Mise à jour sur la pétition
VG247 responds! Will it blend?
20 févr. 2015 — I recently had a very polite and constructive e-mail exchange with Pat Garratt, the publisher of VG247.com and the author of the article about this petition. I've reproduced our responses in their entirety below. Civil discourse is a fantastic way to bridge the gap. I encourage everyone to e-mail the press whenever you have concerns, in a polite and constructive manner.
This petition is already making a difference, as you can see. Pls sign it and show your support!
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Pat Garratt, VG247.com
Hi Mark,
Thanks for giving me the opportunity to address these points with your petition's supporters.
I'm going to take your second question first. I wasn't threatening anyone with that sentence, and I wasn't talking about the literal process of signing your petition (although I can see how it seems I was). I used the words "sign" and "ink" as talking about the petition was the core of my article. I meant that the internet is indelible, and that those with open sympathies toward Gamergate (which, unarguably, does contain bigoted, dangerous, sexist elements), or any periphery cause, will have them forever. Of course I didn't mean that developers signing your petition are doing so "on pain of excommunication by the press," because by doing so I'd probably be unhinged. For a start, anyone can keep their signature on that petition confidential. Also, while it's very flattering that anyone would believe that I'm some sort of games press Pope, with power to stop editorial publicity for a game with a wave of my virtual hand, I'm not (I wish I were, however: Popes have the best hats). I've previously said publicly that anyone with genuine concerns about videogames journalism should, in my view, avoid publicly siding with anything related to Gamergate in any way, as it's sexist and demonstrably repugnant. That line is simply a reiteration of that sentiment. So, yeah, I apologise if that was misconstrued. I wasn't threatening anyone with anything.
Secondly, about the "ill-informed bigots" quotes. Gamergate is full of ill-informed bigots, and we don't need another Gamergate. I have no idea if you and Ken Levine are ill-informed bigots, as I don't know either of you. To be perfectly honest, Mark, I'd never heard of you before you posted that petition. I've interviewed Ken once, I think. I do believe your petition is ill-informed, and I hope I explained why in my article, but as to whether or not you, personally, are a bigot, I have no idea. I sincerely hope you aren't! I was saying that, in my view, we don't need any more activity of the type we saw with Gamergate, for very obvious reasons, and your petition had the potential to form a starting point for another us-against-them scenario between sexist militants (the ill-informed bigots) and women working in any aspect of the games industry.
Hope that helps!
Cheers,
Pat
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My response:
Pat,
Thank you for the response and clarification! This is exactly the type of open dialogue I am trying to encourage to start a healing process. I'll share your answers with my petitioners.
I agree we don't need another gamergate style rift. But I respectfully disagree that my petition could have the potential to start an "us-vs-them scenario between sexist militants." In fact, I took pains to avoid it and amended my petition to make that clear.
But I've discovered I have to choose my words wisely, and I thank you for clarifying some of the ambiguous ones in your article and would urge the rest of the press do the same to avoid making this rift any wider.
Thank you,
Mark Kern