Games Journalism 2014: The Wherever-the-hell-this-has-gone

[arrendek]

including being advised against taking an elevator with a lone female co-worker due to potential litigation issues

The only people who I’ve ever heard say anything like that are the people who also spend all day raging against how everything is too “PC” nowadays.

[RickH]

Yes. I believe twitter was used to a fair extent during the earthquake in Haiti where voice services is expensive and messaging is not, something like that. It has been a useful tool on a number of fronts.

There, finally, a positive reason for it to exist. I’m so tired of seeing it hawked by ESPN and the Today show (my wife loves it despite all my complaints) my feelings about it were all negative.

[ArmandoPenblade]

The only people who I’ve ever heard say anything like that are the people who also spend all day raging against how everything is too “PC” nowadays.

Not to lean too heavily on the one job, but male counselors @ the camp I worked at were told explicitly to never be alone w/ female campers (and with some being rising juniors in HS and with some counselors being early college entrants, it wasn’t even always the case of over-18’s and under-18’s with a large age gap). We were also told not to call female campers out on dress code infractions, but instead to point the student out (subtly, by name) to a female counselor when we had an opportunity to do so.

Some difference there as it has an element of control (counselors over campers) and age difference, but, for instance, how would one feel about a job where the male CEO was advised not to be alone w/ his female college interns, or what have you?

---

It’s not as common as alarmists like to make it out to be, but I’ve lived it. Of course, I also found it pretty reasonable at the time–no need to open myself up to any kind of lawsuit scenario or even give some overly twitchy type cause to look at me askance, honestly.

[RickH]

Your view is shared with Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh, Saudi Arabia’s top Muslim cleric:
http://news.yahoo.com/twitter-source-evil-top-saudi-cleric-135107747.html

Ha, I’ll definitely have to re-think my position on Twitter if the forces of oppression hate it.

[mouselock]

I’ve worked at places where after building up a friendship with coworkers one could say this and everyone know it is said in jest. But you need to have moved beyond coworker and to friendship.

I have occasionally had conversations with coworkers wherein I told them “If I ever come into work with an axe, know that you’re fine, but if you want any data off of your account, you better get to your computer and download it before I get to the server room!”

Not sure if that counts or not. But one day, those computers may just be in for it! (The bastards!)

[Telefrog]

As if Maulbeck couldn’t get more “edgy”, this is his business card:

Note the link on the bottom of the card. True professional!

[ArmandoPenblade]

Jesus man, I haven’t seen this much class since I was in charge of booking rooms for BU’s Computer Science program.

[arrendek]

Not to lean too heavily on the one job, but male counselors @ the camp I worked at were told explicitly to never be alone w/ female campers (and with some being rising juniors in HS and with some counselors being early college entrants, it wasn’t even always the case of over-18’s and under-18’s with a large age gap). We were also told not to call female campers out on dress code infractions, but instead to point the student out (subtly, by name) to a female counselor when we had an opportunity to do so.

Some difference there as it has an element of control (counselors over campers) and age difference, but, for instance, how would one feel about a job where the male CEO was advised not to be alone w/ his female college interns, or what have you?

---

It’s not as common as alarmists like to make it out to be, but I’ve lived it. Of course, I also found it pretty reasonable at the time–no need to open myself up to any kind of lawsuit scenario or even give some overly twitchy type cause to look at me askance, honestly.

Thanks for this reply. There are situations where I could see it making sense, but not in the “common office” scenario. I don’t treat my female coworkers any different from the male ones and have never been advised as such. The only time I’ve received advice was as an TA in college to always leave the door open in any one-on-one encounter so that the student can’t lie to pressure you to change a grade. It was good advice, but it also came from a professor who thought of all college students as big bundles of hormones and bad decisions. :P

[playingwithknives]

I’ve been in corporate environments for years. Bland and neutral is good folks, be grey, it’s a no bants zone. Unless you’re front office, and a major revenue generator then its politically incorrect sexist asshole time.

[Nesrie]

There, finally, a positive reason for it to exist. I’m so tired of seeing it hawked by ESPN and the Today show (my wife loves it despite all my complaints) my feelings about it were all negative.

I get what you are saying, but I see Twitter as a tool, kind of like a cell-phone. Some people will stare in to it until they fall into some mall fountain, others will see someone downed in an alley and call it 911. You can’t entirely blame the medium for the message. I think this guy said something stupid and paid a pretty harsh penalty for it, but I do worry we’ve not caught up with our tools. Too many people use it as an open play by play diary.

