As some of you may know, the website GJAIF has posted an article regarding a piece we put up in the last twenty four hours, that some felt…was unseemly…to say the least. I want to clarify Gamer Limit’s stance on these types of articles. Some time ago, I released an article titled “Resident Evil is Racist” – it contained a number of jokes that were racially sensitive (including Caucasians). Sadly, I had to put a disclaimer on it, because I knew that some people would take it seriously, and rage into the depths of Brinstar. Ever since I took over for the site, myself, and my subsequent Editors, have made it clear that it Gamer Limit is not a venue for pure offensive content for the sake of being offensive – there are plenty of other outlets for that. It is our general policy to state “this is a parody”, to prevent new users from being turned off from our great community.
I can vouch for Kyle’s character, and safely say that he is a good guy, who clearly didn’t mean any harm. Gamer Limit, as an entity, is never out “just for hits”, or “to shock people” – the article was a parody. However, parody as it may be, it was posted to the front page without proper review, and for that, I apologize – as a general rule we do not allow lists on the site, and this one slipped by (as a cynic, I would find that hard to believe, but hey, this is coming from a cynic!). For the past few years, I believe myself and my cohorts have ran a pretty tight ship, but you can’t stop everything, especially for a smaller, independent site such as ourselves. We do have a proper procedure for “OKing” these types of articles through our staff forums, where a number of staffers are able to look at a particular topic, to see if it’s something that fits our mission statement. However, Kyle should not have to apologize for the actual content of the article, as it clearly was a parody, which our site’s history will reflect (as will this commenter – Thanks Anonymous!).
Watchdogs as a whole are great for the industry, but our contact information is directly posted on the site, and fairly easy to access. It would have been really easy to reach out to me for a comment before grabbing your pitchfork, and walking off into the sunset. I’m always available for comment via email if you have any questions regarding our content in the future. I also read GJAIF on a weekly basis, so imagine my surprise when we were plastered all over it!
Edit: I should also probably take the time to thank GJAIF for holding people accountable for their actions. While the methodology is sometimes rudimentary (as in this case), the fact that it is happening at all is a sign of good times for the gaming industry as a whole. The methodology itself is just about as developed as the industry is – which is to say, GJAIF are brave souls for venturing out into this unknown territory.
Edit 2: The comments were getting out of hand, to the point of cruelty, so I closed off the comment section. However, some took this as a sign of shutting out criticism, so I’m unlocking them. Please refrain from personally insulting Kyle, and the comments will stay open. I rolled the post back, so some comments late last night are lost in the abyss – feel free to write back if you had something – nothing was hand deleted.
-Chris Carter
EIC
I can vouch for Kyle’s character as well. I’m sure it was meant as parody.
I agree that if people want to stop the whole hyerbole-not-fact-checking “trend” in video games journalism, then shouldn’t they do a little fact-checking themselves before jumping to conclusions?
I saw the original article go up yesterday and didn’t think much of it at the time, so I was very surprised to see this. I’ve known Kyle since he joined GL; he’s a great guy and a solid writer.
If anything, I take issue when people make attention-grabbing headlines like “Gamer Limit Hates Women”. That’s unnecessary, especially given the context of the article.
If they’re expecting me to throw Kyle under a bus, that’s not what a good Editor does.
I think it’s obvious that over two years of our content will prove that we’re not out to promote these types of articles unless it’s a strict parody.
GJAIF: “If it were “clearly parody” it likely wouldn’t have appeared on this blog at all. The link wouldn’t have been sent to me by several readers via Tumblr, Twitter and email.”
I was told that my Resident Evil parody, listed above, despite having a disclaimer, was STILL a serious, evil attack by many readers! People often don’t even read the disclaimer, and will get up in arms about anything, because they’re having a bad day. Having “upset” people “call in” about an issue isn’t proof positive it was a hate piece. It would be easy to save face, and demand that Kyle apologize, but I’m not going to do that. I already apologized that the Editorial staff missed it. The rest is up to Kyle, and whatever he feels is best.
I wish I could comment on Tumblr – it’s a shame that a blog can make such harsh statements, and allow very little room for discourse. Upgrade your site, so we don’t have to talk over no less than three mediums to resolve the issue!
“It was a PARODY!! He shouldn’t apologize!”
Before today, I have not hear about Gamer Limit. How was I supposed to know it was a parody, I wasn’t. With writers like Jim Sterling out there, how is ANYBODY suppose to know it’s a parody. Gaming sites are rife with misogyny, racism, and homophobia. You don’t need to put this kind of parody up as a joke because others will certainly agree with you and take it as a serious article.
