@bladeofcreation: You've hit on some stuff that I've not been able to figure out how to word, though I do want to be a little careful not to mix up the situations here. Because I don't think most of the feelings towards Merritt really originated from that kind of community - I'd say it's much more people being hurt by the stuff she's said publicly on Twitter over the years, and they're more likely to just be people who are part of a wider gaming community like you or me - but the abuse allegations did come from there. So people will definitely have to grapple with what you've described if they want to understand them.
People are continuing to say they have issues actually finding the allegations, so let's walk through these links so there's no excuses for finding stuff. This is the Twitter thread that people keep pointing to: https://twitter.com/NightinGem/status/1166807375187185669. We can agree that it is badly organized and prioritizes things over the abuse that shouldn't have been (and so doesn't give any of the other bad non-abuse things she's said/done the context they deserve as a result, either), which is causing misunderstandings about whether there is actually more than that. But it's what exists and what people are linking to, so let's start there, because it totally does link to the allegations if you spend just a minute going through it.
You go down that thread a bit, and you get this tweet: https://twitter.com/NightinGem/status/1166846093553889281. It links to another thread by them, here: https://twitter.com/NightinGem/status/1166845349035511809. And right there is where there are links to the allegations from Porpentine, both in a Twitter thread (https://twitter.com/slimedaughter/status/901180217519202304) and an older, more detailed article that did not yet name names (https://thenewinquiry.com/hot-allostatic-load/). (It also, it should be noted, links to a thread that has issues with that article is due to her own actions - while not defending Merritt - which is https://twitter.com/ellaguro/status/1166932434606350341.)
Now, I think people are seeing that Twitter thread from Porpentine and immediately treating "groomed" as some over-used buzzword and not reading much of what's being said. To start, that's kinda ignoring that the tweets are from 3 years ago, so a bit removed from the current context of its use. And I also do really want to emphasize that the people being named there (Merritt but also Anna Anthropy, for example) were very significant members of their scene/community who did have a lot of power over others as is talked about in the article, and definitely had the ability to groom/manipulate people along those lines, even if it's one that you're not familiar with and kinda doesn't really exist anymore to my knowledge. I see those initials and immediately know who's being discussed. This other thread talks about it more in the context of that scene. I don't really know what else I can really say to explain the history here, it is inherently kinda hard to give a broader perspective of community dynamics from 5+ years ago when I personally only saw the slice of it that played out publicly on Twitter. So I know that's complicated, but... some things are complicated.
Honestly, a lot of the talk around this - not just here - is just casually frustrating to see play out. I think people have a pretty limited context on this situation and the people involved. The woman making allegations against Merritt is literally an award winning game designer, for example.
It's definitely a complicated situation where a lot of the people involved have caused harm to others too. It's definitely harder to follow if you're completely on the outside of this. I certainly wish some of the Twitter threads being linked to - the ones not directly made by people making accusations - were a lot more organized and had prioritized what they were saying better so that the people making accusations got the focus they deserve, and so the other things she's said were properly criticized as well. But I would just ask people to respect that there's actually something here even if they don't fully understand it, and not just go "ah, cancel culture, why even have guests?" as if that's a reasonable response.
@onlineatron: Sorry to keep one-sides replying but I want to say I appreciate you being receptive to learning about this stuff. It is pretty much as you say - a huge part of the problem here is that people have at least *implicitly* still supported her and it’s kept anything said against her from getting traction. Cause, well, you can look at that list and go “hmm, that doesn’t sound right, if that was true then they...”, etc. etc.
@onlineatron: I can still see it (and double checked in a private browser, so it’s not just cached). Could you possibly be blocked or else have something blocking it on your end?
