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[Musky_Cheese]

I know some would say we have enough threads on this topic. However I would argue that since she is the only Journalist to actually cover the story from being to end, it deserves its own thread.

As is the case with most outrage bait on ResetEra, the thread took off, dissenting opinion was banned, and the media took notice. Within hours of the thread being live, I caught wind of it, and seeing exactly what was about to go down, I made a Tweet to try and rally support for the developers. As I would express, it is my opinion that what the devs said wasn’t transphobic. Parents shouldn’t decide at birth if their child is trans; it’s not at all how being trans works. But as with all things these days, rational thought didn’t matter and anger was going to rule the day.

As is expected in today’s media climate, the coverage was almost entirely one-sided, with the developers being painted as bigots. This only extended further as the days passed and websites such as Eurogamer, MCV, GameIndustry, and IGNlabeled the Discord comments as transphobic.

As our conversations continued throughout a period of a few days, it steered into other topics, including the controversy surrounding an art asset in the game that says ‘Ogay’. It’s on a bottle of soap, and is a harmless pun meant to be a play off the popular skin care brand ‘Olay’. The media and ResetEra are using it as proof of homophobia, because of course they are. Although, as with everything else in this disaster of a situation, it wasn’t there to be malicious; the devs just thought it was funny.

Another point of contention within the media is that a member of the development team said “the whole sjw concept is getting upset on behalf of other people.” The ResetEra thread also included a screenshot where Terminx said “what kind of crazy person decides to ruin your life because they disagree with you on the internet.” A comment that was directed at so called SJWs. The irony being that this message board, and multiple journalists, are starting to do just that.

There is so much here GAF. Highly suggest you read it. Awesome work that is far to uncommon in Gaming or Journalism in general imo.

It has the answers to almost all questions I've seen asked here in threads. And will likely directly respond to concerns you yourself have raised about supporting the game and developers.

Read it and celebrate it. We've rolled our eyes at click bait articles for so long, use them to read one of the few that isn't horseshit.

Thank you Sophia sophnar0747

 

[EviLore]

Good read, deserves more attention.

 

[theclaw135]

Dummies, the lot of them! This outrage makes more more inclined to buy the game.

 

[Shifty]

An outstanding write-up. The industry would be in a markedly better state if this was the standard that all of its journalists worked to.

Also the author sophnar0747 is on GAF now. Hello and fine work

 

[Fake]

Nice read mate.Thx sophnar0747

 

[MayauMiao]

Can't wait to see the REEaction from REEsetEra.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Shit, another Sophia thing that is long.... like her Twitter rant one time with something like 14 tweets in a row.

I'll give it a read though.

 

[Xaero Gravity]

Once again she seems to be one of the only journalists actually behaving like one and doing their job.

 

[sophnar0747]

Before writing this article I wrapped up a 30-40 minutes script for another channel, and for the past week I've been at my desk for 16+ hours a day as both this project and my previous one have taken a ton of work. My brain is absolutely fried right now and words aren't quite churning very well. so as best as I can currently express, thank you so much for spreading my work, and appreciating it. I'm working really hard to provide honest/transparent reporting (of which I dont make money at), and now shit often gets slung from all directions as too many want coverage that conform to their views, so yeah. Thanks for reading this piece and for the kind words that have been expressed by the lot of you, it means a lot. More so than I can currently put into words.

 

[EightBit Man]

Happy you joined the forum sophnar0747 .

 

[Xaero Gravity]

Before writing this article I wrapped up a 30-40 minutes script for another channel, and for the past week I've been at my desk for 16+ hours a day as both this project and my previous one have taken a ton of work. My brain is absolutely fried right now and words aren't quite churning very well. so as best as I can currently express, thank you so much for spreading my work, and appreciating it. I'm working really hard to provide honest/transparent reporting (of which I dont make money at), and now shit often gets slung from all directions as too many want coverage that conform to their views, so yeah. Thanks for reading this piece and for the kind words that have been expressed by the lot of you, it means a lot. More so than I can currently put into words.

Anyone that's willing to discredit your work and sling shit a because it doesn't conform to their views and ideas isn't worth a fraction of the energy it takes to pay attention to them. Just ignore them and sooner rather than later more and more people will see the work you're putting into all this. Hopefully it encourages more folks to stand up for themselves and follow your example.

 

[Foamy]

The inmates running the asylum aren't going to like you pointing out their insanity Sophia.
Bravo!

 

[MayauMiao]

Before writing this article I wrapped up a 30-40 minutes script for another channel, and for the past week I've been at my desk for 16+ hours a day as both this project and my previous one have taken a ton of work. My brain is absolutely fried right now and words aren't quite churning very well. so as best as I can currently express, thank you so much for spreading my work, and appreciating it. I'm working really hard to provide honest/transparent reporting (of which I dont make money at), and now shit often gets slung from all directions as too many want coverage that conform to their views, so yeah. Thanks for reading this piece and for the kind words that have been expressed by the lot of you, it means a lot. More so than I can currently put into words.

