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[Orniletter]

It doesn't, because they knew full well she was being harassed and did jack about it while it was happening.

Also, having a second job wasn't the issue. Alison Rapp said that it was part of policy that such a thing is accepted.

The problem is the content. We don't know Alison Rapp's "other job" was. There's no way for us to know how and in what way it "went against their corporate culture". That's a discussion of its own. What could she have possibly done and how does it "go against their corporate culture"? Plus, the only reason they know about it is because of the harassment campaign.

Nintendo failed to show any empathy whatsoever to a victim of harassment while it was happening. They're just one part of an ongoing problem in the industry, and their complicitness with it is just sad.

I agree that it would be great to have companies stand openly against harrassment. I don't disagree there, I concur.

But, as Nintendo's statement in the OP has outright said: The whole GG hobbubb is not related to her termination and people like Lime seem to go through some mental gymnastics to tie both together.

Nintendo could have released a public statement "Yamauchi's eternal spirit will haunt all those who harrasssed Alison on twitter and we'd rather see our office in Redmond burned to cinder than a single one of you pig-men* ever playing one of our games again" and it wouldn't have deterred anyone from sifting through her dirt.

And she tried to hide something. We'll see what her second job really was, I guess. It will come out, sooner or later.

* I assume most, or even all of her harrassers are men.

 

[marrec]

DO you really think Nintendo saying something would have stopped anything? I don't

At the very least it would have made her feel more safe, even if just a bit. Part of GamerGate's established MO is to isolate their targets and make them feel singled out and alone.

Nintendo helped them do that in this case.

It would have also aligned Nintendo directly against gamergate and their harassment.

 

[Sylas]

DO you really think Nintendo saying something would have stopped anything? I don't

I think it would have caused a meltdown of epic proportions from people who organize and take part in harassment campaigns. Have you seen how they act the moment someone calls them out? Imagine that on a level they can't really attack. They can't do shit against a large corporation and it would be incredible to watch them try.

 

[JP_]

Thats great! Good for those that join

Still doesnt change the paradigm. The public at large needs to act. By all means criticize company stances

Still need grassroots participation in lawmaking unless you want to continue to bank of public pressure on corporate entities to be the gamechanger

You can argue for more to be done on the legal/public fronts without being an apologist for Nintendo/corporations. Nintendo wouldn't be the first corporation to do the right thing.

 

[DrROBschiz]

I agree that it would be great to have companies stand openly against harrassment. I don't disagree there, I concur.

But, as Nintendo's statement in the OP has outright said: The whole GG hobbubb is not related to her termination and people like Lime seem to go through some mental gymnastics to tie both together.

Nintendo could have released a public statement "Yamauchi's eternal spirit will haunt all those who harrasssed Alison on twitter and we'd rather see our office in Redmond burned to cinder than a single one of you pig-men* ever playing one of our games again" and it wouldn't have deterred anyone from sifting through her dirt.

And she tried to hide something. We'll see what her second job really was, I guess. It will come out, sooner or later.

* I assume most, or even all of her harrassers are men.

Yeah there are several different lines where she could have been fired

Nintendo could have stood up to the harrassment and still have many other grounds on which to fire her

You can argue for more to be done on the legal/public fronts without being an apologist for Nintendo/corporations.

How am I being an apologist?

Im simply stating the reality

I dont expect Nintendo to have acted in any other way than in their own corporate interests and in the simplest way possible. Based on precedent within the company alone

 

[PopeReal]

I agree that it would be great to have companies stand openly against harrassment. I don't disagree there, I concur.

But, as Nintendo's statement in the OP has outright said: The whole GG hobbubb is not related to her termination and people like Lime seem to go through some mental gymnastics to tie both together.

Nintendo could have released a public statement "Yamauchi's eternal spirit will haunt all those who harrasssed Alison on twitter and we'd rather see our office in Redmond burned to cinder than a single one of you pig-men ever playing one of our games again" and it wouldn't have deterred anyone from sifting through her dirt.

