LibriumArcana.Games

Two of gaming's biggest websites have decided to alter their policies about how writers and journalists are allowed to interact with developers within the gaming industry field. The change follows from a very strong outburst from the gaming community for more transparency.

A Reddit moderator in the /r/Games section was contacted and asked if a very neutral, informative piece could be published regarding what the gaming community felt was a conflict of interests being exhibited by Kotaku and Polygon. The moderator, going by the handle of Piemonkey, acquiesced after a back and forth discussion with user F1renze. Eventually, this thread was allowed to go up, causing a lot of gamers to react very strongly to the information, as it helped add some concrete evidence to a far larger and more salacious incident taking place within the industry.

Following the Reddit post, as well as lots, and lots, and lots of feedback from gamers demanding explanations from Polygon and Kotaku, both sites decided to post public messages about how they will handle disclosure between the relationships of journalists and developers from now on.

Kotaku's editor-in-chief Stephen Totilo posted the following blog post on Kotaku, stating...
“The last week has been, if nothing else, a good warning to all of us about the pitfalls of cliquishness in the indie dev scene and among the reporters who cover it. We’ve absorbed those lessons and assure you that, moving ahead, we’ll err on the side of consistent transparency on that front, too.”

“We’ve also agreed that funding any developers through services such as Patreon introduce needless potential conflicts of interest and are therefore nixing any such contributions by our writers.”

Patreon is a service that enables users to support creators across the creative art field, from writing to music to video games to comic books and everything else in between.

Editor-in-chief Christopher Grant also made a post on Polygon, making it clear where his writers stand on the issues of supporting developers through charities, crowd-funding or other means, noting that...
“While I disagree that contributing to a game developer without holding an actual financial stake in their success is a violation of the spirit of that principle, I also think that disclosure is the best medicine in these circumstances. So starting immediately, I've asked everyone on staff to disclose on their staff pages any outstanding Patreon contributions and, additionally, to disclose the same on any coverage related to those contributions under that staff member's byline. We'll retroactively update any stories published in the duration of that support to reflect that, and I'll note those updates here.”

Opposite of Kotaku, Polygon will not be shutting down their writers' ability to contribute financially to those working within the gaming industry while also writing about their projects.

Gamers, at the very least, saw this as a very small step and a very small victory, given the media blackout surrounding the larger issue at hand.

In fact, the blackout includes another charity that suffered at the hands of a far more vicious scandal, The Fine Young Capitalists.

The game jam is all about helping bring more games to the industry and games made or created by female game designers. Unfortunately, major gaming media outlets refuse to report on The Fine Young Capitalists, why their were doxxed, why 4chan had to help revive the campaign (and donated $5,000 the first day the campaign started) or how The Fine Young Capitalists and 4chan came up with Vivian James, a new female protagonist for the gaming industry to celebrate. All I can do is point you to their IndieGoGo campaign here.

Inquiring minds would be keen to follow the rabbit hole on Google by searching up The Fine Young Capitalists and the ties that bind larger gaming websites from doing a full story on the incident.

Earlier this year I read about Loren 'Sparky' Schmidt and Anna Anthropy's game, Drink, and I immediately became fascinated. Get this: in Drink, you play a drinking game against a computer opponent. Yes, a computer opponent. It sounds kind of absurd, to try to out-drink a computer, I know. But, if nothing else, it's a conceptually interesting game—here is Anthropy talking about it on her blog:

We really liked the idea of a quantity that has different meaning in the game and outside of it: the virtual opponent's shotglasses stack up, but she's a computer and the same amount of drinks have a very different consequence to a human player. we liked the ambiguity of performing a physical endurance contest against a virtual opponent: how can you tell how close she is to losing, or if it's even possible for her to lose at all?
Very cool, but it wasn't until yesterday that I decided to actually try it out. I was joined by game developer Porpentine, which meant the game became a slightly more competitive thing: would either of us sport better endurance against the computer? Also, through her involvement I was able to suss out one potential partner should the world require us to go into battle against the machines.

But, um. Anyway.

I had a couple of rules going in to make sure the game was safe—didn't want to get alcohol poisoning or something. This is especially important when you consider that Anthropy says the computer has a 'high tolerance,' and may even be a 'massively socially irresponsible' game in its current form.

When I tested out the game beforehand—without any alcohol, to see what kind of tolerance we were talking about—the computer took 14 shots before passing out.

YOLO is not code for "let's be stupid," despite what you may have heard.
Four. Teen. Shots.
Fourteen shots!

I'm a firm believer in YOLO, but the game could be dangerous. YOLO is not code for "let's be stupid," despite what you may have heard. #truth!

So the rules were that we should be aware of our limits and must not be afraid to bow out of the game should we feel that we were crossing them. Also, the shots wouldn't be full. Personally, I also ate a heavy meal beforehand, which helps. And finally, chasers would be allowed, as would trips to the bathroom, dancing, or whatever you needed to do between shots to make the next one go down a little easier.

Which is to say, if YOU decide you want to play this game: proceed with caution and be careful. Hangovers aren't pleasant, nevermind alcohol poisoning.

We set up a projector so that the other folks at the party could look on while we played, though there isn't much to look at. All it involves is taking a drink, pressing a button, watching the alien-thing opponent take a shot, and then doing it all over again until one of you loses.

Honor system, obviously. The game has no way of checking if you're actually drinking. But if it helps to the veracity of the story, one of Drink's developers was in the audience, Loren 'Sparky' Schmidt.

SHOT ONE
Other folks who witnessed the game's creation/initial play testing become alarmed that we are playing it.

We also note that the alien looks like a dog with an eyepatch. Huh.

SHOT TWO
Still going strong. Porpentine starts Tweeting.

Im playing @auntiepixelante's drinking game with @patriciaxh....two shots in...fuck this dog!!!

— Porpentine (@aliendovecote) December 25, 2012

In This Game, You Search For The 'Gay Planet.' No, Not That One. A Different Gay Planet.
Patricia Hernandez

Filed to: GAY PLANET
ANNA ANTHROPY
1/15/13 7:30pm

In This Game, You Search For The 'Gay Planet.' No, Not That One. A Different Gay Planet.
EXPAND

The game isn't affiliated with Star Wars: The Old Republic, though it is a response of sorts to the recent debacle concerning a 'gay planet.'

Here is a Twine game by Anna Anthropy that's all about searching for an elusive gay planet. It's called, as you might have guessed, The Hunt For The Gay Planet.

The premise:

You've heard rumors of a secret paradise planet where people like you can be people like you, a glittering world where women walk arm-in-arm with women, where you can feel the heat of a lady's reciprocating gaze without having to feel the burn of a thousand judgemental stares on your skin.

Lesbionica. The gay planet. Let's find it.
Like other Twine games, it plays somewhat like a choose-your-own-adventure. And, like much of Anna's work, you might consider it NSFW. (Update: full disclosure...Anthropy was housemates with me and a mutual friend in the summer of 2012.)

I'd say this runs about 15 minutes, and it made me chuckle a few times—both out of the strength of Anna's writing, and also because the idea of a 'gay planet' is so absurd/silly/crazy.