Kotaku and Zoe Quinn Accused of Exchanging Positive Press for Sex

MoreLess
By Samual Sales – 19th August 2014
Kotaku and Zoe Quinn Accused of Exchanging Positive Press for Sex

Here’s a doozey of a story for you. If you’re not a huge fan of Kotaku or the infamous social justice warrior / indie developer Zoe Quinn, you’re in for a treat. There’s even a bit about bearded loudmouth Phil Fish. How did such a huge scandal unfold? Well let’s start at the beginning. Zoe Quinn is an indie game developer responsible for the recently published Depression Quest (which I said some nice things about here). It turns out that Zoe has become somewhat infamous online, often accused of playing the victim to gain publicity. Speculation turned to accusation yesterday, when Zoe’s ex-boyfriend make a post on his own blog, accusing her (with proof) of cheating with a number of prominent industry figures. Among them was current Kotaku writer Nathan Grayson, apparently solicitating sexual favours for positive press.

Pretty simple, right? The developer in question loses credibility, along with the gaming publication that allowed such a massive breach of professionalism occur. Except the rabbit hole has been going further than that. Not only has she been swapping blow for positive press, but also leveraging her sexual connections to stamp out anybody critical of her, most notably the organisers of ‘Women’s Game Jam’, who accuse the indie developer of encouraging a press blackout on the charity Jam to promote her own similar event.

Many industry figures and commentators have also had quite a lot to say on the issue, with both sides standing as far away from the fence as possible. Polarising figures like Anita Sarkeesian and Phil Fish have rushed to the aid of the controversy struck developer, the former offering support and the latter going on one of his famous explicit crusades, insulting anybody who calls themselves a gamer and picking fights with far more respected developers such as Marcus ‘Notch’ Persson. On the other side of the fence is YouTube commentator TotalBiscuit, also known as the Cynical Brit, who attacks both Zoe and gaming journalism in general for lack of professionalism and work ethic in a very lengthy twitter post. Also weighing as the loudest voice in the debate is YouTube user ‘InternetAristocrat’, who gives his thoughts in a half hour monologue attacking the corruption of the gaming press and the problems with blind Social Justice Warriors in his latest video, embedded below for your pleasure.

What are your thoughts on the matter? Is this a breach of standards that is in the interest of gamers, or should this issue be kept personal between Zoe Quinn and those directly involved in the scandal? Voice your comments below, but please, please keep it civil and free from personal attacks.

  • Kurt Wendler

    I don’t really wanna pick a side, since I only know as much as the press knows, but it’s a very unfortunate situation for both sides :

    • iblewbubblesinthebathtub

      watch the IA video. quinns disgusting and so are the 5 guys involved.

      • Kurt Wendler

        There will be some official sort of release of information, or straight from either party. I don’t know, it’ll take some time.

        • Internet_Zen_Master

          Won’t becoming out of Zoe Quinn, who’s playing the professional victim role and claiming that ‘this is a private matter gaiz! And if any1 disagrees they ‘pose a threat to my safety and well being as well as that of the people I love’!

  • iamjesus

    You better watch out, zoe has minions who are trying to suppress this controversy…..

    • Hendrickson

      They can’t suppress the whole internet.

      • Dunzie

        They’ve done a pretty good job so far.

      • Code : Verde

        Actually, it’s quite easy to suppress the internet. With the death of search engines that aren’t tired to or are “powered” through megacorps like Microsoft, Yahoo or Google, all it takes is a simple email and poof. The topic is gone. All the information is “lost” and behold, any all discussion has been reduced to rumors.

        Especially in the UK ,Egypt, Italy and China where it’s actually legal. If you’re American or Canadian, we better enjoy our information while we can because yeah… The truth is vanishing, even with something as pointless as this.

      • Code : Verde

        Actually, it’s quite easy to suppress the internet. With the death of search engines that aren’t tired to or are “powered” through megacorps like Microsoft, Yahoo or Google, all it takes is a simple email and poof. The topic is gone. All the information is “lost” and behold, any all discussion has been reduced to rumors.

        Especially in the UK ,Egypt, Italy and China where it’s actually legal. If you’re American or Canadian, we better enjoy our information while we can because yeah… The truth is vanishing, even with something as pointless as this.

  • iblewbubblesinthebathtub

    Great article guys! I give your website about half a day before it’s doxxed by quinns pussified betas.

  • Laver

    At the end of the day though, 4chan takes the cake.

    • Fozzy

      Like Nicolas Cage, 4chan always gets its cake.

    • Fozzy

      Like Nicolas Cage, 4chan always gets its cake.

    • R3353

      Aren’t people being censored on there too?

    • R3353

      Aren’t people being censored on there too?

  • cv

    Gaming culture is hugely misogynistic. Whatever her offenses, Ms Quinn is still going to pay doubly for them, and then some, simply because she is a woman.

    • iamjesus

      Do you seriously believe this or are you trying to get people angry?

    • Patrick Bateman

      Dude you’re getting laid tonight for sure!

    • Phildatious

      We don’t hate women, which is the definition of misogyny. In fact, most of us would prefer more women gamers and a GOOD game developed by a woman will be just as popular as a good game developed by a man. She’s getting thrashed right now because she’s a hypocritical lying money-grubbing whore that slept with the media to get good press. She deserves what is coming to her, as do any involved in this mess. Business has ethics and morals, the internet media is not above them.

      And lets not forget that the majority of her thrashing is being deflected by the shields of SJWs everywhere, curb-stomping most of these articles and discussions out of existence.

    • Phildatious

      We don’t hate women, which is the definition of misogyny. In fact, most of us would prefer more women gamers and a GOOD game developed by a woman will be just as popular as a good game developed by a man. She’s getting thrashed right now because she’s a hypocritical lying money-grubbing whore that slept with the media to get good press. She deserves what is coming to her, as do any involved in this mess. Business has ethics and morals, the internet media is not above them.

      And lets not forget that the majority of her thrashing is being deflected by the shields of SJWs everywhere, curb-stomping most of these articles and discussions out of existence.

  • Hahah, oh lord. Let her sleep with whoever she pleases. She can’t bang everybody, so either way the truth is gonna spread faster than her legs can. Oops Zoe Quinn.

  • bit_crusherrr

    GamesNosh has already been taken offline due to posting something about this topic, is this site next?

  • That guy can’t be silenced

    I’m glad this is story is getting the signal boost it deserves because the amount of white knights trying to cover this up is truly staggering.

    • Fozzy

      They are out on a crusade it seems.
      And then the Dragon Cavalry of the Internet came in.

    • Fozzy

      They are out on a crusade it seems.
      And then the Dragon Cavalry of the Internet came in.

  • TheWastelander

    Now the mask is off. It was always about the money with this chick and all the other “prominent” SJW clowns.

  • Dianna

    This article is disgusting and should be taken down immediately.

    This isn’t news. This isn’t even our business. Why is this even being discussed on this site?

    • That guy can’t be silenced

      No.

    • The Wall

      Nice job advocating censorship

      • Dianna

        … you have no idea what censorship is. no.

        • idonthaveaname

          “This article is disgusting and should be taken down immediately.”

          Translation: This offends me, I don’t like it, remove it because I don’t think anyone should be allowed to see it.

          It’s exactly what you’re advocating.

        • idonthaveaname

          “This article is disgusting and should be taken down immediately.”

          Translation: This offends me, I don’t like it, remove it because I don’t think anyone should be allowed to see it.

          It’s exactly what you’re advocating.

        • The Wall

          It directly concerns the gaming industry and gaming journalism. Taking it down is literally censorship of the issue.

          • Dianna

            It also takes into question someones private life. She has every right to request that the article be taken down because it covers private matters between her and her sexual partners.

          • tg g

            there’s nothing private when the professional life and the “private” life are blended together

            these information are available for free, publicly

            nothing private has been disclosed, it’s already available publicly

          • tg g

            there’s nothing private when the professional life and the “private” life are blended together

            these information are available for free, publicly

            nothing private has been disclosed, it’s already available publicly

          • Pgoodso

            Let me put it like this: President Clinton wasn’t impeached because he had an affair. He was impeached because he lied about it under oath. Now, the whole liberal-hating s**storm and the media hungry for sexy details that led to that event? Yeah, that was pretty sketchy. As is the possible bias against Zoe Quinn’s (admittedly by her) rather abrasive public persona.

            If all this were untrue, she could sue her ex for defamation, not the media outlets that retold the story. If the story develops that the ex in question fabricated events, then that will be a story then, too.

            However, she is submitting DMCA notices to Youtube. Now, why would she do this? She cannot hold a copyright on people’s opinions on her. Criticism and parody are protected speech, even if cruel and disgusting (watch or read People vs Larry Flynt if you wanna understand why). You can’t tell Youtube “I don’t like what they’re saying, it is untrue, take it down”. They’ll file that kind of request in their SPAM folder. You can be the biggest jerk on the planet, and as long as it’s not provably a case of defamation, you can say whatever you want.

            But you CAN, unfortunately quite easily, threaten to sue someone, or have Youtube take down your video almost instantaneously, if you labor under the delusion that anyone citing your work as part of their criticism of it is a breach of your copyright (a copyright she may not have even applied for in the first place). That is NOT how copyright works. Rob Reiner couldn’t sue Roger Ebert for using a picture of his film North in the review that famously excoriated it. And Ms. Quinn can’t use copyright just to silence anyone that says she is attempting to garner favor from journalists, no matter how they say she may have done so.

            Unsubstantiated DMCA notices and copyright claims are often one of the first resorts of the overly litigious against critics. If she is twisting copyright to silence her critics, even people that make fun of her, THAT IS AGAINST THE LAW AND NEWSWORTHY. It’s why there are Anti-SLAPP (strategic lawsuits against public participation) laws in many American jurisdictions, something Ms. Quinn needs to be VERY worried about (if she still lives in Boston, there’s been an Anti-SLAPP statute in Massachusetts for over 20 years).

            Are the salacious details behind this controversy part of why it’s a popular topic for discussion? Sure. That sucks for her, and her ex is a jerk. But his evidence is out there now. Her feelings on that matter unfortunately don’t count when the possible breaches of journalistic ethics and possibly the First Amendment rights of critics, and yeah, even gross discussions on her attractiveness, are worthy stories in themselves.

            Private has already become public because of her ex, and the charges he makes are damning. And, despite your care for Ms. Quinn’s humanity, since she’s a famous indie developer, and these are big names in game journalism, this is news, just as surely as President Clinton’s private life became news. Hell, this could be reported on CNN or in your grandma’s self-published neighborhood magazine that only your grandpa reads, and it’d still be just as protected. That’s just how free speech works.

          • The Wall

            She made it public when she exchanged sexual favours for positive publicity for her game and herself, it was inevitable that she and the five guys were outed. At this point, I don’t care how many guys she slept with, however I do care that she’s having such a strong negative impact on the online gaming community, and the only way people can fight it is if we know exactly what happened.

          • Dianna

            It also takes into question someones private life. She has every right to request that the article be taken down because it covers private matters between her and her sexual partners.

        • The Wall

          It directly concerns the gaming industry and gaming journalism. Taking it down is literally censorship of the issue.

        • tg g

          seems like you don’t either
          why do you even speak this subject if it doesn’t interest you?

        • tg g

          seems like you don’t either
          why do you even speak this subject if it doesn’t interest you?

    • Code : Verde

      “Internet Gaming Reviewers and Websites” have run worse things as “gaming ” articles and they’re still available, what’s the difference between those and this one?

      • Dianna

        What, so now gaming sites write about peoples sex life and put it on blast for everyone to see? What kind of bull is that?

        • tg g

          it’s not about her sex life, but you’re still disingenuous i see

          it’s about corruption

          keep going with your feminist fallacies, you’ll go far in life, very far…

          • Dianna

            I have! Thanks for your support!

        • tg g

          it’s not about her sex life, but you’re still disingenuous i see

          it’s about corruption

          keep going with your feminist fallacies, you’ll go far in life, very far…

        • Darvonmoitna

          Kotaku ran an article after the guy who made Cards Against Humanity was accused of raping someone ten years ago on Tumblr. The article basically said that there was no reason to believe he didn’t do it, which is just as slanderous, yet that article is still up. Face it, Kotaku and other websites do this shit on a daily basis. Just because it hit a female dev for once doesn’t mean this is any worse, ESPECIALLY if it helps expose the horrible nepotism behind gaming journalism.

        • Darvonmoitna

          Kotaku ran an article after the guy who made Cards Against Humanity was accused of raping someone ten years ago on Tumblr. The article basically said that there was no reason to believe he didn’t do it, which is just as slanderous, yet that article is still up. Face it, Kotaku and other websites do this shit on a daily basis. Just because it hit a female dev for once doesn’t mean this is any worse, ESPECIALLY if it helps expose the horrible nepotism behind gaming journalism.

      • Dianna

        What, so now gaming sites write about peoples sex life and put it on blast for everyone to see? What kind of bull is that?

    • cy

      This isn’t news? It’s not news when it’s been found out that this woman is trading sexual favors for positive news and suppression of things she doesn’t like by the video GAME industry. It’s the duty of a game journalist to report something so disgustingly wrong within the GAMING industry. If you don’t think this has any place on a GAMING news site, no one can help you out.

      • Edward Kelly

        Nothing you just said is relevant after “it’s been found out”… Coz there’s still no evidence for what the headline of this article proposes.

    • cy

      This isn’t news? It’s not news when it’s been found out that this woman is trading sexual favors for positive news and suppression of things she doesn’t like by the video GAME industry. It’s the duty of a game journalist to report something so disgustingly wrong within the GAMING industry. If you don’t think this has any place on a GAMING news site, no one can help you out.

    • Valentino Guilot

      yea lets just cover all the controversy up because women are angels who will never use there sexuality to get ahead and lets also censor how the feminist manipulate the gaming press by playing the victim and calling misogynist everything that doesn’t conform with there world views

      • Dianna

        yeaaahhh…. no one is saying that. Why are you so angry?

    • Valentino Guilot

      yea lets just cover all the controversy up because women are angels who will never use there sexuality to get ahead and lets also censor how the feminist manipulate the gaming press by playing the victim and calling misogynist everything that doesn’t conform with there world views

    • TheWastelander

      “Why is this even being discussed on this site?”

      Because it’s relevant. Don’t like it? Don’t read it, snowflake.

    • TheWastelander

      “Why is this even being discussed on this site?”

      Because it’s relevant. Don’t like it? Don’t read it, snowflake.

      • Dianna

        How is it relevant? All it’s doing is saying that a girl allegedly slept with some folks. Were you in bed with them? How do you know if this is even real?

        It’s messed up that this is even a issue. Why name names and drag peoples names through the mud when we don’t even know if it’s real.

        • TheWastelander

          You’re not fooling anyone with your willful ignorance.

          • Dianna

            My willful ignorance? Sweety, you don’t know jack about me and what I know or do know. Instead of dismissing my statement that the article above is defamation of character, how about you take a second and consider that you have no idea what you’re talking about either.

            I hope she sues this website.

