Jaggy's Corner - June 27th, 2020

Welcome back to Jaggy's Corner where I talk about various topics in the gaming industry. Today, however, Jaggy's Corner is going to be much more serious as it covers a heavy topic. As a result, before I move on I'm blatantly telling you that this post is a TRIGGER WARNING. I cover sexual harassment and surrounding topics. I have linked to a couple of peoples' accounts with individuals within the gaming community. Each of these also carry trigger warnings. I'll do my best to reduce specifics that might needlessly hurt our readers, but I'm not going to pull punches.

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Sexual Harassment Allegations - Where It Began and the Conversation

On the weekend, one woman posted a Tweet about sexual harassment experienced by a well known Destiny 2 player "SayNoToRage". As the weekend progressed, a lot of allegations were made through many Twitlonger posts. To date, both men and women have come forward with stories of sexual harassment, rape, or coercion (like BDSM for example).

During the course of the weekend many well-known streamers, partners, and YouTubers were called out. A Twitter user JessyQuil began compiling a list of all those accused, the accuser(s), and the link to the allegation. Unfortunately, this list is quite long and shocking to several people in the gaming community.

Among the list of accused persons are: Ryan Morrison (The Video Game Attorney), Cryaotic (YouTube/Streamer), WitWix (streamer), Sjin (Formerly of the Yogscast), HJTenchi (streamer), wgrates (streamer), Kasper (Charity Streamer), ProSyndicate (Streamer), and Hassan (Twitch Staff). This list is not exhaustive as there are many other cases of sexual harassment.

What's Happened Since?

After days of reading horrible detailed accounts of several sponsors of these gamers have rescinded their deals. A well-known group the Online Performers Group (OPG) lost a lot of its key members, a group that consisted of many high profile streamers and YouTubers, which forced them into an interesting situation. Another group ceased operations as a result of the allegations. Finally, Twitch updated its policies in an official blog post and began investigating the allegations leading to the Banning of several streamers like iAMSp00n, WarwitchTV, and BlessRNG (So far...).

But Wait! There's More!

Another allegation was written about a Twitch Staff member who is Accounts Director and in charge of Strategic Partnerships. While this particular accusation has not been dealt with (that we know of), it shows that the gaming community needs to be more accountable. We should not be silent anymore. Ubisoft posted a response after several allegations involve multiple staff members.

I can only hope that things will improve from here but I have my doubts. Companies tend to follow the money and not care about anything else, but what do I know? In order to survive in the world, money leads the charge. And many of these allegations can be difficult to prove because we all know how the court system handles things... For those that don't know, someone compiled a list of statements made by judges in the American legal system. Go on. Read some of those awful and ridiculous statements. Then tell me why you think most people don't step forward with allegations of sexual offenses.

The nuclear fallout from these accounts doesn't just extend to those that have sexually assaulted members of the gaming community. I've read several allegations of non-sexual harassment among the other allegations. In fact, I can even tell you some stories...

Harassment doesn't just come from men to women, it comes from all persons of all walks of life. It also doesn't just extend to the gaming industry.

A Personal Story

When I was younger, I became friends with a couple of business owners. For the most part, these people were amazing and wonderful people. Anyways, I was invited out to lunch by a business owner to talk. I believe this was around the time I was in finance, so I hoped he would become a client. We went to a place not far from work to his friends' restaurant. It wasn't open to the public on that day and everything seemed fine.

While we waited for the chef to make our meals, the restaurant owner asked me to follow him so that he could show me something. I followed, not really thinking anything of it, but I was rather hesitant. He took me to a back room and proceeded to grab my breast. I backed away and told him that this wasn't acceptable. He said something along the lines of 'Oh sorry, you're not married so I just assumed it was okay'. Let that sink in. BECAUSE I WASN'T MARRIED IT WAS ACCEPTABLE TO HIM. Why? Apparently, this is how things are done back home.

That's just one instance that happened outside of gaming.

Another Personal Story of Harassment

Inside gaming, I've been in multiple long distance relationships. Many of them failed horribly. The one situation that always angers me the most is my encounter with 'Zankorian' during my WoW days. (This is going back many years by the way. Don't try to find this person now. I highly doubt that he could be found.)

