Alec Holowka (Night in the Woods, TowerFall) accused of sexual assault [Update: Alec Holowka has reportedly passed away] [See staff posts/threadmarks]

mbpm · Aug 31, 2019

Brutal way for it to end. This absolves nothing, but it does lead to a point that the system failed badly on multiple levels for this to happen.

If it in general was easier to address abuse (in the workplace or otherwise), people wouldn't have to resort to whisper networks, silence, and then public dissent for someone to see consequences for their actions.

If there was more consistent methods to address mental illness and ways to act towards women in early childhood/life Alec would (likely)never have done these things in the first place.

We have a lot of fixing to do. It's a damn shame.

Champion · Aug 31, 2019

Well this sure took an unexpected turn.

BearPawB · Aug 31, 2019

His victims were right to come forward. And should feel no guilt or blame for doing so.

That doesn't make this anything but a tragic sad end.

Gundam · Aug 31, 2019

Peter said:
This why internet hate mobs don't work

The accusers are not at fault here. This is just a shitty situation all around. I never know how to feel about this stuff.

"People should not come forward about abuse because then the abuser will kill themselves after being outed to the general public"

bruh

do you know what the fuck you're saying

boris_feinbrand · Aug 31, 2019

Will this story lead to any sort of introspection? Oh who am I kidding, of course it won't.
What a fucked up turn this story has taken. Abuse is a cycle.

Garjon · Aug 31, 2019

This whole thing is so horrible and shows how fucked up our society is to so many people. Both victims of abuse and people suffering from mental illness deserve so much more help as well as a system that doesn't grind them down while they are profitable then disposing of them when they are not

klastical · Aug 31, 2019

Wow... that sucks, feel bad for his family. Feel worse for his accuser who will now face even more backlash. They say that suicide is the cowards way out but this one feels especally cowardly. Instead of working towards forgiveness he has just made everyone he hurt lives much worse, not to mention the lives of the people who loved him.

Deleted member 1238 · Aug 31, 2019

Gundam said:
"People should not come forward about abuse because then the abuser will kill themselves after being outed to the general public"

bruh

do you know what the fuck you're saying

That's not what I said. Please do not put words in my mouth. You don't need to make up a quote. My words are right there. If you have an issue with what I said feel free to point it out instead of making stuff up. I literally said this is not the accusers fault.

BobbeMalle · Aug 31, 2019

O

Gundam said:
"People should not come forward about abuse because then the abuser will kill themselves after being outed to the general public"

bruh

do you know what the fuck you're saying

This Is not what he's saying at all. The internet Is never the right place to handle this situations, the internet cannot be the judge of people.

Icemonk191 · Aug 31, 2019

I hope people will understand that the victims are in no way responsible for what he did in the end. Using suicide as a weapon to stop victims from speaking up is some straight up bullshit that's been used by abusers forever.

Edit: People I'm not talking about the guy who just died, I'm talking about other assholes who would this as a way to stop victims from exposing their abusers.

JustJavi · Aug 31, 2019

Holy crap

Alex3190 · Aug 31, 2019

Damn this is horrible, rip.

I hope Zoe and the others are okay as well. It must be tough for them to feel like they would be the cause of this even though it isn't the case.

The gaming industry needs some type of paid therapy.

udllpn · Aug 31, 2019

Icemonk191 said:
Using suicide as a weapon to stop victims from speaking up is some straight up bullshit that's been used by abusers forever.

Think about what you are saying, please.

Sander VF · Aug 31, 2019

This is horrible all around.

He shouldn't have done the things he did and it shouldn't have ended this way.

Gundam · Aug 31, 2019

Peter said:
That's not what I said. Please do not put words in my mouth. You don't need to make up a quote. My words are right there. If you have an issue with what I said feel free to point it out instead of making stuff up. I literally said this is not the accusers fault.

Please break down what the hell you mean, because it just sounds like you're victim blaming and then saying "I'm not victim blaming though".

