SXSW Restores Canceled Talks On Gaming Harassment

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This whole thing has been a massive fustercluck since day one. Don't worry, there's still plenty of time for more drama before the actual event. :rolleyes:

The South by Southwest tech meeting said on Friday it made a mistake when it canceled sessions on video gaming culture, including one on harassment, after facing criticism of dodging its duty by dropping talks on an issue engulfing gaming culture. "By canceling two sessions we sent an unintended message that SXSW not only tolerates online harassment but condones it, and for that we are truly sorry," Hugh Forrest, the SXSW Interactive director, said in a blog post.
 
I use this magical feature, available in most multiplayer games, that allows you to mute people you don't want to hear/ are "harassing" you. It's magic I say!!
 
We need more political correctness because reasons.
Video games shouldn't target their core audience even if 98% of their core audience is homogeneous because reasons.
The main stream media has an obligation to silence any opposing viewpoint because reasons.
 
Gweenz said:
What kind of horseshit logic is that.
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Because they caved to the harassment of individuals who were angry that the conference would allow discussions on a subject matter they have political disagreements with. By cancelling the talks based on the threats of violence from outsiders they were saying that you can censor what you don't like by threatening violence and harassment toward those being facilitators. In other words: by cancelling talks on harassment based on these factors you are, in fact, condoning harassment.

I don't particularly like hypocrites like Randi Harper lecturing us on harassment and abuse, with her partaking in such actions online herself, but she has as much a right to speak as anyone.
 
I'm glad they restored the talk, I hate seeing smug sites like the verge throw hissy fits and boycotts over the slights against these speakers. Their ideas are often terrible, but I want them to speak and reveal that for themselves, not be shut out.
 
Am I the only one that's starting to feel harassed and discriminated against with this constant stream of harassment news? Enough already for fucks sake. When you deal with a medium that involves a large number of immature boys what the Hell do you expect to happen? They talk shit.
 
Interesting how not wanting this talk to be at your conference, for whatever that reason might be, leads people to assume the worst. There are plenty of valid reasons including lack of interest, scheduling conflicts, moderator cancellations, etc, which have nothing to do with whether or not the "condone" the idea of the session. Why is it we are culturally guilty until proven innocent regarding the worst possible things?! This hyper-sensitivity crap has gotten way out of hand!

Can't wait till next month when I get accused of wanting men to die of testicular cancer because I choose to shave most of my face. :rolleyes:
 
Seventyfive said:
We need more political correctness because reasons.
Video games shouldn't target their core audience even if 98% of their core audience is homogeneous because reasons.
The main stream media has an obligation to silence any opposing viewpoint because reasons.
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You're as hard as these pc bros...

south-park-season-19-pc-principal.jpg
 
Mut1ny said:
Am I the only one that's starting to feel harassed and discriminated against with this constant stream of harassment news? Enough already for fucks sake. When you deal with a medium that involves a large number of immature boys what the Hell do you expect to happen? They talk shit.
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At the root, it's all about money. They are trying broaden the medium for a larger general audience to make more profit, but a small percent of existing audience aka "immature boys" are pushing back with all kinds of vitreous threats.

Not that I condone either sides tactics, but to the attitude of indifference I point to the quote: "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."
 
ccmfreak2 said:
Why is it we are culturally guilty until proven innocent regarding the worst possible things?!
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Third-wav feminism. That's what. None of this shit was really a problem until that one Zoe chick got caught sleeping around with those game journalists to "promote" her game or w/e then that whole thing with Anita Sarkeesian thing and then it just blew up.

I don't know. The whole thing is just confusing to me honestly. I don't get why it's such a big deal.
 
Dunno. Most games online are horrific cesspools of harrassment, bullshit, etc. Hell, new games like HoTS don't even let you talk to the other team, which merely turns teammates to turn their angst and BS against one another.

Not sure why "but it's always been that way" is a good excuse to not seek to improve something. Particularly those who want to see games be mainstream, see e-sports improve, etc, this will help for the most part.
 
Tweak42 said:
At the root, it's all about money. They are trying broaden the medium for a larger general audience to make more profit, but a small percent of existing audience aka "immature boys" are pushing back with all kinds of vitreous threats.

Not that I condone either sides tactics, but to the attitude of indifference I point to the quote: "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."
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See I don't know about all this. Harassment and shit talking happens all the time on both sides. I just find all the accommodating a bit annoying. It's like, let's put a transgender character in our game because .01% of "gamers" are complaining despite the fact that it makes no sense.

I just feel like the bending to the will of the few is more discriminate and judgemental then all the supposed harassment. Seriously, all the gay a female gamers I know (which is quite a few on each side) don't give a shit about any of this. So who is? And why should we all care so much?

When do the harassers become the ones being harassed?
 
TwistedAegis said:
Dunno. Most games online are horrific cesspools of harrassment, bullshit, etc. Hell, new games like HoTS don't even let you talk to the other team, which merely turns teammates to turn their angst and BS against one another.

