This guy is straight up bullshitting in the interview. The usage of "both sides" make my eyes roll so hard. I'm very happy that Era called him out on his bigotry, especially that transphobic tweet.
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Eurogamer: Troubling GOG tweets, a fired CD Projekt employee, and the spectre of GamerGate
- Thread starter Ryo Hazuki
- Start date
he's definitely responsible for the most recent transphobic tweet, but the older, 'did you just assume their gender?' one was ostensibly written by someone else, working for a different team.
CDPR's just a fountain of garbage at this point.
He sounds like a bullshitter, but his apology was still much more savvy than GOG's response, and it sounds like there are some top-down issues with the culture at CDP.
It's good they seem to be establishing some US marketing and PR presence that might better understand the culture and climate.
It's good they seem to be establishing some US marketing and PR presence that might better understand the culture and climate.
it didn't happen three times. the CDPR "gender" tweet wasn't him.
I see someone's already posted the new doubt.jpeg, but buuuuuuullshit.
Especially with the 'how's that for the use of hashtags' line - without that second line I could maybe, MAYBE believe it, but with it? Absolutely not.
As for the postal tweet, how can you not 'see the date' on the gravestone, nor the 'eulogy' written on it.
This guy pondering the both sides argument. The more I read about what he is saying the more it's abvious that he is a gamergater who knew exactly what he was doing but also playing the victim. Also the no politics stance has been something I noticed about a lot of white people who hold pretty racist/alt right views. Fuck him, he gets no sympathy from me. Also, it really clarified the issue with cdprojekt as a company. It definitely very concerning and will impact my support of their projects and also gog.
CDPR and Bethesda are seemingly in a race to show whose the biggest idiots in the industry for some reason.
And theres no way he didn't know what GG was. But the hashtag he might be telling the truth. I had no clue what that hashtag was untill I read about the tweet controversy as I'm not american I don't read american newspapers. Still stupid of him not to check more.
And theres no way he didn't know what GG was. But the hashtag he might be telling the truth. I had no clue what that hashtag was untill I read about the tweet controversy as I'm not american I don't read american newspapers. Still stupid of him not to check more.
I'm comparing two companies that keep fucking up for no good reason.
The guy seems fairly empathetic right up until the moment where he claims he doesn't know what Gamergate is despite having penned an article about Sarkeesian and McIntosh being attention seekers who want to hurt an unnamed "movement."
He is absolutely lying his ass off in this article and I have no empathy for him.
He is absolutely lying his ass off in this article and I have no empathy for him.
Repeated racism and a bungled game release are not even on the same spectrum of comparison.
Hard to feel sorry for this dude, even after reading that he was the 'only one in his family to achieve his dream', etc.
If you decide to tweet stupid shit (from a corporate account, no less), knowing full well that people have had their careers destroyed by 140 characters, you deserve the consequences.
It's staggering how often this is happening and how many people throw their 'dreams' right out the window. Tough.
If you decide to tweet stupid shit (from a corporate account, no less), knowing full well that people have had their careers destroyed by 140 characters, you deserve the consequences.
It's staggering how often this is happening and how many people throw their 'dreams' right out the window. Tough.
See I'm not talking about severity I'm talking about stupidity of letting someone like those people run their pr. Of course racism is worse that's not even a question.
Also you forgot bethesda's incompetence led to people being doxxed today.
I'll always give anyone the benefit of the doubt, even this guy.
Believe it or not, I've worked in video games (reviews and news side) for 6 years and just now I had to go and look up what gamer gate is. Not defending him, but just saying that he's not the only one who may have missed the boat. He may be, just as I am, an idiot and/or doesn't care too much about the non-games related political stuff.
Serious props to Eurogamer for doing a full investigation on this. Looks like suspicions were right and the whole company, including Team Red, is rotten to the core.
I look forward to people trying to ignore this growing pile of hate-filled garbage because they lack the moral fiber to not play a shiny new video game.
How hard can it be to find a good PR person for such a big company?
You seem to be assuming this guy, who was proven to be a liar, is telling the truth when trying to make himself look less horrible. "Oh yeah, that non-apology wasn't me, I *totally* had a better apology, but *they* wouldn't let me use it!"
Except that he wrote an article referencing the event that basically started GamerGate.
Even if he, somehow (which I don't believe), isn't lying and didn't know about Gamergate, he is an idiot. As a social media manager, he should study and investigate current trends and past events so the company doesn't get caught in a controversy because he used a hashtag that might cause problems later.
Good that GOG fired him.
Good that GOG fired him.
I suppose that could be a lie (though even then, it's not presented as "his account", so you'd have to further assume he successfully misled a journalist conducting a third-party investigation). But it seems verifiable that there is a separate PR team for Team Red, who were independently posting the same kind of transphobic shit on their feed. That is evidence of a wholly toxic and phobic corporate culture.
The problem is that still makes GOG/CDP look bad, because even if the apology posted was his (which is super likely) they didn't bother to get rid of it and post a better one.
