Thread : In the news today

[Tenjen]

i see the problem of journalism as only a symptom of those involved in game development.

want change? look at those who have actual power. not the stoogies.

[GothPoet]

I'm just going to leave this here.

http://www.themarysue.com/joss-whedon-reddit-gamergate/

[Engy]

Good to know I'm anti-women. Good to know that the actual debates I've seen on journalistic ethics in the gaming industry were a farce and actually a well hidden attempt at getting me to denounce women and any kind of deviation from the status quo. Good to know that my life long stance on gender and ethnicity equality and LGBT-rights was actually a very clever trick into somehow attempting to ensure women, minorities, and LGBT would get less rights. Yeah, good to know all of that.

Do NOT pull this kind of passive aggressive 'Oh, I'll just leave this article behind that implies you're a close-minded, misogynistic fuck'-bullshit on me. Of course he's only going to see the bullshit, that's the LOUD portion of this entire thing that is going on. Of course you'll only find bullshit on Reddit, as the sheer majority of Reddit is founded on bullshit. You want to find a proper discussion? Here's an excellent one. Why do you not hear about this kind of thing? Because there's no controversy there! It's four rational, adult people having a calm and a rational discussion. That's not something Anti-GG can circlejerk over, so they don't bring it up. It's not something the actual loud fucks from GamerGate can cry over, so they don't bring it up. It is happening, but no one is bringing it up. And there is the real issue.

Great. Now I'm fucking pissed off again. Always truly grand whenever it's being implied that I'm something that I am absolutely not. It happens often enough in my life that I now often wonder why I still bother speaking out for stuff. *Sigh*

[Tenjen]

no one is actually targeting you. Goth litereally just left that post there in relation to GG.

the "achievements" of GG are not GG achievements as a group or movement but of particular indiivduals actually getting stuff done. GG as a group has been defined by what it keeps doing as a group. When a good thing related to a group are exceptions rather than the rule, it fails to define the group and only defines the individuals involved in the good.

And like i said targeting journalism wont accomplish much in the end anyway, as its just a symptom of the greater issues brought on by the gaming industry moguls.

[Engy]

I don't care if someone is actively targeting me or not, it's in incredibly poor taste to, after just explaining that I support(ed) GamerGate for the good part of the whole thing, post something along the lines of 'The thing you claim you support isn't actually real and actually is just you supporting an unjust cause under the excuse that you support the non-existent good thing'.

I know there are a lot of articles on the idea that the debate isn't there. And some of them raise good points. It's why I'm in favour of actively separating from GamerGate, not only to get rid of all the scum, but also so that we can actively give the good section of the whole thing the good name and credit it deserves.
Here are a few quotes of what Joss Whedon said, with some of my commentary:
"I think GamerGate is primarily about anger at progressive people who care about feminism and transgender rights and mental health and whatever else (I am not going to use your obnoxious social-justice warrior terminology anymore) getting involved in gaming, and by what you see as overly solicitous coverage of said individuals and their games."
What he essentially just said is that I am angry about the fact that people like me are involved in gaming.

"But this is only going to be a real debate if you guys can cop to your real-life feelings and opinions. You should have a bit more courage and put your actual motives front and center. Instead, because some of you do have a certain degree of political savvy, as is evidenced whenever GamerGaters on 8chan and elsewhere try to rein in their more unhinged peers, you've decided to go the "journalism ethics" route."
So, I need to cop to my actual, real-life feelings and opinions? He means the ones where I, indeed, agree with the notion that the video game journalism is in a very poor state? So I am lying to myself about me supporting a cause that I actually do support?

"I bet if you asked 100 journalists you'd get 100 different opinions on whether this should be inherently off-limits (personal take is that it isn't, but that journalists should certainly disclose any projects to which they donate). "
That last bit is exactly what people like me are up in arms about, because journalists don't disclose this kind of stuff. And don't bother calling them out on stuff, cause that'll just lead to the 'Gamers are dead!'-mantra.

"So I’d make a call, one last time, for honesty: Stop pretending this is about stuff it isn’t. Acknowledge that you do not want SJWs in gaming, that you want games to just be about games."
I want games to be about games! But I don't give a shit about supposed SJW's. Hell, considering the poor state some games are in the visual department, maybe we need them in order to actually get some change.

"You guys need to man and woman up and talk about what’s really on your mind, or stop whining about “biased” coverage and/or blaming it on non-existent conspiracies."
Okay, here it is. Video game journalism is in a shitty state and best described as 'enthusiast press'. It needs to get its shit together.