And she tried to hide something. We'll see what her second job really was, I guess. It will come out, sooner or later.

It absolutely is related.

 

[Lime]

DO you really think Nintendo saying something would have stopped anything? I don't

1. If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.

2. Not only this, but Nintendo was directly related to why these bigots were so irrationally mad.

3. It also sends a message to people who aren't familiar with Gamergate and their tactics about what is going on and who to support and empower (it also avoids the whole "both sides" bullshit that people, especially here on GAF, spout). Nintendo carries cultural weight and people listen to them and take them seriously. If they had said something, I bet you the entire bibliography of Audre Lorde that it would have made a difference.

 

[nephilimdj]

We have noidea what was said during internal meetings at Nintendo, isn't the whole point of the mod rules in here not to assume?
Stop saying she was pushed under a bus, her twitter says no such thing.

 

[Sylas]

We have noidea what was said during internal meetings at Nintendo, isn't the whole point of the mod rules in here not to assume?
Stop saying she was pushed under a bus, her twitter says no such thing.

Almost everyone is saying that Nintendo not standing up for their employee and telling people that harassment campaigns are unacceptable is the problem they have issue with. Not with her firing--you're allowed to fire someone. People understand as much.

 

[PopeReal]

Now you guys are looking at different ways she "could" have been fired?

Well thank God you aren't being harassed and looked into. I am sure if all of your info was put online people could point out the various ways you should lose your job.

The lack of empathy from some of you is fucking annoying.

 

[NinjaCoachZ]

DO you really think Nintendo saying something would have stopped anything? I don't

If they did then at the very least it wouldn't have made them come across as enablers of harassment.

I agree that it would be great to have companies stand openly against harrassment. I don't disagree there, I concur.

But, as Nintendo's statement in the OP has outright said: The whole GG hobbubb is not related to her termination and people like Lime seem to go through some mental gymnastics to tie both together.

Nintendo could have released a public statement "Yamauchi's eternal spirit will haunt all those who harrasssed Alison on twitter and we'd rather see our office in Redmond burned to cinder than a single one of you pig-men* ever playing one of our games again" and it wouldn't have deterred anyone from sifting through her dirt.

And she tried to hide something. We'll see what her second job really was, I guess. It will come out, sooner or later.

* I assume most, or even all of her harrassers are men.

Alison Rapp said that her harassment from the part of GG made Nintendo look at her MUCH more closely, so that probably got her in hot water. The "second job" thing would have just been the final straw. Who brought it up and why, we don't know. But then that leaves the following questions and implications from both hers and Nintendo's statements.

1) Nintendo knew about her harassment from GG'ers for months and did nothing.
2) IF she hadn't been harassed, would her "second job" have still got her fired? Or simply warned? Purely hypothetical, but it's to illustrate my point.
3) WHY would this person care so much about the nature of her second job, enough to report it?
4) WHY is the nature of her second job "against corporate culture"?
5) Nintendo chose to fire her even though they knew about her harassment, and it was the exact reason they already had beef with her.

The individual components did not happen in a bubble. There's a lot of stuff that adds up to create a big pile of shit.

I kinda addressed the "what if they did a statement" thing above.

 

[Arkeband]

Thats great! Good for those that join

Still doesnt change the paradigm. The public at large needs to act. By all means criticize company stances

Still need grassroots participation in lawmaking unless you want to continue to bank of public pressure on corporate entities to be the gamechanger

There's still a distinction between being anti-discrimination (no company is going to fire you for being tolerant), and the stuff she was defending, which it seems like is the sticky part of this situation - because we know every one of us, regardless of our gender, would be fired immediately if our employers were made aware.

It's possible that public-facing individuals can skate by without anyone ever digging into their past, but this does happen to men. Maybe not in this industry so much, but with current internet law, social media is often more of a liability than an asset.

 

[Deserted Maniac Island]

Except they do regularly.

