of what we used to call basic human compassion, for people who are against that sort of thing and want to feel proud of it instead of ashamed. "My lack of empathy isn't a personality flaw, it's a movement." See also: femnazi, white knight.

Akira_98 said:

She's gained favorable reviews and and a handful of relatively popular indie devs to jump to her defense, stir up a shitstorm over things that probably didn't happen and drawing massive amounts of attention to herself.

Sorry, I can't find any evidence that she traded sex for reviews. Second, the subsequent mass deletion of message board posts is your basic admin response to threads that inevitably snowball into harassment and threats. Articles written in her defense, see above. Third, she's a public figure. "Drawing attention to herself" is a vague assignment of blame to something that was clearly the Internet Hate Machine at work.

These self-described MRAs (including some of you) filled in the blanks: these industry moguls defending her must be vying for control of her vagina. They can't possibly be decent people who don't like to see others eviscerated by the public at large. Her sexcapades must have involved some exchange for services, because the investment-and-payout model is the only kind of female interaction there is. (Not that that approach has ever paid out, which explains their frustration.)

Phml said:

It's no surprise Bucket, a vocal supporter of manipulative strategies, shows up to defend manipulation and does in a manipulative way. It shouldn't make anyone bat an eye he's using the good old scam artist fallacy of drawing a line in the sand, putting each person on either side and refuting the entire argument of "the other side", based on part of what a select few individuals say.

(1) I don't remember vocally supporting manipulation, though it seems you're defining it as skepticism. In that case, yes. I'm manipulating people by requiring evidence to believe things.
(2) You believe there was no antagonism and labeling surrounding this issue until I came along...? Should I feel flattered, or just sorry for you?

Technician said:

we throw all that objectivity out the window and start quot-mining, remaining willfully ignorant and completely missing the point to preserve our predisposition to protect the minority.

Rationality dictates that there is no evidence that any professional indiscretion took place. If you're not willfully ignorant of that fact, why don't you educate us on what the point actually is?

[geekmarine]

The reason I bring up the stereotype about men loving sex and women hating it is because of how it relates to our perception of the situation. The assumption that she's using sex for leverage follows from that assertion that women don't naturally like sex - it leads one to conclude, even if just on the subconscious level, that there must me something more to it than "it felt good."

I'm pointing that out, not because someone said that, but precisely because no one said it. It's understood, and it colors our interpretation of events. Again, if it were a man sleeping around, there wouldn't be any underlying assumption that he must be sleeping around in order to curry favor. But, because it's a woman, those stereotypes help ease the transition to that conclusion. And for all I know, she is sleeping around to curry favor, but when that conclusion follows from stereotypes, it just makes me take more pause and require more evidence to make that conclusion, to ensure that the conclusion is being made from the evidence rather than, "Well the conclusion fits our preexisting stereotypes about women."

And okay, maybe there are other bits that correlate to the initial argument - but that's the flippin' point, we should be relying more on those, rather than take the Internet troll position of, "Oh she's a slut, so that means she's guilty!" If my arguing causes people to turn to those other bits to defend their position, that's great, that's as it should be. If there is any truth to the accusations, absolutely she should be held accountable, but frankly, given how murky this situation is, I'd rather play it safe and play devil's advocate for the time being.

Oh, and I really hate the term "Social Justice Warrior." Such a great term to shut down arguments one puts against you without actually addressing the arguments. "Oh, we don't need to take you seriously, you're just a Social Justice Warrior, go home and let the adults talk."

[FireFish]

geekmarine said:

Oh, and I really hate the term "Social Justice Warrior." Such a great term to shut down arguments one puts against you without actually addressing the arguments. "Oh, we don't need to take you seriously, you're just a Social Justice Warrior, go home and let the adults talk."

Bucket said:

"Social Justice Warrior" sounds like a hipster bandwagon thing; it's a deliberate perversion of what we used to call basic human compassion, for people who are against that sort of
thing and want to feel proud of it instead of ashamed. "My lack of empathy isn't a personality flaw, it's a movement." See also: femnazi, white knight.

In every media in existence which is not a pe-filmed cinema movie, emotions and standard human behaviour are being targeted and the internet leads the way.
People with a passion, compassion, emotion, and empathy are being targeted. You show empathy or emotion so you are something to be laughed at or rejected.
The basics of modern internet... adults or so called adults whom do not realize or accept human emotions and interrests are the ones at fault. (ex : psychopath)

I agree to the fullest with these two quotes, and it is relevant to this entire topic as a whole.