Zank and I were in a 'relationship' for several months. We were friends and guildies prior to this, so he was 'good'. The two of us would talk every day, we'd raid, we'd laugh, we'd play music, etc... I stopped focusing on real life as I was so infatuated with the guy.

He was from Florida and he was Hispanic, a fact that worked for me because I like the Spanish language and I would be able to practice with him. Anyways, after being together for a few months he began asking me to react sexually to him when we were on Skype. He also had my actual phone number so sometimes this happened outside of Skype. He would ask for nudes as well. I told him that I never do those kinds of things and I wasn't comfortable with the idea. I refused. (Keep in mind this happened after being sexually harassed multiple times and raped.) With each conversation, he would persist and I would continue to say no. I thank the stars I never met him in person...

One day he stopped messaging. He wasn't on WoW. No one had heard from him. He wasn't on Facebook (though I did find his other FB account where he was fully active so I knew he was just avoiding me for some reason.) I didn't know what happened. Did I piss him off? Was I wrong to not give him anything? Was I the bad person?

After about a week of no interaction, one of his 'brothers' messaged me and said, "Hi. Alvaro says that we needed to message you. He's in the hospital. He's in a coma". Color me shocked. I was confused and scared. What happened? Did he get into a car accident? Was this an induced coma or not? I hadn't taken a lot of time between my previous relationship and the new one with Zank. Was I about to lose everything?

Another week went by. I learned several facts like:

1. He wasn't in a coma

2. Alvaro pretended to be his own brother

3. He was secretly in a relationship with someone else (a person who I'm actually good friends with... This is actually a whole other story on its own.)

4. His name was not Alvaro

5. Most of what he told me was a lie.

6. He was active on Facebook but under a different name

I can't imagine what would have happened if I ever went to Florida or if I had sent him nudes. And while this specific situation only extends to WoW, and not a YouTube idol or Streamer, sexual harassment is VERY prevalent in the gaming space.

Final Thoughts From this week

While I know that many women and men have come forward to tell their stories, I have to say that I respect their bravery, especially those who have been very detailed. It's never an easy thing to admit sexual harassment or any kind of harassment, but now people can choose what happens moving forward. Twitch has already banned a few offenders and is investigating others. Gamers have banded together to protect each other from the awful bad apples. Sponsors have dropped their deals with certain individuals across the board.

Frankly, we need to talk more about harassment in gaming. We need to believe more of those stories and not hide anymore. Do not let anyone be responsible for your success or downfall. And most importantly, don't blame yourselves for others being assholes. If I could offer a piece of advice based on multiple experiences, it is this: if you are feeling uncomfortable and have a way to escape, DO IT. If it feels like a bad situation, get out. That is especially true if you've been drinking.

I'm always available to listen, no matter how significant that may be.

And now I'm ignoring Twitter for a week.

Until next time.

Susan N.

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Jaggy's Corner - February 28th, 2020

Hello everyone and welcome back to Jaggy's Corner where I discuss various video gaming topics during the week. This time around I'm talking about a player who is now banned from all FIFA events.

I'm, of course, talking about Kurt "Kurt0411" Fenech who was found in violation of EA's code of conduct. The professional esports player, Kurt, repeatedly stated his criticisms about FIFA 20 on his YouTube channel and his Twitch streams. He would engage in rants about the game on Twitter as well. Unfortunately, Kurt ended up on the receiving end of old big and nasty EA play. In fact, EA was so offended by his actions that they even went as far to shut down Kurt's FIFA Ultimate Team account - which he had had for over 10 years - they unloaded numerous copyright strikes to his YouTube channel and attempted to shut down his Twitch channel. After following through on their actions to take Kurt down, EA proceeded to post a press release about their decision to ban the player from all tournaments. (What? Isn't that a little extreme?)