          • Dianna

            My willful ignorance? Sweety, you don’t know jack about me and what I know or do know. Instead of dismissing my statement that the article above is defamation of character, how about you take a second and consider that you have no idea what you’re talking about either.

            I hope she sues this website.

          • TheWastelander

            I hope she does too, because it’d be hilarious to watch the suit get thrown out of court and witness Zoe getting counter-sued for abuse of process.

            She can sleep her way through the sad sacks of gaming journalism to curry favor, but she can’t sleep with all the lawyers and judges necessary to win that one.

            Deal w/it.

          • TheWastelander

            I hope she does too, because it’d be hilarious to watch the suit get thrown out of court and witness Zoe getting counter-sued for abuse of process.

            She can sleep her way through the sad sacks of gaming journalism to curry favor, but she can’t sleep with all the lawyers and judges necessary to win that one.

            Deal w/it.

          • Dianna

            She’ll win and shut down this terrible site for even posting this as some kind of news story. You can’t say ” she’s sleeping with X to get good reviews” on a popular website. It’s hersay and slander. You can’t prove it.

            Sorry buddy. She’d win.

          • hey dummy

            Hey, dumbass. It says she is “accused of exchanging.” It doesn’t say that she did it. You aren’t a lawyer. You dont have enough intelligence to shine a lawyers shoes. Fuck outta here.

          • Dianna

            Thanks for those beautiful words. Are you a poet?

          • hey dummy

            Hey, dumbass. It says she is “accused of exchanging.” It doesn’t say that she did it. You aren’t a lawyer. You dont have enough intelligence to shine a lawyers shoes. Fuck outta here.

          • tg g

            wishful thinking m8

          • tg g

            wishful thinking m8

          • Nobody

            No need to, Kotaku’s Editor and Chief already confirmed it (indirectly). Key Words: AT THE TIME OF THAT ARTICLE. https://twitter.com/stephentotilo/status/501818736480092160

          • Dianna

            Confirmed that there was NO RELATIONSHIP at the time of the article. Thereby telling you that you’re all WRONG and this article is a SHAM.

          • Dianna

            She’ll win and shut down this terrible site for even posting this as some kind of news story. You can’t say ” she’s sleeping with X to get good reviews” on a popular website. It’s hersay and slander. You can’t prove it.

            Sorry buddy. She’d win.

          • iamjesus

            You do realize that no one is upset that she slept with 5 guys, were upset that she slept with 5 guys that are big in the indie game industry, and she benefits immensely from them

          • Dianna

            …Really? Is that what you really think? smh…

          • iamjesus

            Did you watch the video?

            Pls watch the video, then come back and resume shaking your head like a retard

          • Dianna

            still shaking it like a Polaroid picture.

          • iamjesus

            You know what to do

          • iamjesus

            Did you watch the video?

            Pls watch the video, then come back and resume shaking your head like a retard

          • tg g

            you’re wrong and you know it

            it’s about the corruption in the gaming “journalism”, but you being this disingenuous feminist that you are, you try to twist it in your favor to push your own agenda

            you’re disingenuous.

          • Dianna

            I am? I never knew. Thank you Dr. @tg_g:disqus !

          • Dianna

            I am? I never knew. Thank you Dr. @tg_g:disqus !

          • tg g

            yes, you are

            it’s good you see it now

          • Dianna

            We’re going to be best friends now.

            ..I can tell.

          • tg g

            it’s time for you to turn off your computer and leave this comment section

          • tg g

            it’s time for you to turn off your computer and leave this comment section

          • tg g

            you’re wrong and you know it

            it’s about the corruption in the gaming “journalism”, but you being this disingenuous feminist that you are, you try to twist it in your favor to push your own agenda

            you’re disingenuous.

          • Dianna

            …Really? Is that what you really think? smh…

          • iamjesus

            You do realize that no one is upset that she slept with 5 guys, were upset that she slept with 5 guys that are big in the indie game industry, and she benefits immensely from them

          • tg g

            oh we don’t know shit about you? why don’t you go away then? don’t like the article?

            go away.

          • Edward Kelly

            Don’t like what she’s saying? Don’t read it dude.

            That’s you’re philosophy right? 😉

          • tg g

            oh we don’t know shit about you? why don’t you go away then? don’t like the article?

            go away.

          • Lemoncakes

            We know you don’t know anything about this story, because you keep demonstrating ignorance about it.

            Since this information is readily available and you refuse to acknowledge it, that’s you being willful in your ignorance.

            So Willful Ignorance in your case is as ascertained as Zoe Quinn’s status as a liar and a whore.

          • Dianna

            No. I’m not refusing to acknowledge it. What I’m stating is that the public is PRESUMING that she slept with people to get good reviews. THAT is the issue. Not the issue that she slept with those people.

            PS: love Lemon Cakes. They’re delicious.

          • Rider

            >Allegedly

            She’s practically admitted it. And she’s trying as hard as she can to sweep it under the rug. Even now she is lying through her teeth and anyone with half a brain can see through her bullshit.

            Absolutely disgusting how corrupt the industry has become.

          • Rider

            >Allegedly

            She’s practically admitted it. And she’s trying as hard as she can to sweep it under the rug. Even now she is lying through her teeth and anyone with half a brain can see through her bullshit.

            Absolutely disgusting how corrupt the industry has become.

          • Edward Kelly

            Define “irony” for me homes.

            Coz i’d call ignoring the fact there is no press by Nathan Grayson that exists to substantiate your claims of corruption as willful ignorance

        • TheWastelander

          You’re not fooling anyone with your willful ignorance.

        • John

          She used sex to gain publicity and the guys allowed it, that’s the problem, I don’t care if she slept with a thousand guys, the fact that they actually gave her more publicity shows how rotten this gaming journalism is

        • John

          She used sex to gain publicity and the guys allowed it, that’s the problem, I don’t care if she slept with a thousand guys, the fact that they actually gave her more publicity shows how rotten this gaming journalism is

        • Internet_Zen_Master

          The major part of the issue Dianna is that the “some folks” happen to be big players in the game reviewing crowd, and their reviews carry a lot of weight behind them. Finding out that Zoe Quinn (who admitted to sleeping with the “Five Guys”, with evidence provided by screencaps of chatlogs provided by the thezoepost) slept with several people who tirelessly promoted her game Depression Quest, particularly Nathan Grayson, none of which disclosed their relationship with the game’s developer when they made the review. Promoting a game when you clearly have a major conflict of interest
          (like sleeping wit the game’s dev) is a huge breach of ethics, and
          should be brought to light and condemned as such. Not to mention it exposes the fact that there is some filthy nepotism going on among huge chunks of the game review crowd.

          That’s why it’s such a big story.

          • TheWastelander

            You assume she cares about the truth. She does not. She’s just trolling.

          • Dianna

            Yeah Look at me totally trolling. get bent, dude.

          • tg g

            anyone disagreeing with you is “trolling”.

            You, get bend.

          • Dianna

            A troll is by definition someone who posts with the deliberate intent to provoke an emotional reaction from the forum.

            Last I checked, a disagreeing with a particular topic wasn’t trolling. The point of a discussion board is to discuss. Not name call or attack ones opinion.

            Also, it’s *bent <— That's trolling.

          • tg g

            “A troll is by definition someone who posts with the deliberate intent to provoke an emotional reaction from the forum.”
            nowhere has this definition been official defined by anyone officla

            you’re pulling stuff out of your butt now, trying to backpedal hard

            you think that ANYONE who disagrees with you is a “troll”

            you’re disingenuous as i said, you don’t welcome discussions or debate

            and for your interest, english isn’t my first language

            check your god damn native english speaker privilege

          • Dianna

            Pssst: Check Wikipedia if you’re looking for a definition.

            Last I checked you’re the one following me all of my comments and trying to piss me off. By definition you’re trolling me and it’s pissing you off that I don’t care what you say.

            I’m trying to have a discussion and you’re resorting to name calling. Stop using words you don’t understand the meaning of. You don’t know who I am.

            You don’t know anything about me except that I think this site is spreading lies and defaming someones character.

          • tg g

            “A troll is by definition someone who posts with the deliberate intent to provoke an emotional reaction from the forum.”
            nowhere has this definition been official defined by anyone officla

            you’re pulling stuff out of your butt now, trying to backpedal hard

            you think that ANYONE who disagrees with you is a “troll”

            you’re disingenuous as i said, you don’t welcome discussions or debate

            and for your interest, english isn’t my first language

            check your god damn native english speaker privilege

          • tg g

            anyone disagreeing with you is “trolling”.

            You, get bend.

          • Dianna

            Yeah Look at me totally trolling. get bent, dude.

          • TheWastelander

            You assume she cares about the truth. She does not. She’s just trolling.

        • Internet_Zen_Master

          The major part of the issue Dianna is that the “some folks” happen to be big players in the game reviewing crowd, and their reviews carry a lot of weight behind them. Finding out that Zoe Quinn (who admitted to sleeping with the “Five Guys”, with evidence provided by screencaps of chatlogs provided by the thezoepost) slept with several people who tirelessly promoted her game Depression Quest, particularly Nathan Grayson, none of which disclosed their relationship with the game’s developer when they made the review. Promoting a game when you clearly have a major conflict of interest
          (like sleeping wit the game’s dev) is a huge breach of ethics, and
          should be brought to light and condemned as such. Not to mention it exposes the fact that there is some filthy nepotism going on among huge chunks of the game review crowd.

          That’s why it’s such a big story.

        • tg g

          stop complaining. You’re a waste of time.

          • Dianna

            Thank you for your insightful comment and taking the time to answer. I guess I wasn’t a waste of time after all! 😀

          • tg g

            none of your contributions on this article have been insightful, you’re deluded
            you’re talking of insightful contributions when you don’t want anyone to talk about this issue

          • Dianna

            Thank you for continuing to respond to my comments. I really appreciate it.

          • tg g

            at least by focusing attention on me, you stop polluting the comment section of this article

          • tg g

            at least by focusing attention on me, you stop polluting the comment section of this article

          • tg g

            none of your contributions on this article have been insightful, you’re deluded
            you’re talking of insightful contributions when you don’t want anyone to talk about this issue

          • Dianna

            Thank you for your insightful comment and taking the time to answer. I guess I wasn’t a waste of time after all! 😀

        • tg g

          stop complaining. You’re a waste of time.

      • Dianna

        How is it relevant? All it’s doing is saying that a girl allegedly slept with some folks. Were you in bed with them? How do you know if this is even real?

        It’s messed up that this is even a issue. Why name names and drag peoples names through the mud when we don’t even know if it’s real.

      • Edward Kelly

        Relevant to what and how snowflake?

    • TheWastelander

      “Why is this even being discussed on this site?”

      Because it’s relevant. Don’t like it? Don’t read it, snowflake.

    • Morningstar

      Stop promoting censorship.

      • Nope

        Do you have any idea what censorship is?

    • Morningstar

      Stop promoting censorship.

    • Kyoraki

      I disagree, completely and utterly, and suggest you read the article again. This isn’t about who slept with who, but about someone sleeping with someone else to further an agenda, contributing to the corruption of the industry. To put it bluntly, it became news when Zoe Quinn (apparently) offered sexual favours for positive press. And that’s not to mention the involvement of internet celebs like Phil Fish and TotalBiscuit turning Twitter into a warzone.

      If Hilary Clinton slept with Rupert Murdoch to get Fox News to support the democrats, would that not be news? How should this be treated any differently?

      • Dianna

        Were you in bed with them? How do you know that it’s even real? All I’m saying is that right now people are saying that this is fact when we don’t even know if it’s true or not.

        But yeah, sure. Let’s destroy a persons image and reputation for fun.

        • InternetCrusader

          Zoe Quinn’s Ex-boyfriend was the source for all this. He provided proof. This is not baseless poo-flinging.

          • Dianna

            It’s also a pissed off ex boyfriend who felt the need to put his ex on blast. He wasn’t trying to bring the truth of anything. Just make himself feel better. :/

          • Craptacular

            That’s your take and you are welcome to it. I recommend you read the ex-boyfriend-who-felt-the-need-to-put-his-ex-on-blast’s blog before you castigate him, though. Those of us who have been lied to by our significant others can relate to both the questioning of his own sanity as well as the cathartic feelings after posting the blog.

            As far as the “journalistic integrity” of game magazines’ publishing, I could give a shit about “exposing” the seamy side of games publishing. Like music before it, gaming quality took a negative turn when it became a “gaming industry.” If you want to ruin something, make an industry out of it.

          • Craptacular

            That’s your take and you are welcome to it. I recommend you read the ex-boyfriend-who-felt-the-need-to-put-his-ex-on-blast’s blog before you castigate him, though. Those of us who have been lied to by our significant others can relate to both the questioning of his own sanity as well as the cathartic feelings after posting the blog.

            As far as the “journalistic integrity” of game magazines’ publishing, I could give a shit about “exposing” the seamy side of games publishing. Like music before it, gaming quality took a negative turn when it became a “gaming industry.” If you want to ruin something, make an industry out of it.

          • I think you’re misapplying feminist values, which is inherently belittling of the point you’re trying to make. Whomever Zoe Quinn chooses to sleep with is her own business, and has no place circulating in news. However, when her relationship with the press interferes with the due course of disclosure, problems arise. Their relationship was not disclosed, this entire situation is off the back of media manipulation – which has continued through an attempt to supress the consequences. It is not off the back of who she chose to sleep with.

          • I think you’re misapplying feminist values, which is inherently belittling of the point you’re trying to make. Whomever Zoe Quinn chooses to sleep with is her own business, and has no place circulating in news. However, when her relationship with the press interferes with the due course of disclosure, problems arise. Their relationship was not disclosed, this entire situation is off the back of media manipulation – which has continued through an attempt to supress the consequences. It is not off the back of who she chose to sleep with.

          • Rider

            He still provided proof. And that’s all we care about.

          • Dianna

            That she had sex with dudes to get good reviews? Still hearsay and not confirmed.

          • Rider

            He still provided proof. And that’s all we care about.

          • Richard Cadman

            Yeh cos an Angry Ex partner has never lied ever have they? Good lord….learn the difference between gossip and proof.

        • InternetCrusader

          Zoe Quinn’s Ex-boyfriend was the source for all this. He provided proof. This is not baseless poo-flinging.

        • tg g

          the boyfriend of zoe told everything, zoe tried to shut it down, proof has been provided

          http://thezoepost.wordpress.com/

        • Archangel

          “Destroy a persons image and reputation for fun”. It’s not for fun. People are legitimately angry because this is what journalism is turning into. People paying other people for publicity. It opens a can of worms that shows why we need to prevent journalism from going down a path where we’re force fed positive publicity for shitty game developers.

        • Archangel

          “Destroy a persons image and reputation for fun”. It’s not for fun. People are legitimately angry because this is what journalism is turning into. People paying other people for publicity. It opens a can of worms that shows why we need to prevent journalism from going down a path where we’re force fed positive publicity for shitty game developers.

      • Dianna

        Were you in bed with them? How do you know that it’s even real? All I’m saying is that right now people are saying that this is fact when we don’t even know if it’s true or not.

