THQ Nordic holding an AMA on... 8chan (UP: website linked to multiple mass shootings) READ THREADMARKS

[Deleted member 42472]

For those asking for an Era ban on THQ, what do they have to do to be acceptable again in your opinion? Or are they irredeemable and should be banned for eternity?

Please don't attack me, I'm asking for your opinion, not making a statement.

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I don't know if a ban is the right thing to do. But for me:


To support a developer, I want them to speak out against this. The Goat Simulator developers did. Make it clear that "we don't agree with our publisher". If the Goat Sim folks make a new game I like I'll give it a fair shake (pending future actions).

To support games published by THQ Nordic in general: I want the PR manager fired. I would prefer that the person on the board also step down, but they are just an a-hole. The PR Manager felt that this was an appropriate action. This means that THQN, as a company, felt it was appropriate to associate themselves with CP and the alt-right.

In a perfect world: Bad people wouldn't have power. In the world we live in? I just want to know that a company acknowledges "Advertising to pedos and nazis is a bad idea".

Either the PR manager/department made a MASSIVE mistake or they revealed something about the company. THQN is capable of using a golden parachute to ensure that the former is the official excuse.

 

[unknownspectator]

Yea, that's the problem.

CEO did this because he knows he now has a loyal cohort of alt-right gamers who will now defend and purchase THQ games while the majority of gaming will forget this ever happened.

It was a calculated move that will pay off unless major publishers and developers openly reject and cancel and contracts or plans to work with THQ

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All the more reason to ban discussion of their games here. Yeah, it will be hard but nothing worthwhile in life is easy. Hell, our voices were heard over the GoG community manager fiasco and if we can do that then we can do this! I'm willing to give up SR5 for this and I'm a big fan of that franchise.

 

[Deleted member 1849]

For people going "this will hurt the devs!", I just want to remind you that we already have multiple devs working at subsidiaries state that they find it disgusting that they are linked with such a company. That won't change until THQ Nordic face consequences.

For those asking for an Era ban on THQ, what do they have to do to be acceptable again in your opinion? Or are they irredeemable and should be banned for eternity?

Please don't attack me, I'm asking for your opinion, not making a statement.

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I gave my personal criteria: Everyone involved with the AMA be fired, or in the case of Reinhard, somehow removed from the company. A stronger statement from Lars would also be nice.

I also understand the "they'll just be discussed elsewhere, we need Era discussions to call them out" argument, and why I proposed having all THQ threads come with a stickied disclaimer making people aware of the situation instead.

 

[Icemonk191]

Who said there are no consequences? We still don't know if THQ Nordic AB is going to act, we know nothing, even when the GOG/CDP shit happened we did now nothing about the fired CM until months later. We need to wait, this is not like the US when you can fire someone randomly, there are laws and obligations, THQ Nordic is probably doing an internal investigation before going public.

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Using the GOG/CDPR fiasco as proof that we need to wait and see is a pretty bad example. Just like here CDPR put out a really bad half-ass apology and then did nothing for several months. They fired the guy but they didn't make any announcement about it and people only found out about it after doing some sleuthing. And because no one in the game media would hold their feet to the fire CDPR were able to get away with it and have no consequences whatsoever for their actions.

So excuse me if I don't feel like seeing the same exact scenario play out again.

 

[Dracil]

I feel like the equivalent discussion would be would you boycott using gmail and google search because of Youtube's crappy handling of exploitation of children?

They're all owned by the umbrella Alphabet corp. But do you blame other parts of the umbrella corp for the shittiness done by one part of it?

This tweet is pretty relevant:

 

[Deleted member 8561]

All the more reason to ban discussion of their games here. Yeah, it will be hard but nothing worthwhile in life is easy. Hell, our voices were heard over the GoG community manager fiasco and if we can do that then we can do this! I'm willing to give up SR5 for this and I'm a big fan of that franchise.

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I'm perfectly fine banning all THQ games on ERA.

I actually have major issue if we don't go forward and openly ban THQ discussion in terms of promoting their products. If there was a more clear cut case to do such a thing it's when the CEO of a company signs off in aligning the public image of the company with literal nazis and open pedophiles to garner brand loyalty.

The only way this is made right is if there is a major restructuring of the company that results in the CEO getting removed.

 

[Alavard]

For those asking for an Era ban on THQ, what do they have to do to be acceptable again in your opinion? Or are they irredeemable and should be banned for eternity?

Please don't attack me, I'm asking for your opinion, not making a statement.

