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Alec Holowka (Night in the Woods, TowerFall) accused of sexual assault [Update: Alec Holowka has reportedly passed away] [See staff posts/threadmarks]
- Thread starter TacomaSCDisaster
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Again, that doesn't help things at all. Banning discussion of real things happening in the world benefits no one.
Banning STUPID "I just popped into this thread to say this one thing byyyyyyyye" takes on the other hand would make more sense.
There is nothing to celebrate here. You are part of the problem. Victims want to be heard, they don't want suffering spread further.
One less abuser equals to less abuse in this world and the ultimate goal should be to get rid of abuse
it's important for people to face consequences for their actions and be held accountable by victims, but it's another example of disastrous consequences of trying to solve problems through grandstanding on social media.
rip. other than the family of alec i feel terrible for the accusers and the night in the woods team, the guilt surrounding a seemingly avoidable suicide is horrible and also wildly disproportionate to any actions they've taken. i hope they have access to care mechanisms.
rip. other than the family of alec i feel terrible for the accusers and the night in the woods team, the guilt surrounding a seemingly avoidable suicide is horrible and also wildly disproportionate to any actions they've taken. i hope they have access to care mechanisms.
This is the post everyone should be quoting and saying "I agree" instead of that shitty "take politics out of my games" one
The man was trying to get help. The death penalty is only rarely used for a reason, because rehabilitation should always be the goal of the legal system, not execution. Fucking hell, man.
Victims speak out publicly because their chances of making any headway in the justice system are slim to none. (Only .5% lead to conviction) Not only that but the amount of people actually reporting sexual assaults and the like is low due to fear, such as retribution (only ~23% are reported)
www.rainn.org
This is not the victim's fault, as terrible as the outcome may be.
The Criminal Justice System: Statistics | RAINN
The majority of perpetrators of sexual assault will not go to prison.
This is not the victim's fault, as terrible as the outcome may be.
Or, how about we focus on ending cycles of abuse and helping abusers get the help they need to become better people? Rehabilitation, not punitive measures, should be the priority in all things.
Fuck man. I know "both-sidesing" is usually bullshit, but this is the one time I'm willing to pull it.
People on Twitter calling for Zoe's head are obviously ridiculous, and I think anyone on Era can agree on that. But people on Twitter (and HERE) celebrating Holowka's death are just as vile. Like are we not on the same page here? Do we not believe in rehabilitation?
Are The Gamers really that incapable of taking the blinders off and realizing that not everything is a game? There are no "sides." Nobody fucking won here, and nobody is going to. This shit isn't a contest. This is a tragedy, every step of the way. Y
People on Twitter calling for Zoe's head are obviously ridiculous, and I think anyone on Era can agree on that. But people on Twitter (and HERE) celebrating Holowka's death are just as vile. Like are we not on the same page here? Do we not believe in rehabilitation?
Are The Gamers really that incapable of taking the blinders off and realizing that not everything is a game? There are no "sides." Nobody fucking won here, and nobody is going to. This shit isn't a contest. This is a tragedy, every step of the way. Y
Jesus Christ. There has to be a better way we can discuss and maneuver around these issues.
I don't think it helps if we just move this whole matter to another sub forum and that sub forum continues as before.
I think this is an opportunity for growth and change and if we shut that off in another sub forum less people will learn or experience the growing pains of this process.
We should never be happy someone ends their life. I'm happy that they cut ties with him no matter the outcome but I want them to live what he did and at some point try and make some kind of contribution that was more positive
We should not ban conversations like this because it does no good to the victims. It is true that many of us here see red in a moment of fury, but there are so many others who can sympathize and who can display rightful anger without becoming monsters. We just need to be so much better at handling these situations. Both with the victim and the abuser. And by that I mean we believe the victim and do not celebrate when someone takes their life.
RIP to Alec and I desperately hope that his family finds solace and comfort in this time. They must be going through so much pain. And I really hope Zoe recovers well from all this and knows that there are people supporting her and wishing the best for her. She doesn't deserve any backlash at all for what Alec did to his life.
RIP to Alec and I desperately hope that his family finds solace and comfort in this time. They must be going through so much pain. And I really hope Zoe recovers well from all this and knows that there are people supporting her and wishing the best for her. She doesn't deserve any backlash at all for what Alec did to his life.
This on the other hand is absolute trash.
He didnt deserve to die for this. He deserved to be brought to justice. Noone should be celebrating any of the goings on with any of the situations surrounding this. Noone shoudl be cheering for revenge we should be searching to better ourselves.
Honestly, what purpose does leaving this thread open even serve at this point. It's clear that people aren't equipped to talk about this and/or you've got some blatant false flag posters. Just close this.
it's very obvious that you're just trying to lure people here into celebrating his death so you can use it as ammo for "this is what these people wanted all along"
This seems really hard to do in indie game development. They work together in units of 1 to 5 people.