        But yeah, sure. Let’s destroy a persons image and reputation for fun.

    • Kyoraki

      I disagree, completely and utterly, and suggest you read the article again. This isn’t about who slept with who, but about someone sleeping with someone else to further an agenda, contributing to the corruption of the industry. To put it bluntly, it became news when Zoe Quinn (apparently) offered sexual favours for positive press. And that’s not to mention the involvement of internet celebs like Phil Fish and TotalBiscuit turning Twitter into a warzone.

      If Hilary Clinton slept with Rupert Murdoch to get Fox News to support the democrats, would that not be news? How should this be treated any differently?

    • Fozzy

      Because a games developer is accused of sleeping around by her partner to gain press access, good reviews and publicity. That is relevant as it shows an incestuous relationship between developer and journalist that the public hence looses considerable faith in the press.

      That’s how it is our business. No one cares that someone is having an affair, its the manipulation and corruption that it is being used to foster. If it was bribery or blackmail, the issue would still remain that corruption of trust in the reviewers.

    • Fozzy

      Because a games developer is accused of sleeping around by her partner to gain press access, good reviews and publicity. That is relevant as it shows an incestuous relationship between developer and journalist that the public hence looses considerable faith in the press.

      That’s how it is our business. No one cares that someone is having an affair, its the manipulation and corruption that it is being used to foster. If it was bribery or blackmail, the issue would still remain that corruption of trust in the reviewers.

    • Dehydration

      This is videogames. Everyone involved in this mess is videogames. Another one of your posts suggests that he could’ve been lying, but there’s evidence right there in that blog post of the ex. Zoe even admits to it on her tumblr post. In case you’ve forgotten, she also did attempt to cry wolf another time when she accused Wizardchan (a website filled to the brim with depressed introverts) of mass-harassing her and trying to keep her down.

      I don’t see why we can’t call out blatant nepotism in the games industry when proof of it is dangling right in front of our faces.

      • Dianna

        my problem is the hairiness of the situation. An ex is pissed off, calls out his g/f and the people she’s been with and people are licking their lips at the sensational headlines and drawing their own conclusions.

        It’s just all around ikky.

        • Dehydration

          There’s proof of it right there in the chat logs provided by the ex.

          • Edward Kelly

            Yep. So show me the articles Nathan Grayson wrote about her

          • TheCynicalReaper

            Look it up already. I found he wrote an article on Kotaku about an incident that happened during GAME_JAM that, though describing the whole incident, centralizes on Zoe Quinn and does praise her for going through it, even ending on a quote of hers.
            That’s not the issue, though. The issue is that he never mentioned his connection to her, which, even if it is not immediately relevant to the reported story, DOES need to be mentioned as a part of proper journalistic practice. He has tried to cover for it by saying they weren’t together “at the time”, but while his boss thinks otherwise, READERS are incredulous to the idea, especially since she’s a prominent indie dev and he is a gaming journalist.

          • Richard Cadman

            Game Jam was covered by several people, including those who took part in it. Kotaku’s article was no different to all the other first hand and second hand accounts. Google “Game Jam indiestatik” and compare and contrast if you wish.

          • Dehydration

            Also look up Admission Quest: Valve Greenlights 50 More Games on Rock Paper Shotgun. I posted the article TheCynicalReaper mentioned, but my post hasn’t been approved since it has a link in it. Might as well.

      • Edward Kelly

        Please dangle the proof in front of my face. Show me games journalism that has been corrupted by a personal relationship between Zoe Quinn and Nathan Grayson. The burden of proof is on you Dehydration.

        • Dehydration

          Here’s one. Always wondered why it focused so much on Quinn.
          http://tmi.kotaku.com/the-indie-game-reality-tv-show-that-went-to-hell-1555599284

          • Edward Kelly

            Really? That’s all you got?

            An article Grayson wrote about the demise of GAME_JAM?

            Please tell me you got something else?

            Please tell me this isn’t your definition of “positive press” that Zoe Quinn is apparently exchanging blowjobs for.

          • Dehydration

            There’s another one I did post from RPS when Grayson was in there somewhere in my comments, look for it. If I post links they take forever to get approved.

    • Dehydration

      This is videogames. Everyone involved in this mess is videogames. Another one of your posts suggests that he could’ve been lying, but there’s evidence right there in that blog post of the ex. Zoe even admits to it on her tumblr post. In case you’ve forgotten, she also did attempt to cry wolf another time when she accused Wizardchan (a website filled to the brim with depressed introverts) of mass-harassing her and trying to keep her down.

      I don’t see why we can’t call out blatant nepotism in the games industry when proof of it is dangling right in front of our faces.

    • Jo

      This has to do with corruption of journalism and affects the indie gaming industry; what strikes me as odd is anyone who attempts to have a voice is almost immediately shut down. It’s not just some promiscuous woman cheating on her boyfriend with 3-5 guys, that’s horrible but it happens, or even using Robin William’s death to allegedly garner more attention to her game. She’s allegedly slept with reviewers of popular outlets in exchange to unjustly support her mediocre game with favorable reviews, while attempting to censor and shut down any criticism, as well as lying about harassment she received. Instead of coming forth with the truth she’s lied constantly and contradicted herself. There are chat logs indicating she did in fact cheat on her boyfriend with these persons.

      • Edward Kelly

        Correction. ReviewER (not reviewers, let’s not get carried away Jo). And I’m yet to see any such thing. Show me Nathan Graysons reviews of Zoe Quinn that were “unjustly” garnered by sexual favors. Oh wait… what?… You’re living in a righteous fantasy world?

        • Jo

          No, not at all. I said reviewers because to my knowledge it’s more than one, and said so allegedly; reviewer, journalist, she slept with, who then promoted her, three being Nathan Grayson, Robin Arnott, and Joshua Biggs. I’m not sure if you’re trying to be pedantic but you can nitpick about terminology all you want, whether or not she did sleep with them in exchange for the promotion of her game is up to speculation. If you want to see the Kotaku article a quick search on Google or the site itself can take you there. It could just be a coincidence that she happened to sleep with three to five men belonging to outlets who then promoted her game, but if it’s otherwise a breach of journalism then people should know the truth, instead of being silenced at a surprising rate.

        • Jo

          No, not at all. I said reviewers because to my knowledge it’s more than one, and said so allegedly; reviewer, journalist, she slept with, who then promoted her. Whether or not she did sleep with them in exchange for the promotion of her game is up to speculation. If you want to see the Kotaku article a quick search on Google or the site itself can take you there. It could just be a coincidence that she happened to sleep with three to five men belonging to outlets who promoted her game, but if it’s otherwise a breach of journalism then people should know the truth, instead of being silenced at a surprising rate.

          • Richard Cadman

            “to my knowledge”

            And your knowledge is based on gossip lol

            Seriously, do you people follow Perez Hilton? Cos it sounds like your sort of thing.

          • Jo

            No, based on chat logs, the testimonies and actions of those in involved. I said “To my knowledge” on the chance that I am wrong, in which case please correct me if the five guys are not involved in video games journalism, and offer your opinion.

    • Jo

      This has to do with corruption of journalism and affects the indie gaming industry; what strikes me as odd is anyone who attempts to have a voice is almost immediately shut down. It’s not just some promiscuous woman cheating on her boyfriend with 3-5 guys, that’s horrible but it happens, or even using Robin William’s death to allegedly garner more attention to her game. She’s allegedly slept with reviewers of popular outlets in exchange to unjustly support her mediocre game with favorable reviews, while attempting to censor and shut down any criticism, as well as lying about harassment she received. Instead of coming forth with the truth she’s lied constantly and contradicted herself. There are chat logs indicating she did in fact cheat on her boyfriend with these persons.

    • 4ThePatriarchy

      Do you even like games?

      • Dianna

        What’s a vidja gamez?

      • Nope

        Do you?

    • Fuggy Williams

      Because it’s about corruption in journalism. The people whose job it is to bring you unbiased news about your world are taking bribes to stifle negativity surrounding themselves.

      • Edward Kelly

        So show me the corrupt journalism. Let’s all have a read of the positive press Nathan Grayson created about Zoe Quinn, apparently in exchange for sex. That’s probably would I would lead with if I was writing an article like this. Anyone?….. ANYone?! Without such articles you sound like a bunch of hysterical, paranoid, whinging morons.

    • tg g

      don’t like it? don’t read it

      that simple

    • tg g

      don’t like it? don’t read it

      that simple

    • DrivingLeftLane

      Someone, a woman (surprise), using her body to get ahead in the gaming industry via sleeping with popular gaming site writers not news on a gaming site?

      • Nope

        Oh, look, a misogynist. Surprise!

    • DrivingLeftLane

      Someone, a woman (surprise), using her body to get ahead in the gaming industry via sleeping with popular gaming site writers not news on a gaming site?

    • Boop

      This is very much related to the games industry as well as is “our business” due to it’s relevance to said industry. The issue is not “she is a cheater”, “she is having sex!!!!”, or even “she slept with a married man”. The issue is that she’s used sex as a means to gain ground in the industry – both with her own boss and with at least one verified “journalist” in the industry for press coverage.

      If this was just a”slut shaming” because of her having sex a bunch, you’d be right, however her actions here very much have to do with the entire gaming industry and prove that there is no integrity in the indie development circle nor in games ‘journalism’. It also proves that everything this girl stood for (which is relevant to gaming, as she used it as a way to promote her games and ‘try to change the industry for the better’) was a total farce.

  • Phocas

    #FiveGuysBurgersandLies

  • Ruyter

    Good to see this getting some attention, most news-sites seem to lack the guts to handle this topic in a mature and transparent fashion.
    Things like this should be properly discussed and measures have to be taken to ensure videogame journalism stays high quality and non-biased and events like these are avoided in the future.

    • Edward Kelly

      “high-quality and non-biased”

      You mean publishing articles with spelling mistakes & unsubstantiated
      claims (Quinn soliciting sex for positive press). Frankly this article right
      here is an embarrassment

      • C G Saturation

        You just described every gaming website I’ve ever browsed.
        Not to mention every education institute I’ve ever attended.
        I’m not even exaggerating. I’m being completely serious.

        • Edward Kelly

          Damn homes. I’m truly sorry if that’s the case

  • Ruyter

    Good to see this getting some attention, most news-sites seem to lack the guts to handle this topic in a mature and transparent fashion.
    Things like this should be properly discussed and measures have to be taken to ensure videogame journalism stays high quality and non-biased and events like these are avoided in the future.

  • donitaruga

    Just want to say thank you for posting this while everyone runs away from the topic, thank you very much.

  • donitaruga

    Just want to say thank you for posting this while everyone runs away from the topic, thank you very much.

  • K.

    You might want to reword the thing about Notch. That’s being misinterpreted to be Notch calling out Fish, but if you read the tweets right it’s both Notch and Fish berating another Twitter user that was initially insulting Fish.

  • K.

    You might want to reword the thing about Notch. That’s being misinterpreted to be Notch calling out Fish, but if you read the tweets right it’s both Notch and Fish berating another Twitter user that was initially insulting Fish.

  • Juan Ovus

    I’m glad somebody finally has the balls to actually report on this.

    The fact that people use feminism or misogyny as a shield to excuse corruption and conflict of interest is revolting, they’re parasites upon equal rights and are shamelessly using it to push their own selfish interests,

    • C G Saturation

      That’s what this is all about, really. Ironically, the people fighting to prove women aren’t objects often forget that women are people too. Women are just as capable of taking advantage of others to further their own goals.

  • Juan Ovus

    I’m glad somebody finally has the balls to actually report on this.

    The fact that people use feminism or misogyny as a shield to excuse corruption and conflict of interest is revolting, they’re parasites upon equal rights and are shamelessly using it to push their own selfish interests,

  • John

    Thanks for posting this, people need to know the truth

  • Dehydration

    Good on you for reporting it. It’s insane how there is next to no other journo even acknowledging that this happened.

    • Chris Paoli

      Typically journalists tend to stay away from basing articles on anonymous 4Chan, Youtube and Reddit posts. It makes for sloppy, incorrect journalism and that’s why you haven’t seen anybody reporting on it. Now if verifiable information surfaces and it continues to be ignored, then there’s a problem.

      • Dehydration

        Her ex posted proof, see? http://thezoepost.wordpress.com/
        Neither did Zoe deny things.

        • Chris Paoli

          Sorry, but that is not considered “proof” in any journalistic sense. I’m currently working as a journalist. If I presented my bosses a story using that blog post as proof, I would not have my job for long.

          • Internet_Zen_Master

            I’m sorry, but the screencaps of chatlogs between Ms. Quinn and Eron Gronj(sp?) provided in the (rather long) blog post don’t qualify as ‘evidence’? Somehow I find that rather hard to believe.

          • Chris Paoli

            And that’s why you would make a terrible journalist. Screengrabs can be manipulated/made up. And blogs can be falsely constructed. Why would anybody lie? On the Internet?

            My point is not whether or not this story is true. It’s whether or not, at this point, we have enough verifiable evidence to draw a conclusion. And we do not. That is why you have not seen any outlets reporting on this.

            Could this change? Sure. If all of this is true, I’d expect to start seeing items popping up fairly soon.

            The other narrative coming out of this situation is that somehow Zoe and her cohorts are powerful enough to suppress any talk or reporting on the matter across the entire Internet. That is silly nonsense. If somebody in the position of this small-time independent game developer had enough pull to suppress negative press, then you would never see a single negative item about anybody that has even the slightest more pull than her.

          • Banjoman

            The suppression is happening though, and it’s gross: http://i.imgur.com/ek55reT.png

          • Dehydration

            There’s a reason why I posted the link itself and it’s because you haven’t read it. He goes as far as to prove that it’s not doctored with that video.

          • Chris Paoli

            I have read it. It’s been over the Internet all morning. This is not verifiable proof. This falls in the category of anecdotal evidence. Those outlets relying on this as the sole source of information would be conducting sloppy journalism.

            Now if more information arises that strenthenghs the claims made in this blog (and without outside or secondary sources verifying it, it stays on the level of “claim”), the argument made here could be vindicated. At this time, it can only be reported on as “rumor”.

            Learning to evaluate and critically examining the source, content and information provided will help you to come to the correct conclusion without falling into incorrect assumptions.

          • Ercoidem

            Here’s the link from that youtube video to a very long post about why wizardchan is most likely not true and was used by Zoe for personal gain. This is why there should be a question of integrity if nothing else, and why this article matters when everyone else is silent. If you’re truly interested in facts then this should interest you. http://imgur.com/a/4VOcx

          • Ercoidem

            Understandable, evidence is very important. But, if there is no hard evidence of wrongdoing are you then saying it can not be considered news? Here are some facts, and together they begin to form a narrative. And if you watched that video above and read the details on the wizardchan incident you would start to see some connections with everything else we know. Let’s say everything claimed is false. But let’s look at all the things that have been said and are there for our us to investigate. Zoe’s ex-boyfriend posts personal conversations and claims her as a cheater with prominent members of the game journalism community. She was “harassed” by wizardchan users on a forum she never frequents and was never directly harassed(or any definition of harassed for that matter). Comments in a thread now constitute harassment(watch what you say everyone). Her game undeniably prospered through this “scandal”, whether it was actual harassment or not, this can not be denied. And lastly she has posted before about muggings that may or may not have happened. All these things beg some kind of investigation don’t you think? Whether we take them for fact or not. And if you read through her ex-boyfriends posts, it all fits together like a puzzle. To say that this should not be news is to ignore the weird situation we are faced with here.

