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[Scientist Supreme!]

Yes it was extreme but man oh man. And people were calling me the Nintendo apologist

I have no clue what this is supposed to me.

Were people asking for Nintendo to make a statement when she was still employed? This finger-wagging's very helpful, but I think the train has left the station.

Yes and if they weren't they should have.

 

[cr0w]

I think lots of people posting about this have never worked for a major corporation or never worked in a management context. They simply do not have the inclination to white knight for an employee, rightfully or wrongfully. If you want to keep your job, you can't be stirring up shit (even if you're in the right) while also not be meeting all your employer's expectations to the letter.

She was becoming a headache, they allegedly found legitimate reasons to get rid of her, and they acted upon them. This isn't even a case where you can allege what they did was employment discrimination and pretext for firing her, because they could have legally fired her anyway just for tweeting about the stuff.

Are we forgetting that she advocated for the legalization of child pornography? And she works at a company that caters to minor children? What company in that context would be okay with her saying that? Imagine if the PR manager for Fisher Price tweeted that out. Frankly, I'm shocked she wasn't fired sooner.

When you're an employee and you hold view outside the norm, you need to decide what you value most and be careful what you say. That's just the way of the world.

This is very important.

To inject a personal anecdote, my wife and I both work for the same company, but she works off-site for a contractor. One of the contractor's employees was, for months, passively-aggressively bullying her, and it escalated to the point to where she became afraid of him and anxious about going to work. There was an incident that finally led to her bringing it forward, and despite the fact that I'd known about various things and had mentioned them in passing, she had to be the one to bring it up and document it. I could say or do nothing officially, because my position with the company would have been compromised and it would have been an extreme conflict of interest, despite my every molecule telling me otherwise.

Companies have procedures in place to deal with internal harassment, and generally (I like to think), they're effective. But that's as far as it goes.

 

[StarStabbedMoon]

I'm arguing that all this venom and ire directed at Nintendo is missing the point. Nintendo didn't launch an organized harassment campaign against Rapp and Nintendo didn't turn a blind eye while people used the social media platform they created to carry it out. Attacking them will do nothing to stop GG from doing this again. It's pointless shouting.

I think you're misunderstanding what people are criticizing Nintendo for. GG is a pack of rabid dogs that doesn't really matter to the industry. There's no real point in engaging with them. Nintendo's decisions actually matter, and a big problem here is that Nintendo has enabled GG and their tactics back into relevance after they had increasingly faded from the public eye.

There's something to be said about Twitter doing more about this, but Nintendo isn't absolved just because that's how business works.

 

[Aaronrules380]

I think you're misunderstanding what people are criticizing Nintendo for. GG is a pack of rabid dogs that doesn't really matter to the industry. There's no real point in engaging with them. Nintendo's decisions actually matter, and a big problem here is that Nintendo has enabled GG and their tactics back into relevance after they had increasingly faded from the public eye.

There's something to be said about Twitter doing more about this, but Nintendo isn't absolved just because that's how business works.

Pretty sure the issue had less to do with GamerGate and more to do with the anti-pedophilia organization that GG got on their side

 

[QuantumZebra]

I don't think GamerGate would've cared regardless. They're attacking her because she's a women in the video game industry. The FE localizations and other stuff is just a thinly veiled excuse. They don't actually care about it

ding ding ding

Even if Nintendo sent a plane with banners saying "Rapp had nothing to do with localization changes" around the world, GG would just invent some other reason to destroy her. Once they pick a target they aren't satisfied till they ruin their lives (see: Zoe Quinn)

 

[Alex_Mexico]

Nintendo failing to properly address issues with harassment does not insulate her from consequences of intentionally breaching parameters of her contract.

Her being terminated for breach of contract doesn't justify Nintendo's silence on the harassment of its employees.

It's simple, really.

Pretty much. Also we have to agree that if her firing was indeed unrelated to the smear campaign then the their timing was absolutely horrible. She's been moonlightning (I had to look up what the hell that meant). and posting in social media for years now and choosing to just now firing her is very unfortunate.