Bank of America, along with many other large companies which work in North Carolina or are headquartered there, are threatening to pull out all of their business if they move forward with "religious freedom" bills which discriminate against LGBT communities: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-35928098

Even in Georgia AMC (creators of The Walking Dead TV series) threatened to pull out of the state if they continued with anti-LGBT legislation, Marvel as well: http://www.polygon.com/2016/3/28/11...georgia-governors-decision-to-veto-anti-lgbtq
Social activism from corporations really isn't that new. In a lot of ways they can be ahead of the curve at least compared to backwards societies within our larger society.

*Bank of America*

Nintendo is a Japanese company from Kyoto. They make entertainment products, a lot of which are amid for children. Nintendo of America is beholden to their Headquarters in Japan. So I don't see why they would be socially "Progressive" (I don't like the term progressive, it implies people are somehow regressive) in America. They are such a conservative and reserved company, they barely comment on things they actual things they are a part of. Nintendo is a strange company, and it's situation isn't like that of other companies in America.

 

[DrROBschiz]

There's still a distinction between being anti-discrimination (no company is going to fire you for being tolerant), and the stuff she was defending, which it seems like is the sticky part of this situation - because we know every one of us, regardless of our gender, would be fired immediately if our employers were made aware.

It's possible that public-facing individuals can skate by without anyone ever digging into their past, but this does happen to men. Maybe not in this industry so much, but with current internet law, social media is often more of a liability than an asset.

Thats what makes this discussion so fascinating

So many layers

 

[sflufan]

Almost everyone is saying that Nintendo not standing up for their employee and telling people that harassment campaigns are unacceptable is the problem they have issue with. Not with her firing--you're allowed to fire someone. People understand as much.

The company doesn't even have to go as far as "stand up" for the employee (which is a risky proposition anyway), only release a pretty banal statement that online harassment campaigns are unacceptable and that the company will deal with the matter on its own terms.

 

[RichiRamjag]

I can't think of many companies with the cultural and social power that Nintendo has with the market they service.

Take, for example, Disney threatening to pull out of Georgia if the governor signed an Anti-LGBT law there. Disney wielded their considerable cultural (and financial) power to influence social views across the country.

Nintendo could do similar things, especially for a woman in their employ who is targeted by a very well known and very vocal hate group.

The Disney situation is a far cry from defending a single employee from bullying on their personal social media. That some of you don't realize that is out there.

 

[jonno394]

1. If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.

2. Not only this, but Nintendo was directly related to why these bigots were so irrationally mad.

3. It also sends a message to people who aren't familiar with Gamergate and their tactics about what is going on and who to support and empower (it also avoids the whole "both sides" bullshit that people, especially here on GAF, spout). Nintendo carries cultural weight and people listen to them and take them seriously. If they had said something, I bet you the entire bibliography of Audre Lorde that it would have made a difference.

Looks like I'm as bad as the oppressors in everything then, because I just try to avoid most topics of injustice.

 

[DrROBschiz]

The company doesn't even have to go as far as "stand up" for the employee (which is a risky proposition anyway), only release a pretty banal statement that online harassment campaigns are unacceptable and that the company will deal with the matter on its own terms.

Had she exposed her views of her own volition and gotten fired we would be having a very different conversation... though equally as interesting

 

[JP_]

How am I being an apologist?

By making up excuses for Nintendo every time someone suggests Nintendo should have done more to protect Rapp. Apparently you agree with others and think things need to change, but when someone suggests Nintendo should be part of that change you jump to Nintendo's defense and argue everyone else should be responsible for that change instead.

Nintendo wouldn't be the first corporation to do the right thing. They can and should do better. If you agree things should change, stop making excuses for them.

 

[thefro]

Almost everyone is saying that Nintendo not standing up for their employee and telling people that harassment campaigns are unacceptable is the problem they have issue with. Not with her firing--you're allowed to fire someone. People understand as much.