          • Chris Paoli

            Yup, there is a narrative forming. And I do believe it garners investigation. You know what it doesn’t call for? A knee-jerk reaction by outlets to post a half-baked, half-verified story for those looking for blood.

            I’ve kept an eye on sites like Reddit all day concerning this situation. It seems like there are two camps right now: One wants this “gotcha” story plastered all over online so that Zoe and her cohorts can pay their pound of flesh. The other wants to see a return of journalistic integrity and accountability to the VG market. Unfortunately, half of these people will not get what they want.

            As I’ve been saying, this could be news, but at this point you won’t see many reporting on it because there’s not enough there. If this ends up being true and many of our speculations turn out to be correct, the story will surface. I’d rather see outlets take their time and get it right instead of rushing in for that all-mighty click-bait (I’m guessing Gamer Headlines is having a nice traffic day today).

            And if information continues to come out and a clearer, more complete picture starts to form, and outlets continue to ignore it, then it’s our job to keep pressure on them to report it.

          • TheCynicalReaper

            “half-baked”
            It’s fact that she is a big name in the indie game scene.

            It’s fact she has had sexual relations with gaming journalists.
            It’s fact that she has cried victimization when she herself has victimized others.
            CONFLICT OF INTEREST is what is being argued (by those who aren’t trying to be edgy), not anything else, and this is absolutely a conflict of interest/show of hypocrisy on her part and those around her.

          • Edward Kelly

            I’m curious. Is the conflict of interest that she just shouldn’t have slept with a games journo full stop? Like are media peeps just a no go if you’re a dev & vice-versa?

            Or is the conflict of interest more specifically in a games journalist (singular, not plural as you’ve used, amazing how these things blow up isn’t it :) even the anecdotal evidence only alleges one journalist) using his position to promote a dev he’s in a relationship with?

          • Richard Cadman

            It’s fact is it? Where are these supposed facts?

          • Ercoidem

            You’re drawing two parallels that don’t match. Yes, a news story should not become an article simply because of speculation on an anonymous site. But let me ask you this, you say you’re a journalist so I’m curious. Let’s say there was a scandal about one of your journalists and your publication or any imagined scandal, that if true could prove disastrous for the parties involved, your company, and your industry. Would the response by your company be to stay silent? And would every other news outlet in your field stay silent. It’s just strange that something that COULD negatively affect their industry isn’t being addressed by anyone but this site. And this story has been spreading since Saturday when her ex-boyfriend put up his blog alleging her illicit behavior with prominent game reviewer figures.

          • C G Saturation

            Do you know how many times major gaming news websites have jumped on stories without bothering to check their sources? It’s becoming increasingly common nowadays.

            At the very least, they could report on the situation and then state that the facts have not yet been confirmed. That they are completely sweeping it under the rug is a different story.

          • TheCynicalReaper

            “screen/grabs and blogs, falsely constructed”
            Firstly, this evidence of her lying is not falsely constructed:
            http://imgur.com/a/4VOcx
            Secondly, while I can understand that you want more evidence, this is still a developing story, and whether or not she truly did receive favors from the co-worker and journalists she slept with, it does show a conflict of interest on all of their parts. That is fact, as is her admission to this.

            Personal biases aside, the “favors” angle is at this point only a theory as far as I know, but the conflict of interest is very real.

            Also, there is something wrong when many threads are being shut down on the subject, but I don’t think Zoe is the head of the Illuminati or something ridiculous. No idea what’s going on, though. Too strange not to ignore.

          • C G Saturation

            It’s not at all silly when you consider that they all share some sort of stake in this.

            You’re only assuming that they’re avoiding it because of “power”. There are plenty of other reasons that could simultaneously influence a large number of outlets.

            For example, some of those “journalists” are tightly knit and know each other personally. Gaming industry is a small world. You run into the same people again and again. If one of their own’s integrity comes into question, they’re going to look out for each other. It’s that simple.

          • C G Saturation

            Holding yourself to decent standards doesn’t mean that anyone else bothers to do the same. Most people nowadays have no standards. Sad, but true.

      • Dehydration

        Her ex posted proof, see? http://thezoepost.wordpress.com/
        Neither did Zoe deny things.

      • Ercoidem

        And yet during the Wizardchan debacle all these other “Journalists” had no problem grabbing their pitchforks and taking everything she claimed as fact. And decrying comments from a Board no one frequents as “harrassment.” Which, by the way, gave her enough publicity and empathy to get her Depression game greenlit on Steam. It wasn’t the first time she had put it up there. And there are many comments of people up voting her game to “Support” her cause.

        • Chris Paoli

          Please provide outlets other than Kotaku (which, as a working journalist, is not a name known for journalistic integrity) that reported on this.

          Also, if I understand you, based on journalists jumping to conclusions in the past, they should jump to conclusions today?

          Ah the ‘ole “two wrongs make a right” argument! Haven’t seen that one since my elementary school days.

          My point is that with what we know and what percentage may or may not be misinformation, it would be irresponsible for outlets to start reporting on this as news. If true, this story will not go away and their stories will be stronger for waiting. I would rather have the facts presented in a clear manner over reporting on the emotional outcry occurring right now online.

          • Ercoidem

            I’m merely pointing out the fallacy in your argument stating that this isn’t on the news sites because journalists have never gone to anonymous boards for news when it’s clearly been the case in many places. Shall I peruse twitter and other sites that wrote articles to defend Zoe Quinn? Your response was to someone commenting that it’s great to finally see something said about this whole story. I’m not trying to claim conspiracy or even that there is sexual favors being traded. But the fact remains that this is the only site, to my-admittedly lacking- knowledge that has said anything on the matter.

        • Chris Paoli

          Please provide outlets other than Kotaku (which, as a working journalist, is not a name known for journalistic integrity) that reported on this.

          Also, if I understand you, based on journalists jumping to conclusions in the past, they should jump to conclusions today?

          Ah the ‘ole “two wrongs make a right” argument! Haven’t seen that one since my elementary school days.

          My point is that with what we know and what percentage may or may not be misinformation, it would be irresponsible for outlets to start reporting on this as news. If true, this story will not go away and their stories will be stronger for waiting. I would rather have the facts presented in a clear manner over reporting on the emotional outcry occurring right now online.

      • Ercoidem

        And yet during the Wizardchan debacle all these other “Journalists” had no problem grabbing their pitchforks and taking everything she claimed as fact. And decrying comments from a Board no one frequents as “harrassment.” Which, by the way, gave her enough publicity and empathy to get her Depression game greenlit on Steam. It wasn’t the first time she had put it up there. And there are many comments of people up voting her game to “Support” her cause.

      • Goebbels

        Considering that most publications get their info from YouTube, tumblr, or whatever’s up their ass (whatever gets the clicks)

      • C G Saturation

        And yet those “journalists” seem to frequently cite sensationalist blogs like Sankaku Complex as reputable sources. Not to mention constantly misreporting simple facts.

        Sorry, your explanation doesn’t quite match the reality.

    • Chris Paoli

      Typically journalists tend to stay away from basing articles on anonymous 4Chan, Youtube and Reddit posts. It makes for sloppy, incorrect journalism and that’s why you haven’t seen anybody reporting on it. Now if verifiable information surfaces and it continues to be ignored, then there’s a problem.

  • Dehydration

    Good on you for reporting it. It’s insane how there is next to no other journo even acknowledging that this happened.

  • LeLedg

    Just stumbled on this shit storm via TotalBiscuit’s blog post on reddit’s wall, which then lead me here. Gotta say, nice little piece. Neutral and informative as journalism should be. Watched IA’s video and although at the end he went on about fallacious unsubstantiated generalization and attacks against developpers (which I think is out of order in this debate), I liked that he managed to expose truths and facts about that Zoe Quinn person that raises some serious questions about journalistic integrity of not only the gaming press but tools like Reddit, 4chan, etc… I hope someone answers for what transpired and sheds some more light on the situation instead of trying to cover up like they all did so far. Also, I hope it reminds them that the internet is restless and cannot be so easily manipulated.

    • piratepenguin

      Any piece that starts out calling its subjects “infamous” and a “bearded loudmouth” cannot be justly characterized as “neutral”.

      • Abyss

        Phil fish is an infamous bearded loudmouth…. these are facts….

      • MAFIAA

        That’s actually a fact-based observation.

        He’s definitely “infamous” (at least in the indie game scene and indie game reporting scene), he’s “bearded” and he’s definitely a “loudmouth” and evidence of this is all over the internet and/or his twitter (he regularly calls people “bastards”, “subhuman little shits”, “ball-less manboobs”, “entitled gamer”, you have stuff like “shut the fuck up about FEZ 2. never going to happen. you don’t deserve it” – if you don’t consider that “loudmouth”, then I don’t know what is loudmouth).

  • LeLedg

    Just stumbled on this shit storm via TotalBiscuit’s blog post on reddit’s wall, which then lead me here. Gotta say, nice little piece. Neutral and informative as journalism should be. Watched IA’s video and although at the end he went on about fallacious unsubstantiated generalization and attacks against developpers (which I think is out of order in this debate), I liked that he managed to expose truths and facts about that Zoe Quinn person that raises some serious questions about journalistic integrity of not only the gaming press but tools like Reddit, 4chan, etc… I hope someone answers for what transpired and sheds some more light on the situation instead of trying to cover up like they all did so far. Also, I hope it reminds them that the internet is restless and cannot be so easily manipulated.

  • The amount of people a person has sex with has no effect on anything, this video is complete bullshit. Slutshaming is actually and completely retarded.

  • The amount of people a person has sex with has no effect on anything, this video is complete bullshit. Slutshaming is actually and completely retarded.

    • Christmas__Lights

      So it is;
      however, cronyism-shaming is not.

    • Hitlerwascool

      There is nothing wrong with shaming degeneracy

    • Tyler Marcoz

      That’s objectively wrong, though. Your attempt to trivialize human sexuality is stupid.

    • TwisterFister

      Yes, let’s completely ignore the fact that she literally sucked the patriarchal flag pole to get herself ahead of everyone else.

      • C G Saturation

        Let’s not forget she also took advantage of the feminist movement.

    • Strtwise

      She had unprotected sex with those people, and lied to her partner about it, putting him at risk.

      Stop using victim-speak buzzwords like “slut shaming” to cover up her bullshit.

    • sciencemile

      Anyone who says it’s slut shaming is a total dumbass. Sluts have sex for free. The whole point of this is that it was in exchange for personal gain and compromising the journalistic integrity of the 5th estate as a result.

      So yeah, stop calling people sluts you misogynist, we’re talking about corruption here.

      • Corruption about what? If any of this is real, why is Zoe being blames for what game critics are being pretended to have done?

        • sciencemile

          Corruption in the games media, a general lack of journalistic integrity (on the Reuter’s scale most gaming news sites rank far below even The National Enquirer in terms of Journalistic Integrity).

          Zoe is involved in this simply because she was involved in several instances that lend examples to the problems we’re talking about (she is one of the least aggregious examples, she just happens to be the latest spark to revitalize the outrage).

          A boss getting into a relationship with one of their employees is one of the iconic examples of no-nos in the workplace, and in most business environments would get the boss fired. Bosses can’t have relations with their employees, Therapists and Doctors can’t have relations with their clients, and Journalists can’t have relations with their subjects.

          That’s as far as Zoe Quinn should go in this conversation, I feel. There are more important examples like DoritoGate.

          • Criticism is not journalism. it’s, well… criticism.

          • sciencemile

            Criticism is a form of Journalism. Reporting is another kind. They’re both Journalism.

          • Is that why there are Criticism schools, where you learn about libel and slander? Criticism is not journalism, your ignorance does not change this.

          • sciencemile

            There are Journalism schools, where you learn about all of those things.

            http://education-portal.com/articles/Become_a_Film_Critic_Education_and_Career_Roadmap.html

            http://journalism.nyu.edu/graduate/courses-of-study/cultural-reporting-and-criticism/

            Criticism IS a form of Journalism, and let’s not going around calling people ignorant without further evidence, please.

          • sciencemile

            Also now that I think about my initial reply to you, I also apologize for calling you a misogynist over a single comment you made.

          • sciencemile

            Err, somehow that other post got sent to you before the next reply did, showing the university journalism branches teaching classes on reporting and criticism.

          • The problem with that is the fact that those are, as you said, journalism branches, not criticism branches.

          • sciencemile

            Law of Heredity

            Criticism can’t be considered a Branch of Journalism and simultaneously not be Journalism, anymore than a Dog is somehow not a Mammal.

          • You are correct. Fortunately, criticism is not considered to be a branch of journalism. Thus making the fact that a branch of journalism cannot be considered to not be journalism, although true, no longer relevant.

            So, you know, it’s all good. I mean, you’re wrong, but it’s all good.

          • sciencemile

            Any newspaper that has food and movie reviews would beg to differ. Entertainment Journalism IS a branch of journalism, and that includes reviews and critiques; they gather, process, and disseminate information the same as any other journalist.

            There’s no getting around the fact that these people have to be held to the same standards as everyone else if they wish to be trusted by the reader. If they want to be bloggers, they can be fired and replaced by journalists. If they want to be journalists and keep their jobs, then they better act like journalists.

          • sciencemile

            Moreover; if I was to go to my Community College and survey the professors teaching Journalism whether Critics are Journalists, would that be sufficient to convince you or would you still insist that you’re right? Because I’ll settle this with some experts if you like. Who knows you might be right. I’ll even have them sign something and I’ll scan it and upload the image here.

          • Whatever you say, kid.

          • sciencemile

            Alright just thought I’d get you to confirm that. Good luck.

          • sciencemile

            I’ll throw in my local newspaper, The Centralia Chronicle, as well. It’ll be a wild field trip of magic and discovery.

          • Yeah, nice to see how well that went. Did you finally realise that enthusiast press isn’t the same thing as journalism?

  • Beatnik Revolution

    Thank you for posting this. Once again we learn that those who claim to be sanctimonious and pure of heart for their cause often have a dark hypocrisy to hide. No different than Ted Haggard or other anti-gay conservatives or preachers who are caught red handed in partaking in the very sins they denounce.

    This is a clear case of unprofessional behavior and nepotism in the games industry and its of no surprise that the very powers accused are trying to blackball any mention of this. Demagogues like this need to be exposed, not championed

  • Beatnik Revolution

    Thank you for posting this. Once again we learn that those who claim to be sanctimonious and pure of heart for their cause often have a dark hypocrisy to hide. No different than Ted Haggard or other anti-gay conservatives or preachers who are caught red handed in partaking in the very sins they denounce.