User Banned (2 Months): Ignoring Staff Post, Dismissing Credible Accusations of Sexual Assault and Concern Trolling About Suicide
So bullying someone into suicide is the best we can do and we shouldn't try do better ourselves or have any kind of retrospective self criticism.
Gotta.
End of discussion indeed.
Victims speak out publicly because their chances of making any headway in the justice system are slim to none. (Only .5% lead to conviction) Not only that but the amount of people actually reporting sexual assaults and the like is low due to fear, such as retribution (only ~23% are reported)
The Criminal Justice System: Statistics | RAINN
The majority of perpetrators of sexual assault will not go to prison.
This is not the victim's fault, as terrible as the outcome may be.
Well said. Zoe has been through a lot and should never be made to suffer in silence if that is not what she wants.
That post reads like a caricature of how GG, and the alt-right describe era posters.
Who bullied him into suicide? Are you saying that the company shouldnt have cut ties with him because that was likely a big contributing factor as well.
I understand your rage, but this is just not the way to go about it.
You can't hold that power over everyone who messes up.
I'm really not cool with boiling someone who struggled with mental illness and abuse down to this, even if they did terrible things. Just doesn't feel right, especially after the statement by Alec's sister.
edit: for clarity, the victims are not to blame either. Shouldn't have to be said but here we are.
Sure. I don't have a problem with saying harassment campaigns, even against alleged abusers, are not acceptable. What happened here is tragic. But the response of "shut down threads that publicize abuse" is just such a terrible response to it. It reeks of wanting things to go back to the way they were when victims had even less of a voice to speak with and it's no solution to what happened here. Then when you get people mentioning the "good vibes of video games" it's hard not to suspect they have the ulterior motive of just not wanting to hear about victims suffering on their electronic toy forum.
If people don't want to have to deal with this sort of thing, I would direct them to 99.9% of other video game communities. There's not some scarcity and shutting down one of the limited channels that will actually lend a sympathetic ear to victims is an offensive idea to me, personally.
Who did we bully?
The way some of you guys are talking you would think that this forum did anything other than read the news and discuss it and give their take. This isn't GG here, there was no campaign of hate or coordinated take down or any of that bull shit.
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Yeah there seems to be a lot of people who cannot tell the difference between calling out the abuser and telling them to kill themselves. People acting like the twitter "mob" was literally everyone advocating for suicide. It's a pretty disingenuous argument
I don't think they meant it specifically that way, moreso to say it's no one *else's* fault. There could certainly be some internal factors and such that contributed.
Yeah thats what i was talking about earlier. People are quick to jump on internet mobs, but there's a massive mob on the internet and real life that is very much against abuse victims and discussion of abuse.
I took Olanzapine during a decade and met a lot of atypical people to tell you that "mental issue" doesn't mean anything reliable, like saying "biological issue" for a disease, it covers multiple and various situations where some are more social than mental. People can commit suicide without mental issue, and no pathology has ever been an excuse for anything except legal responsibility. And if you promote legality against mobs, defamation is among one of the easiest offense to defend.
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For people who want to "ban discussion" there is an ignore thread feature for a reason. Besides this is a discussion forum don't click the thread if you don't want to deal with the "drama". I promise you there are thousands of threads where this isn't being discussed.
Truly horrible situation all around. I worry that abuse victims will be concerned to speak out for fear of having "blood on their hands".
Truly horrible situation all around. I worry that abuse victims will be concerned to speak out for fear of having "blood on their hands".
This is a good reminder that there is a human at the other end of a lot of this and while we'll probably never know the full story it sounds like this person was sick and tried to get help and not malicious.
People really need to consider what they're doing to folks in these cases. While some people definitely are, not everyone is a piece of human garbage cause they did something wrong.
Obviously this person did something wrong, and something wrong may have been done to him to cause it. Something was definitely done wrong to make him kill himself. Hes still at fault for what he did but he probably did not deserve to die for it.
People really need to consider what they're doing to folks in these cases. While some people definitely are, not everyone is a piece of human garbage cause they did something wrong.
Obviously this person did something wrong, and something wrong may have been done to him to cause it. Something was definitely done wrong to make him kill himself. Hes still at fault for what he did but he probably did not deserve to die for it.
I think it's possible for folks in these situations to express some level of sympathy towards the person or their family without diminishing their actions and the harm that they have caused.
Also, it goes without saying, fuck the people who are trying to blame this on the victim(s), not saying it's anyone on here. Shit like that, is just another level of the whole toxic culture of abuse.
Also, it goes without saying, fuck the people who are trying to blame this on the victim(s), not saying it's anyone on here. Shit like that, is just another level of the whole toxic culture of abuse.
What I find troubling about this is that this is clearly the most exciting thing that has happened all day for a lot of people on here. So many people throwing around hot takes as though this civil case is some kind of spectator sport that they get to comment on, and clearly enjoying the arguments.
Have some respect. For everyone involved.
Have some respect. For everyone involved.
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