 

[marrec]

The free market needs to be regulated, conformed and held accountable by Society at large

not the other way around

Its dangerous to inbibe them with that level of trust but I see what you are getting at here. This shit goes deep

I think there is even more too it though:

When you can interact with companies on social media just as easily as you can your friends or family, it creates a social contract that goes both ways.

So, in effect, Nintendo cannot shitpost meme's on Twitter while simultaneously maintaining some kind of corporate distance from harassment of 50% of their consumers on that platform.

 

[qko]

I agree, let's not forget child pornography was thrown in to the mix, you can imagine what mainstream media would do to Nintendo if they publicly supported Alison Rapp and her views... No corporation wants that kind of publicity.

Hollywood studios survived Roman Polanski and Woody Allen. They may not want the publicity but when the talent is there, they manage to find a way to keep hiring them and giving them awards.

Sure, Rapp isn't a Polanski or Allen, but she is a good follow on Twitter and she'll engage with her audience there which is tough to say about many people involved in the Game industry. Hopefully she'll land on her feet.

 

[Chû Totoro]

ding ding ding

Even if Nintendo sent a plane with banners saying "Rapp had nothing to do with localization changes" around the world, GG would just invent some other reason to destroy her. Once they pick a target they aren't satisfied till they ruin their lives (see: Zoe Quinn)

If Nintendo had done this some people would still have said "Nintendo thinks that a women can't defend herself... pathetic"

There will always someone to be angry at another person or a corporation on Internet.

There will always be a douche bag to be angry at women in the video gaming industry for "reasons" and there will always be someone angry at gaming companies for "reasons".

That's just how the Internet is: never happy, angry and hyperbolic.

 

[Deserted Maniac Island]

It doesn't matter where in the world their head office is, if you operate in a country you should behave appropriately in that country. This is Corporation 101.

Well they are a law abiding company in America. Again don't expect a company to act in a way you would prefer. To expect them to be publicly socially "progressive" is absurd, so is wanting them to publicly socially "conservative." They are above all a Japanese company, most of their decisions are made in Japan, so what NOA does affects the image of the whole company. Their "Cooperate culture" stems from Japan. They are not beholden to the cultural norms of other countries they operate in (For example, if they had a division in Saudi Arabia, would you like them to or expect them to conform to the cultural standards of Saudi Arabia?). They are company that wants to make money.

 

[LudicrousSpeed]

ding ding ding

Even if Nintendo sent a plane with banners saying "Rapp had nothing to do with localization changes" around the world, GG would just invent some other reason to destroy her. Once they pick a target they aren't satisfied till they ruin their lives (see: Zoe Quinn)

That level of harassment had been ongoing since October. But what was happening lately was something that was kicked up when GG was able to get the Mad About Localizations crowd on board to add to the harassment. That statement would do a lot to defuse the additional harassment, because GG was using Useful Idiots to add to their pile-on.

It wouldn't have stopped The Usual Bigots from doing their thing, but it would have defused some degree of the harassment that Alison was facing and would have cost them nothing, and they were too scared to do even that.

 

[DrROBschiz]

I think there is even more too it though:

When you can interact with companies on social media just as easily as you can your friends or family, it creates a social contract that goes both ways.

So, in effect, Nintendo cannot shitpost meme's on Twitter while simultaneously maintaining some kind of corporate distance from harassment of 50% of their consumers on that platform.

Well isnt the solution to such things.... still in the wind?

Does any company have an effective policy or strategy in place? Is their training that employees recieve?

Whats legal help is offered if any?

We are still a LONG way from figuring this societal issue out.

 

[Fuchsdh]

I think lots of people posting about this have never worked for a major corporation or never worked in a management context. They simply do not have the inclination to white knight for an employee, rightfully or wrongfully. If you want to keep your job, you can't be stirring up shit (even if you're in the right) while also not be meeting all your employer's expectations to the letter.

She was becoming a headache, they allegedly found legitimate reasons to get rid of her, and they acted upon them. This isn't even a case where you can allege what they did was employment discrimination and pretext for firing her, because they could have legally fired her anyway just for tweeting about the stuff.

