Thoughts on the Extra Credits Fiasco

[Arnox]

For those not in the know, this is supposedly what happened: https://twitter.com/Cavni/status/1005503665363247105

EC has issued an official statement in response: https://becausegamesmatter.com/statement-regarding-harassment

TL;DR - Soraya broke up with James Portnow and she claims he harassed her and prevented her from finding another job. EC denies such claims and says they hired an independent HR firm to investigate.

What's alarming to me though is everyone assuming that she's telling the truth here. The past ArenaNet """controversy""" with Jessica Price is still fresh in my mind. Does anyone know if others from EC can back her statements? And here's another thing. Even if it's all true... I still think people should mind their own damn business one way or another. If you didn't personally know Soraya or James, then it's not your fight. You are not their appointed judge and jury. This is between them and maybe the people who know them. But we all know what's going to happen anyway, don't we. Once the internet mob starts up, one way or another, it's a fucking lynch mob.

Nobody wants to be calm about things. Everyone just wants their slice of third party justice. And ironically, that pisses me off. Everybody thinks that their version of events is the one and true version, and fuck anyone who might say otherwise. It's the arrogance here that gets under my skin. And I'm not even talking about Soraya anymore. I'm just ranting about the internet in general. But ah well... Perhaps I really need to learn to be more calm myself.

 

[Houseman]

I stopped caring about EC after they said "We stand against Gamergate", so serves 'em right.


There's a joke on KiA where they "Reset the clock" every time a GG opponent is accused or revealed to be some kind of horrible person or outright criminal, because it keeps happening.

 

[Signa]

Another fiasco? I thought we were going to talk about Allison all those years ago.

Yeah, no idea what to think. James is one of the biggest beta males, as put on full display on the game addiction video. That pretty much ruined the show for me, and after they left The Escapist, I didn't follow them. Beta males seem to either be too much of a pushover that girls think they are assaulting them by being "creepers", or they actually do assault them because they take the "nice guy" syndrome as entitlement. Not sure which it is, commonly speaking. Either way, the reset the clock meme is a very real thing.

 

[Samtemdo8]

I never liked them because they are so pretentiously white

The guy who speaks in the majority of the videos sounds so squeeky as if he doesn't have any hair on his balls.

Which is funny because he uses a voice modulator to make him sound like that.

 

[Ogoid]

I stopped caring about EC after they said "We stand against Gamergate", so serves 'em right.


There's a joke on KiA where they "Reset the clock" every time a GG opponent is accused or revealed to be some kind of horrible person or outright criminal, because it keeps happening.

Yup, all of this.

This is the world Portnow wanted; as far as I'm concerned, he's welcome to live in it.

 

[Monoochrom]

Can't say I care either way.

On the 1 Hand, calling something harassment happens way too often. At this point it is utterly meaningless.

On the other, EC is a bit of a one trick pony. I stopped watching when it seemed they had said all they really could, which was shortly after the left the Escapist.

Overall I agree with the idea that others should out of it. It's always silly to me when people try to jump in on these things. It's always either one-sided or a he-said/she-said situation and people tend to lie, like a lot. Not to mention that it has nothing to do with anyone but those directly involved.

 

[bluegate]

Although I always thought that James looked and sounded like a bit of a douche with his way of speaking, facial hair, hairdo and sitting on random things during the videos I saw of him, I really don't care either way about this situation.

I have better things to do than to get involved in other people's breakups.

Won't stop me from occasionally watching a "Games you haven't tried" video from EC either.

 

[Houseman]

Another fiasco? I thought we were going to talk about Allison all those years ago.

I still have the shirt I got from their kickstarter, with Allison in a cast, and I even wear it occasionally.

 

[Samtemdo8]

Although I always thought that James looked and sounded like a bit of a douche with his way of speaking, facial hair, hairdo and sitting on random things during the videos I saw of him, I really don't care either way about this situation.

Honestly James Portnow looks like a marijuana smoking hipster junkie.

 

[juicebox]

This is why I hate all the "social justice" and "everything is rape" bullshit out there nowadays. They've cried wolf so many times (and I've had it done to me irl) that I just assume the woman is lying (or its not harassment) every time there's a high-profile harassment case

This is, obviously, an extremely dangerous place to be in as a society. Once everyone starts thinking this way, people will be able to get away with sexual harassment and even full-on rape because (a) nobody will believe the victims and (b) eventually the victims will stop even coming forward because they will assume that nobody will believe them.

 

[Signa]

This is why I hate all the "social justice" and "everything is rape" bullshit out there nowadays. They've cried wolf so many times (and I've had it done to me irl) that I just assume the woman is lying (or its not harassment) every time there's a high-profile harassment case

This is, obviously, an extremely dangerous place to be in as a society. Once everyone starts thinking this way, people will be able to get away with sexual harassment and even full-on rape because (a) nobody will believe the victims and (b) eventually the victims will stop even coming forward because they will assume that nobody will believe them.

Upon reflection, I definitely think this too. Though, I think stories come out a different way when they are real. I'm hoping I have enough sense to pick up on when a victim is actually a victim. More than likely, I don't, and neither does everyone else.