No one is coming out of this looking good.
Yeah, not really buying his excuses..
But, if those things he said about the abusing phone calls to his parents are true, then the only victims on his side are pretty much only his parents.. and those people who did that (if it happened), are scums too - "You twitted an abusive tweet, so I'm going to abuse your parents who don't have anything to do with that"
But, if those things he said about the abusing phone calls to his parents are true, then the only victims on his side are pretty much only his parents.. and those people who did that (if it happened), are scums too - "You twitted an abusive tweet, so I'm going to abuse your parents who don't have anything to do with that"
The third incident honestly makes this dude come off like a fucking idiot more than anything.
Also if a major hashtag campaign is going around Twitter will easily have a top tweet of a news story or something covering what the hashtag is about so he's either a liar or, again, a dumb ass.
Also if a major hashtag campaign is going around Twitter will easily have a top tweet of a news story or something covering what the hashtag is about so he's either a liar or, again, a dumb ass.
"Guys, I didn't know what the hashtag was for!"
Tweet openly acknowledges that it's using the hashtag in a subversive way.
"I prided myself on staying out of Gamergate!"
Dude wrote an article about how Anita Sarkeesian is a liar who doesn't play video games.
Uh huh. This guy is a terrible liar. Glad he got fired.
Tweet openly acknowledges that it's using the hashtag in a subversive way.
"I prided myself on staying out of Gamergate!"
Dude wrote an article about how Anita Sarkeesian is a liar who doesn't play video games.
Uh huh. This guy is a terrible liar. Glad he got fired.
A non-apology lets shitty people go "ah, they forced you to say this, you don't need to apologize" or even spin it as defiance, in a way that an actual meaningful apology doesn't. So yeah, it opens them up to attack but from people you don't want supporting you. Proper apologies that are acted on surely aren't seen as insincere in the way non-apologies are, and people already assume they knowingly did the wrong thing.
I may be missing some context here, but isn't it the case that they've historically handled things very badly on their forums? So I think framing these things that undermine this as an "after" is iffy, because they're not actually all recent.
This isn't "non-games related political stuff". Of course, it's foolish to not care much about that either, but...
I don't want to come across as overly harsh out of nowhere, but you're doing a disservice to others in the industry by not even doing the bare minimum amount of research into the issues that have been openly plaguing it for the past few years. You should try to be aware of what your peers have to deal with. Especially when you could easily blunder into supporting something/someone reprehensible if you're not aware of these groups and how they function.
Yes, a guy that wrote a hit piece about Anita Sarkeesian doesn't know what Gamergate is. And I'm a velociraptor.
The transphobic excuse I don't buy for one second. So the guy that does GG dogwhistles and attacks their targets just HAPPENS to use a specific hashtag of the specific group GGers currently love attacking?
yes, this is a coincidence. And I'm a T-Rex.
The transphobic excuse I don't buy for one second. So the guy that does GG dogwhistles and attacks their targets just HAPPENS to use a specific hashtag of the specific group GGers currently love attacking?
yes, this is a coincidence. And I'm a T-Rex.
It was definitely shit especially since internet detectiving usually finds the wrong person. The ban was warranted and was dished out quickly. But it isn't doxxing either.
More than likely, they are sourcing people firmly embedded in gamer culture. Unfortunately, that isn't the best culture. You need more outsiders.
Yeah that whole "I don't know what Gamergate is" thing is hilariously transparent.
Throw in that attempt to paint himself as a victim and refusing to condemn a hate group at the end there and it's pretty clear that this is one of those guys for whom "apolitical" is just an excuse to not have to confront actual issues.
Add to that his article and you've got your perfect specimen of a guy who probably buys into his own bullshit that he's not at all a problem whilst enabling hatred and condemning those who try to speak out against it.
I guarantee he's learnt nothing from this, because he truly doesn't feel the need to self reflect. Even after getting fired, he's still using this small platform he's been given to attempt to humanise and validate a hate group.
I'm glad this article isn't taking his bullshit, at least.
Throw in that attempt to paint himself as a victim and refusing to condemn a hate group at the end there and it's pretty clear that this is one of those guys for whom "apolitical" is just an excuse to not have to confront actual issues.
Add to that his article and you've got your perfect specimen of a guy who probably buys into his own bullshit that he's not at all a problem whilst enabling hatred and condemning those who try to speak out against it.
I guarantee he's learnt nothing from this, because he truly doesn't feel the need to self reflect. Even after getting fired, he's still using this small platform he's been given to attempt to humanise and validate a hate group.
I'm glad this article isn't taking his bullshit, at least.
They need to hire people with diplomas in Marketing, Public Relations etcetera.
Gamergators are also in a quantum flux. Someone of unknow position and identity spews out GG diarrhea of the mouth and when you try to pin them down and hold them accountable, they suddenly collapse into a centrist "both sides" muppet.
Fucking cowards.