Are we forgetting that she advocated for the legalization of child pornography? And she works at a company that caters to minor children? What company in that context would be okay with her saying that? Imagine if the PR manager for Fisher Price tweeted that out. Frankly, I'm shocked she wasn't fired sooner.

When you're an employee and you hold view outside the norm, you need to decide what you value most and be careful what you say. That's just the way of the world.

I don't think there's any one-size-fits-all answer to this question. At some point I think people would agree that most companies have a certain culture that if you are opposed to it they will dump you at the first sign of trouble. Mozilla dumped Brendan Eich, for example, when there was no evidence that his extracurricular support of traditional marriage legislation affected his job directly. That was his private affairs, but plenty of people thought it was still relevant enough that Mozilla should fire him. Thus I've got sympathy for Rapp if it really just was a case of "I have a side job but it's distasteful to nintendo" but I can't really argue that there's no situation where a company can't decide who it wants to hire, because those people do become the embodiment of your ideals.

 

[Bright]

I think there is even more too it though:

When you can interact with companies on social media just as easily as you can your friends or family, it creates a social contract that goes both ways.

So, in effect, Nintendo cannot shitpost meme's on Twitter while simultaneously maintaining some kind of corporate distance from harassment of 50% of their consumers on that platform.

Yes they can. They're doing it right now.

If you think their social media presence is anything but marketing, I'm afraid there's something very wrong.

Companies are not your friends. They don't owe you anything. The only influence you have over them is your money. Your opinion doesn't matter to them. It only starts mattering if you withhold your money.

 

[GatticusFinch]

Hollywood studios survived Roman Polanski and Woody Allen. They may not want the publicity but when the talent is there, they manage to find a way to keep hiring them and giving them awards.

Sure, Rapp isn't a Polanski or Allen, but she is a good follow on Twitter and she'll engage with her audience there which is tough to say about many people involved in the Game industry. Hopefully she'll land on her feet.

Companies don't want their employees to be "a good follow on Twitter," especially when the reason people are following is because they hold weird views outside of the mainstream.

 

[kamineko]

Well, I sent something to them last night, and got a response. It's basically the press release. I'm sure everyone else got the same thing.

Me:

My first Nintendo product was one of the original Game and Watch titles. I was the only kid in my neighborhood who owned one, and I was so proud of it. I was eight years old.

I feel I've grown up with Nintendo, and it's one of the few brands to which I am so attached. I feel very positively about my experiences with your characters over the years.

I say this all so that you might understand how concerned I was to learn of Alison Rapp's separation from employment with NOA. She's a likable, intelligent personality that is consistent with my positive perceptions of Nintendo as a brand. It is my understanding that Nintendo and Ms. Rapp have received intense and troubling pressure from a reactionary hate group with a history of virulently misogynist, antisocial behavior.

I would be shocked and disappointed to learn that an innovation leader like Nintendo would make personnel decisions based on the whims of an intolerant mob. I am very, very concerned about this incident.

NOA

Hello,

Thank you for reaching out to us.

Alison Rapp was terminated due to violation of an internal company policy involving holding a second job in conflict with Nintendo’s corporate culture. Though Ms. Rapp’s termination follows her being the subject of criticism from certain groups via social media several weeks ago, the two are absolutely not related. Nintendo is a company committed to fostering inclusion and diversity in both our company and the broader video game industry and we firmly reject the harassment of individuals based on gender, race or personal beliefs. We wish Ms. Rapp well in her future endeavors.

That said, your thoughts on this subject have been recorded and forwarded to the proper departments for review and thoughtful consideration.

Sincerely,

Nintendo of America Inc.

 

[Ms.Galaxy]

I'm arguing that all this venom and ire directed at Nintendo is missing the point. Nintendo didn't launch an organized harassment campaign against Rapp and Nintendo didn't turn a blind eye while people used the social media platform they created to carry it out. Attacking them will do nothing to stop GG from doing this again. It's pointless shouting.