Lest to say if Kyle doesn’t apologize, I’m going to continue to consider Gamer Limit and unsafe space to read and tell my friends likewise.
Then all I can really tell you is that I am fully against misogyny, racism, and homophobia, and as a strict rule, unless it’s parody, it isn’t allowed on this site as long as I’m here (and even then, sometimes it isn’t allowed). Anyone who knows me will tell you that.
I’ve also been a moderator on a few sites, and stuff like that doesn’t fly with me.
“Gaming sites are rife with misogyny, racism, and homophobia.” With such a broad, sweeping generalization like that I would think you would have at least one example, unless of course you’re just blowing steam.
How is it somehow Kyle’s fault that you couldn’t figure out it was a parody? Even if you assumed it was serious, Gamer Limit’s contact info, as Chris said, is displayed quite clearly on the site and you could easily send an E-mail. For that matter, why is Gamer Limit unsafe if Chris took the time to post this public statement at all?
I love how Jim Sterling is being brought into this. He’s like the go-to boogeyman or something.
I agree. If a guy writes a satirical article and I can’t point out that it is satirical, that is clearly not a safe place to read. Protect your friends from satire you can’t identify. It’s the only right thing to do.
Also, what does Jim Sterling have to do with this. He is the most prominent satirical writer I know of in the industry.
Thank you Chris for making it clear that no one at Gamer Limit needs to apologize, it’s usually the shot from the hip reaction to these sort of situations.
This is why unnecessary censorship will never die. Because the article condemning the your parody will make more headlines than Kyle’s funny and smart feature. “So and So Hate’s Women” is quite an attention grabbing headline. Good job Gamer Limit all around. Love your site. GJAIF, never read your site, definitely not a fan now.
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I am very relieved that you cleared this whole fiasco up with this heart-felt apology. Of course, the article in question was obviously a parody though it was /serious enough to be taken down/.
This apology has inspired me to go around and imply misogynistic, homophobic, and racist comments towards those different from myself. If they take offense or show any sign of hostility, I will follow it up with a “lol jk, it’s a parody”–right before I channel my inner Gaston and label them as the true bad guy who simply wants to come at me with pitch forks. I’m too boss to differentiate between parody and flat out prejudice. I mean, how dare anyone get offended when someone degrades and objectifies them as a human being!
Such whiners! >:I
It’s obvious that the original article was satire. There were the good female characters in the header image then ridiculous fanservice characters in the body of text. Anybody who doesn’t think so needs to work on their reading comprehension.
Ahaha why is my picture Taki. Probably because I was talking about fanservice characters?
Just a side cmoemnt, but of This American Life gave a brief glimpse at how The Onion’s editorial team develops satirical content. It totally surprised me because I didn’t realize how collaborative their editorial process is.
This has been blown out of proportion somewhat! Internet is indeed serious business…
And that’s the really horbirle thing about it it’s just so common. And the women I’ve talked to about this over the past few days who have similar stories all talk a feeling of not wanting to take away from real rape victims.I wrote once a long time ago about how we’re seriously dis-served, as a culture, by having rape on television always be presented as Dark Alley, At Night, Creeping Stranger, blah, because it does create an image of what rape and reactions to rape are supposed to look like. Since the only narrative I see on t.v. is horbirle trama , the fact that I haven’t felt like the walking wounded for most of my adult life leaves me thinking it wasn’t real attempted rape, or I’d be more traumatized.Ah, I am speaking to the choir. But I do <3 this choir some days.
The article was satire. If you knew me personally, you might know that I abhor sexism, racism, and homophobia. Moreover, I find bigotry to be one of the most tragic and hilarious things on this planet. I cannot fathom how or why people would hate one another for such superficial differences. It’s absolutely ridiculous. The games industry, in particular, (games, characters, and communities alike) is incredibly prejudiced against women. Frequently they are looked at as sexualized objects rather than individuals of worth…whether it female journalists, our community members, or hyper-sexualized characters like Ivy Valentine. That’s a tragedy in my opinion. Another tragedy is censorship; it seems no-one can say anything these days without someone being offended. If you didn’t understand the article was satire, for that I am sorry. I actually have several articles on this topic planned for March. Lighten up, laugh, enjoy life…there are some serious problems in the world but you don’t always have to be so serious when you talk about them.
Sincerely,
Kyle
While bigotry might be funny to a person unlikely to experience said bigotry, it is rarely funny to those that do. If you think it is funny, it only shows that you have been privileged enough not to be on the receiving end.
I’m not sure it’s a good idea to assume people know that you’re not the kind of person to joke about sexism.
GJAIF is an awful, awful site. I respect what the guy is trying to do, but he’s doing a terrible job of it.
