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Kingdom of Loathing/West of Loathing creator accused of abusive behaviour

Stuart Gipp

Stuart Gipp

The Fallen
Oct 26, 2017
2,177
Cambridge, England
CW: rape, abuse

I haven't seen a thread about this and I'm not sure if it's widely-known. If it is, indeed, common knowledge and being discussed, I apologise. If it's been and gone and I missed it, I apologise - I searched Era before posting this. Anyway, without further preamble...

In short: A. M. Darke experienced consistent, violent, sexist and racist abuse from KoL creator Zack Johnson throughout their marriage, as well as allowing her rapist, community member "Armack" (Randy Mack) into social circles he held a lot of power over. Zack does not contest/deny any of this. Please see the Google Doc linked below for the full details, but be warned, it's not easy reading. - Thanks Oxymoron for help with this summary

The original Twitter thread.

Extensive Google Doc chronicling everything - updated, thanks EarthPainting

Zack's response

The details are very upsetting so I won't reproduce them here. I also won't summarise them at risk of my abbreviation somehow softening the horror of the situation. Please believe victims.
 
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Deleted member 18857

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
4,083
Oh no. There as well?

Shit. I would never have expected that from there. I thought, with the tone and content of their games, they would be normal people, and not horrible pieces of shit.
It's horrible. Everything is horrible.
 
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Deleted member 28461

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 31, 2017
4,830
I'm surprised this is the first I'm hearing about this, given how extremely fucked up all of it is. I'm glad she spoke up. No way in hell I can ever support Zack Johnson again.

I hope this gives her some solace.
 
klastical

klastical

Member
Oct 29, 2017
4,713
Damn, I dont have time to read the doc right now but the tweets alone paint a grim picture. Believe victims.
 
OrangeNova

OrangeNova

Member
Oct 30, 2017
12,671
Canada
What the actual fuck?

Kingdom of Loathing was my Highschool-school computer game of choice before we started loading up emulators and shit. I feel terrible for ever supporting that game now.
 
Landford

Landford

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
4,678
Stopped Reading midway. Fuck, not feeling well.
 
Frankie Williamson

Frankie Williamson

Member
Nov 2, 2017
3,020
Jesus Christ, he (Zack) is a God damn monster. Armak is a typical piece of shit who should be in jail for rape, but Zack. Good God.
 
Budi

Budi

Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,883
Finland
Absolutely awful. I didn't read all of it, as it was really heavy and terrible stuff. Hopefully she can find some solace in people believing and supporting. And hopefully she's able to avoid any attacks towards her, which might be a tall order unfortunately. Can't imagine what it's like to live with those experiences.
 
Cyanity

Cyanity

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,345
Holy shit. Zach is a monster. How someone can cultivate such a fucked up worldview over their life is beyond me.
 
PlanetSmasher

PlanetSmasher

The Abominable Showman
Member
Oct 25, 2017
115,920
Man. I remember the name Kingdom of Loathing but I can't remember anything else about it. I suppose that part doesn't really matter though.

What a horrible situation. I wish the stature of limitations wasn't up so she could try and press charges.
 
klastical

klastical

Member
Oct 29, 2017
4,713
Finally got to read through the document. Really hard stuff to get through. Why isnt this thread blowing up? These are some very serious allegations with concrete proof and witnesses.
 
Milena

Milena

Member
Oct 27, 2017
74
Just finished reading the entire document, I don't think I can quite put down how vile and awful I found this whole thing.
 
OP
OP
Stuart Gipp

Stuart Gipp

The Fallen
Oct 26, 2017
2,177
Cambridge, England
klastical said:
Finally got to read through the document. Really hard stuff to get through. Why isnt this thread blowing up? These are some very serious allegations with concrete proof and witnesses.
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sir_crocodile said:
external links
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I didn't think it was tasteful to cut-and-paste specific paragraphs from the wholly appalling, upsetting story when it really must be taken as a whole. Should I put some more context in the OP? I can't think of a way to do so without ultimately changing the meaning/context of anything, please let me know what you recommend.
 
oxymoron

oxymoron

Member
Oct 27, 2017
821
Stuart Gipp said:
I didn't think it was tasteful to cut-and-paste specific paragraphs from the wholly appalling, upsetting story when it really must be taken as a whole. Should I put some more context in the OP? I can't think of a way to do so without ultimately changing the meaning/context of anything, please let me know what you recommend.
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I think clarifying that A. M. Darke describes specific, consistent, violent, sexist and racist abuse from Zack throughout their marriage, as well as continuing to allow her rapist into social circles he had a lot of power over, and that Zack does not contest any of this, is important context for the OP. As is, it's just "someone posted something and Zack responded" which really doesn't convey much.
 