Nice work. Hope you can persuade Colin and Chris to drop by NeoGaf. Love his podcasts!

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

Honestly, it's really kind of a sad situation, especially when you realize that the devs are primarily compensated through back-end revenue. They made arguably one of the best-designed FPSes out there, and won't be rewarded for it because of faux moral outrage, of all things.


Have to commend the author of this, though -- this is really well-done stuff.

 

[Ivellios]

This was a very nice read, thank you

 

[StreetsofBeige]

I skimmed the article, and here's the key points that stood out:

- One of the Twitter users egging on GamerGate issues admitted she does this not because she's actually vested in GG, but does it because she "needs the money"

- On one hand liberal lefties are all about freedom of speech, yet when they face different opinions, they cry foul and hope for censorship

- The game is based on Duke Nukem style 90s cheese, with typical crass humour

- Narwitz's paragraph about Voidgames being an incorporated LLC seems misleading. She makes it sound like they are incorporated due to fear of being sued for making a toilet humour game. But people incorporate small businesses all the time. Yes, it limits liability issues, but more often for business tax savings than fear of lawsuits

- Most of the employees making the game are overseas where terms like "fag" aren't evil to say. But since gamers and game forums are US centric, its users assume everything should be adhered with an American slant

- The person bringing up Ion Fury controversy is the same as the Crash Kart watermelon issue person, who even joked it's their plan purposely to piss people off

- The Ion Fury main character had concept illustrations in 1997

 

[sophnar0747]

Can't wait to see the REEaction from REEsetEra.

They'll ignore, I've been banned from being used a source because I'm 'alt-right.' That was their "logic" when they buried me from the ESA story that I broke.

 

[danielberg]

resetera would be the perfect containment board to keep the cowards, ideologues, liars and frauds away from the rest of the web...
The only issue is that most people didn't expect that many in the industry are among those groups.. oh well lol

 

[EightBit Man]

They'll ignore, I've been banned from being used a source because I'm 'alt-right.' That was their "logic" when they buried me from the ESA story that I broke.

Everything that might challenge our dogma is bad, and we label it alt-right to scare people. The building blocks of that forum has been emotion, not reason, since the very beginning.

Some people have commented that they want to see that place going down. But I'd argue that it's better to have them in one place, instead of spreading their poison to other places.

 

[KingdomHeartsFan]

Wow I'm surprised, a gaming journalist that has common sense and a level head, perhaps there's still hope.

 

[GreyHorace]

Before writing this article I wrapped up a 30-40 minutes script for another channel, and for the past week I've been at my desk for 16+ hours a day as both this project and my previous one have taken a ton of work. My brain is absolutely fried right now and words aren't quite churning very well. so as best as I can currently express, thank you so much for spreading my work, and appreciating it. I'm working really hard to provide honest/transparent reporting (of which I dont make money at), and now shit often gets slung from all directions as too many want coverage that conform to their views, so yeah. Thanks for reading this piece and for the kind words that have been expressed by the lot of you, it means a lot. More so than I can currently put into words.

Praise be to you Sophia. You are doing great work.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

resetera would be the perfect containment board to keep the cowards, ideologues, liars and frauds away from the rest of the web...
The only issue is that most people didn't expect that many in the industry are among those groups.. oh well lol

Devs got to be part of that board. Gotta keep up fan interaction and sales potential. The CEO's at game makers probably mandates key people to suck it up and join the board...... just make sure don't say anything dumb.

If Resetera's user base dropped like a rock, most devs would disappear and move to the next biggest forum.

 

[Mochilador]

This whole situation is so sad. They are destroying other people's lives.

 

[Hudo]

Good work sophnar0747 . It is refreshing to read something that applies some journalistic methods in its reporting. It is no wonder that gaming blogs like IGN, Kotaku and internet culture blogs like the Daily Dot are generating clicks and hype by utilizing opinions, that are usually "backed up" by (deliberate) one-sided "research": It generates clicks and discussion that hopefully links to the blog posts.

It's truly sad that people seem to forget that games are meant to be fun and being able to laugh about things shows true strength. It is a sign of weakness to feel attacked by even the slightest joke about LGBTQ stuff. I do have a gay colleague and his gay jokes are one of the funniest I've heard.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

It's truly sad that people seem to forget that games are meant to be fun and being able to laugh about things shows true strength. It is a sign of weakness to feel attacked by even the slightest joke about LGBTQ stuff. I do have a gay colleague and his gay jokes are one of the funniest I've heard.