Nintendo made the decision to remove boob sliders and petting minigames, GG attacked her believing she suggested those things. Nintendo indirectly caused this to happen, yes, but they shouldn't be tone deaf of how toxic the gaming base is at its current climate and actually address to combat it. They also played a huge hand in cultivating this little boy's club with years of marketing and pandering with such classics like "Willst thou get the girl? Or play like one?" and other tons of sexualized marketing they've done even up to the 3DS reveal when they had sexy women walk around the stage and theater with 3DSes attached to their waist. They should have said anything, even a little thing like

"There's been a harassment campaign against one of our employees as of late due to the localization of Xenoblade and Fire Emblem. We wish to make it clear that this employee is not in anyway involved with the localization of these games. We at Nintendo run these localization ideas with our higher ups and the original dev team in Japan to ensure we capture their vision in a near satisfiable quality.

We at Nintendo do not condone violence or harassment against our employees and their friends and families. We ask that this campaign stops or we shall take a more legal alternative and contact various local and federal officers to deal with the situation."

Instead, they kept quiet, punished her in the background, and continued to let it happen. They have a direct hand in all this madness, they are one of the many companies who cultivated this filth for years, they have to own up to it and actually acknowledge this madness so we can actually fix it. Ignoring Gamergate has not work, they continue to do this. Until the Triple A industry actually admits the issue, we can't work on fixing it, because in Gamergate's eyes, they think they're justified in doing what they're done with all the silence. Wanna know something else? I've been to 4chan and 8chan when this madness was at its height, there were plenty of supposed devs from those Triple A publishers who went their to show support. Yes, that's how bad this is.

 

[Risette]

Well, I sent something to them last night, and got a response. It's basically the press release. I'm sure everyone else got the same thing.

Me:


NOA

It's the same, but man, rereading this dumb press release while running on more than three hours of sleep makes me even more upset. "Subject of criticism" is such bullshit. She was a subject of harassment from a hate group.

 

[marrec]

Yes they can. They're doing it right now.

If you think their social media presence is anything but marketing, I'm afraid there's something very wrong.

Companies are not your friends. They don't owe you anything. The only influence you have over them is your money. Your opinion doesn't matter to them. It only starts mattering if you withhold your money.

That's my point. They have set these expectations by their own actions. I'm not saying it's illegal for them to open that two way street and then shit all over it, I'm saying that morally it's irresponsible.

 

[Jonneh3003]

Just got a reply from Nintendo:
"Hello,

Thank you for reaching out to us.

Alison Rapp was terminated due to violation of an internal company policy involving holding a second job in conflict with Nintendo’s corporate culture. Though Ms. Rapp’s termination follows her being the subject of criticism from certain groups via social media several weeks ago, the two are absolutely not related. Nintendo is a company committed to fostering inclusion and diversity in both our company and the broader video game industry and we firmly reject the harassment of individuals based on gender, race or personal beliefs. We wish Ms. Rapp well in her future endeavors.

That said, your thoughts on this subject have been recorded and forwarded to the proper departments for review and thoughtful consideration.

Sincerely,

Nintendo of America Inc."

Edit: Woops looks like a few of us got the same response.

 

[Sylas]

Yes they can. They're doing it right now.

If you think their social media presence is anything but marketing, I'm afraid there's something very wrong.

Companies are not your friends. They don't owe you anything. The only influence you have over them is your money. Your opinion doesn't matter to them. It only starts mattering if you withhold your money.

I think that view is a little shortsighted. A company's job is to protect their interests--and often before the money stops flowing. It's a bit of a gamble to make a statement about harassment, sure. I can accept that. It might impact enough people so it hurts your sales, but not making a statement can also lead to people retracting their sales.

It's literally people's jobs to anticipate marketplace reaction to company actions. I don't think this particular instance would have affected Nintendo either way, but it can certainly keep piling up until it does.

We'll see!

 

[Poltergust]

Got a response from Nintendo. My feedback:

As a big fan of your company, I'm going to be frank here: You guys handled the situation around Alison Rapp very poorly. I understand the circumstances surrounding her and her fellow colleagues, along with the pressure you guys were receiving from the Wayne Foundation, but giving into the slandering of one of your high-profile employees only serves to legitimize the hate group that started this whole mess in the first place.

