Racketeering in the indie dev scene

[thedosbox]

When did I ever say that I knew that that element of the conjecture was true? To me it all seems like just one more possible incident in a culture of cronyism and corruption. Not suggesting that these developers and journalists are anything unique in the industry but they still are just as corrupt and vile as the more established celebrities and companies of the video game industry.

And that's a fair discussion to have. My question is where were you (in the general sense) in July? Youtubers are meant to save us from corruption, yet the big publishers make little secret of their pay to play programs.

What is especially vile is the label-shaming, coverup, and oppression that these developers and journalists are creating on the internet.

This is hilarious given the slut shaming in the OP.

And yes, the very vocal minority who identify themselves as "gamers" and indulge in sending death threats should be ashamed. That minority doesn't represent me, so I'm not particularly bothered when they're criticized. You shouldn't be either.

[edit] removed cheap shot. I get why some people feel they're being attacked when "gamers" are denigrated - without defining which subset are being referred to.

 

[norseamd]

And that's a fair discussion to have. My question is where were you (in the general sense) in July? Youtubers are meant to save us from corruption, yet the big publishers make little secret of their pay to play programs.

And I believe Youtubers take advantage of their situation just as much as any journalists.

 

[norseamd]

This is hilarious given the slut shaming in the OP. And yes, the very vocal minority who identify themselves as "gamers" and indulge in sending death threats should be ashamed. They don't represent me, so I'm not particularly bothered when they're criticized. Why are you?

Because all dissenters are smeared into one label with negative connotations.

 

[jruchko]

I had too much coffee so couldn't sleep.

You do know this has been debunked by the ex right? Go read his updated post.

I never said anything about their conflict of interest, but the fact she slept with guys who are in the industry is fact. It is also a fact that people started questioning the ethics of game journalists because of it (even if they were wrong). Lastly, I never even mentioned her name at all because this thread isn't about that. I was giving a very simple and quick back story to this "reveal".

This is hilarious given the slut shaming in the OP.

What slut shaming?

You know what? Welcome to my ignore list. You just love to twist things so much, there is no possibility of a rational discussion with you.

 

[thedosbox]

Because all dissenters are smeared into one label with negative connotations.

See my edit. I think that's a question of interpretation. Leigh Alexander's article specifically called out the obnoxious behaviour of stereotypical gamers who behave badly. I don't fall into that group, so don't feel affronted.

Granted, non-specialist media are going to latch onto the stereotypical "gamer" description because they don't know better. Then again, that same media fails to understand basic geography.

And I believe Youtubers take advantage of their situation just as much as any journalists.

And yet, where is/was the campaign against this?

 

[Jodell88]

LOL! Phil Fish.

I don't agree with the DCMA take downs, but I don't care for the rest of it.

 

[darkswordsman17]

I updated the OP, and I am going to bed.

@darkswordsman17 - I guess you missed the part where judges are directly financially invested in the outcome of the awards. I also don't get the whole comparison with PA promoting one of their own creations on their own site. These award shows are not ran by a game development company.

You can be right, and there is nothing illegal going on, I simply thought this whole thing might be interesting to some.

This is not uncommon at all and a lot of awards are that way (they're put on by the industry, or media of the industry which is generally supported by the industry, they're awarding, and many times the judges are members of said industry who get direct financial incentive, as well as being members of companies that would get direct financial incentive by their products being considered favorably). Is it $#!^^$? Yeah, but instead of this being evidence of the "grand conspiracy of gaming integrity" it's more making those people look naive to how the world works.

A lot of the indie gatherings are/were setup and run by indie developers. As they grew they've gotten others involved, but I can't believe you seriously don't see how blatantly obvious it is that it's been a game to promote indie games, and largely by specific ones, for a long time. I don't think it was even really that nefarious, just that indie developers realized they needed to band together to have any chance of pushing their movement and see success (which yes means them and the games they produce making money), so it was smarter for them to organize events and band together.

But the focus is on IGF because that's where their "proof" lies. The problem is, their proof is not absolute and could even be considered specious.

Why aren't they going after the GDC? You know they operate pretty much exactly the same as the IGF, right? You know that the same people behind IGF are behind GDC, right? You know who that is? It's an industry marketing company. Oh no, the puppet master pied piper! Oh wait, that's actually pretty normal in business.

Why aren't they going after the Spike game awards? They're put on by allegedly gaming journalists, but they're practically more about promoting upcoming games than being a serious awards show.

The reason I brought up Penny Arcade is because apparently you don't understand that it's not that far off. An Indie organization pushes certain games because those games being successful means the organization does well, just like how Penny Arcade choosing an artist or two to integrate and promote helps both that artist and Penny Arcade.

Plus Penny Arcade absolutely has had a major hand in promoting indie devs/games, and they have incentive to since quite a few of the devs they've promoted have openly been big supports of Child's Play. Why aren't people questioning them? Why are they still so focused on some specific people? After all they're allegedly trying to root out all these gaming ethics problems. Why then, are they ignoring most of them that are both directly parallel and also even bigger?

There's a reason the world at large is rolling their eyes at this situation. At best, these people are being monumentally unaware of the world in which they live, and even in just the little niches within which they focus themselves. At worst, they're being every bit as nefarious as those they're railing against, and very possibly even moreso. The clear proof of the grand conspiracy against them is anything but, and at every turn they exhibit signs of their own ignorance if not their real intentions.

 

[darkswordsman17]

Not debunked. Only certain speculations were in fact possibly not true. Not implying that it is true anymore than not true.

It's all speculation. And that's the problem. When your whole argument hinges on such speculative evidence, every time it's diminished just makes your speculations look that much more suspect.

Because all dissenters are smeared into one label with negative connotations.

Maybe if they would stop using the same poor speculation and arguments then people would stop putting them together. But when people are willfully associating with the very poor arguments that have been presented it's kinda difficult to separate the ones doing it because they're just ignorant, the ones doing it for ill intentions, and the ones being misled by one or the other or both of those.

 

[jruchko]

@darkswordsman17 - I see your points, and with recent information coming out I have requested that this thread be locked. I got way too invested in this whole thing, and am taking a step back for a bit to hopefully be able to look at this whole situation more objectively.