BobbeMalle said:
O

This Is not what he's saying at all. The internet Is never the right place to handle this situations, the internet cannot be the judge of people.

Where else should abuse victims come forward, genius

Common Knowledge · Aug 31, 2019

klastical said:
They say that suicide is the cowards way out but this one feels especally cowardly.

Stop.

Jamesac68 · Aug 31, 2019

This is terrible and deeply sad. Whatever Alec Holowka did to himself, though, it's 100% not any kind of responsibility of his abuse survivors. I'm still glad they spoke up. I just wish he'd been able to react any other way.

Gotdatmoney · Aug 31, 2019

klastical said:
Wow... that sucks, feel bad for his family. Feel worse for his accuser who will now face even more backlash. They say that suicide is the cowards way out but this one feels especally cowardly. Instead of working towards forgiveness he has just made everyone he hurt lives much worse, not to mention the lives of the people who loved him.

This is really not what you should be saying moments after finding out of a person's suicide.

Kittens McMittens · Aug 31, 2019

Icemonk191 said:
I hope people will understand that the victims are in no way responsible for what he did in the end. Using suicide as a weapon to stop victims from speaking up is some straight up bullshit that's been used by abusers forever.

I don't think anyone here knows enough about what's going on to be able to say that.

ramoisdead · Aug 31, 2019

BearPawB said:
His victims were right to come forward. And should feel no guilt or blame for doing so.

That doesn't make this anything but a tragic sad end.

Pretty much this. None of the accusers wanted him to off himself. They wanted answers to why, an apology, something. Nobody knew he would do this and now nothing gets resolved.

What's worse is that the scum of the internet will solely place the blame on the accusers. I mean of course they would even if this didn't happen but yeah...

Icemonk191 · Aug 31, 2019

udllpn said:
Think about what you are saying, please.

You want to explain what YOU mean???

Sweeney Swift · Aug 31, 2019

BearPawB said:
His victims were right to come forward. And should feel no guilt or blame for doing so.

That doesn't make this anything but a tragic sad end.

Agreed completely

MGPanda · Aug 31, 2019

I'm on the verge of crying, this is absolutely terrifying. Best of luck to his family and everyone involved in this, I can only imagine Zoe herself must be feeling absolutely destroyed right now.

sabrina · Aug 31, 2019

And so the cycle continues :(

BobbeMalle · Aug 31, 2019

Gundam said:
Where else should abuse victims come forward, genius

The fact that our justice system didn't even come to your mind Is troubling.
Let's throw rocks at people like cavemen instead of processing them, sounds about right

JamRock7 · Aug 31, 2019

That's one hell of an update 😳

Lant_War · Aug 31, 2019

klastical said:
They say that suicide is the cowards way out but this one feels especally cowardly.

Really? On this thread?

HardRojo · Aug 31, 2019

I hate that it came to this, because the horrible people will use this as a weapon to criticize MeToo and this will inevitably make the accusers feel some degree of guilt, even if they shouldn't feel any because they were not in the wrong at all. Any kind of sympathy for the accused is misguided, denying himself the chance to become a better person was his decision and his alone, the accusers should be the ones to sympathize with, even more now since guilt will show its ugly face to them anyway.

Harlequin · Aug 31, 2019

deepFlaw said:
I'm assuming we're about to see a lot for this and: this is such an incredibly insensitive, practically cruel framing of this situation. There was no "hate mob" here, there was just people coming forth about abuse. Nobody was calling for his death. I don't think anyone was even going at him- he locked his account immediately.

This whole situation fucking sucks but his accusers are not to blame for any of it.The hate mob that exists is the people who are rabidly attacking Zoe and the other accusers.

