VG247 pulls support and coverage of GOG.com following pro GamerGate tweet [Update: GOG apology]

Parsnip · Jul 19, 2018

If you didn't live and breath all things related to GG, the history of the developer and the significance of the date will probably escape you.
Without that context, it's just a stupid joke and a reminder how shit the Postal games are. That's literally the first thing I thought when I saw it, GG didn't even cross my mind.
Only after reading a few posts in this thread I connected the dots.

I'm not going to guess whether the person who posted that knew that context, but GOG definitely needs to speak up sooner rather than later.

LewieP · Jul 19, 2018

tet666 said:
I mean logically why would they make a statement and risk a shitstorm before the press picked this up? There was still a chance no one actually cared enough to write about it and it worked for 3 days, most of their customers don't really give a shit either way that's a given.

Because they don't want to lend their support to a campaign of seething incoherent rage.

Unless perhaps they do, but don't want to get the reputational harm that goes with it, so use dog whistles and quietly deleting stuff when it draws too much heat.

Seems like it would be very much worth clarifying their position.

ghostcrew · Jul 19, 2018

Parsnip said:
If you didn't live and breath all things related to GG, the history of the developer and the significance of the date will probably escape you.
Without that context, it's just a stupid joke and a reminder how shit the Postal games are. That's literally the first thing I thought when I saw it, GG didn't even cross my mind.
Only after reading a few posts in this thread I connected the dots.

I'm not going to guess whether the person who posted that knew that context, but GOG definitely needs to speak up sooner rather than later.

But without knowing the context, why would you consider the image 'edgy' or demonstrating the 'no filter' attitude of Postal? They clearly knew it was a controversial image because that was the context of the tweet. But without knowing that this is GG related, it's not a controversial image. The context is incredibly clear.

Interested Observer · Jul 19, 2018

I would have had no idea of pro GG connotations from that image anyway. Is it an obscure reference?

Einherjer · Jul 19, 2018

ghostcrew said:
But without knowing the context, why would you consider the image 'edgy' or demonstrating the 'no filter' attitude of Postal? They clearly knew it was a controversial image because that was the context of the tweet. But without knowing that this is GG related, it's not a controversial image. The context is incredibly clear.

For you since you know all about it, GoG is not a American company, it's very possible they where not aware of this.

Dreamboum · Jul 19, 2018

Another confirmation that GOG won't have my business anymore. Still haven't forgotten how they rejected Magnum Opus because it looked like a mobile game to them.

They seem to know the audience they're dealing with

ara · Jul 19, 2018

Lucumo said:
You are being over-aggressive again.

Not just aggressive

OVER-AGGRESSIVE

Lmao, Joey really couldn't have been much calmer than what you got

daegan · Jul 19, 2018

Interested Observer said:
I would have had no idea of pro GG connotations from that image anyway. Is it an obscure reference?

it's incredibly obscure unless you learned a lot about it or are embedded in it. it's a clear wink and nod to those fuckers.

Deleted member 426 · Jul 19, 2018

ghostcrew said:
But without knowing the context, why would you consider the image 'edgy' or demonstrating the 'no filter' attitude of Postal? They clearly knew it was a controversial image because that was the context of the tweet. But without knowing that this is GG related, it's not a controversial image. The context is incredibly clear.

No it's really not. It's someone pissing on games journalism, from a game that got planned by critics. Is that really a reference to gamergate in the game? If so that's horrible.

Laughing Banana · Jul 19, 2018

Interested Observer said:
I would have had no idea of pro GG connotations from that image anyway. Is it an obscure reference?

I think the fact that it's obscure somehow makes the whole situation worse, imo. It's like a nudge nudge wink wink secret code kind of thing.

ghostcrew · Jul 19, 2018

tet666 said:
For you since you know all about it, GoG is not a American company, it's very possible they where not aware of this.

I am not American.

Interested Observer · Jul 19, 2018

daegan said:
it's incredibly obscure unless you learned a lot about it or are embedded in it. it's a clear wink and nod to those fuckers.

Laughing Banana said:
I think the fact that it's obscure somehow makes the whole situation worse, imo. It's like a nudge nudge wink wink secret code kind of thing.

