adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
er ... is there a back story that would make this interesting?
without context this means nothing ..
without context this means nothing ..
-
Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!
Colin finally got to interview Alyssa Mercante
- Thread starter rkofan87
- Start date
hououinkyouma00
Member
The first like 10 minutes are essentially that. Two people just talking and realizing they actually have a lot in common.
The entire interview was good IMO. I'm sure a lot of people probably wanted Colin to fire back at her but IMO she didn't really say anything out there or what many would expect her to say.
I think people don't realize how progressive Colin is in some ways.
MayauMiao
Member
Maybe she found religion.
AmuroChan
Member
That's the thing. You don't need to be hostile to conduct a good interview. There's a middle ground between a softball interview and a hostile interview. Just some basic follow up questions when she's making an argument that doesn't make sense or making assumptions that are questionable.
uncreativename
Member
I'm also not sure what the big problems are with her in particular tbh. Would appreciate if someone could come up with a summary. According to google the awful stuff around Night in the Woods happened before she rose to prominence.
Sorcerer
Member
I believe she makes a point of saying she will do what she has to do for the part in terms of dressing up and the like. The industry she is in probably requires she has a more normal/natural look. When you are in games you don't have to be so formal I suppose.
She talks about her tattoos and at one point is worried someone is stealing her motorcycle outside.
Last edited:
Sorcerer
Member
They both flat out say in the interview that they disagree on many things. She was probably wary of Colin and put him off for a long time. And Colin admits he has said things that he really regrets, so her caution is understandable. But it turned out to be a great interview in the end.
proandrad
Member
Most people are like Colin, but the purple people have convinced themselves that anyone that doesn't fall in line with 100% of their world views are bigoted. Hopefully more interactions like this can take place instead of them crashing out and wanting to censor and cancel all opinions they don't like.
FoxMcChief
Gold Member
People just type names in thread titles like we supposed to know these mother fuckers.
DragoonKain
Neighbours from Hell
I don't know anything about this girl, but holding grudges and wanting retribution or people to have their feet held to the fire for old takes is reset era stuff. It doesn't really serve any purpose. People do change and evolve. And even if this girl didn't, who cares, it's just a conversation. Two people of like or unlike mind can get together and have dialogue without someone trying to dunk on the other.
BigBeauford
Member
Im fine forgiving people who fucked up on her level that show a modicum of contrition. She's still pretending to be a victim.
RafterXL
Gold Member
Nah, aren't rehabilitating this woman's reputation. She is still the same piece of shit she always was, she still posts the same crap online, she still holds the same terrible view and hangs out with the same terrible crowd. She still constantly engages in the gaming industry, btw. She was also literally retweeting a pedophile's Gofundme a few days ago. She is still suing people who dared to call her out on her bullshit on Twitter.
She's a garbage human being and this two hour softball conversation doesn't change it one bit. The fact even Kotaku couldn't stand her bullshit and fired her so tell you how insufferable she is. She is broke and trying to pimp her book, plain and simple.
She's a garbage human being and this two hour softball conversation doesn't change it one bit. The fact even Kotaku couldn't stand her bullshit and fired her so tell you how insufferable she is. She is broke and trying to pimp her book, plain and simple.
Baemono
Gold Member
Last edited:
SirTerry-T
Member
Zero fucking idea who any of these people are.
I'm fifty four years old and been in the game biz for thirty one of them..do I need to know these people? Will my boss get angry if I don't?
I've got mouths to feed and bills to pay...
I'm fifty four years old and been in the game biz for thirty one of them..do I need to know these people? Will my boss get angry if I don't?
I've got mouths to feed and bills to pay...
Chuck Berry
Gold Member
At this stage I still don't know what the fuck GamerGate even is
It's also one of the stupidest fucking names ever that absolutely has zero correlation to Watergate. Retards, the lot of them.
Last edited:
mckmas8808
Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
Some of the people in this thread are just showing how hostile the internet has become. And how big of a cesspool it is. But your response, and some of the others here show that there's still some sanity in this world.
mckmas8808
Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
This is the same woman as that thumbnail? Wow! And why is she saying this? What's the context? Because this seems weird.
kpopSuperstar
Member
Penis
mayham2199
Member
I listened to the interview and she's talking more about people like smashJT and Dreamcastguy. People purposely stirring up shit to get clicks.
Say what you want about traditional gaming media but they never got as bad smashJT.
Hadoukens
Member
People like her are the reason good studios became bad and have closed.
People like you are the reason it continues.
Has she taken back all the stuff she said, including "you can't be racist to white people"?
If not she should be chased out until she does. And if you cared about the industry and good games you'd agree
Last edited:
Lord Panda
The Sea is Always Right
Serious revisionism and gaslighting bullshit going on in that interview, but that's par for course for these types.
Last edited:
diffusionx
Gold Member
Angry_Megalodon
Member
I can't understand the idea of sympathizing with people who try to destroy our hobby. A man can't get any more cuck than that, no wonder he got his accounted hacked, even his dog must feel embarrased.