We don't know anything except they didn't publicly make a statement about the harassment until yesterday. I think you can make good arguments both ways as to whether they should that done that earlier or not.

We don't know whether they helped her go to the police or what they said in private, or what other support was offered.

 

[DrROBschiz]

By making up excuses for Nintendo every time someone suggests Nintendo should have done more to protect Rapp. Apparently you agree with others and think things need to change, but when someone suggests Nintendo should be part of that change you jump to Nintendo's defense and argue everyone else should be responsible for that change instead.

Nintendo wouldn't be the first corporation to do the right thing. They can and should do better. If you agree things should change, stop making excuses for them.

Yeah you havent been reading my posts at all

 

[SturokBGD]

Except they do regularly.

Exactly.

I'm not going to say who my employer is here but let's just say it's in the financial business. They are ALWAYS promoting activities to generate awareness and support of social issues, both locally and nationwide. There are always events for issues around mental health, LGBT communities, children with disabilities, and yes, they are very outspoken about women's issues. It might all be window dressing to get their name on the wall but they have no qualms in publicly shouting down abuse and bigotry.

I've never seen the video game industry operate like this ever. Other than a few good souls on Twitter we get nothing but radio silence... though if you listen closely enough you can actually hear them say "yes this IS our boy's club, fuck off". I couldn't imagine my employer behaving like that.

 

[akidnamededdy]

They did it as an aside to Rapp getting fired, it was spineless and didn't even get specific, just calling the targeted harassment as coming from "some social media".

If they were to come out and make a more nuanced and passionate statement against the culture of harassment in Video Games and against GamerGate itself, that would be very welcomed I imagine.

Ah yes, one of those nuanced, impassioned statements about sensitive social issues that corporate America is so well known for making. I know them well.

 

[marrec]

The Disney situation is a far cry from defending a single employee from bullying on their personal social media. That some of you don't realize that is out there.

I think you may be confused about my position. I'm not saying, and I've made this explicitly clear, that Nintendo should have defended Rapp because they need to defend single employees.

I'm saying that they should have defended Rapp because they have a social responsibility to stem the tide of harassment that GamerGate is perpetuating. By coming out against GamerGate in defense of Rapp they would have come out in defense of all women who were unnecessarily targeted.

 

[Sylas]

Looks like I'm as bad as the oppressors in everything then, because I just try to avoid most topics of injustice.

I mean... This topic is beginning to delve into it, but yes. You are. You are directly enabling the oppressive behavior by doing nothing to combat it. Unless things are challenged, they don't change, and if things don't change the oppressed remain as such. Nobody is saying you have to be an activist, but by avoiding topics of injustice, you're implicitly agreeing with the people that are saying and doing terrible, awful things.

That's how the real world works. Unless you oppose something, you're for it. There isn't nuance when it comes to harassment and bigotry. There's nuance in plenty of places, but abusing someone for what they are has none.

We don't know anything except they didn't publicly make a statement about the harassment until yesterday. I think you can make good arguments both ways as to whether they should that done that earlier or not.

We don't know whether they helped her go to the police or what they said in private, or what other support was offered.

Public statements are what elicit change. Unless they tell people doing the harassment, "Hey, stop that. You're wrong," private support doesn't really mean much in the grand scope of things. You can argue that it's not the status quo to make a statement, but the status quo doesn't always need to remain the same, and given how long harassment over something as banal as videogames has gone on, it's clear that something needs to change. Someone with clout just needs to start it. Bemoaning the fact that it wasn't Nintendo when they were given the perfect excuse to say something is 100% valid.

I really don't think issuing a statement would've hurt Nintendo's bottom line in any capacity.

 

[NinjaCoachZ]

The Disney situation is a far cry from defending a single employee from bullying on their personal social media. That some of you don't realize that is out there.

The problem is this isn't a one-off. Alison Rapp is unfortunately just one of many women who have been targeted by organized harassers. Nintendo stepping up would not just defend her, but the thousands, millions of other women out there involved in the gaming community, both as employees and as players. This incident has implications beyond just them as a single company. Alison Rapp herself has mentioned that. Focusing on specific actors instead of trends in the community as a whole is not seeing the forest for the trees.