Yeah I see what you both mean. I generally default to Hanlon's razor but this ain't a great look at all.

Einherjer · Jul 19, 2018

ghostcrew said:
I am not American.

But you know about the implications from American centric places like this one.
No one who didn't research this would really know about it, certainly not a middle European company like GoG where controversy's like GG are less relevant anyway.

Aeferis · Jul 19, 2018

I'm honestly quite ignorant about all things related to GG, but to me it looks like VG247 is trying to capitalize on some random person who works at GOG and made the mistake of posting that stuff, whatever it means and whatever their intentions were. It's not really how good journalism works tbh, you should try to reach out to the company who made something you think is wrong, get their side of the story and then take a stance.

And I'm quite positive GOG as a company would never approve the posting of something like that if they knew the context, not because they don't support GG but simply because they're a huge company and they know better.

ElectronicOldMen · Jul 19, 2018

tet666 said:
For you since you know all about it, GoG is not a American company, it's very possible they where not aware of this.

GG wasn't a uniquely American problem by any means, a lot of its most vocal supporters within the industry were from continental Europe, like Notch, the Kingdom Come Deliverance guy, the Hatred devs, the Last Night guy etc.

Mr Delabee · Jul 19, 2018

Let's look at history.
History says RWS put Milo in the DLC for the game, the same DLC that features this grave.
Pretty much confirms they are GG endorsing shitlords and they always have been. Tweeting that picture just puts you on the wrong side.

ghostcrew · Jul 19, 2018

Jack Orion said:
No it's really not. It's someone pissing on games journalism, from a game that got planned by critics. Is that really a reference to gamergate in the game? If so that's horrible.

Yes, it's a pretty on-the-nose reference to GG. It uses the date August 2014 which is when Leigh Alexander published her article that GGs refer to as the 'Gamers are Dead' article and is intrinsically linked with the movement. It's a grave for games journalism insinuating that 'game journalism is dead'. That's not saying that you don't like games journalists who reviewing your game. That's suggesting that games journalism as a whole died in August 2014. And your character in the game can piss on their grave.

Einherjer · Jul 19, 2018

ElectronicOldMen said:
GG wasn't a uniquely American problem by any means, a lot of its most vocal supporters within the industry were from continental Europe, like Notch, the Kingdom Come Deliverance guy, the Hatred devs, the Last Night guy etc.

True but the coverage about GG and outrage was definitely more of an American thing no one really cared about it here in Europe.

ghostcrew · Jul 19, 2018

ElectronicOldMen said:
GG wasn't a uniquely American problem by any means, a lot of its most vocal supporters within the industry were from continental Europe, like Notch, the Kingdom Come Deliverance guy, the Hatred devs, the Last Night guy etc.

Not to mention this shit that has recently been going on in South Korea. To label GG as only a reference point for Americans is inaccurate at best.

https://www.resetera.com/threads/in...evs-who-align-themselves-with-feminism.35920/

tet666 said:
True but the coverage about GG and outrage was definitely more of an American thing no one really cared about it here in Europe.

I'm sorry but that is utter nonsense. I say that as a European.

Baleoce · Jul 19, 2018

They've responded now.

Minky · Jul 19, 2018

https://twitter.com/GOGcom/status/1019896001468030976?s=20

GOG's response...

Deleted member 426 · Jul 19, 2018

ghostcrew said:
Yes, it's a pretty on-the-nose reference to GG. It uses the date August 2014 which is when Leigh Alexander published her article that GGs refer to as the 'Gamers are Dead' article and is intrinsically linked with the movement. It's a grave for games journalism insinuating that 'game journalism is dead'. That's not saying that you don't like games journalists who reviewing your game. That's suggesting that games journalism as a whole died in August 2014. And your character in the game can piss on their grave.

I get that it might be a reference to gamergate, and doing a quick bit of research shows that it definitely is!

But I don't think that's at all obvious. I think it could easily be a mistake, and if so VG247's reaction is...reactionary.

EDIT: and...yep!