Now, here’s something to get ahead of - that Twitter user, Porpentine *also* has abuse allegations against her. But from what I’ve seen, I strongly lean towards this situation being that people who have been hurt can go on to hurt others, or hurt each other. I haven’t seen anything that positions what’s said about Merritt as false, just that Porpentine has done similar things herself. Along those lines, worth noting that there are other people than Porpentine who have talked about her, just not at that length (not just that Twitter thread as she’s written more separately before she named Merritt). And it’s hard to talk about this stuff in a place like this because I feel that people will pretty readily dismiss anything that isn’t easy to follow. And the group of people we’re talking about here is essentially part of a slightly older LGBT/more academic-ish games scene that has kinda faded from prominence to the point that it’s unlikely people who are mostly used to the AAA industry + more recent indie developers will recognize any of these names, even though they actually aren’t nobodies by any means - Porpentine, for example, was a very well known name in the Interactive Fiction community for a while thanks to her Twine games. But, well, abuse doesn’t stop being abuse just because it’s harder to piece together the context.
Also, I forgot to say this before, but to the people asking for evidence of the bad stuff she’s said separate from the allegations: it is totally understandable, but at some point what you’re asking for is screenshots of bad deleted (but not apologized for) tweets from like 2 years ago, more or less. And it can be a little hard to dig those up. I understand being wary, certainly, and I’m not asking you to just blindly trust people... but I saw some of that myself and I currently have 0 reason to doubt the people I trust who have issues with her for the instances I didn’t see.
@onlineatron: No, they’re seriously not conflating those. The only reason Holowka is coming is because when he was being talked about, I guess someone in a Waypoint thread about it discussed Merritt and linked to some of the things about her.
But nobody is saying the subtweets rank up there or even the gross stuff about bi or non-binary people (some of which I saw myself at the time). That is absolutely not why. It’s the other actual accusations of abuse. Zoe3DBlast’s post links to one of the threads, but the same person wrote an article in more detail as well.
As someone who has seen her slip past all consequences over and over for years, seeing Merritt show up here was pretty disappointing. Even before those allegations were made, there were things she said on Twitter publicly that made me deeply uncomfortable with her being so popular.
But it’s disappointing not because I think it was hypocritical, I just think it points to issues with any vetting process that’s been put in place. I am *glad* that the staff is taking a stronger stance on who they let on their platform. And I fully believe Abby didn’t know anything about the issues with Merritt going in, so I don’t think she’s betrayed that stance or shown that the stance is an issue. But that she didn’t know anything is kinda the root of the problem here - Merritt is someone who has never faced consequences from her peers that should have said something, and those peers have also failed to warn newcomers like Abby.
But with this stronger commitment having a responsible platform, there is a need to be pro-active about looking into stuff like this. It’s definitely awkward to assume there might be stuff out there about someone who seems well-liked... but just because you haven’t heard about something doesn’t mean it’s not out there. I don’t know if the process just isn’t thought out enough or some corners were cut due to a rush to fill more guest spots, or what, but the unfortunate truth is that you can’t just not vet people because other people you know seem to approve of them - that’s how we get situations like this or Max Temkin. And he’s absolutely the situation to compare to here, not Pascual. Anyone bringing only Pascual up like that to complain does not make me think they actually care about the site being a place that avoids causing harm to others.
All that being said- I will agree with others that it’d be much much better to put a note at the front of the audio, though. It’s certainly appreciated that something was said, but plenty of people will not see the note here at all and will listen without knowing. It would be best to avoid letting that happen if possible.
@caseofundertow: The pun’s great, but beyond that it’s a stellar localization across the board. I’m fine with it taking a decade to get a game I love this much in English, because I can’t see it coming out at a point before now and getting nearly this level of love, which it deserved.
Also, even as one of the people who was super looking forward to them ever playing it for a while- I’m not going to blame Dan for not being interested, especially while sick. It probably was not the best fit for a stream while they were feeling down, but I’m just happy they looked at it at all. And it seemed like it was a last minute backup option to begin with, so I can’t fault anyone for not doing something else due to sickness either.
Aww, they stopped right before they got to play as Achi and got to make more choices; I think even the start of his wouldn’t have been as slow as Kano’s intro is. But that’s how these things always go, unknowingly ending right before something good; no real way to avoid that.
Extremely glad Alex gave the exact reaction to something I’d been hoping for, in any case. (I hadn’t noticed “LL Diner” before now, either.)
I’m so, so happy to see them finally give 428 a look (and just as sad that I missed it live). Regardless of however they end up feeling about it, I’m just glad they gave it a chance. It’s a really special game and I hope more people check it out.
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