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The CEO has to agree that setting up the AMA was wrong, acknowledge that there's no way the members setting it up couldn't have known about what goes on there, condemn all the awful statements in the AMA itself, fire those that arranged the AMA and participated in it, and commit to doing better. But, since the CEO's current statement has been that the situation has been addressed already, I don't have any hope of any of this.

 

[pewpewtora]

Holy shit I thought this was a joke.

 

[Deleted member 6235]

They are indeed publishing and distributing the physical version, MS has nothing to do with Wasteland 3.

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Well, i don't see any issue discussing Wasteland 3, then. It's a different situation altogether (the digital version doesn't give them any money)

This and that includes the CEO who appears to be alright with the whole thing.

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I think it's more of a "what the fuck do i do with a board member that i was in on this", but yeah, action is needed.

 

[Roshin]

GOAT Simulator and Satisfactory devs, THQ Nordic AB bought the studio recently.

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They also bought Bugbear, I believe, which makes me sad.

 

[TheMrPliskin]

The point is to ban discussion about their games (to decrease their products' visibility and sales), not stop denouncing stuff like this. You can ban discussion of a companies' games and still allow them to be called out when appropriate.

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If you're banning discussion about their games when else are you ever going to talk about them.

It inadvertently sweeps the issue under the rug. It's certainly not the intent but it makes it that much easier for this whole situation to come and go when you effectively silence one of the few places where people are actively calling it out.

I just don't think deplatforming them is the easy solution it's being painted as. I'm not certainly going to make some hardline stand against the notion of banning them but I'm always going to bristle at anything that sweeps these kind of issues under the rug, especially after how well that went with GG.

This industry is way too comfortable with just moving past cases like this and I'd rather this site didn't inadvertently contribute to that.

I also understand the "they'll just be discussed elsewhere, we need Era disscussions to call them out" argument, and why I proposed having all THQ threads come with a stickied disclaimer making people aware of the situation instead.

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This is probably closer to what I'd consider an ideal solution for sure. Basically forever tag their brand with this and keep it as part of the discussion.

 

[TheCongressman]

I'm perfectly fine banning all THQ games on ERA.

I actually have major issue if we don't go forward and openly ban THQ discussion in terms of promoting their products. If there was a more clear cut case to do such a thing it's when the CEO of a company signs off in aligning the public image of the company with literal nazis and open pedophiles to garner brand loyalty.

The only way this is made right is if there is a major restructuring of the company that results in the CEO getting removed.

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Agreed. It's clear what the situation is, and THQs stance. There's no way to justify not banning them.

 

[Weltall Zero]

If you're banning discussion about their games when else are you ever going to talk about them.

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Threads like this, obviously. New news, new thread. Why would you even discuss stuff like this in game OTs? It would be highly off-topic.

Seriously, you're all wringing hands over a non-issue. Banning Hatred didn't mean banning threads like this. This all-or-nothing false dichotomy is weird.

 

[Falcon511]

I don't have a problem with banning THQ discussion from the site. Admittedly I don't visit their threads anyway but I think it's inportant to take a stand against this. I was pretty upset about this yesterday and even a bit today.

 

[Disclaimer]

For those asking for an Era ban on THQ, what do they have to do to be acceptable again in your opinion? Or are they irredeemable and should be banned for eternity?

Please don't attack me, I'm asking for your opinion, not making a statement.

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Do literally anything to address this fiasco? Considering the severity of the incident, those involved should be fired, at the very least, and a statement should be made by the CEO strongly condemning everything tacitly condoned in the AMA thread.

Unlikely, though, considering the CEO already dismissed the incident and pointed to the Twitter apology which we know to be in bad faith.

 

[mael]

I wouldn't ban discussion of all THQ games, just THQN Gmbh aka the 8chan guys.

 

[unknownspectator]

Agreed. It's clear what the situation is, and THQs stance. There's no way to justify not banning them.

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Hmm, should one of us make a thread about this so it gains more traction?

 

[Tahnit]

Any updates?

 

[unknownspectator]

Any updates?

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nothing as of today.

 

[Deleted member 1849]

Any updates?

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Apart from that last Klepek post , complete radio silence.

I'm told THQ Nordic has yet to address what happened—associating a worldwide group of developers with a website best known for its association with child pornography—on a company-wide scale. There is, so far, no indication they plan to.

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[EvilBoris]

The CEO has to agree that setting up the AMA was wrong, acknowledge that there's no way the members setting it up couldn't have known about what goes on there, condemn all the awful statements in the AMA itself, fire those that arranged the AMA and participated in it, and commit to doing better. But, since the CEO's current statement has been that the situation has been addressed already, I don't have any hope of any of this.