    This is a clear case of unprofessional behavior and nepotism in the games industry and its of no surprise that the very powers accused are trying to blackball any mention of this. Demagogues like this need to be exposed, not championed

  • LamerGamer

    ayy lmao

  • LamerGamer

    ayy lmao

  • Creamy McGee

    Thank God a news site is actually reporting this. Props to you for being one of the first!

  • Creamy McGee

    Thank God a news site is actually reporting this. Props to you for being one of the first!

  • SPOCK1

    Hopefully Zoe doesn’t find Samual Sales and this article doesn’t mysteriously disappear post-coitally.

  • SPOCK1

    Hopefully Zoe doesn’t find Samual Sales and this article doesn’t mysteriously disappear post-coitally.

  • tg g

    to all the stupid social justice warriors and feminists out there: if you don’t like the article, don’t read it, it’s that simple

    stop whining and whinging like babies
    hell, that’s insulting for babies, my apologies to them

  • iamjesus

    Can I get an example?

  • iamjesus

    Can I get an example?

  • Ya sweet.

  • Ya sweet.

  • tk421

    Could not care less.

  • Dianna

    funny, because it seems that people seem to be focusing on her.

  • TheCynicalReaper

    Welp, not only did you link to a well constructed video but you’ve reported on this issue without a single buzzword or moronic defense.
    Looks like I have a new website to keep up with.

    • R3353

      Same here, I have never really liked gaming websites, but I’m willing to follow this one for as long as it remains untouched by SJWs.

    • R3353

      Same here, I have never really liked gaming websites, but I’m willing to follow this one for as long as it remains untouched by SJWs.

  • TheCynicalReaper

    Welp, not only did you link to a well constructed video but you’ve reported on this issue without a single buzzword or moronic defense.
    Looks like I have a new website to keep up with.

  • Nephanor of Fraal

    Considering on my latest video I say any game media website that doesn’t actually talk about the inherent conflict of interest that her, her boss, and those publishers engaged in should be boycotted, I am glad to see that one website has the journalistic integrity to actually call everyone involved to task. Good job! Looks like I have a website to support!

    • Edward Kelly

      Who specifically are we boycotting and why? I need in on this

      • Nephanor of Fraal

        And gaming website that deletes discussion of this, is involved in the conflict of interest, or defends those involved in it. Which is to say…most other sites.

  • Edward Kelly

    I agree with
    all the other posters here, games journalism has been severely compromised. For
    example, hey there Samual Sales, substantiate claims (provide links, dates,
    quotes, screencaps, ANYthing) that Nathan Grayson published positive press
    about Zoe Quinn.

    Actually that request goes out to ALL the posters right here who are concerned
    with corrupt games journalism. It’s pretty important when you make that
    accusation to, you know, actually point to some media you think has been
    corrupted. Can any of you do that?

    If you can, THEN we can all look at the dates (which Eron has creepily and
    meticulously provided us all with) and discuss NATHAN’s conflict of interest.

    Not sure why the responsibility has fallen on the developer. Nathan Grayson has
    a brain and free-will and if he’s having a relationship of any kind with a dev whose
    project comes across his desk it’s up to him to make the call to pass it to
    someone less biased.

    Ah, but the narrative here is Zoe Quinn got her CLAWS into him and was
    soliciting (or, while we’re talking about the demise of games journalism, as
    Sam likes to call it “solictating”, seriously dude, you got SO
    excited you couldn’t even take 5 seconds to run a spell check,
    uber-professional…) SEX for GOOD REVIEWS. Seriously? This plays into an
    ancient scary myth of evil women manipulating us poor hapless men with their
    sexuality :( :( :(

    Honestly, given the headline I was expecting the first paragraph to read
    “Last February Nathan Grayson wrote a glowing review of “xyz” by
    Zoe Quinn. Doesn’t exist, show it to me or calm down y’all.

    And lift yo game Samual Sales. At the moment you’re nothing more than a gossip
    columnist.

    • bogenschutze

      You truly know shit about the whole fact. Lurk more.

      • Edward Kelly

        Enlighten me bad boy

  • Edward Kelly

    I agree with
    all the other posters here, games journalism has been severely compromised. For
    example, hey there Samual Sales, substantiate claims (provide links, dates,
    quotes, screencaps, ANYthing) that Nathan Grayson published positive press
    about Zoe Quinn.

    Actually that request goes out to ALL the posters right here who are concerned
    with corrupt games journalism. It’s pretty important when you make that
    accusation to, you know, actually point to some media you think has been
    corrupted. Can any of you do that?

    If you can, THEN we can all look at the dates (which Eron has creepily and
    meticulously provided us all with) and discuss NATHAN’s conflict of interest.

    Not sure why the responsibility has fallen on the developer. Nathan Grayson has
    a brain and free-will and if he’s having a relationship of any kind with a dev whose
    project comes across his desk it’s up to him to make the call to pass it to
    someone less biased.

    Ah, but the narrative here is Zoe Quinn got her CLAWS into him and was
    soliciting (or, while we’re talking about the demise of games journalism, as
    Sam likes to call it “solictating”, seriously dude, you got SO
    excited you couldn’t even take 5 seconds to run a spell check,
    uber-professional…) SEX for GOOD REVIEWS. Seriously? This plays into an
    ancient scary myth of evil women manipulating us poor hapless men with their
    sexuality :( :( :(

    Honestly, given the headline I was expecting the first paragraph to read
    “Last February Nathan Grayson wrote a glowing review of “xyz” by
    Zoe Quinn. Doesn’t exist, show it to me or calm down y’all.

    And lift yo game Samual Sales. At the moment you’re nothing more than a gossip
    columnist.

  • Dashing J

    Wow the only headline about this in the news pretty much. Never heard of you Gamer Headlines, but I think I will visit you much more in the future. :)

    • HalfTheBattle

      Same here. I have never heard of Gamer Headlines before, but the fact that they are covering this big story when everyone else in “the journalist club” is actively suppressing it means they have a new follower.

  • Dashing J

    Wow the only headline about this in the news pretty much. Never heard of you Gamer Headlines, but I think I will visit you much more in the future. :)

  • Christmas__Lights

    Not one other gaming “journalism” site is giving this any press. I too will be coming here in the future.

    • Edward Kelly

      Maybe because real journalism requires facts or real news? When that’s forthcoming I expect you’ll see a lot of other outlets cover it. Until then enjoy your knitting circle Christmas_Lights :)

      • TheCynicalReaper

        “real news” A prominent name in the indie game dev community with several connections within the industry has been proven to have had sexual relations with many of said connections, a few of whom worked with her and praised her work.
        Zoe Quinn’s revelations is almost on par with Bill Clinton’s infamous fiasco (though she’s not the president of anything, she is a highly influential name in the gaming scene).

        • Edward Kelly

          Negative, everything you just wrote is gossip.

          “facts” would be reviews published by Nathan Grayson of Zoe Quinn’s work.

          “real news” would be a conflict of interest. Neither of those things are present in the above article.

          I’m not even going to address your equating Zoe Quinn with the President of the United States of America, but you go ahead and enjoy that fantasy my friend :)

          • Martin C

            Keep putting your head in the sand. There is more than enough going on to make anyone with a brain feel somethings amiss. If you can’t see it, then get your vision checked. But please, keep going. It’s beyond comical to watch people like you.

          • Edward Kelly

            On the contrary, there’s a remarkable lack of analysis (ie. brain use) going on here & more emotional band-wagon hopping.

            Show me Nathan Graysons positive press regarding Zoe Quinn. Show me the evidence that games journalism is being corrupted by evil manipulating women.

            If you don’t respond then we’ll know who has their head in the sand.

          • Omnicidal Neutral

            If you don’t want to believe that Quinn influenced Grayson’s opinion on her game by fucking him (and he HAS written about it before in his articles, very positively), then fine. How about the fact that she completely destroyed a charity game jam, then prevented the victims from getting that story out by going to the reporters and going “M-MUH OPPRESSION”? Because that was also a thing that happened, and that’s what makes me livid the most.

          • JohnnyAppleseed

            Hey smartass, the proof has been posted above in the comments. Good job spending hours trolling these comments only to be proven wrong. Hope it was a good use of your day.

          • Edward Kelly

            That…. that’s it?….

            GAMES JOURNALISM DEAD/CORRUPT UNDER THE EVIL MANIPULATING INFLUENCE OF PROMISCUOUS WOMEN CHANGING THE FACE OF GAMING MAKING IT HARDER TO DEVELOP/CONSUME GAMES/ENJOY GAMING CULTURE

            And ALL Y’all got… ALL you got after a day of digging… is DepressionQuest mentioned in a list of 50 games… and an article about Game_Jam.

            It’s hardly the sky is falling illuminati SJW conspiracy you’ve been trumpeting all day.

            But ok, ok, let’s go with what you have. These two incredibly damning articles by Nathan Grayson, my word, the state of journalism these days.. Let’s address the “problem”.

            So using Eron’s dates let’s run the numbers and look at this whole conflict of interest thing.

            Imma be over here talking to real live girls, lemmie know when you catch up, I’ve one more hurdle for you to jump once you try again to prove your bullshit theory :)

          • Ex Ploding

            Edward Kelly, the authority on the distinction between “gossip” and “scandal”. Too bad no one can understand your post. A fact is “reviews”? What does that even mean?

          • piratepenguin

            “reviews” is the plural of “review”.

            He’s alluding to the fact that the “positive press” that Ms. Quinn allegedly provided sex for doesn’t actually exist. But why let that get in the way of a good accusation?

          • Richard Cadman

            Reviews of the game??? lol

          • Edward Kelly

            Where did I make the distinction between “gossip” & “scandal”?

            Sorry, I’ll break it down even simpler.

            Gossip columns & your grandmothers knitting circle trade in salacious private details about people’s sex lives etc. maybe it’s true, maybe it’s not but who gives a damn coz it just feels so darn good to put someone else down and tut at how messed up they are.

            News outlets on the other hand don’t have that liberty. Obviously for legal & social reasons they need to check if the story is real.

            So, y’all are getting lathered up & crying foul because of an apparent corruption of games journalism right?

            So what I proposed would actually make this news is some verifiable facts. And in the case of journalistic corruption/nepotism that would be reviews written by Nathan Grayson about Zoe Quinn.

            That’s what you’re concerned about right? Where is it????

          • Brad Donald

            Funny how the articles about green light the Nathan wrote. One had the title ADMISSION QUEST, while tagging only 2 of 50 games, and Depression quest was one of the two. In the blurb it was given the most praise. Also if you copy the title page text the twitter like specifically mentions depression quest when you copy paste it somewhere else. And the picture used for the story is one from depression quest. Sure one maybe two things its a coincidence. But when its up to 5 things and the she was sleeping with Nathan? Yeah thats too many. Also no one said it was just positive reviews. One of the guys she slept with was a judge on the indicade panel for green light. It just keeps getting worse.

  • Scrumpmonkey

    I think the reason this matters is that Zoe Quinn set herself up as this untouchable paragon of social justice and female issues, making herself and her game into this image. She is a hypocrite. Not only did she offer sexual favours for press she continues to use the same defense tactics as always.

    Yes someone but her shit in the street. That sucks for her. But the amount of stuff that has happened? Jesus… it’s a massive scandal for indie gaming, games journalism and even for women in gaming at large. I think it makes people angry she sat in this high position judging and criticizing whilst she was cheating, fucking and blowing her way to the top. It’s the complete violation of her own message and morals, it’s like finding out the head of PETA was running a Dog Fighting ring.

  • gibbly

    Finally, a site reporting on this without being attacked by white knights or sjw.

    The fact that there are people ignoring or even defending this is awful.

    We have direct PROOF of the corruption in this industry, and they’re deflecting it with “you’re just jealous a woman made a (non) game”.

    I agree with other user here. This site seems a lot more reliable than most others.

  • Nope

    “Also you can’t simply assert that gaming culture is “misogynistic””

    Watch us, boyo.

  • Nope

    Oh, clearly. The rape/death threats and harassment aimed at women in the industry or female players who dare to reveal their gender in public don’t come from a misogynistic place *at all*.

  • testicularious

    Videogames is serious business

    Don’t fuck with the wrong people, or you’ll get steamrolled by crybaby social justice warriors. They’ll do their best to silence you, and use communist methods to ridicule and diminish your statments, ruin your career for no reason other than stating your opinion on a matter.

    You’re now a rapist for making this article. Hows that feel huh?

  • kritzingerx24 .
  • Vok

    I for one will start coming for my gaming news here, no other site will report on this story.

  • Vermont

    Bookmarked. We need more actual journalism.
    This story may be the major blow to corrupt gaming journalism that was needed, I hope actions are taken and people act rationally for once.
    Sites like Kotaku should not be trusted, never. People like this, changing sex for press is not needed in the industry if we want the medium to advance.

  • Chris Norris

    Ignoring the fact that the writer of this article did not bother looking to confirm any details, or ask any questions, or confirm any of the ever-shifting shitstorm this event has conjured, the tone of this article is anything but neutral.

    This is garbage clickbait repetition of things that the writer has made zero effort to corroborate. You want to know why “all the games journalists” aren’t reporting on this? Because right now this is the equivalent of a bunch of squabbling children throwing shit back and forth.

    Everyone here going “Oh wow, finally someone with the bravery to talk about this!” He isn’t fucking saying anything! He’s parroting back the same fucking thing you read on reddit three hours ago. Nothing here is new, nothing here is news, this is just someone saying the same thing you heard and agreed with earlier today. Jesus-fucking-Christ people.

    And Samuel Sales, without even going into discussion about the content of this article, you should be ashamed of yourself for taking advantage of a shitstorm, making the least possible amount of effort to copy what could have been easily found out after five minutes on fucking reddit, and doing no work to confirm or add anything whatsoever.

    Embarrassing, fucking hack writing.

    • Frank

      Uh I don’t know when you were on reddit last, but everyone mentioning this shitstorm or linking the above video is getting banned & comment deleted, entire subreddits deleted. ZQ has mods working around the clock to keep word of her shitstorm, so yeah, finding someone willing to link the video and talk about it is refreshing indeed.

    • monkeywrench

      you sound really mad. the facebook messages were proven legit as well
      as lot of other things, you whiteknighting cock-gobblers need to get off
      this whole “I-it’s just he said she said guys pls no bully” shit I keep
      hearing. Prostituting yourself for positive press and then using the
      youtube copyright system to gag criticism is pretty weak.

    • Ass Burgers

      I don’t think you know what the definition of “irony” is, but I’m glad you got to find out some way.

    • Amity

      I think you need to go outside

    • Frosty2013

      Total bullshit. The proof is of her indiscretion is offered up by the original wordpress site, both with screenshots of her text/chat messages but also a video of them on facebook.

      Many websites have deliberately delayed releasing information on this issue who would otherwise jumped on clickbait material, because they have a conflict of interest, the rest of the free media however do not have that issue and can report on it immediately, some of those sites have already been DMCA’d jut like the original MundaneMatt video, but are already back.