If you did this to avoid negative press, you just accomplished the complete opposite. You pretty much drew the ire of the entire gaming industry and everyone around the world with any shred of humanity in them who happens upon this story. Congrats.

Their response:

Hello,

Thank you for reaching out to us.

Alison Rapp was terminated due to violation of an internal company policy involving holding a second job in conflict with Nintendo’s corporate culture. Though Ms. Rapp’s termination follows her being the subject of criticism from certain groups via social media several weeks ago, the two are absolutely not related. Nintendo is a company committed to fostering inclusion and diversity in both our company and the broader video game industry and we firmly reject the harassment of individuals based on gender, race or personal beliefs. We wish Ms. Rapp well in her future endeavors.

That said, your thoughts on this subject have been recorded and forwarded to the proper departments for review and thoughtful consideration.

Sincerely,

Nintendo of America Inc.

So basically what's in the OP. I don't buy it because they certainly weren't publicly supporting her when the harassment was underway. =/

 

[Jumplion]

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.

This is incredibly disingenuous and massively minimizing the actual harm that was done against Rapp.

This isn't one guy being a shithead. This is an entire mob of people constantly harassing, doxxing, and abusing not only her but her family and her employers as well, trying their best to obstruct both her personal and professional life.

Yes, it's sad but true that most companies wouldn't do anything. You're missing the incredulous "how fucked up is that?" part at the end.

 

[marrec]

Yep, they sent the same response to everyone, missing the entire point of the negative feedback.

What a fucking shitty showing.

 

[QuantumZebra]

Got a response from Nintendo. My feedback:



Their response:



So basically what's in the OP. I don't buy it because they certainly weren't publicly supporting her when the harassment was underway. =/

Yea this is just an awful look for Nintendo.

 

[JetSetRadio]

Sucks for her but there is really not much to say about it, it's a corporate decision based on objective criteria. They might have played it "smart" and for the wrong reasons but she isn't important enough apparently.

 

[Vincent Grayson]

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?

If Nintendo, and every other major developer/publisher had come out more than a fucking year ago and said something to denounce/call out the harassment coming out of GG, it absolutely would have accomplished something.

The biggest thing continuing to fuel these people is their belief that they matter, and that what they do and who they choose to focus on accomplishes things for them. The industry could have and should have come out 100% against GG on day fucking one, and had they, the movement wouldn't exist in any meaningful capacity today.

 

[Sylas]

Yep, they sent the same response to everyone, missing the entire point of the negative feedback.

What a fucking shitty showing.

Blanket statements are always to be anticipated. I don't think that's a shitty statement, because it's 9am in Seattle and people are just now getting into the office.

Replying to each and every instance would've been insane, and CSR has to work through a queue that they don't really get to choose. They were probably given a stock response because it's all Nintendo has prepared, and they have to reply to those emails before moving onto other ones. It wouldn't be too surprising if there's another statement within the next few weeks that comes from someone higher up. I don't really anticipate it, but I wouldn't be surprised either.

 

[SturokBGD]

Well they are a law abiding company in America. Again don't expect a company to act in a way you would prefer. To expect them to be publicly socially "progressive" is absurd, so is wanting them to publicly socially "conservative." They are above all a Japanese company, most of their decisions are made in Japan, so what NOA does affects the image of the whole company. Their "Cooperate culture" stems from Japan. They are not beholden to the cultural norms of other countries they operate in (For example, if they had a division in Saudi Arabia, would you like them to or expect them to conform to the cultural standards of Saudi Arabia?). They are company that wants to make money.

We did this already. Scroll back a couple of pages.

Other industries are proactive with social issues that affect their customers and their employees. The video game industry is not. The video game industry is insular and regressive. The age of social media has made this more apparent than ever.

This is not an issue that's exclusive to Nintendo so stop with the "Japanese company" rhetoric. It's irrelevant. This is a global issue with an industry that's broken.