Fucking cowards.
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He knows exactly what GamerGate is and the "both sides" shit is, as it always is, a cheap suit.
Good of Eurogamer for going after this in an investigative fashion. Didn't get enough attention (aside from here) when it happened and CDPR needs to own this. I think the only language they speak now is their rising stock price so hopefully we see some impact there. Won't hold my breath though.
This is a really good Eurogamer piece and bravo to them for being the only outlet to do actual journalism on this mess.
I have some small sympathy for the dude since I've worked in social media before and I can understand how it's shitty to move to another country for a dream job, get fired in six months, then be stuck in a town you don't know in limbo before you return back home to wallow in misery. I can kinda believe that the guy is mostly harmless, but then there are his remarks that he had no idea what Gamergate was. At best, his ignorance means that he was not cut out for his role and at worst he's a full-on liar. For a community manager you need to be be able to navigate the nuances of the internet in a way that's not just tweeting out funky memes and appropriating hashtags. He wasn't able to do that well enough, and he was getting increasingly cocky and snarky in his GOG tweets.
That said, GOG and CD Proj also come off as pretty bad in all of this. Their management is obviously very focused on protecting the company but they've stirred up a lot of shit recently. They need more community management people who are frankly better at the internet and especially knowledgable of the American political incidents that are shaping the conversations on Twitter these days.
Whole thing is crappy and as a big fan of the games that CD Proj has made in the past it makes me shake my head in disappointment.
I have some small sympathy for the dude since I've worked in social media before and I can understand how it's shitty to move to another country for a dream job, get fired in six months, then be stuck in a town you don't know in limbo before you return back home to wallow in misery. I can kinda believe that the guy is mostly harmless, but then there are his remarks that he had no idea what Gamergate was. At best, his ignorance means that he was not cut out for his role and at worst he's a full-on liar. For a community manager you need to be be able to navigate the nuances of the internet in a way that's not just tweeting out funky memes and appropriating hashtags. He wasn't able to do that well enough, and he was getting increasingly cocky and snarky in his GOG tweets.
That said, GOG and CD Proj also come off as pretty bad in all of this. Their management is obviously very focused on protecting the company but they've stirred up a lot of shit recently. They need more community management people who are frankly better at the internet and especially knowledgable of the American political incidents that are shaping the conversations on Twitter these days.
Whole thing is crappy and as a big fan of the games that CD Proj has made in the past it makes me shake my head in disappointment.
People who willingly want to look stupid and ignorant are always conciously guilty. Always.
I actually believe him. He seems like the type of dumb motherfucker who has his head shoved so firmly up his ass that he can't be bothered to look beyond his own personal, anecdotal experiences of the world to inform his job as a public mouthpiece for a popular game company.
What a knob.
What a knob.
Nah, you don't write an Anita Sarkeesian article and not know about Gamergate. It's just not possible.
Given his explanation of how little research he did on #WontBeErased, I can totally see him shitting out some article about her because she's trending in the zeitgeist.
Someone on Reddit found some more receipts, looks like Halliday went as far as maintaining and writing for a GG-aligned website called Pixel Gate back during GG's heyday.
Go read the article. He references the "movement". By July 2015 Antia and GG were synonymous because of the harassment she received from the hate group. There is no way anyone could have possibly done even cursory research on her and John Macintosh without knowing what GG was.
He's a liar.
Fair enough. I'm certainly not trying to defend him; he just seems completely oblivious to an astounding degree.
Not to mention he purportedly "prided" himself on staying out of Gamergate, but then apparently didn't know what it was when it was time to talk about the Postal tweet.
So he prided himself on staying out of something he didn't know anything about?
This article solidified my resolve to never give GOG/CDPR any money. They're rotten to the core. The management and that Halliday guy who's awful at lying.
"I clicked on it and it [#WontBeErased] was just people talking about their favourite games or films or music they wouldn't get rid of,"
Sure, buddy. That's why you went all "how's that for hashtag usage, im so funny!!1"
The GamerGate tweet excuse is even worse.
"I clicked on it and it [#WontBeErased] was just people talking about their favourite games or films or music they wouldn't get rid of,"
Sure, buddy. That's why you went all "how's that for hashtag usage, im so funny!!1"
The GamerGate tweet excuse is even worse.
It wasn't widely publicized and most of us just didn't know about it, so i feel it is fair for an article to frame it that way, as for most of people, this only started getting noticed recently.
Given his whole "Yeah, how's that for some use of hashtags" part of the third incident, he is clearly lying about the #WontBeErased incident.
If this was truly him thinking it was just about old media preservation, why would he include that part? Spoiler: He wouldn't. Because if it really was just using the hashtag as he understood it to be used, he wouldn't include a snide comment at the actual use of the hashtag. He's a transphobic buffoon, and an obvious gamergater given his attempt to dance around it.
I'm glad he got fired, and I'm especially glad he lost his dream job. None of his claims in the article should be taken seriously.