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Agreed. The dude called Reiq a “noted misogynist.” He’s a fucking pornographic artist for chrissakes…
Also, his rant was hilarious in that he was literally pointing out the reasons why the article was satirical. Needless to say, the irony is impressive.
I had never been to this site before, and I had not known about the controversy beforehand. Yet, it was immediately apparent to me that this was supposed to be a parody. Just because one doesn’t get it, doesn’t make it a sexist article.
Keep up the good fight, GamerLimit. You don’t have to apologize for anything.
Maybe it is just me but I thought the article was funny. I can understand people mistaking it for something serious but it just seemed like some plain old satire to me. I was surprised you guys had the balls to post it though because this reaction was sort of inevitable.
Kyle, Chris, and anyone else on the Gamer Limit staff really should not need to apologize to anyone.
These editors here are fucking stupid. Gang banging commenters here that post continued grievance with the site and article. Guess what, no one in the actual games journalism field has ever heard of this site or these editors. I don’t mean that to be offensive, but it isn’t like the whole world keeps tabs on every site. Why would they know what is satire without a disclaimer or even a tagline that alludes to such?
“No Borders. No Boundries.” makes me think that you are willing to post an article about anything, without caring about the repercussions. Going against the grain if you will. How would people tell the difference between these articles or others that are in a similar avenue. Such as:
http://www.hiphopgamershow.com/new/andrea-renee-on-hot-girls-in-gaming-episode-1-short-and-sexy/
http://www.ripten.com/2008/12/04/top-10-nicest-asses-in-videogames-10/
And also a list that is written in the exact same style:
http://gamereuphoria.com/2010/07/24/top-5-sexiest-female-video-game-characters/
Anyway, my point is, if you want to post satire, go ahead. Just don’t be confused as to why one-time visitors are taking articles written without any pretense of comedy at face value. Also, congrats on the hits provided by GJ, as I visited your site two times in three days after never hearing of you prior to the event.
As a first time reader, I was able to pick up instantly that it was satire. I’ve never been to this site, let alone read an article. However, when the header image of an article about the “Top 5 Female Role Models in Video Games” shows off the most over-used characters in this type of article, yet the body of the post contains none of them. Furthermore, when his article makes occasionally subtle slips such as “…She tries her breast to protect her sister…” it becomes clear that it is not a serious article. Not to mention, if you know anything about the industry, you would have noticed that he brought up characters that are overly sexualized and have been noted for being so(except for peach, obviously) as the role models for women. Then including a final section about Ivy that only contains one sentence with a similar slip puts the nail in the coffin for this just being satire.
Was it the best satire? No. Was it even good satire? That’s arguable. But your only real argument about “Not knowing the writer” is ridiculous. Do you think people who read “A Modest Proposal” for the first time know anything about Jonathan Swift? No, but most people can recognize that it is satire if they aren’t an idiot.
*yet the body of the post contains none of them you know something is up.
Isn’t parody and satire supposed to be, you know, funny?
You’re not half as clever or witty as you think you are. I value humor as much as the next person, but sorry, misogyny with no punch line and pictures of girls with huge tits isn’t anywhere close to comedy.
The article is recognized as satire, not parody. The two are not interchangeable. Parody is, at it’s core, focused on comedy. Satire is focused on criticizing a person, group, or society itself and, while it can be, it is not required to be funny.
The more you know.
Isn’t parody and satire supposed to be, you know, funny?
Not really. Satire is quite often not funny. “A Modest Proposal” by Swift is a good example. It is supposed to make you think about the subject it’s saterising.
As both a female gamer and a gaming journalist, I can see both sides of this controversy.
I regularly write satirical editorials that tend to invite all sorts of outrage from those readers to whom a “satirical” a little more than an inscrutable, four-syllable word, much less a sophisticated concept that’s intended to provoke anything like real thought. As it happens, I’ve actually previously written my own conspicuously vapid “10 hottest guys in gaming”.
On the other hand, I’m over being called a fat, ugly terminally single bitch, a whore, a hairy lesbian, and told to get back to the fucking kitchen. I think it’s all too easy for guys to underestimate the devastating impact that such casual misogyny has on women. Sometimes, it’s hard to know when it’s satire, and when it’s serious. Because, all too often, it’s serious.
The article was the satirical equivalent of a burning cross.
I mean, seriously – you want to call attention to misogyny and the objectification of women in the games industry, so you write an article that’s ripe with both?
Where’s the satire?
Look at the last line, which immediately followed a image of Ivy’s breasts:
“You know, for some reason or another, I’ve always admired something about Ivy. I just wish I could put my finger on them.”