 

[Orniletter]

Alison Rapp said that her harassment from the part of GG made Nintendo look at her MUCH more closely, so that probably got her in hot water. The "second job" thing would have just been the final straw. Who brought it up and why, we don't know. But then that leaves the following.

1) Nintendo knew about her harassment from GG'ers for months and did nothing.
2) IF she hadn't been harassed, would her "second job" have still got her fired? Or simply warned? Purely hypothetical, but it's to illustrate my point.
3) WHY would this person care so much about the nature of her second job, enough to report it?
4) WHY is the nature of her second job "against corporate culture"?
5) Nintendo chose to fire her even though they knew about her harassment, and it was the exact reason they already had beef with her.

The individual components did not happen in a bubble. There's a lot of stuff that adds up to create a big pile of shit.

I kinda addressed the "what if they did a statement" thing above.

Ok, I see what you are getting at. It's true that the whole GG-stuff made her stick out like a sore thumb at Nintendo's PR and might have negatively impacted ...whats the right term... Nintendo's goodwill (?).

We'll see, what that second job really was, I guess.

 

[SturokBGD]

*Bank of America*

Nintendo is a Japanese company from Kyoto. They make entertainment products, a lot of which are amid for children. Nintendo of America is beholden to their Headquarters in Japan. So I don't see why they would be socially "Progressive" (I don't like the term progressive, it implies people are somehow regressive) in America. They are such a conservative and reserved company, they barely comment on things they actual things they are a part of. Nintendo is a strange company, and it's situation isn't like that of other companies in America.

This is garbage (and a little bit racist, to be honest). Nintendo in an international corporation and should learn to behave like one.

 

[JP_]

By making up excuses for Nintendo every time someone suggests Nintendo should have done more to protect Rapp. Apparently you agree with others and think things need to change, but when someone suggests Nintendo should be part of that change you jump to Nintendo's defense and argue everyone else should be responsible for that change instead.

Nintendo wouldn't be the first corporation to do the right thing. They can and should do better. If you agree things should change, stop making excuses for them.

Yeah you havent been reading my posts at all

lol ok

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=199753200&postcount=1110
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=199753934&postcount=1132
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=199755550&postcount=1169
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=199754550&postcount=1143
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=199752852&postcount=1099
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=199754282&postcount=1140

edit: hey, a new one

Yes and while these examples are inspiring.. for a company living in our capitalist society I dont expect most corporate interests to extend past profits and image

Priorities of this debate should be pushed in the public sector and legislate corporations to follow suit

Banking on corporations being empathetic people is a weird way to approach this. Especially a global japanese company with little stake and an easy out given how Alison handled the situation

 

[DrROBschiz]

Exactly.

I'm not going to say who my employer is here but let's just say it's in the financial business. They are ALWAYS promoting activities to generate awareness and support of social issues, both locally and nationwide. There are always events for issues around mental health, LGBT communities, children with disabilities, and yes, they are very outspoken about women's issues. It might all be window dressing to get their name on the wall but they have no qualms in publicly shouting down abuse and bigotry.

I've never seen the video game industry operate like this ever. Other than a few good souls on Twitter we get nothing but radio silence... though if you listen closely enough you can actually hear them say "yes this IS our boy's club, fuck off". I couldn't imagine my employer behaving like that.

Yes and while these examples are inspiring.. for a company living in our capitalist society I dont expect most corporate interests to extend past profits and image

Priorities of this debate should be pushed in the public sector and legislate corporations to follow suit

Banking on corporations being empathetic people is a weird way to approach this. Especially a global japanese company with little stake and an easy out given how Alison handled the situation

lol ok

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=199753200&postcount=1110
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=199753934&postcount=1132
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=199755550&postcount=1169
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=199754550&postcount=1143
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=199752852&postcount=1099
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=199754282&postcount=1140

Exaclty

in what post am I defending or appologizing for Nintendo exaclty?