Eh, to be fair, there were people calling him a monster, etc. (Which I object to on the simple basis that it implies normal humans aren't capable of doing these sorts of terrible things and thus creating a myth that has little grounding in reality and makes it more difficult to recognise these kinds of problems and help the people involved - including the offenders so they don't harm more people.) And now, I'm not saying that those people are responsible for his death or any such nonsense - his mental condition is to blame for that - but those kinds of comments certainly aren't helpful in any case. All they do is make the people who write them feel superior which is, frankly, quite a selfish motivation to have in a situation like this.

Deleted member 11413 · Aug 31, 2019

Icemonk191 said:
I hope people will understand that the victims are in no way responsible for what he did in the end. Using suicide as a weapon to stop victims from speaking up is some straight up bullshit that's been used by abusers forever.

Framing suicide in this way is pretty disgusting in an of itself. At most, the worst one could say of suicide in this situation is cowardice in the face of consequences of one's actions (which would also be ignorant and wrong). Framing it as a weapon an abuser is using against a victim is false though, the abuser is the one that's dead. Especially when the abuser is also a victim of abuse themselves.

Gundam · Aug 31, 2019

BobbeMalle said:
The fact that our justice system didn't even come to your mind Is troubling

The trusty justice system. You're right, #MeToo is pointless. We should just trust our justice system, it's worked for years!!!

Icemonk191 · Aug 31, 2019

BobbeMalle said:
The fact that our justice system didn't even come to your mind Is troubling

I mean have you seen our justice system?

Deleted member 4037 · Aug 31, 2019

Icemonk191 said:
Using suicide as a weapon to stop victims from speaking up is some straight up bullshit that's been used by abusers forever.

ya, they really "won" by killing themselves

Quantza · Aug 31, 2019

manchego obfuscator said:
He deserved a chance, yes, after some time had passed and if the people he wronged chose to forgive him. You can't seriously claim that he was denied that chance when he was only outed as an abuser for the first time less than a week ago.

whether you realize it or not, this is tantamount to saying that those who came forward should have kept their mouths shut and left it to whisper networks

The issue is that something otherwise harmless (the emotion and language directed at him, in response to his actions) ended up killing him.
People need learn to educate those that they hate, with varying degrees of explanation/nuance, or nothing will change.

It's the difference between brute force and metaphor, or the difference between 'now' and over some time period.

I want abusers to stop abusing, but just saying what you feel can lead to situations like this.
An important question to ask yourself: is the current social media based approach to releasing information and tackling abuse issues worth the collateral damage that can occur?

Icemonk191 said:
Using suicide as a weapon to stop victims from speaking up is some straight up bullshit that's been used by abusers forever.

wtf?

klastical said:
They say that suicide is the cowards way out but this one feels especally cowardly.

Also, wtf?

These two comments are nearly sociopathic...

RockmanBN · Aug 31, 2019

Icemonk191 said:
Using suicide as a weapon to stop victims from speaking up is some straight up bullshit that's been used by abusers forever.

klastical said:
They say that suicide is the cowards way out but this one feels especally cowardly.

What the fuck

data west · Aug 31, 2019

What an ugly scene from start to finish.

Gotdatmoney · Aug 31, 2019

Icemonk191 said:
You want to explain what YOU mean???

He/she is saying suicide and mental illness is a complex thing. No one is saying people should forgive this dude or absolve him of responsibility for his actions because of this but rather to show some level of empathy to a situation that we don't have all the details about.

Like a dude just committed suicide and your immediate conclusion is to assume it was a weaponized act. You don't see the issue with that?

wandering · Aug 31, 2019

klastical said:
They say that suicide is the cowards way out

Idiots say that.

ZiggyPalffyLA · Aug 31, 2019

I legitimately hate the gaming community and this is one of the reasons I've always been ashamed to associate myself with it:

A man who had the chance to better himself died and all many people can think of is ways to punish the woman whose life he negatively affected. Era is one of the few more progressive bastions of gamers on the internet, but everywhere else I look I see shit like this.

Salarians · Aug 31, 2019

BobbeMalle said:
The fact that our justice system didn't even come to your mind Is troubling.

really?

really?

