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HOAX: Female Pro Overwatch Player Ellie Quits After Harassment and Threats (Updated: Read OP)

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Hobbes
Senior Staff Writer at MP1st
I wouldn't consider a staff writer for a site focusing on shooters to be journalistic in any way. So for the guy to second guess his journalism skills is laughable.

If this guy is supposedly so in tune with shooters, he should have known this Ellie person coming out of nowhere is a weird one.

That's like a sports team suddenly adding a no-name player to the roster nobody has heard of. If that happened, every sports reporter would be shoving microphones in the coach's or GM's face asking who this random athlete was and why he's suddenly on the team.

For the MP1st guy to say something like..... well if they let her on I assumed it's ok, goes to show he has zero journalism skills.
 
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I have always found games journalism to be questionable at best. There really is no money in actual journalism of niche areas at leat when companies that do publish are looking to pay as low as they can on a business model of advertising.

There is a story here about the harassment no doubt about that. The story should also focus on a mysterious new player, a few red flags and the issue of trust within gaming/pro-gaming circles. This should not be a one sided article. Harassment - the end. This should be a peice that covers community and everything that creates said community.

Unfortunately at the end of the day we have a one sided article that is missing key facts that shed a lot of light on the situation. Creating even more distrust than before and that only emboldens everyones perceptions of a bad situation all around.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
I have always found games journalism to be questionable at best. There really is no money in actual journalism of niche areas at leat when companies that do publish are looking to pay as low as they can on a business model of advertising.

There is a story here about the harassment no doubt about that. The story should also focus on a mysterious new player, a few red flags and the issue of trust within gaming/pro-gaming circles. This should not be a one sided article. Harassment - the end. This should be a peice that covers community and everything that creates said community.

Unfortunately at the end of the day we have a one sided article that is missing key facts that shed a lot of light on the situation. Creating even more distrust than before and that only emboldens everyones perceptions of a bad situation all around.
Gaming "journalism" in my books is almost zero.

Just because someone runs a website and posts text doesn't mean they are a bonafide journalist or reporter. I'm smart enough to buy a web domain and server space. If I got a site up and running and reposted gaming info (slyly rewritten in my own context), does that mean I'm a journalist too?

Also, the majority of the info on game sites isn't even journalism, but regurgitating info from publishers or uploading their game's latest PR preview video. In return for early access to clickbait material, the publisher sends over ad revenue. And often times, there is an NDA to not say anything bad.... or else they won't get invited or get free swag for next year's game. That's some journalism.

Now compare that to the typical news team where reporters and camera crew roam a city hoping to catch a shootout in action, or identifying crooks based on researching info and exposing them to viewers. That's more attune to real journalism.

Even the Q&A game sites do is laughable. Not only is it filtered half the time, but the questions are so softball, its like those intermission interviews you see in sports where the sideline reporter asks the sweaty player...... Uhhhh you guys are up by a touchdown. Do you think your team has to play hard to hold the lead?

Now game sites that do actual journalism..... exposing leaks, giving honest reviews of games, any of those great retrospective posts or spec analysis pieces a site like DF does etc....
 

Mooreberg

Member
Hey, at least Gameinformer updated their article, even if their inane 'take' is still on proud display. Kotaku (archived) hasn't even bothered yet:

TFJj3Fl.jpg
It is crazy that this many years later you would only need one guess as to who would have their name attached to a fake story. Basically nothing changed after Gawker folded, huh?
 
This feels like a rather big moment to me. One that I suspect we will discuss more of in the future as we search for meaning in this strange internet debacle.

Deep questions of identity have been raised. What does it mean to be a woman? Can a garlic press be a woman? Can I be a woman? What if I changed my gender and became a woman who was kind of decent (but not really) at playing PUBG online? I would joint a clan, right? Would internet fame quickly dawn upon me? Would my health insurance cover the procedure? And most importantly if I were to do all that then why would I first post it all here for everyone to read?
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
What's the cliff notes version here.. was this a false flag? Or an elaborate troll?

Shit was fake son. Trying to pass it off as a "social experiment" .

The select games media being dubious per usual, like they were almost in on it with very little fact checking themselves, only narrative and agenda pushing.

You know, toxic gamers, never the toxic media.
 