I hear ya.

Remember the days when a game's key thread was all gaming - not politicizing.

Some of the best threads I've read on game forums would be old Call of Duty threads where people are posting videos, getting hyped, giving each other tips on maps and guns and perks and just having a blast.

Now, it's more like gamers trying to nitpick anything that bugs them. And devs add to the fire with sometimes dumb Tweets because it seems 99% of social media nerds have to get in their 2 cents on Twitter before midnight.

Just imagine what forums would be like if gaming now was centered around 1990s games like Duke Nukem, Redneck Rampage, Carmegeddon and stuff like that. People played them back then and turned out fine.

Now, half the gamers on Reee would be on suicide watch.

 

[Hudo]

I hear ya.

Remember the days when a game's key thread was all gaming - not politicizing.

Some of the best threads I've read on game forums would be old Call of Duty threads where people are posting videos, getting hyped, giving each other tips on maps and guns and perks and just having a blast.

Now, it's more like gamers trying to nitpick anything that bugs them.

Just imagine what forums would be like if gaming now was centered around 1990s games like Duke Nukem, Redneck Rampage, Carmegeddon and stuff like that. People played them back then and turned out fine.

Now, half the gamers on Reee would be on suicide watch.

Yeah. You are right. Back then, discussion about games was more about strategies or party setups or even cheats. I was a small kid back in those days but I also remember reading some thread about glitches and bugs in GTA: San Andreas and people found them funny and/or cool.

Discussion nowadays is much more negative. But then again, the enivronment that big game devs like EA create is also fairly negative, with all those predatory practices to extract the last bit of money out of you.

 

[nush]

Great reporting here, I did not know she was trans and its does not matter to me but in this case for sure undermines accusations of the reporting being transphobic or bigoted. Era are now sweating about which red button to push for sure. This was sent to me from one of the Era Discords when the original tweet was posted,

Typical. Era will discount anything that does not fit their world view, doubly so when they have the "Guilty by association" card they like to play.

Same narrative played out when Celine.D.Sykes exposed their pro pedo discussions in their private discord. "She's just trolling because she was banned". Case closed!

#believewomen

 

[TLZ]

Before writing this article I wrapped up a 30-40 minutes script for another channel, and for the past week I've been at my desk for 16+ hours a day as both this project and my previous one have taken a ton of work. My brain is absolutely fried right now and words aren't quite churning very well. so as best as I can currently express, thank you so much for spreading my work, and appreciating it. I'm working really hard to provide honest/transparent reporting (of which I dont make money at), and now shit often gets slung from all directions as too many want coverage that conform to their views, so yeah. Thanks for reading this piece and for the kind words that have been expressed by the lot of you, it means a lot. More so than I can currently put into words.

Be the rose that grew from concrete.

 

[sophnar0747]

Great reporting here, I did not know she was trans and its does not matter to me but in this case for sure undermines accusations of the reporting being transphobic or bigoted. Era are now sweating about which red button to push for sure. This was sent to me from one of the Era Discords when the original tweet was posted,

Typical. Era will discount anything that does not fit their world view, doubly so when they have the "Guilty by association" card they like to play.

Same narrative played out when Celine.D.Sykes exposed their pro pedo discussions in their private discord. "She's just trolling because she was banned". Case closed!

#believewomen

I wish I had access to their Discord. By chance, could you have your friend search “sophnar0747” in there, as well as “Narwitz”. I’m working on a video about ResetEra soon and I’d love to know what that search brings up.

 

[#Phonepunk#]

I told people here they knew Era has tons of industry power and would tank their first week sales with biased reviews.

It was really sad to see people here want them punished for trying to mitigate that disaster. They made a statement in response and were labeled by many traitors. The outrage flies both ways and Neo folks were all too happy to condemn them just as quickly with “slippery slope” arguments.

In the end, an awesome game by legacy developers was senselessly ignored. Pity

 

[danielberg]

I told people here they knew Era has tons of industry power and would tank their first week sales with biased reviews.

This would have been a good case to stop doing that then and stop giving them a say... because repeating the same errors again and again and handing them decision power again and again wont change much... not to mention that the people on retardera doing the "threatening" are not really customers, they dont buy games, they are just in it for ideological reasons.. oh well.

 

[FranXico]

Welcome to GAF, sophnar0747 . We appreciate real journalists here

 

[Chittagong]

Well look at that, actual games journalism. Instead of, you know, blindly parroting talking points of a hate mob.

I think the article nails it in that the best way to describe this entire affair is - ‘sad’. The whole Ion Fury situation would be sad enough if it was just a case of damage done by a virtue signalling outrage mob. But it’s doubly so if it was actually initiated by a troll unhappy about getting some old sexualised character design instead of that the developers wanted to create.