 

[marrec]

Blanket statements are always to be anticipated. I don't think that's a shitty statement, because it's 9am in Seattle and people are just now getting into the office.

Replying to each and every instance would've been insane, and CSR has to work through a queue that they don't really get to choose. It wouldn't be too surprising if there's another statement within the next few weeks that comes from someone higher up.

Repeating the Press Release is what's shitty.

I don't expect them to respond to each complaint individually, but we've already read the press release, it obviously wasn't enough.

 

[moondoggerr]

To me it just seems like something you can't expect major corporations to get involved in. My company's CEO wouldn't jump to my defense if I was attacked on social media. Why should Nintendo be held to some kind of standard where they need to get highly involved with issues centered on one employee on certain social media/Message boards?

And imagine if they came out with some huge statement, big defense of Alison and tried to stop the GG thing. Then a few weeks later they fire her because she violated company policy with her second job. It would be a disaster.

Disagree strongly. If you were attacked on social media for doing something that your company was responsible for (BUT YOU YOURSELF HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH) any company worth its salt would step to your defense.

That is precisely what happened here.

 

[Bright]

I'm sure that if she was purely being harassed because of either being a woman, or being wrongly thought to have worked on that localisation, Nintendo would have stepped up. Her comments on child porn and softcore pics holding the 3DS originating at least some of the harassment leaves her indefensible from a corporate stand point. If those two controversial points weren't in the equation, I imagine Nintendo would've done something, and I also imagine she wouldn't have been harassed as much if she didn't foster such an inflammatory persona. You know what they say: there's no smoke without fire.

 

[Sylas]

Repeating the Press Release is what's shitty.

I don't expect them to respond to each complaint individually, but we've already read the press release, it obviously wasn't enough.

They've had all of... what? 9-12 hours since the news broke? Maybe 13? It takes a lot longer than that to draw up a new statement, even if it came directly from Reggie. Everyone reports to someone and they have to get approval or run it by their PR/HR team first.

 

[kamineko]

It's the same, but man, rereading this dumb press release while running on more than three hours of sleep makes me even more upset. "Subject of criticism" is such bullshit. She was a subject of harassment from a hate group.

Agreed, I get that corporations have to overcook their words, but that's a pretty disingenuous minimalization.

But I guess if they didn't have her back then, they certainly don't now

 

[marrec]

They've had all of... what? 9-12 hours since the news broke? Maybe 13? It takes a lot longer than that to draw up a new statement, even if it came directly from Reggie. Everyone reports to someone and they have to get approval or run it by their PR/HR team first.

Right, they should have waited and made a more definitive statement, or simply said "We are currently reviewing this issue and will be making a statement at a future date".

 

[Orniletter]

Yea this is just an awful look for Nintendo.

Nah, they were between a rock and a hard place.

Either defend the person who is accused of holding pro-pedophile opinions and risk the story gaining traktion with mainstream media (the absolutely worst case scenario imaginable), or be hated by the small amount of people on the internet who care because they held their head low (not good, but far preferable).

 

[moondoggerr]

I'm sure that if she was purely being harassed because of either being a woman, or being wrongly thought to have worked on that localisation, Nintendo would have stepped up. Her comments on child porn and softcore pics holding the 3DS originating at least some of the harassment leaves her indefensible from a corporate stand point. If those two controversial points weren't in the equation, I imagine Nintendo would've done something, and I also imagine she wouldn't have been harassed as much if she didn't foster such an inflammatory persona. You know what they say: there's no smoke without fire.

Yeah, you need to back off with the child porn comments. That stuff is completely bogus GG talking points. Not helping.

 

[sflufan]

Personally, I have absolutely no issues with Nintendo's blanket response to your emails.

However, I stand firm in my belief that this statement should have been issued at the beginning of this entire mess:

We firmly reject the harassment of individuals based on gender, race or personal beliefs.

 

[Sylas]

Right, they should have waited.

CSR likely didn't have a choice but to respond. They have a queue that they don't get to ignore. They work on emails as they come in and can't skip over them. It's 9am and the people that make the actual calls in regards to public-facing statements probably ain't in yet. I don't think it's right to call it a shitty move when it's a huge number of factors.