Not sure why "but it's always been that way" is a good excuse to not seek to improve something. Particularly those who want to see games be mainstream, see e-sports improve, etc, this will help for the most part.
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Well then you mute people then. Don't join in. Having more female/gay/transgenders/whatever in games or having all these conferences on the subject isn't going to change the way shit talkers act. Not saying nothing should change or anything like that but I feel like it's becoming extremely one sided.
 
There is nothing feminist about Anita's arguments.
Inclusion in the PC-BRO Club means breaking it up... gay shit anyway.
Once you get a real women, who hopefully also likes to play games, that Bro shit disappears real quick.
The threat of real Violence is the real problem.
Nuts cases everywhere are opening up with hell bent hatred.
In America everyone knows that shit goes down for real fast.
So yea message to all... No one is forcing you to listen. Let them talk.
They aren't going to come take your games away so put your guns away... petty stupid crap.
 
Mut1ny said:
Well then you mute people then. Don't join in. Having more female/gay/transgenders/whatever in games or having all these conferences on the subject isn't going to change the way shit talkers act. Not saying nothing should change or anything like that but I feel like it's becoming extremely one sided.
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It's talking about working on harassment, so more people feel welcome.

And it is one sided: join any online game and watch the racism, bigotry, etc, just wash over you. This is 2 sessions at a conference, and the online hate and threats it engenders just shows how endemic it is, not that a bunch of man-children are truly being imposed upon not being able to go full tourettes online all the time.
 
Would we even be having these discussions if someone who doesn't play 99% of the games that they criticize didn't make harassing claims up and claim they were being victimized?

The fact is, the instigators of all this are people who are nothing more than attention-whores who have to find a reason to cry themselves to sleep at night.
 
mavrocket said:
The fact is, the instigators of all this are people who are nothing more than attention-whores who have to find a reason to cry themselves to sleep at night.
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Forgot to add the "white knights" who will stand up for the attention-whores because it's the only way they can fill their masculinity-void egos. They won't stop a mugging because they are cowards-at-heart, but they'll anonymously defend a woman online because there is absolutely no self-risk involved.
 
mavrocket said:
Forgot to add the "white knights" who will stand up for the attention-whores because it's the only way they can fill their masculinity-void egos. They won't stop a mugging because they are cowards-at-heart, but they'll anonymously defend a woman online because there is absolutely no self-risk involved.
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Damn those horrible people defending another person against harassment without self risk.

The true heroes are the people attacking such people in the first place, because they, unlike the defenders, would totally say those things to someone in real life as well.
 
TwistedAegis said:
Damn those horrible people defending another person against harassment without self risk.
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Because criticising or disagreeing with someone (how dare you have different opinions!) is now the definition of harassment.


You SJW crack me up.
 
jflail2 said:
I use this magical feature, available in most multiplayer games, that allows you to mute people you don't want to hear/ are "harassing" you. It's magic I say!!
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The Level Up panel is about designing solutions for online harassment - such as the very feature you mention.
 
Mut1ny said:
See I don't know about all this. Harassment and shit talking happens all the time on both sides. I just find all the accommodating a bit annoying. It's like, let's put a transgender character in our game because .01% of "gamers" are complaining despite the fact that it makes no sense.

I just feel like the bending to the will of the few is more discriminate and judgemental then all the supposed harassment. Seriously, all the gay a female gamers I know (which is quite a few on each side) don't give a shit about any of this. So who is? And why should we all care so much?

When do the harassers become the ones being harassed?
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Why does Tali being a sexy human with hair under her helmet make more sense than a transgendered character in some other fictional universe?
 
evilsofa said:
The Level Up panel is about designing solutions for online harassment - such as the very feature you mention.
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My point is that there are already solutions in existence. Muting harassing players. turning off voice chat entirely and using cell phones or TS with friends instead, reporting systems currently in place in games, etc.

It's not that hard to say, "fvck this guy, I'm not going to hear his shit anymore."
 
Dreaz said:
Why does Tali being a sexy human with hair under her helmet make more sense than a transgendered character in some other fictional universe?
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I don't get your point? Tali wasn't a forced character to try and seem accommodating.
 
Raudulfr said:
Because criticising or disagreeing with someone (how dare you have different opinions!) is now the definition of harassment.


You SJW crack me up.
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So this is all about an intellectual debate in games, where someone said, "the dress is blue and the other person said it was white or back or green"?
 
Mut1ny said:
I don't get your point? Tali wasn't a forced character to try and seem accommodating.
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You didn't answer his question. How is the character different? How would it change the game? Why can't that character be in the game? At one time, you never had a Black leading man in a movie, now you do. Things change.
 
This is how it should probably go down:
The people who setup the conference will schedule those two sessions to be 1 hour long each at 11:00am and 12:00pm. That way anyone who feels the time is right for lunch and head out without missing anything important. ;)
 
Geef said:
This is how it should probably go down:
The people who setup the conference will schedule those two sessions to be 1 hour long each at 11:00am and 12:00pm. That way anyone who feels the time is right for lunch and head out without missing anything important. ;)
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Or they could just go to one of the other talks. It's not like SxSW takes place in a single room.
 
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