Yet another game developer driven out of her home by internet misogynists

[NTMBK]

http://www.polygon.com/2014/10/11/6963279/brianna-wu-death-threats-police-harassment

Seriously, what is wrong with these people?

(Note: "these people" = the raging misogynists. Yes, I know that not everyone under the Gamergate banner is like this.)

 

[futurefields]

Oh lawdy.... i just want to play games get this crap out of here.

 

[motsm]

I don't think it has anything to do with women or misogyny, it's just the nature of the internet. People get silly threats like this all the time on Twitter, they just don't typically call the cops over it.

 

[stlcardinals]

I don't think it has anything to do with women or misogyny, it's just the nature of the internet. People get silly threats like this all the time on Twitter, they just don't typically call the cops over it.

The bolded is what part of the problem is. Ask the people on the receiving end just how "silly" a death or rape threat is. Especially when they tweet out your home address.

 

[futurefields]

She really thinks someone is gonna come to her house and kill her? Because of video games? Lawl.

What we have here is an out of control ego + victim complex.

 

[davie jambo]

Just phone the police ? I've not noticed anyone being arrested over these threats have they even tried ?

 

[NTMBK]

She really thinks someone is gonna come to her house and kill her? Because of video games? Lawl.

There are seriously messed up and dangerous people out there. People get killed over dumber stuff every single day. It just takes one violent sociopath to take it too far.

 

[Anubis]

TBH im not even sure these people are misogynists, Im pretty sure they are just assholes being assholes because they can because of the anonymity of the internet. for the lulz, herd mentality, blah blah blah

 

[Red Storm]

TBH im not even sure these people are misogynists, Im pretty sure they are just assholes being assholes because they can because of the anonymity of the internet. for the lulz, herd mentality, blah blah blah

This. It's like arguing with trolls, you will never win that way. You just have to ignore them, that is what internet trolls hate more than anything.

 

[Grooveriding]

Can these threads go to P&N or off topic ? This crap is getting old and has nothing to do with PC gaming. A bunch of meaningless vapid drama. Can we just have our games without these asinine dramatics ?

 

[motsm]

The bolded is what part of the problem is. Ask the people on the receiving end just how "silly" a death or rape threat is. Especially when they tweet out your home address.

If the threat is from Twitter and about a video game, I find it silly. If it was a person she had a problem with in the "real world", then the silliness scale could give different results. The internet is full of hormonal 12 year olds and their mental equivalents, so it's hard to take stuff like this seriously. In fact, I chuckled when I read the "threatening" tweet pictured in the article, it's just so over the top.

Anyway, I'm not trying to say whats best for her, I just can't imagine taking it seriously myself.

Can these threads go to P&N or off topic ? This crap is getting old and has nothing to do with PC gaming. A bunch of meaningless vapid drama. Can we just have our games without these asinine dramatics ?

+1 for this.

 

[WelshBloke]

She really thinks someone is gonna come to her house and kill her? Because of video games? Lawl.

What we have here is an out of control ego + victim complex.

Feel free to post your real name and address here. I feel that it might give some weight to your point.

 

[alcoholbob]

It is mysogyny. When you attack a man the definition is trolling. When you attack a woman it is mysogyny. Thats what weve been told by all the white knights.

 

[WelshBloke]

It is mysogyny. When you attack a man the definition is trolling. When you attack a woman it is mysogyny. Thats what weve been told by all the white knights.

When you threaten to kill or rape someone it's not trolling it's a crime and should be treated like one.

 

[Rakewell]

Can these threads go to P&N or off topic ? This crap is getting old and has nothing to do with PC gaming. A bunch of meaningless vapid drama. Can we just have our games without these asinine dramatics ?

This.

This really has nothing to do with gaming.

 

[smackababy]

I really wish people would tweet threats directed at me. I could use a laugh. How stupid are you to be all "Oh my gawd! The big, bad, scary man is threatening me in under 140 characters! Please! Help poor old me!"

Why is it always people I've never heard of crying about this stuff? Nobody threatened that girl who was a part of Assassin's Creed development, and she flat out lied about the game and how good it was! Her entire role was centered around "attractive female, omg must buy this game because I'm neckbeard!" Nobody wanted to kill her when the story ended up being such garbage.

 

[gorcorps]

She really thinks someone is gonna come to her house and kill her? Because of video games? Lawl.