That’s not satire about the objectification of women. Thats IS objectification of women. Thats the kind of shit that people who commonly objectify women would bro-fist about.
“If you didn’t understand the article was satire, for that I am sorry. ”
Really? You’re sorry that you’re readers failed to decipher your “satire”? How about instead, you be sorry that you failed to adequately convey satire in the first place?
Bullshit.
Do you have a bone to pick with society, or Kyle, or both?
The Ivy quote WAS satirical. It was so outrageous, coming from someone as intelligent and respecting as Kyle, that it was out of character. It was characterizing all of the idiot gamers out there who objectify women, and constantly spout meaningless “top” lists of all of gaming’s “hottest women”.
The sad part is that in order to even MAKE a list of these women, developers have to, well, make them. Maybe you can take out some of your anger on them as well?
@Chris There you go again, trying to make everyone think they knew the author prior to this article. NOTHING IS OUT OF CHARACTER WHEN YOU DON’T HAVE A CHARACTER PORTRAYED!
Then you try pawning blame elsewhere on the devs and this commenter. You aren’t defending this very well at all. Approve my comment already so people can see the exactness of your ‘satire’.
I read it. I get that you were “trying” to be funny. I’m personally not offended by the article. I’m a woman gamer and that sort of thing just goes with the territory. However, the worst part of this situation, is not what you actually said about women. No. It’s the fact that you are just perpetuating a negative stereo type about GAMERS on a whole.
Once again making it clear to the mainstream media (during Women’s History Month), that ALL GAMERS are immature, spoiled, white boys that live in their mom’s basement. Who are completely out of touch with the outside world and anyone that is not them. Great. No one is ever going to take our favorite hobby and medium seriously because of stupid shit like this. (and EA’s idiot Marketing Department)
That is the problem. Not you and not the article. AND this site is associated with both “Metacritic” and “Game Rankings”. You guys have got to be more responsible in the future. Any little thing makes us all look bad.
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How could people not understand this was a parody? I think the biggest travesty here is peoples lack of reading comprehension.
Amazing Kim, like the OP, I keep thinking what heeppnad to me wasn’t really attempted rape, because rape is something horrible that happens in dark alleys and I wasn’t hurt that badly, and what difference does it make, and rape is such an awful word anyway and and and Only recently did I start to consider what heeppnad to me as a man setting me up for rape. After we’d discussed my wanting to wait on having sex; after he had described how, if he wanted to rape someone and not get caught, he’d get a woman really drunk (but that would be wrong, he was quick to assure me); we went out drinking till I was too drunk to stand, and he tried to rape me when I couldn’t fight back. (And I’ve just edited that sentence twice to make it say what actually heeppnad because I wasn’t hurt, and he didn’t mean anything by it, and I’m just casting suspicion on him and and and .)I tried to write about this a while ago but the guy in question is reading my blog now, as is one of our mutual friends, and I don’t feel trying to defend myself again But he didn’t mean anything by it and he was sorry afterwards! (Yeah sorry I started screaming and crying. Because after I stopped crying, he dumped me for not having sex with him.)It’s been over 10 years. But I still can’t call it what it was.
I think Kyle deserves some leeway and forgiveness here.
The guys at Gamer Limit are almost always fastidious about editing content before it hits the site, and I’m not aware of many free/indie sites that operate in the same way. This is the kind of work that most people are paid good money for, but GL’s staff does it for free because they love writing for its own sake.
It’s also worth noting that GL writers, myself included, have graduated into professional work quite a few times, which I think is a mark of pride for the site, or should be.
Nobody’s perfect, however, and something slipped through that probably shouldn’t have. Satire and parody are tough. Unless the author makes it clear what they’re satirizing, it doesn’t work. And unfortunately, authorial intent is meaningless. Once an idea is out into the world, people will interpret it however they please.
I do agree that the article appears extremely misogynistic on a first read, but I think all appropriate mea culpas and explanations have been made, and it’s time to let this go. A single mistake doesn’t deserve all this attention. If and when you see another, similar article hit the site such that a pattern of behavior has been established, THEN feel free to lay into Gamer Limit.
As a female gamer who considers myself a feminist, I wasn’t offended by the article at all, in fact I smiled in recognition at the satire of the way games and gamers sometimes objectify women. I don’t think you should apologise – in fact, I am forced to wonder if GJAIF’s article is *also* intended as satire, since I can’t believe anyone would be that ridiculous over an article that was very clearly satire. If they are serious, I am offended by THEM, not you guys, as it just reinforces the idea that feminists are overly-reactionary and can’t take a joke. Which does women no favours at all.
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