Games Journalism 2017: Gaming news in a post-truth world

Generally, the media hysterics and the amount of “me-to” hate aimed towards these people who fuck up online far outweigh the number of people their message was broadcast to, to begin with.

Pretty sure everyone has or will at one point express something that someone else would call racist (“legitimately” or otherwise), it is just that most of “us” have the tendency or are lucky enough to not have it broadcast to enough people that our careers or social life suffer any damage, be it permanent or temporary.

I suppose it is easier to stand with the crowd throwing rocks, it is usually bigger, which means you’re less likely to stand out yourself and risk being targeted or suffer closer scrutiny.

Seemed all right to me. I hope he learns how to deal with his issues.

Sure. I think we can all sympathize with the idea that we say things with our close acquaintances that we might not say in front of less familiar ears. I’ll admit I said things as a young man in the military that weren’t what we’d call okay now. That said, I’ve also never found myself in the position of having to apologize for blasting the n-word for over 30 straight seconds regardless of circumstances. (Try that in the Army and you’ll learn a hard lesson for sure!) That’s a fair bit more than throwing my controller and yelling “fuck” at the TV, or saying something disparaging about someone while they’re trying to actually literally shoot you. Especially when you consider that this is a 28-year-old man we’re talking about. This guy needs some anger management tools, and in the meanwhile, he may not be the best fit for a competitive venue.

Edit

As for what I called his non-apology, I don’t think it was okay. The only entity he actually says “sorry” to is Toronto Esports. He didn’t apologize to the person he slurred for half a minute, and despite saying “no excuse” twice he offers a number of excuses. Primarily, the person he was insulting was a “cheater” and that he’s totally not a racist - he just defaults to yelling the n-word for for 30 seconds because it was his go-to for the “most offensive thing that came to mind” when he wanted to really stick it someone. Also, his internet was lagging and he’d only had a couple of hours of sleep.

At any rate, I hope he seeks help and straightens his life out.

Yeah, this is not your garden variety fuckup. This guy has issues.

You’re right, he could’ve apologized to his listeners. I always like to hear why meltdowns happen though. Scary.

It’s an mind maze exercise to me to think that the most offensive thing you can call a person is some slur that suggests they’re black. You’d think this day and age something else would come to mind like, oh i don’t know, terrorist.

Also, I assume he was in some capacity trying to be an entertainer. That’s what streamers are, no? As with the legendary children’s-radio-host who may or may not have said “that oughtta hold the little bastards” (Snopes anyone?), career consequences are likely.

Let me tell you a short story. About a year ago, my then-13 year old son was playing and I heard him use the “n” word, and I asked him if he knew what it meant. His explanation included zero-zilch-nada about black people at all. I further asked him how common this term was amongst gamers he plays with and he said the word is used a lot.

So I explained the history of this word and that I would not tolerate its use in my house at all - zero tolerance and he said he understood and I haven’t heard of it since.

What I’m getting to, is that this vocabulary is taking hold amongst our youth without the association to blacks that we’ve seen in the past, but it still a derogatory term, I would mostly associate with “shitty player”.

Our youth are influenced by these streamers and other gamers they play with. This is going to be an uphill battle to give our youth social cues that this is UNACCEPTABLE because too many parents won’t listen in on what their children are doing / saying and we’ll always have a subset of the population who is using this term frequently and this will continue to trickle down to even more players.

As for this latest incident, this 28 year old admits he knew it was wrong (not very convincingly), but I think we’ll reach a point in the near future where some 18-20 yr old may look at you and honestly not make the connection.

Well, the word is used in a lot of songs and in movies, so it has been mainstream’d years ago. It is however fascinating how the US focus so much on certain words and censor them out, whereas (gun)violence is basically encouraged? Then you have the stereotypical response also being imprinted into people that if person X say this, you’ve learned from the movies that you are supposed to respond like this, and if you’re of “faction Y” you can also do violence.