OP
OP
Stuart Gipp

Stuart Gipp

The Fallen
Oct 26, 2017
2,177
Cambridge, England
oxymoron said:
I think clarifying that A. M. Darke describes specific, consistent, violent, sexist and racist abuse from Zack throughout their marriage, as well as continuing to allow her rapist into social circles he had a lot of power over, and that Zack does not contest any of this, is important context for the OP. As is, it's just "someone posted something and Zack responded" which really doesn't convey much.
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Thank you - I've updated the OP with a short summary borrowing some of your wording, I hope that's okay. If not by all means let me know and I'll remove it.
 
Buckle

Buckle

Member
Oct 27, 2017
41,166
Randy not only raped her but ended up bragging about it and then calling her crazy.

Thats impressively warped. Seems like he's completely normalized it in his head now as consensual sex.
 
QuinchoOsito

QuinchoOsito

Member
Oct 10, 2018
545
This is just terrible, I played a lot of KoL back in the day and bought WoL on both GOG and Steam, but I will never give him another dime. If only there was a way to know about more of these people that didn't involve victims having to relive trauma and open themselves up to further abuse.
 
Camwi

Camwi

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
6,375
Man, that was hard to read. Feel awful for her, from the very start with the terrible family situation.
 

Deleted member 29237

User requested account closure
Banned
Nov 1, 2017
803
What the hell, this sounds terrible. I feel very sorry for this poor lady, what an awful experience she's had :(
 
Siresly

Siresly

Prophet of Regret
Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,586
Wrote a negative review, removed West of Loathing from my Steam account.
It seems she wants her story to be shared, so I linked it in my review. I'd retweet her, but currently her account is made private.
 
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Deleted member 28461

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 31, 2017
4,830
The choking incident is what has really stuck in my head all day. The fact that he felt confident enough to physically abuse her in front of his friend is just unreal to me. That his friend opted to look away rather than do something is truly fucking disgusting.
 
makonero

makonero

Member
Oct 27, 2017
9,669
That's fucking terrible. Never gonna buy a game of theirs again.

My well wishes are with the victim.
 
Zor

Zor

Member
Oct 30, 2017
11,394
Was there any update to this at all?

Shadows Over Loathing was at the Nintendo Indie Direct and it reminded me of this thread.
 
Messofanego

Messofanego

Member
Oct 25, 2017
26,220
UK
Oh wow, that's horrible. I only ever heard of West Of Loathing but never bought it. Hope there was some justice or healing for Aliah. Saddened this Zack still gets to make commercial games.
 
RPG_Fanatic

RPG_Fanatic

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,650
Zor said:
Was there any update to this at all?

Shadows Over Loathing was at the Nintendo Indie Direct and it reminded me of this thread.
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Someone posted in the Indie World Thread that the person might have left the studio after being exposed, but wasn't sure. So take that with a grain of salt.
 
Necromanti

Necromanti

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,551
RPG_Fanatic said:
Someone posted in the Indie World Thread that the person might have left the studio after being exposed, but wasn't sure. So take that with a grain of salt.
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On his Twitter profile, he has "Designer of Shadows Over Loathing" written, but I don't know how long it has been in development for. EDIT: Oh, it came out last year already.
 
notusingthis

notusingthis

Member
May 31, 2019
191
RPG_Fanatic said:
Someone posted in the Indie World Thread that the person might have left the studio after being exposed, but wasn't sure. So take that with a grain of salt.
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why would he leave the studio now? the studio's wiki page has the abuse stuff on there since August last year (from a quick look at the page's history). he also shows up in their website's 'people' page and there's nothing on their twitter about this.
 
XaviConcept

XaviConcept

Art Director for Videogames
Verified
Oct 25, 2017
4,916
Man thats fucking dark, what a bunch of horrible people. Feel terrible for A. M.
 
styl_oh

styl_oh

Fallen One-Winged Chicken Chaser
Member
Nov 24, 2019
2,209
Alberta, Canada
what the fuck
i juuuust started (and was greatly enjoying) west of loathing
i must have bought it before this shit was on their wiki

horrible

i don't have it in me to read all of it but this sure soured me on their games

are people just not mentioning this when it comes to shadows over loathing?

i'd like to think people can change but... that's so fucked up. i hope Darke can get some peace. she seems to be doing cool stuff on her own now which is great.

what with this being a tiny indie making wholesome goofy stuff, just another reminder it can be Anyone. why are people so the worst
 
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