CLW
Member
Here is a concise summary of Sacred Symbols+ Episode 515, featuring an unexpected conversation between host Colin Moriarty and journalist Alyssa Mercante (formerly of Kotaku).
Key Takeaways
- The Eternal Culture War: They explore why gaming's cultural divide remains so toxic, analyzing the transition from GamerGate to the recent "Sweet Baby Inc." controversies.
- "Winning Isn't Enough": The title's core premise examines the psychology of online movements. They discuss how factions that gain cultural or institutional power often refuse to accept victory, continuing to act like aggrieved underdogs instead of responsibly wielding their influence.
- The Collapse of Games Media: Alyssa details the economic death of traditional games journalism, explaining how the collapse of traditional outlets has created a massive power vacuum.
- The Rise of Influencers: They discuss how this vacuum is now dominated by independent creators and streamers (like Asmongold), who steer modern gaming discourse far more than traditional websites do.
- Bridging the Divide: Despite their differing political and industry backgrounds, Colin and Alyssa find significant common ground, emphasizing the need for good-faith dialogue over internet shouting matches
Alyssa Mercante's position in the interview focuses on three main points:
- Seeking Good-Faith Dialogue: She steps outside her typical media bubble to show that people on opposite sides of the gaming culture war can find common ground through nuanced, face-to-face conversation rather than internet outrage.
- The Defensive Reality for Women: She explains that enduring years of hostility in gaming spaces naturally forces women to enter the industry with a defensive mindset or a "chip on their shoulder" just to survive the toxicity.
- Journalism's Economic Collapse: She views the death of sites like Kotaku as a harsh economic reality, warning that the resulting vacuum has shifted immense power to independent streamers who lack traditional journalistic standards.
Does she understand the role of media in the shift of gaming discourse toward a more antagonistic, toxic narrative toward customers, especially straight white men?
Based on the actual dialogue in the podcast, the short answer is no, she does not fully agree with or validate that specific narrative, though she acknowledges the fractured state of the discourse from a different angle.
he frames the defensive or sharp mindset of modern media figures (particularly women) as a natural response to surviving a hostile environment,
rather than taking responsibility for driving ideological polarization.
Thanks for summarizing an absolute snooze fest I'll FOREVER be grateful for the time you have saved me from enduring
ChorizoPicozo
Member
She likes to eat shit on purpose...and yes, It IS weird. But that's what politics does to your brain.
ChorizoPicozo
Member
It's almost like calling everyone who disagrees with you a Nazi has nasty consequences, huh?
hououinkyouma00
Member
Horseshoe theory - Wikipedia
Your post is 100% Resetera energy. You are doing the same thing that they do with the whole I only want to hear from people who think exactly like me and if you don't then it's war bullshit.
Venom Snake
Member
mopspear
Member
I got off them 6 months ago after being on them for 15+ years and the only emotion I feel is hollow. I'd be grateful for even some La Croix-level emotions.
Unfortunatecookie
Member
Most druggies are incapable of long-term analysis. So it's not a surprise that he thinks playing nice with grifters is a good idea; short-term success is what makes sense to people like him.
Hollywood Hitman
Gold Member
Yea she was pretty fucking disgusting in things she said about gamers, id rather see her get drop kicked in the face
Ashamam
Member
Without endorsing or shitting on one point of view, I genuinely have not followed the back story, but found the interview fairly sane albeit both Colin and Alyssa kind of glossed over some pretty important points lol, wanting to minimise faults. But that does not invalidate what they did want to focus on, and I'm pretty sure rape threats whilst online are not the lived experience of most male gamers..... So you know that might explain some of the angst. Sad thing is there are absolutely a bunch of people here who are ok with that type of behaviour, just quietly I expect a (very) few actually participate in similar behaviour based on some completely shameless posts I've read over the years. On the other hand Colin brings up out of context DEI as an issue (Victorian England and misrepresenting who actually aristocracy would be in order to be inclusive) and she waves that one away. I'm with Colin on that one btw wholeheartedly.
The most important and salient point is that they can actually have the conversation, and they are both 100% right about algorythms driving this compartmentalisation of the internet. This rendering of individuals down to two dimensional caricatures of complex people because you cant cover that in a one sentence forum post or whatever a tiktok short has shrunk to by now.
I do say its brave to drop in an AI response with just two prompts for a complex issue. I mean there are 4 reddit sources. I genuinely lol'ed the moment I saw that. AI can only work on what other people say, it has no true cognition. Even when trying to isolate facts rather than opinion its rare I need less than half a dozen prompts calling out bullshit or narrowing scope, establishing context etc.
Last edited:
hououinkyouma00
Member
lol wut
This interview isn't going to bring in good numbers or "success". Colin likes having conversations with and interviewing people with a wide range of beliefs. This interview isn't some sort of "oh this will get me brownie points" lol.
Chris is nearly socialist but yet still one of his best friends, Dustin is a pretty conservative Christian with beliefs on the right side of the spectrum, Matty is apolitical as far as I can tell, Gene is very left leaning, and I'm sure Brad is left leaning as well. He's gone on record saying multiple times that he wanted people on his shows with different beliefs.