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That's because it's the PR person's job to deal with this stuff and they have done exactly what you just described

 

[MrNelson]

I also understand the "they'll just be discussed elsewhere, we need Era discussions to call them out" argument, and why I proposed having all THQ threads come with a stickied disclaimer making people aware of the situation instead.

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I'd rather just have an outright ban on THQNordic games.

Otherwise the threads will just fill up with the "I just wanna talk about games" and "I don't see what this has to do with (X Game)" types that show up when people inevitably bring up this shitshow like they do in KCD and Cyberpunk threads. The only good thing that comes out of it is the schadenfreude of watching people show their ass as they bend over backwards to downplay/justify it and catch bans.

 

[Stocky]

Maybe people need to calm down a bit, they are a company with owners and investors, not some wild west rogue operation. Like any other company they are most likely trying to handle this internally right now trying to understand the implications and what to do about it. If owners and investors aren't aware yet they will be soon and that will cause a lot of pressure. A lot of their investors are banks who surely don't want to be associated with these sort of things.

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Exactly. It might not be dealt with at the speed people here want but it will be dealt with. I'm just not crazy with how rapidly this ban on discussion is going without giving proper time for this to be resolved.

 

[Alavard]

That's because it's the PR person's job to deal with this stuff and they have done exactly what you just described

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The PR person has NOT apologized for the content of the AMA, like when their rep replied to a picture with a homophobic slur with 'hey, that might be one of our next games!', or when they replied to requests for more underage sexualized women. Please keep up.

 

[HStallion]

This thread has nearly half a million views and isn't even at a hundred pages. Bravo(?)

 

[EvilBoris]

The PR person has NOT apologized for the content of the AMA, like when their rep replied to a picture with a homophobic slur with 'hey, that might be one of our next games!', or when they replied to requests for more underage sexualized women. Please keep up.

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It's not in the OP?

 

[Deleted member 2834]

The THQ Nordic branch which participated in this shit should absolutely be banned from Era unti the people responsible get fired.

 

[Alavard]

It's not in the OP?

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Not to me. Everything there is an apology for the place they did the AMA, not for its content. Not for the things they said, and the way they egged on the offensive content.

 

[hydrophilic attack]

I feel like the equivalent discussion would be would you boycott using gmail and google search because of Youtube's crappy handling of exploitation of children?

They're all owned by the umbrella Alphabet corp. But do you blame other parts of the umbrella corp for the shittiness done by one part of it?

This tweet is pretty relevant:

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the problem with this is that one of the people involved is on the board on the senior leadership team and one of the most important stock owners of the daddy company

so the buck doesn't stay with the subsidiary, daddy is a pedofile nazi as well

 

[xxracerxx]

It's not in the OP?

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The content aka their replies in the AMA have not been acknowledged.

 

[Deleted member 10601]

Jowood keeps it classic. lol

 

[L Thammy]

There was an apology, but it was for not doing research on the site before doing an AMA, which stretches the imagination when the site is unlisted by Google, they had already claimed to have talked to the board's owner about removing "nasty stuff", and they had to scroll past the link to /trapshota/ - lolis with a few extra inches in order to post the thread.

 

[Gabbo]

The THQ Nordic branch which participated in this shit should absolutely be banned from Era unti the people responsible get fired.

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branch? Wasn't it part of THQN proper that did this?

 

[hydrophilic attack]

This thread has nearly half a million views and isn't even at a hundred pages. Bravo(?)

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controversial threads tend to get a lot of eyeballs from alt-right communities who quote posts condemning racism and child porn to "prove" that we are a authoritative-left echo chamber

 

[L Thammy]

branch? Wasn't it part of THQN proper that did this?

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Apparently there are two THQ Nordics and one is just a holding company.

 

[hydrophilic attack]

Apparently there are two THQ Nordics and one is just a holding company.

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and to be clear, one of the people that participated in this ama, is also on the board on the senior leadership team of the holding company, and is one of the largerst stock owners of the holding company, so the holding company is just as culpable

 

[rras1994]

Using the GOG/CDPR fiasco as proof that we need to wait and see is a pretty bad example. Just like here CDPR put out a really bad half-ass apology and then did nothing for several months. They fired the guy but they didn't make any announcement about it and people only found out about it after doing some sleuthing. And because no one in the game media would hold their feet to the fire CDPR were able to get away with it and have no consequences whatsoever for their actions.

So excuse me if I don't feel like seeing the same exact scenario play out again.

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They also didn't fire the CDPR cyberpunk tweet person either as that was a separate PR person. Which suggest there's a larger problem wirh the company that has not been adressed as they had more than one person hired there putting out hateful tweets. And still never apologised (as in a real apology). Yet CDPR is still treated like a God on this forum cus "Cyberpunk looks so cool! CDPR are for gamers!!!". The same excuses happen as we are seeing in this thread. It basically comes down to "we like these games. Shut up" because ERA has no problem being hyperbolic and extreme in their complaints about literally any other gaming issue.