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Hendrick's

If only my penis was as big as my GamerScore!
Well this will certainly help legitimize esports. How does this even happen with a game as high profile as OW? Blizzard will have to sanction the team or end up looking even worse.

As for the games media...well they already have zero credibility.
 
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EDMIX

Member
That saddens me to hear this. I wish folks could have the courage to ignore folks like that, but I also wish those folks wouldn't be going around harassing people like this in the first place.
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
That saddens me to hear this. I wish folks could have the courage to ignore folks like that, but I also wish those folks wouldn't be going around harassing people like this in the first place.

I think you need to get updated on the events. Look at the post above yours.
 

Xenon

Member
Wow what a cluster fuc for all involved. Especially gaming journalism which does almost no fact checking.

Simple solution. Masked players are not allowed in real sports, so the shouldn't be allowed in esports. Every league should have a player profile with a picture of each player. It's the looseness of the "sports" regulations that causes all be this BS. Also they need to create some kind of verification system 4 players on each match.
 
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DeepEnigma

Gold Member
Wow what a cluster fuc for all involved. Especially gaming journalism which does almost no fact checking.

Simple solution. Masked players are not allowed in real sports, so the shouldn't be allowed in esports. Every league should have a player profile with a picture of each player. It's the looseness of the "sports" regulations that causes all be this BS. Also they need to create some kind of verification system 4 players on each match.

Adderall intake should be monitored as well (if it isn't already). ;)
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Wow what a cluster fuc for all involved. Especially gaming journalism which does almost no fact checking.

Simple solution. Masked players are not allowed in real sports, so the shouldn't be allowed in esports. Every league should have a player profile with a picture of each player. It's the looseness of the "sports" regulations that causes all be this BS. Also they need to create some kind of verification system 4 players on each match.
Ya. And real names too. If esports is supposed to be some kind of professional league of gaming athletes, real info please.

I understand the gamers will still have user IDs because they have gaming IDs, as they don't want to make their system ID the same as their real name, but for tournies and profiles, real info only.

It would also give the "leagues" more credibility instead of sounding so stupid. Listening to some of these play by play matches sounds retarded....... OK, their goes Team Galactic XYZ, and their top player SniperDoomSuxor is on the roof..... bam he just sniped Team Volcanic Ashes best player Turd Eater Xtreme.

Hahaha.... hey look. Sir Spinebasher Z on Galactic XYZ just smacked talked PicachuSleepyPoo on Volanic Ash!
 
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After being involved in the league community within Counter-Strike for burgeoning on nearly two decades all I can do is laugh my ass off at this whole situation. This is one of the dumbest things I've seen, and I don't mean the scenario itself but the spotlight its been given.

How is this even on the radar outside of the Overwatch community? This is like a normal seasonal controversy in the Counter-Strike community and crap like this never leaves the scope of that community. Absolutely pathetic.

Adderall intake should be monitored as well (if it isn't already). ;)
As far as high level Counter-Strike is concerned it is tested for, has been for several years.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
After being involved in the league community within Counter-Strike for burgeoning on nearly two decades all I can do is laugh my ass off at this whole situation. This is one of the dumbest things I've seen, and I don't mean the scenario itself but the spotlight its been given.

How is this even on the radar outside of the Overwatch community? This is like a normal seasonal controversy in the Counter-Strike community and crap like this never leaves the scope of that community. Absolutely pathetic.

As far as high level Counter-Strike is concerned it is tested for, has been for several years.
It's radar worthy because people are sensitive and Overwatch is on consoles. Nobody cares about Counterstrike because it's on PC and PC gamers skew older, so they can handle it.

This whole issue about toxicity is actually a common thing in competitive sports. It's just that the camera crews and mics purposely don't pick it up the vulgarity. But on the field, pros are lip smacking opponents all the time. But in gaming, you have people recording audio and people doing twitter and videos. So people see it and go apeshit like it's the first time it's happened in gaming history.

Anyone here watch hockey? When was the last time you saw something like this aired publicly?

 
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DeepEnigma

Gold Member
It's radar worthy because people are sensitive and Overwatch is on consoles. Nobody cares about Counterstrike because it's on PC and PC gamers skew older, so they can handle it.