And yes, the majority of the emails people send to Nintendo go to CSR.

Source: I worked at Nintendo customer service for 3 months.

It'll be a shitty move if they still send out the same response days and weeks from now.

 

[SneakersSO]

Nintendo made the decision to remove boob sliders and petting minigames, GG attacked her believing she suggested those things. Nintendo shouldn't be tone deaf of how toxic the gaming base is at its current climate and actually address to combat it. They have a huge hand in cultivating this little boy's club with years of marketing and pandering with such classics like "Willst thou get the girl? Or play like one?" and other tons of sexualized marketing they've done even up to the 3DS reveal when they had sexy women walk around the stage and theater with 3DSes attached to their waist. They are indirectly responsible for riling them up and should have said anything, even a little thing like

"There's been a harassment campaign against one of our employees as of late due to the localization of Xenoblade and Fire Emblem. We wish to make it clear that this employee is not in anyway involved with the localization of these games. We at Nintendo run these localization ideas with our higher ups and the original dev team in Japan to ensure we capture their vision in a near satisfiable quality.

We at Nintendo do not condone violence or harassment against our employees and their friends and families. We ask that this campaign stops or we shall take a more legal alternative and contact various local and federal officers to deal with the situation."

This statement would've done absolutely nothing. Such a statement did nothing when Jade Raymond was being harassed/stalked the way she was back when AC first launched, and Ubisoft issued a similar statement. Ya know what did stop it? Ubisoft moved her away as a public-speaking entity & had her working behind the scenes. Yes, it is absolutely SHAMEFUL that we as an industry had to move one of our prominent female developers behind the curtain just to get the audience to stop attacking her. Nintendo, before axing Allison Rapp, attempted to do similarly with her by not allowing her to be a public face of the company and moving her laterally within the organization. Internet harassment mobs have never stopped or yielded when called out by larger organizations.

GG easily has received the most scorn from the games industry than any other controversy in its history. Has that stopped them at all from doing what they do? The authorities have been involved in individual cases & worked alongside Twitter - and yet, we don't see arrests, even when theres evidence a plenty. The most Twitter can do atm, unfortunately, is try to police their platform to the best of their ability, and write ToS policies that people will have to fall in line under or face the ban hammer.

The fact is, certain outlets & The Wayne Foundation would've taken any statement Nintendo made regarding Allison Rapp & spun it into tacit support of some of the things she had said & advocated for (legalizing child pornography, lowering the age of consent to 13, etc.). Thats simply not the kind of ink you want written about you as a corporation, ever.

 

[Bright]

Yeah, you need to back off with the child porn comments. That stuff is completely bogus GG talking points. Not helping.

Did she not make them?

Not helping what exactly? I'm contributing my opinion to this discussion. I feel like that's a valid thing to do in a forum.

 

[UCBooties]

This whole situation is a mess and the only takeaways I can really see are these:

1. GG has scored a victory here. There's no real other way to look at this. They set out to get a person fired because they disliked their views and that person has been fired. I think we can expect to see more of this activity and I think we may see a shift of targets as well. As much as they may hate Anita Sarkesian they're never gonna get her fired from FemFreq. She is, professionally speaking, beyond their reach. (This is not meant to downplay the damage they can do to her personally or the enormous strain this campaign has but on her, only that their tactics are unlikely to harm her employment) I'm afraid that now they'll start targeting women that are active in the industry in larger corporations since they've seen this tactic work in that environment.

2. Nintendo's radio silence earlier and their statement now absolutely make it seem as though this firing was a result of the harassment campaign, however much they may insist otherwise. This isn't something we can ever know for certain but the two are now inextricably linked in the minds of the people following this story. Even if she was not fired for the specific tweets that were the focused part of the harassment it seems unlikely that she would have gotten into the trouble she did without the level of scrutiny and digging that went along with the harassment campaign.