 

[Orin GA]

Some of you need to use your god dam brain. What does her being harassed have to do with corporate policy. She broke company policy. Just because the news came from someone we hate doesn't make her immune. If the KKK started harassing me to quit my job at Fedex and then they revealed I was sharing company secrets with competitors, I should somehow be absolved from it? Thats not the way the world works.

Someone been harrased does not absolve them from wrongdoing

 

[Jumplion]

DO you really think Nintendo saying something would have stopped anything? I don't

Like I said, do you think something needs to be 100% effective to warrant doing?

Of course it wouldn't have stopped the harassment. That doesn't mean they shouldn't have defended her after months of unwarranted harassment.

 

[jonno394]

I mean... This topic is beginning to delve into it, but yes. You are. You are directly enabling the oppressive behavior by doing nothing to combat it. Unless things are challenged, they don't change, and if things don't change the oppressed remain as such. Nobody is saying you have to be an activist, but by avoiding topics of injustice, you're implicitly agreeing with the people that are saying and doing terrible, awful things.

That's how the real world works. Unless you oppose something, you're for it. There isn't nuance when it comes to harassment and bigotry. There's nuance in plenty of places, but abusing someone for what they are has none.

I'll leave this thread now seeing as I'm just as bad as gamer gaters now :/ .....

 

[Sylas]

Some of you need to use your god dam brain. What does her being harassed have to do with corporate policy. She broke company policy. Just because the news came from someone we hate doesn't make her immune. If the KKK started harassing me to quit my job at Fedex and then they revealed I was sharing company secrets with competitors, I should somehow be absolved from it? Thats not the way the world works.

Someone been harrased does not absolve them from wrongdoing

You need to read, my dude. Few people are trying to handwave the fact that she got fired for breaking corporate policy.

People are upset that Nintendo did nothing to tell people to fuck off with harassment when they had a very clear throughline and reason to do so. Again, you can say that their concerns are profits, but do you really think telling nasty people to stop harassing someone would have really affected their bottom line?

Do you really believe that gaming culture is so vile and toxic that saying, "Hey, we don't condone harassment," would have affected their sales so much?

 

[marrec]

Some of you need to use your god dam brain. What does her being harassed have to do with corporate policy. She broke company policy. Just because the news came from someone we hate doesn't make her immune. If the KKK started harassing me to quit my job at Fedex and then they revealed I was sharing company secrets with competitors, I should somehow be absolved from it? Thats not the way the world works.

Someone been harrased does not absolve them from wrongdoing

What happened was a culmination of months of silence on Nintendo's part. The criticism is coming from all of the events, not just the firing.

Many of us are not commenting directly on the firing in fact.

 

[NinjaCoachZ]

Some of you need to use your god dam brain. What does her being harassed have to do with corporate policy. She broke company policy. Just because the news came from someone we hate doesn't make her immune. If the KKK started harassing me to quit my job at Fedex and then they revealed I was sharing company secrets with competitors, I should somehow be absolved from it? Thats not the way the world works.

Someone been harrased does not absolve them from wrongdoing

You think employers should just go, "Oh, whoops KKK, thank you for doing good for the community! Keep fighting the good fight! See you next time!"

Maybe Alison Rapp messed up but that doesn't mean harassers should get off scot-free. That's the main discussion we're having, about whether it was morally correct for Nintendo to handle the subject of her harassment in the way they did and indirectly enable the attackers. Bringing things back to Alison Rapp's character is missing the point.

 

[Scientist Supreme!]

I'll leave this thread now seeing as I'm just as bad as gamer gaters now :/ .....

That this is what you took from this discussion is...disappointing to say the least.

 

[moondoggerr]

It's astounding to me the knots people will tie themselves into to excuse the simple and evident fact that Nintendo let their employee twist in the wind for months, as bullies used her as a pinata.