This whole issue about toxicity is actually a common thing in competitive sports. It's just that the camera crews and mics purposely don't pick it up the vulgarity. But on the field, pros are lip smacking opponents all the time. But in gaming, you have people recording audio and people doing twitter and videos. So people see it and go apeshit like it's the first time it's happened in gaming history.

Anyone here watch hockey? When was the last time you saw something like this aired publicly?



I can attest to this. Played baseball a good portion of my life. We talked just as much shit as the "we are friendly with each other" moments. It is the part of competition and psyching out your opponent (getting inside their heads). Art of War. Though I usually was more quiet and just had my stares.
 
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S

SLoWMoTIoN

Unconfirmed Member
Wait people still play Overwatch? Overwatch hasn't been killed off by Blizzard? Tourney's are hemorrhaging money aren't they?
 

petran79

Banned
That's like a sports team suddenly adding a no-name player to the roster nobody has heard of. If that happened, every sports reporter would be shoving microphones in the coach's or GM's face asking who this random athlete was and why he's suddenly on the team.

This happens in the smaller or amateur categories sometimes. Met a guy who used to play basketball and he told me he used the papers of another guy to be registered to the team, because they refused to issue his own
 
Topics like these are exactly why Era is a garbage "community." Kudos to the guy for yet again exposing how easy the usual suspects + games media are to string along.

Of course, to say that they learned anything is beyond wishful thinking.
 

cormack12

Gold Member
Topics like these are exactly why Era is a garbage "community." Kudos to the guy for yet again exposing how easy the usual suspects + games media are to string along..

I think this is the important thing going forward, and highlights how stupid is to to quickly reduce an argument down to gender politics. There were legitimate concerns about a new hot-shot player appearing form nowhere. Of course the argument now has shifted to 'if the player was called Steve, would they be required to prove their identity', as these people stroke their faces thinking they've won the debate. Of course the counter points are

In order to snap up a new female player, were the vetting rules relaxed?
Would the defence force for harassment have appeared so quickly if the player name was Steve (white knighting)?

No-one really unpacks the underlying causes for these issues so they never progress.
 

Airola

Member
So basically this was Milli Vanilli, but in the video game scene and with the added bonus of gender issues to mix things up.
 

Redneckerz

Those long posts don't cover that red neck boy
2019 and the Gaming Industry, everyone.

I see less and less fun and more and more personal quarrels being the topics of today.

I thought Gaming was supposed to be something else.
 

Scopa

The Tribe Has Spoken
2019 and the Gaming Industry, everyone.

I see less and less fun and more and more personal quarrels being the topics of today.

I thought Gaming was supposed to be something else.
It’s still gaming, but the game has changed. Now, the game is who can virtue signal the hardest and get those clicks. Meanwhile, the rest of us adults just look on and shake our heads at these kids like our parents used to do to us when we played video games. Do you reckon the journos have a leaderboard in their secret discords? Who’s winning? I think that Game Informer dude is trying to get top spot at the moment. Has some stiff competition from Gestapo Bombe.
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
It’s still gaming, but the game has changed. Now, the game is who can virtue signal the hardest and get those clicks. Meanwhile, the rest of us adults just look on and shake our heads at these kids like our parents used to do to us when we played video games. Do you reckon the journos have a leaderboard in their secret discords? Who’s winning? I think that Game Informer dude is trying to get top spot at the moment. Has some stiff competition from Gestapo Bombe.

They are still lagging behind the triple threat grand champ of WayTakuGon.
 

CuNi

Member
Even with all this endorsement stuff etc, Overwatch is just as Toxic as back in it's glory days.

I miss the good old days though where Quick Play was like "No Limits" etc. Had the most fun back in those days...
Full 6 Stack, all pick Bastion or Torb.. yeah fun times.. ofc we usually got crushed in those groups but we did it for the lulz and the jokes...
Overwatch takes itself way to serious, tries to be family friendly and a "healthy gaming environment" when at the same time they allow smurfing, sexist comments and sustain a toxic player base.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
 

Ascend

Member
MHeBnR8.jpg


So it turns out the speculations were all true and said Overwatch player was indeed a fictional character. It doesn't excuse the doxxing attempts, but it also does not excuse the mediocre reporting by the gaming press, many of which assumed things they didn't verify because they wanted to jump on a juicy clickbait story that seemingly confirmed their narrative that the gaming community is toxic and filled with misogynistic trolls. While I'm sure that the vast majority of the gaming community does not support doxxing, the press were quick to condemn those who remained skeptical while painting them with the same broad brush.