 

[Deleted member 2834]

and to be clear, one of the people in the subsidiary that did this is on the board of the holding company, so the holding company is just as culpable

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Oh I didn't know that. Oof.

 

[Dice]

Please don't ban discussions; it's counter productive to actually engaging debate or educating nay-sayers why a bad thing is bad.

 

[Kilic95]

This thread has nearly half a million views and isn't even at a hundred pages. Bravo(?)

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We can't take all the credit!

 

[Deleted member 1849]

branch? Wasn't it part of THQN proper that did this?

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It was the head PR guy at THQ Nordic GMBH, being backed up by Reinhard Pollice - Director of business and production development, and shareholder of THQ Nordic AB. The parent company.

 

[Gestault]

I feel like the equivalent discussion would be would you boycott using gmail and google search because of Youtube's crappy handling of exploitation of children?

They're all owned by the umbrella Alphabet corp. But do you blame other parts of the umbrella corp for the shittiness done by one part of it?

This tweet is pretty relevant:

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Unfortunately, this info isn't correct, since one of the people directly involved is in the controlling ownership of the "Daddy" company. It's completely reasonable for people frustrated by what happened and how this played out to wash their hands of both companies, especially since both PR and operating management layers have refused any meaningful gesture to address it.

The parent company is directly involved in both the original action and the response.

 

[Jimnymebob]

Banning all THQ discussion, especially for individual games, will create just as much conflict here.
Surely people remember the Hat in Time fiasco back on GAF, when people were being accused of being right wing, Nazi sympathisers solely because they bought and liked the game? Banning game discussion is just a recipe for disaster.

I think putting pressure on THQ, not putting fingers in ears and ignoring them completely is the best course of action. Just have a thread similar to this to discuss this, and throw bans at people who derail game OTs, or harass other users for playing them.

 

[hydrophilic attack]

it hasn't been site policy in the past to ban discussion of games just because the publisher/developer is (to put it mildly) problematic, so i doubt it'll happen this time either

games are typically only banned from discussion if the content itself is questionable

 

[L Thammy]

and to be clear, one of the people that participated in this ama, who is in the subsidiary, is also on the board of the holding company, so the holding company is just as culpable

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And they both have the same president, if I'm not mistaken.

 

[Icemonk191]

They also didn't fire the CDPR cyberpunk tweet person either as that was a separate PR person. Which suggest there's a larger problem wirh the company that has not been adressed as they had more than one person hired there putting out hateful tweets. And still never apologised (as in a real apology). Yet CDPR is still treated like a God on this forum cus "Cyberpunk looks so cool! CDPR are for gamers!!!". The same excuses happen as we are seeing in this thread. It basically comes down to "we like these games. Shut up" because ERA has no problem being hyperbolic and extreme in their complaints about literally any other gaming issue.

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Yep. If you can't even boycott a company over something as horrible as this because of "muh games!" then that says a lot about you as a person.

 

[Deleted member 5596]

I feel like the equivalent discussion would be would you boycott using gmail and google search because of Youtube's crappy handling of exploitation of children?

They're all owned by the umbrella Alphabet corp. But do you blame other parts of the umbrella corp for the shittiness done by one part of it?

This tweet is pretty relevant:

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1) I can't stop using gmail or google services that easily, without major drawbacks on my everyday life and several needed hassles to set everything into order that is attached into my google accounts. I can easily stop buying games from a certain company. Not equivalent at all.

2) Being incompetent is not as bad as being downright machiavellian. THQ directly engaged with a vile, hateful group that gleefuly bathes in homophobic slurs, racism and pedophilia and did awful things to some people during GG days. They did that willingly and 100% concious of the implications of normalizing the presence of these individuals in the medium. Not equivalent at all.

3) One of the people present in the AMA is a higher up on the parent company. Not equivalent at all

 

[Watchtower]

THQ Nordic is obviously going quiet, but have we gotten anything from anyone else?

Really hoping someone can get a couple words in Nickelodeon's ear.

 

[Aviator Irelia]

Ban all discussion of their games. We should never allow that kind of behavior to be rewarded on Era. I'll be incredibly disappointed with the site if they are allowed to get away with this

 

[Deleted member 2229]

Ban all discussion of their games. We should never allow that kind of behavior to be rewarded on Era. I'll be incredibly disappointed with the site if they are allowed to get away with this

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Yeah, let's punish all the devs who had absolutely nothing to do with this, great idea