S0ULZB0URNE
Member
Careful you might offend the sensitive ones...
Gamer79
Predicts the worst decade for Sony starting 2022
RafterXL
Gold Member
Imagine making these two posts back to back. You literally know nothing about this woman, or what she's done over the past few years, and you're trying to play moral arbiter for people for being too hostile. Then you post the next time asking why she seems so weird....because she is always that way. That's who she is, the woman in the interview is fake. As for this specific video, she went on Giant Bomb, started running her mouth:
Two separate female content creators took up her challenge, there was even a $1k purse for the winner, and after a dozen more tweets about how she would kick their asses and "wouldn't even have to train" she chickened out.
Also, this shit happened last year and Mercunte is still friends with and reposts comments by this Ana Valens person, as late as last week. Enjoy, it's disgusting:
Transgender Columnist Fantasizes About ‘Trans Girls’ Violently Raping Women
US — Brooklyn, New York. On August 31, 2020, Ana Valens, Trans/Sex columnist for The Daily Dot, uploaded disturbing audio recordings, envisioning a future world with breeding facilities where you g…
www.womenarehuman.com
And even better is her multiple comments about "her" pedophilic urges or how "she" likes to play Fall Guys with children, with a vibrator in her ass that goes off any time she touches another player.
There are the kinds of people you want us to be less hostile to. These are the people who you think we should show grace, or have any modicum of respect for?
That's why this interview is stupid, because people like you see it and think she is a normal, rational human being, when she isn't, hasn't been, and will never be. And you can see it in this thread, half of dozen of you, who don't know one thing about her trying to make it out like we're the unreasonable ones here, so her bullshit fake facade is working.
Ashamam
Member
I'm a bit lost, this is a 2020 article, what was the interaction last week? Valens sound mentally ill btw.
Last edited:
Sorcerer
Member
Short-Term success? Colin says right in the interview (and on Sacred Symbols) he can't wait to retire and put this all behind him. I think he feels like he has nothing left to prove at this point.
Last edited:
InterMusketeer
Member
She was a participant in that process though. And as a writer for a (once) noteworthy outlet, she had a bigger platform than a forum post or tiktok vid to explore all sides of theargument. But she didn't. Is there any introspection there, or no?
Raven77
Member
That's actually not what an interview should be. What you're describing is a generic conversation. The point of an interview is to allow the person being interviewed to express their opinions on certain topics. A good interview will then pick up on certain things being said and push the person to explain their opinions further and in some cases justify how they feel about certain things.
The interviewer is supposed to be the voice of the listening audience. Not some passive bystander.
Ashamam
Member
I didn't get the sense there was much, other than burnt out on the whole thing. Colin on the other hand, he owned being a (small) part of the problem years ago. Presumably went after some people. I'm not defending her, just think based on her lived experience (as told) that its no surprise at all she came with an agenda. I suspect male gamers would on the whole probably not understand the impact logging in to a toxic hobby environment all the time would have. No doubt some would say why continue then, the correct answer is actually push back, because f*ck them, who gets to decide who can't participate. I actually admire that. (edit: snip the last bit)
Last edited:
Sorcerer
Member
To be fair it's not like Mercante is making a comeback. The interview took place because Colin pursued the idea even after being initially shot down.
To go after someone, you tried to get on your show, who was probably reluctant at that, wouldn't exactly be tactful. She left the industry, so she is not currently enraging people. She has moved on. No real agenda here and I don't think we will see her doing the rounds of podcasts and such. That's probably it for her as far as Video Games go.
Last edited:
mckmas8808
Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
Imagine making these two posts back to back. You literally know nothing about this woman, or what she's done over the past few years, and you're trying to play moral arbiter for people for being too hostile. Then you post the next time asking why she seems so weird....because she is always that way. That's who she is, the woman in the interview is fake. As for this specific video, she went on Giant Bomb, started running her mouth:
Two separate female content creators took up her challenge, there was even a $1k purse for the winner, and after a dozen more tweets about how she would kick their asses and "wouldn't even have to train" she chickened out.
Also, this shit happened last year and Mercunte is still friends with and reposts comments by this Ana Valens person, as late as last week. Enjoy, it's disgusting:
Transgender Columnist Fantasizes About ‘Trans Girls’ Violently Raping Women
US — Brooklyn, New York. On August 31, 2020, Ana Valens, Trans/Sex columnist for The Daily Dot, uploaded disturbing audio recordings, envisioning a future world with breeding facilities where you g…
And even better is her multiple comments about "her" pedophilic urges or how "she" likes to play Fall Guys with children, with a vibrator in her ass that goes off any time she touches another player.
There are the kinds of people you want us to be less hostile to. These are the people who you think we should show grace, or have any modicum of respect for?
That's why this interview is stupid, because people like you see it and think she is a normal, rational human being, when she isn't, hasn't been, and will never be. And you can see it in this thread, half of dozen of you, who don't know one thing about her trying to make it out like we're the unreasonable ones here, so her bullshit fake facade is working.
Is it a facade? Or is the other version of her the fake person, who's putting on a stunt in order to "play tough" in front of the internet crowd?