3. It is possible that Nintendo's firing of Alison was completely justified. Without knowing what her second job was we have no way of knowing whether it was against company policy. It is possible for someone to be the target of a sustained harassment campaign and also to be in violation of their employment contract. If she was in violation of her contract that makes the whole story a lot murkier. This is why I agree that Nintendo and other large tech companies should make statements and take actions that are against harassment generally but don't know whether they should have attempted to stand up for Alison specifically. I wish they had, but without knowing all the facts I don't feel comfortable saying that they should.

Lastly, going through all of this again just makes me shake my head that Alison Rapp of all people was targeted for her supposed involvement in the censoring of localized games. They used an anti-censorship thesis to try to get an anti-censorship employee fired because they blamed her for censorship. Just mind-boggling and really disheartening that it has become so much more important to identify an enemy and destroy them, even if they might have common cause with you.

 

[GatticusFinch]

This is incredibly disingenuous and massively minimizing the actual harm that was done against Rapp.

This isn't one guy being a shithead. This is an entire mob of people constantly harassing, doxxing, and abusing not only her but her family and her employers as well, trying their best to obstruct both her personal and professional life.

Yes, it's sad but true that most companies wouldn't do anything. You're missing the incredulous "how fucked up is that?" part at the end.

The "how fucked up is that" part is easily answered, from Nintendo's perspective, with "well, she tweeted out support for child pornography, and they've seized on that now." The next response, half a second later, is "fire her."

If she didn't hold those view, Nintendo probably would have defended her. They can't risk defending her because of what she had said.

 

[DrROBschiz]

Did she not make them?

Not helping what exactly? I'm contributing my opinion to this discussion. I feel like that's a valid thing to do in a forum.

It doesnt really matter

Nintendo claims to have fired her for having the second job so whatever controversial views she did or didnt have are supposedly irrelevant?

 

[Bright]

It doesnt really matter

Nintendo claims to have fired her for having the second job so whatever controversial views she did or didnt have are supposedly irrelevant?

I thought she was fired because of GG harassment? Can't have it both ways.

I have no doubt it was a factor in her firing.

 

[GatticusFinch]

It doesnt really matter

Nintendo claims to have fired her for having the second job so whatever controversial views she did or didnt have are supposedly irrelevant?

Incredibly naive view point.

Of course it mattered. They are going to publicly say they fired her for meeting some well defined company policy, because that is the legally correct move. Behind close doors, the decision to find a reason to fire her no doubt stemmed from her comments.

 

[DrROBschiz]

I thought she was fired because of GG harassment? Can't have it both ways.

I have no doubt it was a factor in her firing.

Well there is what Nintendo is saying officially and whatever the real story is

Incredibly naive view point.

Of course it mattered. They are going to publicly say they fired her for meeting some well defined company policy, because that is the legally correct move. Behind close doors, the decision to find a reason to fire her no doubt stemmed from her comments.

Sorry I wasnt being clear

Basically just saying what you are saying

 

[LudicrousSpeed]

The "how fucked up is that" part is easily answered, from Nintendo's perspective, with "well, she tweeted out support for child pornography, and they've seized on that now." The next response, half a second later, is "fire her."

If she didn't hold those view, Nintendo probably would have defended her. They can't risk defending her because of what she had said.

You should stop saying untrue horseshit like "She tweeted out support for child pornography".

 

[meltingparappa]

The "how fucked up is that" part is easily answered, from Nintendo's perspective, with "well, she tweeted out support for child pornography, and they've seized on that now." The next response, half a second later, is "fire her."

If she didn't hold those view, Nintendo probably would have defended her. They can't risk defending her because of what she had said.

The interesting part in all this is that... she didn't, and she doesn't.

But it's a veil by an abhorrent hate group to pretend harassment is for the greater good, and dupe people who won't even bother to read her actual thesis before they call to ruining her career.

 

[SturokBGD]

GG easily has received the most scorn from the games industry than any other controversy in its history.

No, GG has received scorn from a few good souls on Twitter who are in a position to speak freely.

The games industry has done and will continue to do nothing. As a customer of this industry I'm starting to seriously question why that is.