That happened.

You can say, "well, it wouldn't have changed anything," if they had publicly defended her if you want to, but that's now just a hypothetical, isn't it?

If you're the person who is or isn't being defended by their employer, maybe it means a great deal.

To me, if I was labeling Nintendo's behavior here, "honorable" is not the adjective I would choose.

 

[Orin GA]

You need to read, my dude. Few people are trying to handwave the fact that she got fired for breaking corporate policy.

People are upset that Nintendo did nothing to tell people to fuck off with harassment when they had a very clear throughline and reason to do so. Again, you can say that their concerns are profits, but do you really think telling nasty people to stop harassing someone would have really affected their bottom line?

Do you really believe that gaming culture is so vile and toxic that saying, "Hey, we don't condone harassment," would have affected their sales so much?

Tell who to fuck off. The people doing this are just a bunch of anon assholes on the internet. Who the hell goes to their company for protection when you get harassed? You go to the police, or the FBI. You think Nintendo telling a bunch of assholes to stop being assholes is gonna accomplish something?

 

[DrROBschiz]

Tell who to fuck off. The people doing this are just a bunch of anon assholes on the internet. Who the hell goes to their company for protection when you get harassed? You go to the police, or the FBI. You think Nintendo telling a bunch of asshole to stop being assholes is gonna accomplish something?

This has been my point but looks like a am an Nintendo apologist

 

[Bright]

I don't get why people are saying Nintendo should've came out in support of her. It's something a company would never do. By doing it, they'd essentially be supporting her controversial statements, which would end up being a PR nightmare. Of course Nintendo wouldn't be directly supporting the relaxing of child porn laws, or whatever she was advocating, but it would be very easy to spin that way. This is a storm in a teacup right now, but if they actually supported her publicly I'm sure larger media outlets and groups would've picked up on it and raised quite the stink.

Nintendo made the right move for Nintendo.

 

[Sylas]

Tell who to fuck off. The people doing this are just a bunch of anon assholes on the internet. Who the hell goes to their company for protection when you get harassed? You go to the police, or the FBI. You think Nintendo telling a bunch of asshole to stop being assholes is gonna accomplish something?

Have you not seen how they attack anyone that tells them to fuck off? It's a miniature meltdown that results in a smear campaign against that individual. Imagine that on a level that they can't retaliate against.

I don't get why people are saying Nintendo should've came out in support of her. It's something a company would never do. By doing it, they'd essentially be supporting her controversial statements, which would end up being a PR nightmare. Of course Nintendo wouldn't be directly supporting the relaxing of child porn laws, or whatever she was advocating, but it would be very easy to spin that way. This is a storm in a teacup right now, but if they actually supported her publicly I'm sure larger media outlets and groups would've picked up on it and raised quite the stink.

Nintendo made the right move for Nintendo.

A company that's unable to write a PR statement that doesn't condone harassment as a blanket statement has an incredibly poor PR department and needs to hire better writers. It's very easy to say, "We don't condone harassment against our employees," without having to say (or leaving room for interpretation), "We support this employee's statements." The issue I take with it is they had a very, very, very clear throughline and reasoning for making a statement. It wouldn't have come out of nowhere, but they didn't. It's disappointing!

 

[marrec]

Tell who to fuck off. The people doing this are just a bunch of anon assholes on the internet. Who the hell goes to their company for protection when you get harassed? You go to the police, or the FBI. You think Nintendo telling a bunch of asshole to stop being assholes is gonna accomplish something?

No, they aren't. They're a well organized hate group with public faces and stated goals. They have previous victims, they have multiple websites, and they have a history of doing this exact thing to women in the Video Games industry.

Blizzard was able to make a statement specifically targeting this group, they aren't an amorphous blob.

 

[BlackJace]

Great article by Jim.

Gonna have to disagree with the point that they're "scrubbing" clean people that work for them. Treehouse for instance is still chock full of people with vibrant and passionate personalities.