What we have here is an out of control ego + victim complex.

I'm not sure if you're just trying to be an ass on purpose, or really are unaware of the murders that have occurred over an internet argument or game.

 

[futurefields]

nope this is out of control ego, inflated sense of self importance and victim complex run amok

 

[smackababy]

I'm not sure if you're just trying to be an ass on purpose, or really are unaware of the murders that have occurred over an internet argument or game.

You're right! The 3 or 4 murders in the history of the internet gives credit to every moron being a tough guy on Twitter.


How many people do you think say they are going to murder Gilbert Gottfried on Twitter? He makes 9/11 jokes on 9/12. This is a guy who is so intentionally offensive to everyone, I bet he gets hundreds, if not thousands, of those kinds of messages. He hasn't been stabbed yet.


These people who continue to talk about their death threats are nobodies. If this was a person already in the spotlight, I might be more inclined to believe they were actually scared. This reeks of free publicity. I'm not saying the tweets are fake, because they aren't, people really are that mean. I am just saying, you don't see Taylor Swift in the news because someone said some mean things to her on Twitter. She doesn't need that to get your new album out in the headlines.

 

[BoberFett]

What exactly does this mean?

"Giant Spacekat's financial accounts are currently being targeted by hackers,"

 

[smackababy]

What exactly does this mean?

Hackers are clearly attempting to hack her credit cards and bank accounts. I mean, technically, it is true; hackers are attempting to target every single person's accounts, including hers.

 

[BoberFett]

Hackers are clearly attempting to hack her credit cards and bank accounts. I mean, technically, it is true; hackers are attempting to target every single person's accounts, including hers.

How does she know they're being hacked? Is she backtracing their IPs? Will the consequences ever be the same?

This is why I think these people are phonies. Probably some SJW trying to prove that the evil menz hate womyn!!!!

 

[sandorski]

When you threaten to kill or rape someone it's not trolling it's a crime and should be treated like one.

Though I agree, I think in practical terms most don't see it that way or don't even intend to commit such an act when they type such things anonymously.

 

[mmntech]

This is why I think these people are phonies. Probably some SJW trying to prove that the evil menz hate womyn!!!!

Well, police confirmed they are investigating, but I don't buy the part about the FBI being involved. Nor do I buy the hacking accusation. I'm not saying she's outright lying but I think she's padding the story a little.

I also don't believe that woman game developers are being constantly harassed in the workplace/industry. It would be terrible if that were true. However, that just doesn't happen anymore, because the company would sink under the lawsuits. HR departments are pretty militant about those things. I know women coders and they've never had any issues that I can see working in that environment. This just has the stink of the victim card all over it. Especially when her original article starts with "may contain triggers". What the hell is a trigger?

People on Twitter are idiots. You learn to deal with them, or block them. Besides, it sounds like it's mainly being driven by 4chan. Those idiots couldn't hack their way out of a paper bag, let along physically hurt anybody. They're the internet equivalent of the crazy homeless guy shouting the N-Bomb at random passers by. You just ignore them.

As a gamer, I don't care if my game was developed by a woman. It doesn't matter. Frankly, I probably wouldn't even notice. I think that applies for 99.9% of us out there.

 

[smackababy]

Especially when her original article starts with "may contain triggers". What the hell is a trigger?

A rape trigger is something that can give flashbacks to victims of sexual assault. The problem is, how do you broadly define what may or may not cause that kind of thing. It is some kind of backwards courtesy that we are supposed to include things like this in media now. The new Tomb Raider game caught some flack because it didn't give warnings about this. It is incredibly stupid, IMO.

What if the mention of frogs causes me to have flashbacks to a sexual assault done upon me by a guy in a frog costume? Should I sue everyone who has anything to do with frogs in their media?


It is likely she is being targeted by hackers because one person tweeted "I'm a hacker and I am going to steal all your monies!"


As far as women in the industry, I can't comment on the game industry (because anyone who wants to get paid a decent wage stays out of it), but in the enterprise development, I've never seen a case of women being harassed for being women. I've actually worked with a very attractive female developer, and she didn't get any kind of stuff that would be considered inappropriate. Every company that wants to remain in business keeps this from happening. If it is happening to companies in the gaming industry, they deserve to fail, as they are terrible companies.