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