Whether or not you agree with her termination is the point, but Jim taking away that Nintendo is trying to create a hyper-sterile culture for those responsible for interacting with its fans is demonstrably wrong.

 

[Brofield]

My heart goes out to her, it really does. It's absolutely disgusting what Gamergate has done to her.

If skeletons weren't dug up with malicious intent, she still would be employed. The tattoos and piercings and public appearances were given warnings, but only when GG blew up while she was away that they changed her job description, position, and eventually fired her. In any given job interview, I feel it's incredibly unfair for a company to judge my personal life as a benchmark of my professional life. Short of the promotion of bigotry & hatespeech, it shouldn't influence employment opportunities.

All this aside, I do want to ask an important question. What can I do in this aftermath, as an individual, to fight against this digital harassment and borderline terrorism? If corporations in the video game industry will do jack shit, how many angry letters do I have to write to make sure they pay attention? How many Twitter accounts must I report for review?

I need resources to fight this. I can't say I myself am I feminist at this point if I know I can do more.

 

[DrROBschiz]

Have you not seen how they attack anyone that tells them to fuck off? It's a miniature meltdown that results in a smear campaign against that individual. Imagine that on a level that they can't retaliate against.

I would much rather see laws and enforcements in place but I understand how serious of a proposition that is as well

 

[crazepharmacist]

Lots of banned accounts in this thread, a majority of them on Nintendo's side. Someone should take a close look at moderator activity in the last 24 hours.

 

[NinjaCoachZ]

Tell who to fuck off. The people doing this are just a bunch of anon assholes on the internet. Who the hell goes to their company for protection when you get harassed? You go to the police, or the FBI. You think Nintendo telling a bunch of assholes to stop being assholes is gonna accomplish something?

She DID go to the police. And Nintendo coming out and saying that something's not cool is ten times better than doing nothing and enabling the harassers. If they wanted to it's not even outside the realm of their power in the industry to work with twitter and crack down on them, since they know full well of the harassment.

Doing nothing solves nothing.

I don't get why people are saying Nintendo should've came out in support of her. It's something a company would never do. By doing it, they'd essentially be supporting her controversial statements, which would end up being a PR nightmare. Of course Nintendo wouldn't be directly supporting the relaxing of child porn laws, or whatever she was advocating, but it would be very easy to spin that way. This is a storm in a teacup right now, but if they actually supported her publicly I'm sure larger media outlets and groups would've picked up on it and raised quite the stink.

Nintendo made the right move for Nintendo.

It's either that, or the current story that now they're a toxic workplace for women that punishes the victim and rewards harassers. The way they handled it was not much better.

If they gave a PR statement against harassment and a final warning to Alison Rapp, would that at least be a nice compromise? Because otherwise they just come off as bad.

 

[wildfire]

As I said in the last thread, doenst matter who finds it, if its problematic to Nintendo they will look into it anyways. If that person found a way to connect Rapp to her alias, then he found a way to connect that work direclty to Nintendo, he could give the proof to any low end gamng website that wants the clicks and Nintendo would have the kind of story news they are trying to avoid.

Think about it if it was anything newsworthy someone who is as scummy as a gamergater would forward this to any unscrupulous news network regardless.

The longer it takes for this "story" to come out the more likely it was not gossip worthy. All that matters was hurting Alison.

 

[akidnamededdy]

Like I said, do you think something needs to be 100% effective to warrant doing?

Of course it wouldn't have stopped the harassment. That doesn't mean they shouldn't have defended her after months of unwarranted harassment.

If I go to the mall during my lunch break every day at work and the same guy is waiting just inside every day to push me over and spit on me, is it my employer's job to defend me?

No. That's ridiculous.

Nintendo's only obligation, like any other company in the world, is to protect its employees from internal harassment.

Yeah it'd be great if they said something before they had to fire her. They didn't. No company would. Sad but true. Stop buying Mario Kart games if you feel like that'll teach them a lesson I guess.