JDSN · Aug 31, 2019

My thoughts are with his family and victims.

Deleted member 21709 · Aug 31, 2019

What the fuck.

Deleted member 1635 · Aug 31, 2019

ZiggyPalffyLA said:
I legitimately hate the gaming community and this is one of the reasons I've always been ashamed to associate myself with it:

A man who had the chance to better himself died and all many people can think of is ways to punish the woman whose life he negatively affected.

You quoted one random idiot on Twitter.

N64Controller · Aug 31, 2019

klastical said:
Wow... that sucks, feel bad for his family. Feel worse for his accuser who will now face even more backlash. They say that suicide is the cowards way out but this one feels especally cowardly. Instead of working towards forgiveness he has just made everyone he hurt lives much worse, not to mention the lives of the people who loved him.

Spreading this bullshit on suicide doesn't help anyone. It doesn't help suicidal people, it doesn't help those who grieve.

mbpm · Aug 31, 2019

Not seeing what the Justice system would be able to do in this case.

Yeah Zoe should come forward with evidence like the words he said (that weren't recorded bc who walks around recording everything) or the marks from where he stuck his fingers inside her like 5 years ago but would still somehow be able to be logged into an evidence locker.

Harlequin · Aug 31, 2019

Gundam said:
Please break down what the hell you mean, because it just sounds like you're victim blaming and then saying "I'm not victim blaming though".

Where else should abuse victims come forward, genius

I don't believe they meant that abuse survivors shouldn't come forward online. I think they just meant that people should react in a less... aggressive manner to their allegations. (Certainly supportively towards the survivor but maybe cool the attitude towards the accused. It honestly doesn't help anyone, no matter how justified you may feel it is.)

Deleted member 11413 · Aug 31, 2019

Gotdatmoney said:
He/she is saying suicide and mental illness is a complex thing. No one is saying people should forgive this dude or absolve him of responsibility for his actions because of this but rather to show some level of empathy to a situation that we don't have all the details about.

Like a dude just committed suicide and your immediate conclusion is to assume it was a weaponized act. You don't see the issue with that?

Treating suicide (like an actual suicide, not the threat of suicide) as a weaponized act at all is incredibly ignorant and a disgusting thing to say in the first place.

manchego obfuscator · Aug 31, 2019

Quantza said:
The issue is that something otherwise harmless (the emotion and language directed at him, in response to his actions) ended up killing him.
People need learn to educate those that they hate, with varying degrees of explanation/nuance, or nothing will change.

It's the difference between brute force and metaphor, or the difference between 'now' and over some time period.

I want abusers to stop abusing, but just saying what you feel can lead to situations like this.
An important question to ask yourself: is the current social media based approach to releasing information and tackling abuse issues worth the collateral damage that can occur?

wtf?

well, keeping this stuff confined to whisper networks clearly hasn't worked, so I dunno what you're suggesting as an alternative

Yes, in an ideal world, there would be effective systems in place where abuse wouldn't have to be dealt with publicly, but in the meantime, telling victims to keep their mouths shut out of concern for the well-being of their abusers does absolutely nothing to build those systems or bring us closer to that world. Quite the opposite, in fact

Zutrax · Aug 31, 2019

Zetetica said:
Alec Holowka has reportedly passed away.

Jesus Fucking Christ. That's about all I can say right now.

AcademicSaucer · Aug 31, 2019

Oh wow

Alec Holowka (Night in the Woods, TowerFall) accused of sexual assault [Update: Alec Holowka has reportedly passed away] [See staff posts/threadmarks]

I'm a fan of the erotic thriller genre

User requested account closure

One Winged Slayer

One Winged Slayer

User Requested Ban

Classic Anus Game

One Winged Slayer

User requested account closure

User requested account closure

Visited by Knack - One Winged Slayer

flâneur

Knights of Favonius World Tour '21

User requested account closure

User requested account closure

User requested account closure