Joss Whedon has some fair points, I'll give him that, especially now that I've calmed down somewhat and reread everything. But that doesn't take away he still shits all over the things I know are real and right bloody there. And I reiterate, posting something that explicitly says I'm hating myself for one of the few good things about me, is in incredibly poor taste. One of the few things I don't actively hate about myself is that I genuinely believe people should deserve happiness in their life. I believe in LGBT-rights, I believe people should be able to look how they want, love who they want. I believe man and woman are equal. I believe that, regardless of ethnicity, ancestry, culture, or what have you, all people should be able to come together and enjoy each others company. Even if I am an asshole, even if I make sexist or racist remarks, I honestly believe that. And this article shits all over that by making the claim I hate myself. And that, pisses me right the fuck off.


Anyway, to finally get to your point of the video game journalism being a symptom of a corrupt video game industry - I believe it's the other way around. Because our supposed journalists aren't watching the industry as they are supposed to, because they aren't essentially being watch dogs for the larger industry, the industry can do whatever it damn well pleases. Rock Paper Shotgun had an article about this. They said that one reason why the large corporations are getting away with so much is because the media reports on it once, the company issues an apology or come up with an excuse, and it's all over, even if the actual issue is never fixed. The media stops reporting on it, causing legitimate issues to last because no one looks at it. SimCity is a prime example (it was also used as an example in the article in question). People find errors in Maxis' statements concerning the always online thing, Maxis issues bullshit excuses that were actually lies, media reports these excuses, and... Suddenly nothing. All reporting on it stopped, Maxis breathes a sigh of relief, and goes back to not fixing their always online for over a year.
But if the media does do a mass 'Hey, what the hell?', you will see companies take action. Unfortunately, the sheer majority of those actions are on the basis of the Metacritic score of a game, with low scores leading to a lot of suddenly unemployed people. But Metacritic is a whole other issue in of itself.


I have wanted for many years to be a part of the video game industry. Honestly, in between the questionable journalism, the questionable powers that be in the industry, and the crazed and rabid fanbases, I probably should be glad I lack the discipline to ever be a part of the industry. Give me the simple e-reader apps, the public traffic information apps, and the museum tour apps. At least no one will threaten to kill me over accidentally implementing a database backwards.

[Don Alexander]

http://us.cnn.com/2014/10/31/us/spacesh ... ?hpt=hp_t1

OH FUCKING SHIT!!!!

The Antares explosion was a costly mishap but hardly anything "fatal" for the space industry.

THIS could be extremely damaging to space tourism. And therefore the whole private sector. And therefore the entire future of space flight!!!

I also wonder what happened to the pilot!

[Artemisia]

Don,

According to the reports- one dead, one critical.

[Tenjen]

peace to the pilot who died. It's incredibly unfortunate after all the training and work they go through to reach that point.

lets hope that this doesnt cause a massive dent in space flight and tourism and is instead used as an oppurtunity to make sure the problem does not occur again.

[Don Alexander]

Okay, concerning this whole heated GamerGate discussion...

I'm not a gamer, I won't pretend I have any idea what the issue is. So I'm not going to be taking any sides.

Purely from the perspective of this forum, though, I'm mainly seeing Engy being overly aggressive. I can't judge whether GP posted that link on purpose to piss you off, but I'm generally going to agree with Tenjen that it was part of the discussion, and not targeting you on purpose to get you all riled up. You choose to react that way.

Engy, you've always been an upstanding member of this forum (I specifically remember your support from the days when we had ursine troubles), so right now, I'm just going to point out:

Take it to PMs, please. This whole thing seems to be nothing but flamebait from both sides, and I'd like to keep that away from "my" forum. Because "rational, adult people having a calm and a rational discussion" this is not.

The DAMNed

[Engy]

Not much to take into PM's as I wasn't planning on continuing the GameGate discussion. I know my limits - anymore of this, and there would indeed have been grounds to have me banned. And I have very little interest in that. Outside of this little bump in the road, I do quite enjoy my stay here.
Honestly, I thought the discussion was already over since no one had (probably wisely, considering how I acted) reacted anymore and the subject changed to SpaceShipTwo.

Anyway, I concur. Let's move on.

[Tenjen]

same here really. the whole topic is toxic on the net for all involved

[Radbaron]

About Spaceship 2, there is video of the accident, but it wasn't released (yet). I've seen 2 pictures, and from what I saw in the first one, the engine thrusted it's way through the craft. I don't know if the reaction was controllable, or if it was a "light the fuse and go" type of engine.



You can see both tail booms separating there. Edit... closer look: seems like the plane has tumbled.



Engine off, fuselage tumbles , no explosion.

[Adamas]

IIRC They were testing a new engine/fuel combination,

[Don Alexander]

Yes, a fuel seemingly based on nylon.

[TellusEidolon]

Some german news for once.
http://weburbanist.com/2014/10/30/ghost ... -10-miles/