I am proud to have bought the game, did not refund, did not review bomb. It’s a highly enjoyable project of passion.

Buy the game, support the devs people

 

[Ailynn]

sophnar0747 , it's great to have you here! Keep up the great work, and thanks for being a voice of reason for us trans people.

 

[Conan-san]

I wish I had access to their Discord. By chance, could you have your friend search “sophnar0747” in there, as well as “Narwitz”. I’m working on a video about ResetEra soon and I’d love to know what that search brings up.

Resetting a computer that represents ResetEra is pretty much the equivalent of putting lipstick on a pig. That's on Fire. That's spreading the flesh eating virus.

 

[Shmunter]

I told people here they knew Era has tons of industry power and would tank their first week sales with biased reviews.

It was really sad to see people here want them punished for trying to mitigate that disaster. They made a statement in response and were labeled by many traitors. The outrage flies both ways and Neo folks were all too happy to condemn them just as quickly with “slippery slope” arguments.

In the end, an awesome game by legacy developers was senselessly ignored. Pity

Yes it is unfortunate for the Devs, especially since Sophia's investigation made it obvious they are mare casualties. However, companies normalizing bending the knee to the regressive left provides further momentum to the insanity. A protest was not only needed, but warranted - do nothing was not really an option.

Sadly, free will and expression is eroded either way, More and more future projects will be plain vanilla so as not to offend anyone. With some hope the pendulum will swing back when creators start seeing edginess become more sought after in a sanitized world.

 

[The_Mike]

They'll ignore, I've been banned from being used a source because I'm 'alt-right.' That was their "logic" when they buried me from the ESA story that I broke.

So, if I understand the rules correct, according to #2 it's against the rules to link to their own site in discussions? What a weird forum.

 

[Rien]

As I said many times already.. they are fake as fuck.

Very interesting read..

Good job Sophia

 

[Whitecrow]

Great work sophnar0747 !!
That article was an amazing read. Thank you for your effort and time.

I wish your work can change some industry minds, it would be amazing.

 

[Stiflers Mom]

Thanks, Sophia...

 

[The_Mike]

Reading shit like this makes me want to not live anymore.

I know Era is a place for mental illness people, but when you look at Europe there's alot leftists like this shit. Why is sex discrimination and hatred against white men so widely accepted? They do what they fucking hate themselves and they are too mentally challenged to even see it.

 

[Roufianos]

Great read Sophia, thanks.

Love your content with Colin too.

Also lmao at the "progressive" ResetEra banning mention of one of the few trans journalists.

 

[Tesseract]

should we dump straight white men into meat grinders?

 

[brap]

Reading shit like this makes me want to not live anymore.

I know Era is a place for mental illness people, but when you look at Europe there's alot leftists like this shit. Why is sex discrimination and hatred against white men so widely accepted? They do what they fucking hate themselves and they are too mentally challenged to even see it.

Wtf I had no idea it was only white guys acting like this!! Fellow wybois we need to do better like our PoC brethren!

 

[Denton]

How the times have changed. I used to both like and despise Neogaf.
Now I like Neogaf and despise Resetera.
Great article, Sophia. Very thorough. It is a shame that because it exhibits wrongthink, the people who need to read it most will assuredly not.

 

[Xaero Gravity]

Reading shit like this makes me want to not live anymore.

I know Era is a place for mental illness people, but when you look at Europe there's alot leftists like this shit. Why is sex discrimination and hatred against white men so widely accepted? They do what they fucking hate themselves and they are too mentally challenged to even see it.

Can someone with an Era account apologize to them on my behalf?


I know they hate me but it's not my fault I was born this way

I hope one day we can all appreciate and love eachother regardless of our skin colour and sexual orientation


Much love,
Your daddy, bitches.

 

[Stiflers Mom]

I am a straight white dude, and I feel like I have nothing to be ashamed of.
Sorry, Eeeera numales..

 

[Xaero Gravity]

I am a straight white dude, and I feel like I have nothing to be ashamed of.
Sorry, Eeeera numales..

Hold on a second, you're telling me you're not actually Jennifer Coolidge?

 

[Stiflers Mom]

Hold on a second, you're telling me you're not actually Jennifer Coolidge?

I am trans Jennifer Coolidge. (but straight) (get off my lawn, punks)

 

[mcz117chief]

Your article is really hard to find on medium.com. It doesn't help that there are like 10 topics with nonsensical names (at least I have almost no idea wtf they are) and that there are plenty of ultra-left wing articles like "in defense of antifa", lots of insanely biased anti-Trump articles etc.

Under which category/topic is your article? If I didn't have a direct link I would never find it.