      YOU
      CANNOT
      SILENCE
      THE
      INTERNET

      • Edward Kelly

        “The proof of her indiscretion”? Dude the article is not about infidelity. The HEADline is about a gaming news and review outlet trading positive press for sex.

        No proof of that anywhere in the WordPress site.

        • Amity

          Then why are comments and threads on reddit and even 4chan being nuked? She admitted guilt when she played the DMCA card and tried to cover everything up

    • VoxBox

      Do you see what is going on right now?
      We can’t trust game ‘journalists,’ we can’t trust most news that is coming out unless straight from developers, even tech specs are being lied to us. Do you see the problem here? Do you see the issue?

      No. Put this shit up on Kotaku, it will be taken down, Giant Bomb? Down. Escapist? Down. Of course people are happy that a site puts this up. Is it click bait? Well, yes, it’s the new gossip story, but at least bullshit is being called out on hypocritical SJWs that want nothing more than to take advantage of other people. It’s disgusting. It’s bullshit. It’s killing our fucking gaming culture. You should be ashamed of yourself for complaining about something like this.

      • Edward Kelly

        Killing gaming culture?

        I’ve been asking this all day and not got one single reply, but, what does this mean?

        The fact no one can answer that question makes you either a) delusional & paranoid b) a liar or just c) a coward

        HOW IS GAMING CULTURE BEING KILLED?? Put up or shutup

    • God ov Hover Hand

      Ain’t no need to get so flustered. He probably knows just as much as we do at this point. If anything, churning out an article so quickly serves as an acknowledgement by this site that this issue exists while everyone else is silent. Also, the detail of events serves as a nice, concise summary of what happened rather than sifting through endless Reddit comments full of passion and anger.

    • Brit Bong

      Ignoring the most important factor of this whole issue isn’t exactly helpful.
      Quinn has requested ‘radio silence’ (phrase lifted from a tweet asking two others discussing the topic to cease on her behalf https://i.imgur.com/J0FeyUJ.png )
      That request to hush up something is interesting in of itself.

      Secondly, this could conceivably be the first time someone has heard of the situation.
      Not everyone uses reddit or whatever other sites have information about this.
      I happened to be drawn in by wandering into a post on tumblr, then wondering ‘why is everyone being so quiet about this?’
      The media, in general, isn’t all that well known for its considerate behavior in regards to other peoples privacy and deviation from the norm was puzzling.
      I’m actually starting to think the silence surrounding this event is drawing more attention than one or two website having run an article in the first place.

      I’m not going to call the above article a pulitzer winning piece of journalism (sorry Sales), but it isn’t by any means as bad in terms of content as your reaction would indicate.
      It’s short, plain and links to the few sources of information that are available
      The criticism that it says nothing new (to some) is legitimate, but consider,
      in a situation that is actively being ignored or silenced by other parties, finding something new to say can be somewhat difficult.

      What is it that offends you here?
      Is it the tone you find most offensive, or is it the subject matter itself?
      Why does talking about this subject illicit an overly harsh criticism for reporting on a trending topic from social websites?
      What specifically makes this topic forbidden?

    • David Archer

      You are truly delusional, Jesus-fucking-Christ.

    • Cable

      Holy shit yes the ignorance and lack of knowledge of the sources bugged me SO HARD. It’s like this guy just gathers references, but never reads any of them. Also, his seeming bias against TB: ‘attacks both Zoe and gaming journalism in general for lack of professionalism and work ethic’. Are you fucking kidding me? Has he even read the post? Jesus Christ, it’s like a journalist who’s really good at outlining the situation, but doesn’t do any of his own god damn research. TB ‘attacks’ people who act like Zoe & co. are accused of having acted. Even though he actually doesn’t ‘attack’ anybody, that’s one of the main points of his Tweet. He reiterates that he ‘thoroughly condem(s)’ this kind of behaviour, but doesn’t go in to whether he believes any of the allegations. You can’t just say something that isn’t true. What are the chances somebody will read this and believe what he’s saying? They’re there, let’s say that. This kind of careless reporting is what births internet shit storms. If you can’t do it right, don’t fucking do it.

    • SootShade

      This. I fucking wish someone did do a piece of proper journalism on this without failing immediately at the step of goddamn fact checking.

      Yeah, there seems to be problem here, but this article explains about as much as an endless row of removed comments.

  • Lenny

    Alright GamerHeadlines I’ve never heard of you before but you now have my attention! The only site with the balls to cover this very serious issue.

  • No

    Call me again when Jade Raymond is involved and there are nude pics.

  • Spenny

    Glad you’re covering this.

  • pkfrost

    I can’t believe a website is actually reporting the story that everyone else is refusing to acknowledge. We cannot let this be swept under the rug, good on ya GH.

  • rupok

    I hope you guys gain popularity by having the balls to cover issues like this. I am tired of kotaku,rpgs,polygon and their sjw crusade. Report news with credibility and many of us will support you instead of those pile of turds.

  • MatthewSherrard

    I think you folks should look at professionalism by being more careful with your phrasing to make clear what is accusation and what is reasonably demonstrated to be fact. Specifically the following sentence strongly implies what is found at the bottom of the rabbit hole is truth, not allegation:

    “Not only has she been swapping blow for positive press, but also
    leveraging her sexual connections to stamp out anybody critical of her…”

  • LoseyGosey

    Glad to see someone is actually covering this but as a few others have said the tone is strange. Refreshing to see this point of view I must admit, but it seems a bit unprofessional. Don’t let this be your counter answer to the people who have been writing apologist pieces. We don’t need to counter MSNBC with Fox News. Just put out the facts and let them speak for themselves. They look bad enough on their own.

  • Mike Blackshear

    It’s time, my brothers.

    Time for us to save gaming.

    • Edward Kelly

      Awesome! *tapes flamethrower to pulse rifle*

      Wait, who are we saving gaming from?

      • Mike Blackshear

        Corrupt devs and journalists.

        • Edward Kelly

          Oh….

          *extinguishes flame thrower*

          I thought there was a real threat :(

          • Mike Blackshear

            If you care about video games, then it IS a real threat.

          • Edward Kelly

            How have they been damaging computer games?

          • TheCynicalReaper

            I find it ironic and funny that you, a guy who JUST made an account to comment on this subject today and talk it down, is using the name of a dude known as the Advisory Consultant for the “Ethics and Excellence in Journalism” foundation.

            And no, before you get uppity, I’m not saying you’re the same person. I just find it funny that the guy who thinks this blatant misconduct is using the same name as another guy who’s a consultant against this kind of misconduct.
            Funny. As in “haha”, not as in “lel conspiracy”

          • Edward Kelly

            Yeah that’s hilarious.

            Anyway someone was gonna denonstrate something about a conspiracy of corruption among game devs & journos?

          • TheCynicalReaper

            I like how you used the word “conspiracy” exactly as I knew you would. I take it you not only are willfully avoiding the blog with evidence of her admission but are also avoiding the other replies in this section with pictures and twitter links proving exactly what you’re trying to downplay.
            Unless you comment on any of them with more than just “could be manipulated” (when it’s clear it wasn’t if you checked the sources), then I will not reply to another one of your comments.

          • Edward Kelly

            Have you seen me play the “could be manipulated” card once brother?

            Nope.

            I’m just asking people to slow down, be less emotional and think about what you’re saying for a moment.

            Ok, I won’t use the word conspiracy, instead I’ll take from this thread directly: It’s time for us to save gaming from the threat of corrupt devs & journos.

            Cool? Sounds like a conspiracy theory to me but since that word offends you I won’t use it.

            I just asked for clarification. How is this evident. HOW is this industry, the games industry that we all love so much being damaged?

            I think you misinterpreted my use of the word conspiracy as being in relation to the Zoe post. I was ACTUally referring to the conspiracy YOU guys have been trumpeting (“MASSIVE cover up!!! ALLLL the other games sites are cover their tracks!!! They’re ALL involved somehow!! THEY’VE been holding our industry hostage!! THEY’re WRECKING it!!!”

            So unless you wanna reply to THAT to paraphrase you I will not reply to another one of your comments.

  • that youtube video was solid

    • Tlu

      I invite you to also check out more from the video’s creator (InternetAristocrat). He has a lot of good stuff on other topics as well.

  • Billy Fofilly

    Hopefully this changes journalism in its entirety. It happens everywhere, except instead of sex, it’s with money.

  • TheCynicalReaper

    Getting sick of people needing to be spoonfed evidence of Zoe Quinn’s admission to the conflict of interest here. Below is an image to her admitting to having slept with her own boss and an apparently prominent face of Sound Self, an award winning finalist in the Independent Games Festival.
    ALL of these people are linked in some way, and ALL of them are involved in this. If you want more information on more incidents and/or people go to
    http://thezoepost.wordpress.com/
    And investigate things for yourself.

  • Inen Outt Burgers

    I like that you guys are talking about this, but I feel as though you could have paraphrased the major points of the video in addition to linking to the some of the “evidence” floating around. Still, it’s something that deserves to be mentioned, because people seem to be immediately jumping onto one side or the other without considering the facts.

  • Boom!

    Goodbye Kotaku hello Gamer Headlines

  • Dan Lever

    Thank you for doing this story instead of trying to sweep it under the rug like everyone else is doing, you just gained a new reader.

  • >he does it for free

    Welp, time to bookmark here I think.

    No one else is touching this with a 100ft pole.

  • Blip Bloop

    While this all strikes some people as a witch hunt, I think it strikes most gamers as something completely different. Zoe, a self proclaimed feminist who decries cheating and everything that goes along with it, used sex as a tool to leverage her career, allegedly. She did this with her soon to be boss, colleagues and a Kotaku reporter. Kotaku, now being so SJW friendly that it might as well be Jezebel with some gaming articles, sullies the overall message of feminism right along with Zoe. The hypocrisy demonstrated here, the unwillingness to even acknowledge it, aside from a throwaway series of tweets from Stephen Totillo and Nathan himself, shows that they simply don’t want to draw attention to their clickbate journalism. This same Journalism that shamed a person accused of rape because he simply defended himself. This has now blown completely out of proportion due to the streisand effect, and will simply martyr a female game developer who has turned into a professional victim.

  • JohnnyAppleseed
  • Brad Donald

    It was the cover up and active suppression by ZOE vie DMCAs this caused it to explode like it die.

  • Guest

    Nathan admitted to it, and the timeline of things show it was before he wrote the article. The article was on 3/31, thezoeypost shows that her relationship with Nathan took place prior to 4/1. So either he met her, seduced her, and tapped that immediately after writing the article, or hes lying to his boss and this is all true.

    His boss via twitter:

    Stephen Totilo
    ‏@stephentotilo 4h
    Nathan and I have discussed
    this and he assures me that at the time of that article he has not begun
    a relationship with the developer (6)

    • Amity

      Like if he would actually admit to his wrongdoings

      • JohnnyAppleseed

        He should have just said that none of it ever happened if he was going to BS. Just shot himself in the foot by admitting it happened but then lying about when as if that timeline wasn’t out there.

        • Amity

          Yeah if you’re going to deny it then deny all the way. I just wonder what those websites are gonna do now. Probably pretend that nothing ever happened.

          • JohnnyAppleseed

            Knowing Kotaku that’s exactly what they’ll do, maybe tell him to not post for a few days while it blows over. It wouldn’t be the first time one of their writers ignited a shit storm and they just waited it out, ehem Patricia Hernandez.

          • Amity

            Man I miss the days when gaming websites were about video games and not bullshit SJW stuff

          • Edward Kelly

            Nwooor :(

            Gaming is diversifying. There will be more and more articles about political games, games about sexuality, games dealing with gay and lesbian issues, indigenous issues, some games won’t even be ‘games’ but more interactive art as we have already seen. Deal with it. It’s called progress.

            But at the same time, don’t stress, murder, death, kill games make too much money, they will be around forever.

            If that’s all you want to hear about find new niche publications that deal only with what you like. If you do not want to read publications that reflect the growing diversity of gaming stay away from Kotaku, Destructoid, RPS, Escapist et al. They’ve a mandate to reflect all aspects of gaming culture

  • PFElton

    We gamers have a duty to protect our industry and defend it from corruption. Nobody should stand aside while this happens. If nothing else, we all need to do our part in raising awareness.

  • pkfrost

    Here is a video of her admissions, directly from the original source.

  • Miasma

    Oh yesh, the fire rises.

  • Chickienugs

    This retarded social agenda shit that constantly circles through gaming media needs to end already. It’s among the worst shit to happen to gaming in recent years. None of it even makes any proper sense existing in gaming at the level it does.

  • Wrathful

    Phil Fish needs to pay back the money the people donated for FEZ 2 before he opens his worthless excuse of a mouth.

  • C G Saturation

    Heard about this through a friend. We quickly confirmed that other sites are burying the issue. I think that says a lot. Sites like Destructoid are deleting relevant posts with reasons such as “shut the fuck up”. Nice community over there.

    • Wrathful

      I already gave up on Destructoid, you’d be much stress-free to do so. That site is fast becoming irrelevant.

  • guybrush20X6

    This is the only news site with this story. A worrying development.

  • mattk

    If you head over to places like Escapist you get a full-fledged burying of this story. The entire thread is people saying “leave her personal life alone” blah blah.
    Completely ignoring the fact that she slept around to get ahead in the world. She is the opposite of what REAL feminists fight for.

    • LickTheEnvelope

      It was buried by EVERYWHERE at not just buried but anyone who even mentioned it (not even about what she actually did) was banned. I’ve never seen something like this.

  • Shaniqua

    Since this is the only site that actually covers this I suppose I’ll have to inform everyone I know to frequent this site instead of kotaku et al.
    Thanks for being a real journalist.

    • Edward Kelly

      Your definition of ‘real journalism’ unsettles me Shaniqua :)

  • Omnicidal Neutral

    I think I’ve found my new favorite gaming news site.

  • That guy can’t be silenced

    Yes, the fire rises.

  • Andrew Po

    I can guess how this is going to end. Quinn will garner sympathy thanks to SJW-pandering sites like Kotaku declaring gamer community to be rapey misogynistic shitlords who harassed her just for being a woman. Then she will pull an Anita Sarkeesian and make a Kickstarter campaign asking money for a new game.

    The game will be inspired by her “harrowing experience” as a female developer, and will be a cutting-edge text adventure of a brave womyn who lives in a patriarchal society and faces misogyny at every turn.

    • rupok

      She is already asking for money for some game design thing. Getting close to $2000 a month.

      I hope that this controversy is enough to stop this nonsense of sjw bullying and their crusade. It is destroying the industry.

    • JohnnyAppleseed

      Quick! Lets beat her to it then have her’s removed via DMCAs!

    • potatoes

      That WON’T happen this time if we stay on point, and keep parroting the truth. If we keep the main issue of corruption at the forefront of the conversation and prevent feminists/SJWs from deflecting/changing the narrative to some bullshit about slutshaming/misogyny, then we won’t have another Anita incident.

      • JohnnyAppleseed

        Sadly on every other site I’ve seen this talked about that is already the case. “Who cares what she does in her personal life”, ignoring that this is a professional matter and not simply a woman sleeping around.