The gaming press decided to run with the headline that said fictional character retired due to death threats, when in reality it was merely a pretext to quickly get out of the situation. The press has yet again demonstrated its inability to verify their facts, instead letting their own subjective biases run rampant leaving their audience no choice but to remain skeptical the next time they concoct a similar story. What's even worse about this is that next time, the story might be true, but fall on deaf ears because the press cried wolf one too many times.

There's too many games journalists out there, hungry for clicks, desperately wanting the gaming community to be toxic because it's the sort of outrage that drives their traffic.

You're completely right... Everyone is too quick to jump on the misogyny bandwagon. Ultimately it's victim playing to try and escape responsibility for one's actions. And it's only applicable towards girls and women, even if men have it worse in certain cases. Example? Look at Trump. He's probably the most criticized and hated president in decades. No one cries misandry. But if Hillary had won, and she had a quarter of the criticism, everyone would be crying misogyny.
 

kraspkibble

Permabanned.
I just thought Overwatch players had all moved on to Fortnite.
makes completely sense now i think about it....because you can only play one game at a time! /s

fortnite + overwatch are two TOTALLY different games. so not sure what you're logic here is....
 

Sp3eD

0G M3mbeR
There is nothing “social expairiment” about this at all. Some guy had an idea, took it to its limit by getting recruited to a semi pro team he thought would never happen when he submitted to it, and then took 2 weeks to try and think his way out of the backlash by covering it up with this circus.
 

Airola

Member
MHeBnR8.jpg


So it turns out the speculations were all true and said Overwatch player was indeed a fictional character. It doesn't excuse the doxxing attempts, but it also does not excuse the mediocre reporting by the gaming press, many of which assumed things they didn't verify because they wanted to jump on a juicy clickbait story that seemingly confirmed their narrative that the gaming community is toxic and filled with misogynistic trolls. While I'm sure that the vast majority of the gaming community does not support doxxing, the press were quick to condemn those who remained skeptical while painting them with the same broad brush.

The gaming press decided to run with the headline that said fictional character retired due to death threats, when in reality it was merely a pretext to quickly get out of the situation. The press has yet again demonstrated its inability to verify their facts, instead letting their own subjective biases run rampant leaving their audience no choice but to remain skeptical the next time they concoct a similar story. What's even worse about this is that next time, the story might be true, but fall on deaf ears because the press cried wolf one too many times.

There's too many games journalists out there, hungry for clicks, desperately wanting the gaming community to be toxic because it's the sort of outrage that drives their traffic.

The way I see it is that technically they are right in that these gamers have the impulse to either overreact or take things extremely seriously IF a girl is involved. I mean, they might be a lot quicker to react if they think a girl isn't really playing the game instead of when the situation would involve a man pretending to play while another man is actually playing.

That said, it goes the other way around too. Journalists are also way quicker to call out injustice and write clickbait articles if there is a girl involved. They would probably have zero interest in any of this if this was about a man being doubted of his honesty and getting booted out.
 

DunDunDunpachi

Patient MembeR
I think this is the important thing going forward, and highlights how stupid is to to quickly reduce an argument down to gender politics. There were legitimate concerns about a new hot-shot player appearing form nowhere. Of course the argument now has shifted to 'if the player was called Steve, would they be required to prove their identity', as these people stroke their faces thinking they've won the debate. Of course the counter points are

In order to snap up a new female player, were the vetting rules relaxed?
Would the defence force for harassment have appeared so quickly if the player name was Steve (white knighting)?

No-one really unpacks the underlying causes for these issues so they never progress.
Very well put. The fact that it was quickly thrown under the Tower Shield of "Don't Insult My WOMEN!" demonstrates the depth of conscience these people have (read: shallow).
 

DunDunDunpachi

Patient MembeR
2019 and the Gaming Industry, everyone.

I see less and less fun and more and more personal quarrels being the topics of today.

I thought Gaming was supposed to be something else.
I'm not even sure what videogame systems you have Red.

Make a new hotness topic for us all to talk about games in.
 
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