Hitokiri03 · Jul 19, 2018

Deleted member 28962 · Jul 19, 2018

TIL Postal 2 had an expansion pack in 2015, 12 years after release. Still doesn't beat AoE2 which had an expansion pack released 16 years after release.

Deleted member 2809 · Jul 19, 2018

Minky said:
https://twitter.com/GOGcom/status/1019896001468030976?s=20

GOG's response...

Could be an honest mistake and the pic was provided by postal 2 devs. Dunno.

Deleted member 11370 · Jul 19, 2018

It's a pretty... bland apology. I wasn't expecting much, but a clear, definitive word against GamerGate (by name) would have been much appreciated.

Still doesn't explain why they thought that pissing on gaming journalism was the best way to promote the release of the game, though.

JonnyDBrit · Jul 19, 2018

On the one hand, they referred to it as an abusive movement. On the other, they avoided naming the movement outright...

ghostcrew · Jul 19, 2018

Hitokiri03 said:

Happy that they've noted that it was their mistake and that GG is an abusive movement. So easy for these responses to not take responsibility and do a 'fine people on both sides'. Their response ticks the right boxes at least. Good on them.

Einherjer · Jul 19, 2018

ghostcrew said:
Not to mention this shit that has recently been going on in South Korea. To label GG as only a reference point for Americans is inaccurate at best.

https://www.resetera.com/threads/in...evs-who-align-themselves-with-feminism.35920/

I'm sorry but that is utter nonsense. I say that as a European.

Maybe true but i certainly didn't hear much about it before coming to sites like this no one really talked about it here in Germany or France.

Chairmanchuck (另一个我) · Jul 19, 2018

tet666 said:
Maybe true but i certainly didn't hear much about it before coming to sites like this no one really talked about it here in Germany or France.

Gamestar actually had a pretty long article in 2014 about that.

Schreckweg 5000 · Jul 19, 2018

Jack Orion said:
I get that it might be a reference to gamergate, and doing a quick bit of research shows that it definitely is!

But I don't think that's at all obvious. I think it could easily be a mistake, and if so VG247's reaction is...reactionary.

EDIT: and...yep!

The developer posted it with the Gamergate hashtag. That is normally a warning sign for anyone who can read a tweet

Zomba13 said:
I assume it was this? (This is an image of the gif because I couldn't find the gif):

Interested Observer · Jul 19, 2018

Joey Ravn said:
It's a pretty... bland apology. I wasn't expecting much, but a clear, definitive word against GamerGate would have been much appreciated.

Still doesn't explain why they thought that pissing on gaming journalism was the best way to promote the release of the game, though.

That'll do me anyway.

benzopil · Jul 19, 2018

NeuralProxy said:
I'm honestly quite ignorant about all things related to GG, but to me it looks like VG247 is trying to capitalize on some random person who works at GOG and made the mistake of posting that stuff, whatever it means and whatever their intentions were. It's not really how good journalism works tbh, you should try to reach out to the company who made something you think is wrong, get their side of the story and then take a stance.

And I'm quite positive GOG as a company would never approve the posting of something like that if they knew the context, not because they don't support GG but simply because they're a huge company and they know better.

For VG247 threats are cooler, why waste you time asking for a comment

derFeef · Jul 19, 2018

Now GGers move from the comment section of VG247 to the GOG tweet.
So transparent.

GamerEra · Jul 19, 2018

GamerGate is like the Trump of gaming. It always pops up on your news feed even though you'd rather it just disappear.

massoluk · Jul 19, 2018

The comment section is just... Wow

Deleted member 41931 · Jul 19, 2018

Why is there even a reference to GG in Postal 2? The game severly predates it. Did the devs update it to include this headstone?

derFeef · Jul 19, 2018

Real Renaissance Man said:
Why is there even a reference to GG in Postal 2? The game severly predates it. Did the devs update to include this headstone?

Yes.

Weltall Zero · Jul 19, 2018

Bufbaf said:
Since the tweet has been deleted without further comment, I'll take that either as "We didn't get the reference and thought it was funny, now we feel shitty about it" or "Some guy posted this intentionally, we removed it because it doesn't fit our company's views" or "Whoever posted this has been dealt with".