[ShivaX]

We aren’t discussing this case here, we are discussing “any business”.

Said in anger if you’re going to be pendantic. Seriously, you’ll be talking to cops after security gets done pinning you to the ground in most cases.

In no business setting do you threaten business partners. Joking with friend around the watercooler isn’t the same as yelling it across the building while kicking a trashcan. Try calling up IT and threaten to kill them because you can’t access an email and see how long you’re employed. I would guess less than an hour, unless they’re waiting for law enforcement to show up and taser you or something.

[TurinTur]

As if Maulbeck couldn’t get more “edgy”, this is his business card:

Note the link on the bottom of the card. True professional!

Lol! Is that real or a fake?

I’m tempted to see the last link…

[Tortilla]

I think it is rather a ‘generalized’ US and other “uppity” (for lack of a better word) places, where you have to be worried about everything including being advised against taking an elevator with a lone female co-worker due to potential litigation issues have a long way to go. A casual/relaxed atmosphere would seem like a better environment than one where everyone are afraid of saying anything in case someone takes offense, contacts management/HR/the press and get the whole circus going. Perhaps there is a middle ground where people can be casual and make sometimes offensive jokes and where people that do have a problem with this atmosphere are able to say so without any repercussions for them either.

Just defining workplaces on a scale with extremes at “uptight” and “okay to be offensive” betrays an odd worldview. I’ve worked in places where it’s not at all uptight but not nobody acts offensively either because that’s unprofessional.

[Tortilla]

Not to lean too heavily on the one job, but male counselors @ the camp I worked at were told explicitly to never be alone w/ female campers (and with some being rising juniors in HS and with some counselors being early college entrants, it wasn’t even always the case of over-18’s and under-18’s with a large age gap). We were also told not to call female campers out on dress code infractions, but instead to point the student out (subtly, by name) to a female counselor when we had an opportunity to do so.

Some difference there as it has an element of control (counselors over campers) and age difference, but, for instance, how would one feel about a job where the male CEO was advised not to be alone w/ his female college interns, or what have you?

---

It’s not as common as alarmists like to make it out to be, but I’ve lived it. Of course, I also found it pretty reasonable at the time–no need to open myself up to any kind of lawsuit scenario or even give some overly twitchy type cause to look at me askance, honestly.

World of difference between authority figures supervising minors and colleagues in a workplace.

[flyinj]

This is the most non-story story I’ve read on Joystiq in ages.

I read the whole thing thinking there must be something to it. Is it some kind of big charity bike ride that tons of indie devs have put together?

Nope, it’s just 3 developers from a small company I’ve never heard of and a “dancer” on vacation.

Gaming articles on Engadget

[TimJames]

I’d like to follow-up on the disbelief I expressed last week at the response by Utah State officials to the threats made in regards to Anita Sarkeesian’s talk. I was dumbfounded they were willing to go ahead with it anyway. The university issued a statement last week about the decision-making process. In summary:

…USU police and administrators worked with state and federal law enforcement agencies to assess the threat to our USU community and Ms. Sarkeesian. Together, we determined that there was no credible threat to students, staff or the speaker, and that this letter was intended to frighten the university into cancelling the event.

The safety and protection of students and those who attend our events is our foremost priority at Utah State. But we are also an institution of higher learning. In this case, the Center for Women and Gender had invited a nationally known speaker to bring her perspective about an important topic to USU. After a full assessment of the situation, the USU administration, in consultation with law enforcement, chose to continue with the event.

I understand the full story now and I realize I shouldn’t have been so incredulous about the holistic response by the university. Next time I will give the decision-makers a little more credit.

[TurinTur]

It seems they reached the same conclusion as me.

[BobM]

Name any business where you can say : “I’m going to fucking kill you.” to another person and not be fired.

Acting.

[Nesrie]

I’d like to follow-up on the disbelief I expressed last week at the response by Utah State officials to the threats made in regards to Anita Sarkeesian’s talk. I was dumbfounded they were willing to go ahead with it anyway. The university issued a statement last week about the decision-making process. In summary:

I understand the full story now and I realize I shouldn’t have been so incredulous about the holistic response by the university. Next time I will give the decision-makers a little more credit.

Except when is wrong right? I mean is the only way you would have felt the decision making process might be flawed is a room full of bodies as if that hasn’t happened a few times in that number of years. If someone told you some lunatic would mow down a bunch of first graders, would you believe me? It’s not worth the risk.

[ShivaX]

Acting.

Well played.