Keep in mind that all of this is happening to a player who is the second most popular player/streamer/content creator of FIFA 20, and not to some random player who thinks they're good at the game. One would think that as a major contributor to the community around the game, that EA might have considered other means of dealing with the situation. But, sadly, this is not the case. EA claimed that Kurt was threatening staff, and without citing any sources, took down as much of the player's content as possible. I think that might have been overstepping their bounds...

But, this isn't where the buck stops when it comes to EA. Earlier on in the year, Donovan "Tekkz" Hunt, another professional player of FIFA 20, mentioned at the FUT Champions Cup in Paris that the game was "unrewarding" and that "games were 50/50." (This information can be found here.) And yet, even though Tekkz has also been critical of the game, he has not received any of the same treatment. Yet this particular player made it into the semi-finals and is part of team Fnatic. I have to question why would one pro player receive extremely harsh punishment and not another? Is it because Tekkz is perhaps less aggressive with his criticisms? Though, if Tekkz keeps up with the criticism, EA might still go after him. Right now though, that is mere speculation.

https://twitter.com/EA/status/1232060677507801091

Now, there are a couple of things that I've also read about the situation. The first is that some EA employees Twitter accounts were hacked following Kurt's ban. Tweets were sent out in support of the player through Twitter, leading EA employees to believe that Kurt, or people in his community, are responsible. (Though I should add that even if he or his community was responsible, that having some basic protections against hacking benefits everyone who uses social media. Basically, everyone. There may not be a full-proof way to do this, but reducing the risk is never a bad thing. And, in this case, if EA's employees accounts were hacked into, I have to question EA employees ability to have security...) The other bit of information I stumbled upon is that earlier today, both Apex Legends and FIFA 20 servers went down due to outages. In fact, this is the second time in less than a month this has happened. To me, while that may not be related, it seems like convenient timing.

So this is what I'm thinking about. I feel like EA's press release was a bad idea for them because they destroyed the reputation of one of their top players without (as far as I can tell) reaching out to him in an attempt to find a resolution. By publishing the press release, not only did EA make Kurt a scapegoat, but they also potentially ruined his life. As such, it feels a lot like a hit piece, which is a published article that aims to smear the name of an individual or company. While to the public the press release seemed like a harsh warning to the community, I see EA's actions as something more - otherwise, why post about it?

But what really perplexes me about the situation is why EA didn't cite proof of Kurt's alleged threats? They nuked any evidence showing the statements / criticisms made by Kurt. If they wanted people on their side, wouldn't they have something to show for it?

Other questions come to mind like why did EA only go after this one player? What does this prove? And don't you guys think that was too much, regardless of how much Kurt may have complained about things that needed to be fixed? We aren't talking about a one-time player here, this is someone who has spent hundreds, if not thousands of hours in that game. He might have SOME useful insight even if he stated his opinions in aggressive ways. And furthermore, if multiple players are experiencing the same issues, wouldn't it have been better to actually listen so that maybe the game could be MORE successful?

I mean, Sports games aren't really my thing, and at the end of the day, this topic isn't something I'm truly passionate about. However, if game companies don't listen to their players, how do they really stand to survive? In this case, I believe that EA is setting an example of what not to do as a billion-dollar company. But that is just my thoughts on the matter.

Until next time peeps!

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Nintendo's missteps demonstrate that they remain out of touch - Gaming Thoughts

I love Nintendo.

They have provided some of the best gaming consoles along with many of the most memorable titles and characters in video game history.

I am frustrated with Nintendo.

So many of their decisions feel as though they are out of touch with the times.

Over the last year Nintendo has had some great releases and managed to score some very solid hits in the industry, yet at the same time for every step forward they seem to take over the last few years, the company seems intent on taking two more back. I am afraid that if Nintendo continues its missteps, they may never be able to recover despite having some of the most important properties in the video games industry.

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A pair of beautiful Skyrim song covers

I'm a big fan of video game music.  I'm not going to lie - I listen to all sorts of different sound tracks while I'm reading, writing, working on tech support cases at my job and more.  The Elder Scrolls have had some of my favorite songs, and while you may have seen her videos on Youtube, I really, really liked both of these covers and figured I would share them in case you had not yet heard them.

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