This also belongs here, I think.
A comment from Adam Myers (CEO, Failbetter), wrt the Alexis Kennedy allegations (and the latter’s public response, linked in the piece):
Pretty much anyone on this forum I would consider a friend and greet warmly if we met. In some situations, it might require the caveat “online friend”, but friend nonetheless.
That is heartbreaking on so many levels. :( What a mess and what an awful thing to discover about someone whose work you admire.
-Tom
Aww Tom.
Other things that are in hmmm … adjacent space. After I retired, my husband wondered why I didn’t do some volunteering on open software of various types. I never gave him a complete answer (this is they same I guy I swore to secrecy in grad school). But the rumors weren’t as public as now:
Recent, should not be news to many. Just not the sort of people I feel like spending my retirement volunteering for.
And less recent, pre-#metoo:
I know of people that said they went to groups working with them laterally from games. There was cross-flow. And there are culturally not too far.
Like the situation in games, you would be warned.
I have many friends in dev who are women. They would certainly tell you stories of things they’d experienced. But they’d also tell you about how they’re actively trying to make their space better, and the progress they’re pushing for. In some cases, it’s definitely working. Probably dependent on studio and culture. If she really wants to work in games, I’d recommend that once she’s done, she closely look at studios to determine if one is making an effort to create a positive culture that is receptive to change for the better. We’re a talkative bunch, so tell her to hit a GDC and ask women in dev directly. They’ll tell her the truth, and maybe she could become part of the push to be better.
A new reflection by the sister of Alec Holowka:
This is relatively lower profile, I guess, but Zach Jackson from Asymmetric Games (West of Loathing, Kingdom of Loathing) and the Video Games Hot Dog podcast has been credibly accused by his ex-wife of physical and emotional abuse. It seems that several other people in the company / community were implicated in various misconduct also, I’m not entirely clear on who’s who, and it looks like some of the source accusations were on Twitter and Google Docs and have been taken down.
There’s a general summary here:
There’s also a post on the KoL reddit which includes a more complete statement from Johnson. Generally, he seems to acknowledge some bad behavior on his part, while denying some specific claims:
Kevin Simmons has apologized for enabling or failing to speak out against abuses he witnessed. Jim Crawford (Frog Fractions, who has posted on QT3 in the past, but I feel it’s probably not appropriate to @ him here if he’s still active) has quit the podcast he co-hosted. (The only reason I learned about this was because I was wondering why they haven’t recorded in a while).