All of which are fine for me, I guess. I was worried there would be a giant string of justification from GOG but there was none it seems.

Imran said:
I'm assuming the tweet had, at best, ignorant intentions rather than actual bad ones, but yeah. That wasn't a good look.

If you post something supporting a hate group in ignorance, the least you can do is post a follow-up apology and explanation. Until they do that, people are free to assume the worst. Edit: Which I see they finally did.

MrHToast said:
Postal 2 was always a little over the top. Dont see a problem with that.

You don't see a problem with a game supporting a hate group, and a games portal supporting it too? Perhaps you need to visit an optometrist.

ElectronicOldMen · Jul 19, 2018

Fair dinkums to their response. Not entirely sure why you'd want to advertise Postal 2 being on your platform in the first place but that might just be me.

JonnyDBrit · Jul 19, 2018

Real Renaissance Man said:
Why is there even a reference to GG in Postal 2? The game severly predates it. Did the devs update to include this headstone?

They had a recent DLC expansion.

Vela · Jul 19, 2018

tet666 said:
True but the coverage about GG and outrage was definitely more of an American thing no one really cared about it here in Europe.

Definitely not true

Einherjer · Jul 19, 2018

Chairmanchuck said:
Gamestar actually had a pretty long article in 2014 about that.

Now that you mention it i think i actually read that article but for Gamestar it was probably still more of an exotic foreign "trend" they covered since GG was never really a thing here (not very surprising considering the sad state of game development in Germany...)

Dreamboum · Jul 19, 2018

NeuralProxy said:
I'm honestly quite ignorant about all things related to GG, but to me it looks like VG247 is trying to capitalize on some random person who works at GOG and made the mistake of posting that stuff, whatever it means and whatever their intentions were. It's not really how good journalism works tbh, you should try to reach out to the company who made something you think is wrong, get their side of the story and then take a stance.

And I'm quite positive GOG as a company would never approve the posting of something like that if they knew the context, not because they don't support GG but simply because they're a huge company and they know better.

Where's the apology then ? What kind of company deletes a tweet like some internet rando ?

JonnyDBrit · Jul 19, 2018

Dreamboum said:
Where's the apology then ? What kind of company deletes a tweet like some internet rando ?

It's been posted now

Weltall Zero · Jul 19, 2018

JonnyDBrit said:
On the one hand, they referred to it as an abusive movement. On the other, they avoided naming the movement outright...

Might not be a bad idea to avoid giving GG any kind of publicity.

Deleted member 11370 · Jul 19, 2018

massoluk said:
The comment section is just... Wow

That's why calling out GamerGate by name is so important. And why the apology falls short for me.

The apology reads to me like "oops, didn't mean to open this can of worms! I'll close it now, nothing to see here!". If you really oppose that "abusive movement", say it clearly. Trying to sound vague enough to convince "both sides" is pretty dirty, if you ask me.

Weltall Zero said:
Might not be a bad idea to avoid giving GG any kind of publicity.

I disagree. Taking a stance is not giving them publicity and it's very important. Ignoring the issue only helps to normalize it until it's too big to continue sweeping under the rug.

Parsnip · Jul 19, 2018

That response is decent.

ghostcrew said:
But without knowing the context, why would you consider the image 'edgy' or demonstrating the 'no filter' attitude of Postal? They clearly knew it was a controversial image because that was the context of the tweet. But without knowing that this is GG related, it's not a controversial image. The context is incredibly clear.

I'd say it's edgy to take a piss on journalism for a series that has been critically panned.
Without the context it's 90's egdelord level garbage, but with the context it's disgusting GG shit.

Jintor · Jul 19, 2018

Laughing Banana said:
I think the fact that it's obscure somehow makes the whole situation worse, imo. It's like a nudge nudge wink wink secret code kind of thing.

it's like that garbage white supremecist numbers crap they try and sneak into shit sometimes

Vela · Jul 19, 2018

Good on GOG for calling it an abusive hate movement

VG247 pulls support and coverage of GOG.com following pro GamerGate tweet [Update: GOG apology]

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