Having a word be ‘exclusive’ to only people with a certain genetic background is kinda “racist” isn’t it? Not to mention that the word used today most likely has a number of totally different meanings than it did back in the 60s, or the 30s, or even before then. Just like gay today is usually used in reference to homosexuals and not for someone being jolly as it would’ve been in the “olden days”; even though I saw a soft-ice called “Golden Gaytime” while I lived in Australia, so I guess it has retained multiple levels of usage still.

Anyway, the good thing about streamers is that you’re not forced to watch them, and if you watch them, you’re not forced to listen to them.

That said; If he aimed the comments at a person who he knew to be black and meant it as an insult pertaining to the person being black, that is obviously in poor taste, if it was just being used as a ‘general insult towards a unknown person’ (who may or may not have cheated?) then it puts it in a different level imo, just as he could’ve used it with a totally different meaning if he was talking to his ‘buddies’…

The n-word is considerably more fraught in the US than you appear to have any willingness to believe. It really is the nuclear language option.

Which is unfortunate, because “cunt” really just rolls off the tongue so much easier.

Then again, there’s another “let’s just use a term referring to a disadvantaged group as a slur” so meh.

Can I get some good old fashioned curses that don’t disparage anyone in specific? Fuck and shit are getting old, and I need new things to call literally all Republicans.

I don’t even know where to begin with that post @instant0.

You’re missing a lot of nuance with the n-word. Some people on the internet tend to think of curses as binary insults that convey only the immediate emotional intent. Either everyone can say it, or no one should. Either it means X or doesn’t. It’s okay if you didn’t mean it personally, etc.

I don’t want to get too P&R here, but that’s not how racial slurs work. There is historical context and meaning beyond the plain dictionary definition. You could yell the n-word at someone and may not intend it specifically as a slur against that person for his genetic makeup, but that intent doesn’t matter. Even this guy acknowledges that somewhat when he says he went to the n-word because he was “trying to make the person [he] was angry with upset as well, and so [he] said the most offensive thing” he could dredge up.

We don’t use the R-word in polite company.

*looks around*

Think I’m good then ;-)

I know it gathers a different response in the US - especially when it gets caught in the eye of sauron (i.e. mass exposure) - and that in some redneck parts of the US they adhere to the “old meaning” of the word.
Perhaps there will finally be equality when that word is considered just another in the arsenal of curse words, eligible to be used by and upon all.

Anyway, let me ask this:
If the streamer was black, and yelled these things to the microphone intent at the other person of unknown pigment(?), would the reactions have been the same - and/or should they have been?

From what I read on Kotaku, the reactions did not appear until the stream was captured and uploaded somewhere else by a third party - thus “marketed” as something to gather a backlash?

@Telefrog: intent always matters, but the recipient and or hearsay/third parties may not receive the same message. And when strong feelings are present, it gets even harder to be ‘objectively offended’.

Anyway: Either this was a short derail or the natural development of a conversation, but it can get back onto the normal track at any point.

Intent, audience, delivery, and venue matter. I think we can agree that racial/sexual slurs normally come from a place of insult. You may not intend them to mean X when you say them, but that meaning isn’t separate from the word. Even I, as an Asian may call my Asian friends “gook” on occasion, (as in “What’s up, my crazy gook brotha!?” while raising a beer) but I also understand that I cannot get away with screaming Asian racial slurs indiscriminately in a public setting. That time and place factor matter a lot.

Beyond that, this person was clearly upset and yelling the slur with intent to offend. (He admitted as such.) Again, taking my gook example, were I to scream it repeatedly over a 30-second period at my friend or blood relative, they’re going to be insulted regardless of our relationship. Even if I meant it as a joke, I’m pretty sure the volume and repetition would be offensive. At the very least, my buddy is going to screw his face up and ask me “What the fuck is wrong with you man?”

This is my problem word when I get excited gaming, probably watched too much british TV and movies. I have a swearing problem going waaaay back. But, I have recently realized that I can yell “cuck” and it sounds pretty similar and is about 100 times funnier lately.

Oooo, that’s good. I would like to start a movement of crazy leftists reclaiming the word “cuck”

Gleefully yelling at enemies as “cucks” is very fun indeed.