[Aliotroph?]

So where's the review(s) this sex allegedly got her? I saw a review written by a woman who liked it, but I didn't read it because game reviews (and movie reviews) aren't worth it unless they're wrapped in comedy.

How many of the people freaking out here would be so upset if it were John Romero or Gabe Newell accused of sleeping around?

In summary: what Maes and Bucket said.

Wow, the rage behind this on Steam is hilarious. You'd think the lady was a rapist based on the way they act. Actually worse. Gamers don't seem to mind rapists so much sometimes. I should buy this (admittedly boring-looking) game just to piss people off.

[Reisal]

Looks like 2014 is going pretty well with bullshit regarding journalism and sleeping with people for reviews, how low and stupid can people be now?

[Snakes]

I don't know about y'all, but a relationship that benefits both parties financially sounds like a pretty dope business decision.

[Belial]

geekmarine said:

If I missed actual wrongdoing on her part well, and Technician maybe you'd agree, it's because of all the damn slut-shaming.

Yawn.

You didn't want to be called a SJW, but if it quacks like a duck...

[Tarnsman]

Can someone please explain to me why this is a big deal? I get it, she's a woman and an annoying SJW so the amorphous blob collective of neckbeards that make up the internet need to find any excuse to collectively lose their shit because they have no lives. But over this?

Even coupled with the "systematic evils of the game industry" or whatever "justice" they think they're fighting for this might be one of the most pathetic wastes of everyone's time I've ever seen.

She cheated on her boyfriend with 5 guys, whoopty do, call her a cunt and move on with your lives. Yeah she's a terrible person, good for her, that doesn't warrant harassing her. Even if she personally was responsible for every single one of the video game industries woes and her magical vagina was this all controlling vortex, just fucking ignore her, don't consume her content.

Just because someone is shitty doesn't give you the green light to go full Scarlet Letter on them. Anita Sarkeesian is an annoying bore whose videos are about as insightful as Stormfront's views on race but that doesn't justify rape threats or really anything other than ignoring her.

As for the naked pictures? They're professionally shot porn. Porn is created with the intent to be redistributed. This is not some photos her boyfriend took of her in private, it's porn. If you don't want naked pictures of you, specifically created for other people to view, to be viewed, don't fucking make porn.

Edit: Also if you're trying to pretend that this is just about you taking a stance against nepotism in the gaming industry, no it's fucking not. There are fifty billion other examples you could pick that aren't some no-name woman that annoyed you. Get over it.

[geekmarine]

amorphous blob collective of neckbeards

Great, now I'm picturing the Internet as SP_FACE1, with all the faces shouting, "SLUT! WHORE!" as they scroll across your monitor.

[Tarnsman]

Also can we not call this slut-shamming. Slut-shamming is when a woman dresses provocatively and you tell her she deserves to be raped, or she enjoys open casual sex or you know non-harmless activities and that some how makes her a horrible person.

Cheating on your partner (if a guy did it, he would deserve just as much scorn, it would not make him a stud, it would make him a fuckbag), and really far more importantly, having UNPROTECTED sex with him while not telling him about the 5 other cocks entering your body? That's actually being a slut/whore.

[FireFish]

geekmarine said:

Great, now I'm picturing the Internet as SP_FACE1, with all the faces shouting, "SLUT! WHORE!" as they scroll across your monitor.

Thats what al qaida does towards all women. :-)

[CorSair]

Technician said:

WHO CARES WHO SHE FUCKED.

But... Dude! Sex sells and bucks flow from windows and privileges are made!

[Aliotroph?]

Tarnsman said:

That's actually being a slut/whore.

You're implying being a slut or a whore is wrong. It is not. Now quit your goddamn slut shaming.

[Tarnsman]

Aliotroph? said:

You're implying being a slut or a whore is wrong. It is not.

No, it fucking is. Dressing provocatively, or being sexually active, or even sucking 37 dicks in a row because you could, does not make you a slut. Basking in your own bloated hedonism makes you a slut. It's the difference between the person who occasionally has a drink and someone who is a full blown alcoholic, the latter is a problem worthy of scorn and correcting.

Lying to a sexual partner who you are having protectionless sex with about your sexual history is a shitty thing to do and is wrong.