        • The Deuce

          We’re only supposed to care about those (made up) events in her personal life that further her victim narrative, of course. Everything that debunks it is none of our business.

      • Edward Kelly

        This. This right here is the comment of the day for me.

        “Parroting” is an expression used to describe someone endlessly repeating something without real understanding.

        You know, like a parrot…

        Thankyou potatoes. You have made my day AND my point better than I could have.

        • potatoes

          My poor word choice aside, you still cannot ignore the issues at hand that this incident presented. And what is your point exactly? You certainly weren’t part of any of the conversation with Andrew Po. Do you expect me to comb through the comments looking for your conversations with other people?

          • Edward Kelly

            Nah. I don’t care what you think yo. Good luck destroying women and have fun.

          • Boy Catamite Lover

            lol thanks for checking in zoe

          • Edward Kelly

            You’ll have to speak up, I can’t hear you over my Game Journalist Orgy

          • potatoes

            Thank you for your support! I hope you have fun in your endeavors as a Zoe PR deflector as well. Good luck trying to change the narrative and ignore the larger issue at hand!

          • Edward Kelly

            Zoe Quinn sounds like a psycho.

            What is the larger issue? Corruption in journalism? I’ve been talking about nothing BUT that since I came on here.

            Pay attention potatoes

          • potatoes

            I’m sorry but you addressed me in a conversation you were not apart of, interjected a point that could not be gleaned in the context of that conversation, refused to elaborate, and then expected me specifically mine through hundreds of comments for yours to gain a comprehensive view of your stance? And apparently you do care what I think since you’re still bothering to comment back to me. Just from glancing at your arguments with other people, I don’t see how any of your other comments stated a different message from mine. You wanted to make sure the issue stayed on the topic of corruption in gaming journalism, and so did I.

          • Edward Kelly

            Pardon me for interrupting your private conversation on a public forum.

            And I do care about corruption in journalism. Let’s get to the bottom of it. And the only way to do that is look at the facts.

            Let’s do it brother

    • The Deuce

      She’ll only garner sympathy among the SJWs, who really couldn’t care less how horrible she is as long as she parrots the narrative. Everyone else will be disgusted by her blatant dishonesty and hypocrisy, and by the emotionalist pantywaist SJWs continuing to paint her as victim at their expense. If she makes that game, it won’t sell.

  • The Deuce

    …and that’s why Women Against Feminism exists

    • JohnnyAppleseed

      Feminism is fine, its about equality. The problem is all the misandrists falsely posing as feminists and giving feminism a bad name.

      • rupok

        It has become so corrupted that true original feminists don’t even associate themselves with them anymore. Anyone who speaks out against the radicals get slandered and given death threats.

  • JohnnyAppleseed

    This was the final nail in the coffin I, and apparently many others as well, needed to quit reading Kotaku. I’ve replaced the bookmark with this site, though the front page is a little messy organization wise, at least I won’t have to listen to the SJW pandering anymore. Even after this I don’t expect Kotaku is going to stop anytime soon.

  • GameBruh

    Why are you guys the only ones covering this? Bookmarked.

    • Edward Kelly

      Presumably because they have lower standards for journalism than everyone else?

      • Dash Faster

        Because she is banging the head writers of every other reputable news organization.

        • Edward Kelly

          Wow. For real?! What a scoop!! How do you know this?

      • nerdbasher

        Not low enough for you to haunt these comments like a jilted ex-lover, ironically.

  • NULL

    This isn’t about journalism. But telling ourselves that makes it sound better.

  • LickTheEnvelope

    The censorship on this has been shocking. I don’t care what she did but the implications to the ethics of gaming journalism are obvious and if you so much as mention it on almost any site your instantly banned.

  • C G Saturation

    Seems like most of my comments here have been deleted as well.
    I thought they were pretty reasonable comments.
    Well, I guess I won’t be visiting here after all.

    • Vecha

      Post em again…real quick. I’m curious.

    • Banjoman

      Are you sure they were deleted? They might have just had to wait for moderation, especially if they contained links.

  • Steven

    “YouTube commentator TotalBiscuit, also known as the Cynical Brit, who attacks both Zoe and gaming journalism” —> Please re-read the original blog post. This is not an accurate statement. The gist of his statement was more along the lines of: “People keep asking me about this. I don’t know if it’s true. If it is, then sleeping with reviewers and issuing DMCA claims to hide integrity concerns is bad.”

  • Franki Webb

    What has her sex life got to do with you? Her private life is not public property.

    • Demanding Better Journalism

      Nothing actually. It’s more about journalistic integrity. She faked her harassment, the “raids” on her website, the phone calls she received, and the doxxing. It’s mainly the fact that she lied to make herself out to be a victim when she is not. Sleeping with a journalist for favorable press should not be acceptable, same as if it was a bribe. She is trying to become a professional victim and has enough sway with moderators to censor anyone who points out that she lied about all incidents of harassment. She cried wolf and now that is catching up to her.

    • Jick Magger

      Her relationship with these men is an inherently professional issue because they are also the journalists who cover the games she and many others make. The relationship in general is unethical for both parties: the journalists because they are creating a conflict of interest that represents an inherent break in trust between them and the reader, and her because she willingly chose to maintain this relationship despite it being obviously unethical.

      So yeah, when it reveals the incestuous relationship between developer and journalist in the game industry, and how inherently rotten and without standards game journalism really is, then yes; it is my business.

      • Edward Kelly

        Dayum straight conflict of interest is in the consumers interest!!

        Except, what conflict of interest has Zoe Quinn expressed? She’s not a games journalist.

        • Boy Catamite Lover

          LEAVE ZOE ALONE *cries*

          • Edward Kelly

            :)

            You see me getting emotional lover boy? I’ve been asking people to engage in a reasonable discussion. Let’s have it

          • MolestedByDadNowaFAG

            LET’S HAVE A CALM RATIONAL DISCUSSION ABOUT VIDYA GAMES AND HOW MY LIFE REVOLVES AROUND THEM

          • MolestedByDadNowaFAG

            fucking lol I’M TRYING TO ENGAGE IN A RATIONAL DISCUSSION ABOUT VIDYAGAMES!!!! *pounds fist into cheetos-covered folding table*

    • The Deuce

      Funny, she sure wanted it to be public property when she was whining about how she was being oppressed by “sexism” (which she surely invented). But now that we learn she was actually sleeping her way to the top and cheating a bunch of people while claiming to be sexually victimized, suddenly it’s none of our business, eh?

    • Dark Age Fire

      you tell’em Fwanky, LOL

  • Dark Age Fire

    How desperate and pathetic are these guys that screwed Zoe Quinn? She’s a flabby armed gorilla. Disgusting. The gaming industry really doesn’t have any standards do they?

  • handsomejack47

    This is not about focusing on her affairs/private life. This is about journalistic integrity and the fact that she’s basically bribing her way through the game industry. She’s been lying about herself for a while now, and it finally caught up with her.

    • Edward Kelly

      Erm. That was sunbird’s point. It’s about journalistic integrity.

      Nathan Grayson is a journalist. Zoe Quinn is a game developer.

      Hence, he asked “why the focus is on Quinn and her affairs”?

      Care to answer?

      • JohnnyAppleseed

        He already answered that. She bribed her way through the industry. Get a life already, did she sleep with you too cause you sure have a lot of interest in defending this? 2 days nonstop now you’ve had nothing better to do.

        • Edward Kelly

          You’ve been here the last 2 days as well homes :)

          And you’ve chosen to attack me rather than answer the question or think about it reasonably. Not a good look.

          I can make it clearer. If you are concerned about journalistic integrity why aren’t you focusing on journalists?

          • JohnnyAppleseed

            I’ve been here for about an hour in the past 2 days. You’ve been here nonstop. Zoe also gets flank because she cheated her way through the industry. They both deserve it. But considering you are trying so hard to shift focus on Nathan, I’m gonna take a guess here, are we talking to Zoe doing her own damage control? That’s harsh throwing Nathan under the bus to cover yourself. What’s wrong couldn’t sleep with anyone to get out of this one?

          • Edward Kelly

            *sigh* Yes that’s right. I’m Zoe Quinn, not someone trying to have a reasonable discussion about the facts & counter hysterical conspiracy theories.

            Do you not find it logical to address Nathan Grayson as the problem and not Zoe Quinn? I think I’ve done a pretty good job of explaining it. And you don’t want to engage?

          • JohnnyAppleseed

            I’ve answered you a dozen times and you continue to ignore the answer and keep asking the same thing. Are you brain dead or just really ignorant?

          • Boy Catamite Lover

            lmao “homes”…you’re not exactly gang material, nerdo

          • Edward Kelly

            Word

          • Demanding Better Journalism

            In all honestly, they should all resign. The 5 guys she slept with have no right to be journalists except for the tabloids and she should probably delete her presence from the internet due to her trying to censor the whole issue. But lets not rush into things, one person at a time.

          • Edward Kelly

            Check yo facts. Where does it say she slept with 5 journalists?

          • Demanding Better Journalism

            Since my reply seems to keep getting moderated… I guess I’ll just be brief. All 5 guys involved should resign, she is trying to be a professional victim and benefit from those who will defend her. Help real victims, not those who lie about being a victim.

          • Edward Kelly

            Robin Arnott should resign from being a self-employed developer?

            Not possible.

            Nathan Grayson should resign if it’s proven he published positive press about Zoe Quinn while in a relationship with her?

            Yep.

            Josh Boggs should resign for employer her after he slept with her? That’s a hard one. Like any workplace, dev’s sleep with dev’s I’m sure. Did he employ her coz he had the hots for her? Not sure how we can ever know. Is he scumbag for cheating on his wife. Damn straight.

            Should he use is platform to signal boost Quinn would be a bit dodgy too. But he hasn’t done that yet.

            The other two guys we don’t know about.

        • John Double
  • handsomejack47

    I found it HILARIOUS that Quinn and the SJWs that support her tried to shut up /v/ on this whole incident.

  • Edward Kelly

    SHE mixed her private life with her public which makes it our property?

    Nah. A coward dude made her private life public and if ANYthing a games journalist had a private relationship with someone he also wrote about professionally.

    So it makes no sense to go after Quinn see?

    If anyone has a conflict of interest it’s the dude that wrote the press.

    If you find any media he created that you think presents a conflict of interest go after him, let Kotaku or RPS know.

    It doesn’t make any sense to go after Quinn.

    • JohnnyAppleseed

      She cheated her way through the industry. Thus a public matter. What part of that are you not getting through your thick skull?

    • The Deuce

      SHE mixed her private life with her public which makes it our property?

      What’s this “property” nonsense? Facts aren’t “owned” by anyone. It’s our business because she made it our business. You’re talking about it too, if only to run interference for an abusive psychopath.

      Nah. A coward dude made her private life public and if ANYthing a games journalist had a private relationship with someone he also wrote about professionally.

      Ah, so she lies, cheats, and abuses a guy in a completely sociopathic manner, but *she’s* the victim when he talks about it, and he’s a coward for telling anyone what was done to him. Of course, back when she was talking about all the made-up “harassment” and “sexism” supposedly directed at her as she secretly slept around with industry honchos, and trying to shame gamers for it, she was “brave” for talking about it, according to the SJWs.

  • Edward Kelly

    What special favors is she getting?

  • Edward Kelly

    Calm down dude & point to the corruption

    • Boy Catamite Lover

      beep boop do not understand do not understand beep boop what does the touch of a girl feel like?

      • Edward Kelly

        I like this guy. Where were you yesterday?

  • Edward Kelly

    Read the Steam forum terms and conditions. There’s no conspiracy out there. Chillax

    • Boy Catamite Lover

      bored with these comments already, you nerds are ignored by the rest of the world and this is why your little nerdosphere is filled with idiots like you and gay drama like this

      • Edward Kelly

        My posts are clearly marked ‘Edward Kelly’ in red. Don’t want to engage with me in a meaningful way or find my opinion boring, skip mah comments

  • Edward Kelly

    Thank you for replying & thank you for rolling back the alarmist “killing” to “changing”.

    So gaming culture is changing from what to what?

    Would really appreciate your answer, I am not trying to start a fight.

  • Wookie

    B.J.’s are a straight mans kryptonite. There’s no defense against it.

  • Edward Kelly

    If everything in Eron’s post is true she definately has some severe personal problems. But I don’t care if she cheated with a hundred guys, she doesn’t deserve rape and death threats & her personal safety violated with the publication of her home address.

    Think about what you’re advocating dude

  • Silver

    Ew

  • Boy Catamite Lover

    lol nerds and vidya games

    • JohnnyAppleseed

      I hear ya, Boy Lover.

  • Edward Kelly

    Newsflash. Dev’s sleep with dev’s. Dev’s are friends with other dev’s. ITOTALLY agree with you journalistic integrity IS the point. Let’s talk about that

  • John Double

    Edward Kelly must be getting his d*ck wet by this creature.

    • Edward Kelly

      I’ve never touched a girl before. When ever I go to talk to one I just get all sweaty and clammy and wet my pants.

      What’s it like?

  • John Double

    This is just the casting couch of the vgame industry. But instead of little girls that are sold off by their parents,it’s this horse who’s wetting d*cks to get reviews,while cheating on her BF with 5 men.

    She needs to become a cat crazy burger flipping lady..

  • The Deuce

    Good point. This idiot is claiming to only want a “rational conversation based on facts,” even while condemning people for bringing any relevant facts to light that condemn Zoe and undermine her narrative. The bottom line is simply to prevent her from being held accountable for her actions and to continue to portray her as a victim by any means necessary, no matter how terrible she is or who she abuses. And the reason people behave in that manner is because *they* don’t want to be held accountable for *their* actions.

  • Edward Kelly

    The headline of the article is about “positive press”. Of the five guys, Grayson is the only journalist. If press corruption is what we are concerned about the other four guys are irrelevant.

    > clarify further how she’s exempt here, please. Engage away

    If Nathan Grayson was stupid enough to publish positive press about Zoe Quinn while banging her, the onus is on him. I’m not sure I can make it any clearer. Sorry.

  • Edward Kelly

    I am not Zoe Quinn and I have not slept with her. I dislike mindless mobs.

  • Edward Kelly

    If Eron was my bro I’d be super pissed for him, I would try and support him anyway I could. And if he told me he just helldumped a tonne of private information about his ex online I’d also have told him that’s not cool. And on 4chan of all places.

    His heart is broken and he’s frustrated and he wants to hurt her and he’s succeeded. I hope he feels good about himself.And I hope he never dates another psycho.

    But sending hundreds of anonymous 4chan minions out to attack your ex is cowardly. Yes.

  • Edward Kelly

    Yep. I agree. Show me the positive press & then we’ll talk

  • Edward Kelly

    Show me the favorable press or one single solitary game review.

    I don’t see a press blackout, I see a story which is not news, I assume ethical and legal reasons are more the reason no other sites are reporting on it.

    But yes, your conspiracy theory is more likely…. :/

  • Edward Kelly

    Care to have a debate about facts? Or content to just call me names?

    I do like Zoe-ppendage though :)

  • TheCynicalReaper

    Just want to pop in again for this article and say especially thanks to you guys for breaking this story. More and more websites are catching onto this and hopefully soon there won’t be a corner of the web that can censor this gaming-nepotism fiasco!

  • Brad Donald

    I think the fact that such a no name had this much pull to create such a black out in the first place was what caused so many people to get pissed off about this. And now the dam has broke on it and many of the people involved in the suppression originally are doing major damage control. Places like RPS and Kotaku had a vested interest in killing the story as it was one of their writers at the center of it. But the fact that she was talking to a MOD of reddit and Janitor of 4chan and was caught doing it to suppress it is what really set people off.

    • minmod

      She didn’t talk to any 4chan janitor, 4chan’s had like hundreds of threads on this and spread all the news in the first place, they only deleted threads that were clogging the board (people really made tons of them)

      The reaction everywhere has been pretty crazy though. It’s all out in the open now though.

  • The Deuce

    In addition to the conflicts of interest and the massive journalistic
    corruption it illustrates, this woman has been at the forefront of this
    obnoxious SJW movement which has taken over the gaming press and utterly
    wrecked the world of gaming with their sanctimonious lecturing and
    smearing of gamers, their stupid lies and victim narratives, and their
    constant bullying and purging of anyone who doesn’t tow the line (And
    there’s no point in saying that this is our imagination. The massive
    censorship of this, including now even at 4chan, illustrates just how extreme it’s gotten)

    The fact that they’re actually just a bunch of bottom-feeding hypocrites who’s movement is a giant scam for promoting sociopaths and who have no business preaching morality to anyone is a big deal, and demands attention. They need to be named, shamed, and driven out of town on a rail, so we can just freaking enjoy our hobby again, and developers can make fun games we want to play without constantly kowtowing to these freaks.

  • Olympion

    It’s amazing just how bad gaming journalism has gotten, and how far the SJW rot has spread. Thank you for actually writing an informative article about it than doesn’t mince words or pretends like proven facts are really just allegations.

  • Daniel

    In regards to her claim that her nude photos were hacked off a private server. That’s pure BS, You see she was an adult model. And SOLD her nude photos to this site that’s still online and owns the rights to these photos:

    Brokendollz(.com) is still there. “Locke” is in the model list – that was Zoe’s pseudonym. No one-off either. Looks like full-time job in 2006-7. And now she whines about “objectification” in games when she was happy to sell herself as an object to the same gamer geeks she now attacks. Staggering hypocrisy.

    NOTE: this is not a criticism of women that do adult work. Just Zoe’s jaw-dropping hypocrisy.

    • The Deuce

      Btw, are any of these narcissistic industry women whining constantly about supposed “misogyny” and “sexual objectification” and so forth in the gaming industry NOT sleeping their way up?

  • Edward Kelly

    No no dude makes perfect sense. Thanks again for actually responding.

    What I reckon is happening is gaming is diversifying. Once upon a time it was more niche, the demographic that actually played games was smaller (just us younger guys) and thus catered to a narrow set of values and tastes (we’re young guys, we love boobs and blowing shit up, I still do goddamn it).

    But now EVERYone is playing games. Get on a train and you see girls, people of all ages with their heads craned down over smartphones, while we younger guys are still in the majority at Game Expo’s I’ve been really surprised to see it change over the years, older people, girls, all races.

    That’s happened independently of gaming media. Everyone loves vidja games now. And to stay relevant video games journo’s have to report on that.

    I actually find that side of it really interesting and can see gaming benefit from diversification. AAA are churning out the same glossy FPS’s and RPG’s every year. I cannot play another Call of Duty, they’re just regurgitating the same shit over and over & it puts me to sleep. New voices & new developers can only help innovate the industry and you can see that happening already.

    HOWEVER, it seems like the sticking point, where gaming media reporting on this diversification and the new issues that arise as a result and get accused of pandering to SJW’s seems to be this discussion around depiction of women and misogyny.

    For years, when gaming was only catered to US, female characters were princess’s stuck in castles (sorry, she’s in another castle…GODDAMN IT!!!), or scantily clad DOA fighters with really bizarrely exaggerated breast animation :) At best Lara Croft was an independent action adventure hero, but we still got to ogle her massive boobs when we got board.

    When cinema first started out, African American characters were servants and comic relief when the indie scene really took off and African Americans got sick and tired of seeing themselves portrayed in a subservient and one dimensional way we started to see new portrayals (SHUT yo mouth! Hey I’m just talkin bout Shaft) and yeah, film media started addressing the diversification. Same thing with female characters in cinema, once they were only damsels in distress and HAD to be beautiful, now we’re seeing a more diverse representation of women and minorities in cinema.

    But look in any TV guide or scroll through Metacritic, films catering to guys who only wanna see beautiful women on screen are still in the majority. Music videos have become soft porn. For those of us that wanna ogle T&A there’s still plenty out there for us to consume and I don’t see it going away any time soon.

    Us young guys are still the majority of video game consumers. And while devs and studios can still make a tonne of money of us playing games where we can walk into strip clubs and make it rain, they’re gonna keep making them :)

    But the days of us being the ONLY audience for games are over. Forever. We can either argue against the tide and try to lock gaming culture away in a box so it never changes or move over and make room.

    When cinema became diversified, people who only want to watch or talk about films that depict African Americans in a one dimensional and subjugated light I assume had to make their own media or move their conversations to their own smaller communities. If you’re not interested in reading about diversification and the new social issues that arise out of that you can no longer read all those mainstream publications, coz they have an obligation to reflect the new gaming audience.

    Your solution is absolutely the best though dude. Removing one self and just getting back to games. I get tired of all the negative discussion around gaming culture as well. It’s sad.

    Burger and a game sounds good :)

  • JohnnyAppleseed

    I think you took that the wrong way and are reading too much into the word “attacks”.

  • The Deuce

    Yeah, but Bioware makes a big deal nowadays out of catering to the sensibilities of the Social Justice Warriors, and after all, isn’t that what should really matter about their games?

  • HisDivineOrder

    I think if you live by the sword, you’re going to die by the sword.

    If you make morals/ethics/gender issues/racism/whatevertrendingissuehashtag your means of getting PR and/or attention, then eventually that subject matter is going to hunt you down and bite you squarely on the butt. And then hang on for dear life for some time that functions based on a multiplier related to how hard, how loud and how long you trumpeted said issue.

    Human beings are human. Sadly, a great many people who scream about an issue in a loud manner do so to divert attention away from what they perceive as their own shortcomings. Look up the definition of narcissism and specifically the source of said behavior to better understand why.

  • NuclearKangaroo

    AT LAST A GAMING SITE THAT REPORTS THESE NEWS

    you didnt even take any sides, you just REPORTED THE FUCKING NEWS, like it should be, i give you a salute good sir

    first time on this site, but i could become a regular, now that i clearly cant trust a lot of gaming sites now, specially kotaku

  • NuclearKangaroo

    booker: “tear it down, tear it all down”

    i wish i could go, these people deserve no a single moment without being reminded of what theyve done, atleast not until they probide sound explanations and apologies for all of this

  • NuclearKangaroo

    i think you took that line completely out of context, the writer’s description of TB’s statement is accurate, he said, IF THIS IS ALL TRUE, then yes it shows a general lack of professionalism and work ethic from certain game journalists

  • NuclearKangaroo

    man, that fart guy is everywhere

  • NuclearKangaroo

    a small omission but an important one

    still a far better journalistic job than most gaming sites, any chance of the writer making an adjustment there?

  • Edward Kelly

    The observable fact is she has indeed recieved many good reviews of DepressionQuest. Now please show me how I may observe that those good reviews came from people she slept with.

  • Mog

    When your most outspoken supporter is Phil Fish….

  • lol she met him off okcupid! Looks like she went for looks instead of being properly matched.

  • lol she met him off okcupid! Looks like she went for looks instead of being properly matched.

  • Kr1spness

    Didn’t stop people from considering it attack and harassing him in turn according to his twitter.

  • GameBruh

    “I’m going to turn off adblock for this site.”

    Word.

  • Edward Kelly

    Phil Fish is friends with Zoe Quinn

    Indie devs are not allowed to be friends with each other?

    What about musicians? Are they not allowed to talk to each other/hang out/support each other?

    Lemmie guess, if bakers tweet their baker friends there’s a conspiracy in the cake making industry.

    Paranoid much? Or just fascist?

  • Edward Kelly

    How is her cheating related to the Wizardchan harrassment?

  • Thanks guys for having the integrity to bring this up, and the fortitude to not back down. I’ve bookmarked your page now.

  • Edward Kelly

    Sorry, I thought this debate was about corruption in games journalism. What are we talking about now? Phil Fish rage-tweeted (actually, come to think of it, is there another kind of Phil Fish tweet?) at TotalBiscuit.

    And you said this had uncovered an indie dev cult.

    How’s that again?!

    • Cole

      This is the cog that got the wheel turning on this issue. Zoe Quinn is not relevant anymore, especially with TFYC making a peace treaty, but the focus now is on the core corruption of many supposed journalists and their integrity.

      There should still be articles like this to establish where all this talk is coming from and what is happening now.

      Believe me, many have known game journalism is corrupt as all hell for a while now. Geoff Keighley covered in Mountain Dew and Dorritos is one of the more recent examples that come to my mind (I’m sure there’s more recent shit but I haven’t kept up). It needs to be heard and established that we want some god damn rules and regulations when it comes to “gaming journalism”. You can’t be a blog one day to deflect criticism and a journalist the next to get into E3 and get free press shit.

  • MatthewSherrard

    I don’t really care what she did. If she’s not nailed to the wall with evidence, then real press don’t speak in terms of “she has” but instead in terms of “she’s said to have”. My point was that if this site would like to be the real press, then they should strive to do that.

    And something tells me that devs cannot delete reviews of their games on Steam, no matter what you’re suggesting.

  • nonscpo

    Oh wow I with all the censorship going on over this issue I thought nichegamer was the only one covering this story. Good on everybody in the staff of gamerheadlines for doing the right thing and posting this story.

  • plagueoftruth

    Amazing. I’ve found the Fox News of games “journalism.”

    What an obviously one sided article and an army of hateful twits praising it saying “Finally! Someone telling the truth!”

    Nathan Grayson never wrote a review of Quinn’s game on Kotaku. This isn’t a conspiracy. You people are just idiots.

    • Paul Malrose

      They deleted it to cover their own fucking asses.

  • plagueoftruth

    Well said.

  • MindFever

    Poetic justice

  • langeselend

    “real men drink themselves to death” wow, would not wife that.

  • Cole

    Look I’m not trying to personally attack you here. I just want to ask; have you played Depression Quest? Feel free to since you can get it on Steam for nothing. It’s a very basic yes/no “if 1 is 2 go to 1” html game. As someone who has taken numerous programming workshops, tons of people make these just as practice or for a lesson per day. People make them as very basic entries into the programming world and are forgotten. This is like someone getting an award for writing hello_world.bat . Something doesn’t seem quite right when journalists are giving this game such praise and trying to shut out anyone asking questions. Just comes off as suspect.

    • Roman Cruz

      What’s more likely, that a game with simple mechanics happens to have a narrative that touches a lot of people, or that Zoe Quinn’s vagina has magic powers that control any mortal man that takes a whiff of it?

      If you think the latter, then you seriously have a lot to learn about sex.

      And for the record, there are a lot of award-winning games that have shit-simple mechanics. The critically acclaimed Bioshock Infinite? Standard shooter with alternate-fire “magic” attacks, and on-rails movement mechanics. Nothing too complicated, and yet, people couldn’t stop talking about it. Why? Or how about the Walking Dead games by Telltale? They’re basically point-and-click pixel hunts.

      Or how about Metal Gear Solid, a series with probably the shittiest of stealth mechanics, creating a fanbase solely on the strength of Hideo Kojima’s mental diarrhea of right-wing conspiracy theory fever dreams?

      So yeah, it’s not about mechanics, not all the time. Otherwise, only the most complex games would get awards.

  • That One Guy

    InternetAristocrat is a weird supporter of the proto-fascist UKIP. As much as I think nepotism is a problem in the gaming press if you’ve got this guy on the frontline of your cause no one is going to take you seriously.

    • SnapIntoASlimJim

      Thank you for pointing this out. InternetAristocrat has made several videos that makes it clear he is a white supremacist and the fact that the author of this article decided to link to his video rather than the many others that out there says a lot about him.

  • DaleK

    What exactly is the “something like this” she did to “ask for” this treatment (insinuating she deserves whatever happens)?

    Did she dare to cheat on a significant other and then try to cover it up? God forbid. If Zoe were a man this wouldn’t be a topic for discussion….well, unless his name was Clinton I suppose. This argument is akin to saying a woman deserved to be raped because she was walking alone at night wearing a short skirt. This is what pisses off the SJW – intentional or not, it’s misogyny.

    I just finished reading the boyfriends entire tirade. Anyone who thinks that boy isn’t as psychologically messed up as she is….didn’t read the entire thing. They both exhibit symptoms of narcissism; at best.

    I forget the title but there’s a tv show about what happens when two messed
    up people end up in a relationship. This story fits perfectly.

    And then he calls out these people in public – with ZERO regard for innocent family members? At least one of those guys was married. Now his wife has to deal with the public humiliation. This is OK because her husband dared to have sex with his girlfriend? Why is no one calling him out for this? Instead he’s being cast as the hero/victim? Sick. The people supporting him either didn’t read that BS or they are as delusional as he is.

    And clearly he’s delusional if he believes she’s important enough in the gaming industry to warrant that treatise that probably took weeks to compile. His justification is BS. He’s a jilted lover trying to get revenge. She’s nobody, in game dev or speaking for women in gaming – no matter how much she might believe otherwise (as indicated in some fb messages – ok yeah, that was funny). Then again I suppose the trolls response to Depression Quest made her feel more significant than she is IRL.

    Well, actually that’s not even true anymore. Thanks to the trolls, Zoe and Depression Quest are getting far more attention than they once deserved! :)

  • shakira

    Never heard of your website before but looking for sites with the guts and integrity to investigate this affair, and fed up with SJW jerks in the sites I have frequented. You are bookmarked, if your site cuts the mustard in games coverage, I’m in.

  • Angi Hillin

    I think what gets me about the support of Zoe Quinn is that everything she wrote that he referenced are classic red flags used to identify abusive men and if this was reversed and she had done this she’d be a “strong woman standing up against male abuse”. Feminism SHOULD take a hit if those who speak the loudest in favor of it are supporting her in spite of these obvious red flags.

    Those in the industry supporting her should be getting the same public outcry that football was getting for not doing enough about their abusive players. Supporters of Zoe Quinn in the industry aren’t just “not doing something” about it, they are actively supporting it and rewarding her for it.

    • Missskitttin

      Supporting a woman just because is a woman despite what she does, is not Feminism

    • Missskitttin

      Supporting a woman just because is a woman despite what she does, is not Feminism