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[Deleted member 17706]

Neither of those things magically make it a good work environment. Also 'work on what you want' smacks of completely bullshit like Google's 20% rule.

No, it's totally true. It just requires the team to be welcoming of you. Their stack ranking evaluations will weed out people who aren't performing and Valve is not shy when it comes to firing people. Of course, stack ranking systems also mean people have to play the political game of getting people to like them to get good scores.

 

[CertifiedFP]

Dota has a bunch of asian and black characters, including ones that arent even human. Rochelle is hardly a sassy black woman, she is the most normal character in the game (probably in the series) compared to the three guys, who are all stereotypes (though charming ones).

But what about their other game out of the two they support, CSGO?

Counter-Terrorists side is as White as it gets, with a token African-American FBI Agent model that only appears on the least played maps (Office and Vertigo), while the Terrorists side is largely composed of Minorities with a few whites thrown in (Who also only appear on Office and Vertigo).

Nevermind that from a community-building perspective, Valve is 100% tolerant of how toxic and vitriolic the CSGO and DOTA community is. The only time Valve and Gaben have ever put their foot down on this stuff is when James Harding was making subtle remarks about the Great Firewall of China and racist jokes about Chinese... While in China. Likely not because they don't tolerate that behavior, because they clearly had no problem with Harding's behavior before, but because they didn't want to draw the ire of the Chinese government. But that's a whole other topic for another time.

 

[MulderYuffie]

This is awful i'd be very upset if that happend to me and i'm gay I know different but i'd still be upset at the issue maybe not if it was friends or in joking matters but in a business environment then no.

 

[Daft Punk]

A lot of knee jerk reactions in here. Everyone chill out.

This. Let's let the courts decide what actually happened before grabbing the pitchfork and torches.

 

[z1ggy]

Charlequin you are making me very uncomfortable to use Steam at the moment.

 

[jem0208]

This. Let's let the courts decide what actually happened before grabbing the pitchfork and torches.

Yeah, innocent before proven guilty.

If it turns out to be true that's when the pitchforks should be brought out.

 

[AlphaDump]

It's a reality alot of people have to face working in an industry where you can be replaced at any time. Sometimes you just have to deal with things in order to keep getting a paycheck, especially at companies that have certain cultures/attitudes.

of course, but my questions were literal.

From my understanding of the OP, the harassment accusation occurred once she filed the lawsuit. She reported/filed a complaint with HR about unpaid (noncontract?) support.

It sounds like there is an HR function, too.

The employee, who is identified only by initials in the lawsuit, also says that Valve fired her after she complained to human resources about the company's practice of "utilizing people who were interested in their products to provide translation services for free."

In addition, she was willing to re-locate again to accommodate the position move. It makes this case tricky when trying to prove harassment.

Unless I am missing something?

 

[collige]

Nevermind that from a community-building perspective, Valve is 100% tolerant of how toxic and vitriolic the CSGO and DOTA community is.

This is a huge misrepresentation of the efforts they've taken to reduce abusive behavior, especially in Dota. The last time I reported someone, they were punished literally seconds after the game ended.

The only time Valve and Gaben have ever put their foot down on this stuff is when James Harding was making subtle remarks about the Great Firewall of China and racist jokes about Chinese... While in China. Likely not because they don't tolerate that behavior, because they clearly had no problem with Harding's behavior before, but because they didn't want to draw the ire of the Chinese government. But that's a whole other topic for another time.

Except that GabeN literally said that they did have a problem with his behavior beforehand in his statement.

We've had issues with James at previous events. Some Valve people lobbied to bring him back for Shanghai, feeling that he deserved another chance. That was a mistake. James is an ass, and we won't be working with him again.

 

[charlequin]

Pretty sure the point, as was explained in the email about allowing it back on, was that it wasn't Valve's place to decide what isn't and is valid content based on their own personal views.

I mean, that's certainly their choice to make, but let's not pretend it's anything but a conscious choice. If you want to say "Nazis can't sell shit on my store," you can say it.

Lots of crazed reactions here based on early accusations. You'd think the verdict were already reached judging by some of the narratives folks are attempting to spin in here.

I want to hear about, I guess, alternate theories of the crime. Even if someone is attempting to remain neutral, you still have to form some type of idea of what possibilities are available. Is the alternate case that... this person got fired for unrelated reasons and tried to invent a story about discrimination to leverage that into a payday? Like, that's absolutely possible, but one part of starting from a neutral position is evaluating how plausible the alternate possibilities actually are in comparison to one another.

Also, I just want to emphasize again that a large amount of the pre-judgment on this is based on this being the latest in a long series of similar stories about Valve -- I know my initial reaction to each Valve story has gotten more negative as there have been more and more of them, and therefore they've become collectively more plausible.

And this is precisely a result of them not putting a standard hierarchy in place for a department that really needs one.

Yup. Hierarchy (when properly applied) is good, folks!

Charlequin you are making me very uncomfortable to use Steam at the moment.

All my issues with Valve's organizational structure and operational strategy aside, they're not any worse than any other big vendor in ethical consumption terms and I do feel pretty confident the issue here is terrible HR policy, not a corporate standard of bigotry. I think it winds up coming off as more significant just because they're so successful and have historically had so much goodwill.

 

[draetenth]

Disgusting on Valve's part if true and they should compensate the victim.

Kinda weird how the "bad guys" of PC gaming, EA, are probably the most progressive publishers around, whilst our "glorious lord and savior" Gaben and Valve seem to have a lot of right-wing leaning to them.

This is an odd post. Social Issues/Progressiveness (or the capability of their services) has nothing do with why many claim Valve is the savior of gaming or why EA is viewed as a "bad guy".

I view EA as a bad guy because they keep buying developers/series I like and run them into the ground. Usually by changing what made the games popular in the first place (like SimCity or Dungeon Keeper Mobile) and then when no one buys the games (because long-time fans don't like the changes or something) they have the gall/audacity to complain that no one likes the series any more and that's it (I would fucking love a Dungeon Keeper 3 or a Dead Space 4 if they were more like Dungeon Keeper 1/2 instead of Mobile or Dead Space 1/2 instead of 3).

I view Valve as a savior of PC gaming because they essentially were at the time: they came onto the scene when developers were abandoning the pc, it was really hard to patch games, and it could be hard/expensive to buy games. Valve and Steam saved PC gaming (though it was tough for a bit): now we had a central place to buy games, games could be purchased cheaper, and it was so much better/easier to patch games.

EA was around at the time (with the predecessor to Origin), yet couldn't be arsed to put the effort to save PC gaming (another point toward being a "bad guy"). Even now, it's not like they are doing anything for PC gaming - Origin is still just focused on EA games.

However, that doesn't mean EA shouldn't be praised for being socially progressive and Valve should absolutely be blasted for things like this

 

[Nzyme32]

I mean, that's certainly their choice to make, but let's not pretend it's anything but a conscious choice. If you want to say "Nazis can't sell shit on my store," you can say it.

... I don't think I insinuated otherwise? I just reiterated what Gabe Newell "chose" for Steam to be vs the employees that removed the game, who did it based on their thoughts of the games content. Of course they can do whatever they hell they want, or make whatever rules they like

 

[213372bu]

But what about their other game out of the two they support, CSGO?

Counter-Terrorists side is as White as it gets, with a token African-American FBI Agent model that only appears on the least played maps (Office and Vertigo), while the Terrorists side is largely composed of Minorities with a few whites thrown in (Who also only appear on Office and Vertigo).

Actually, it all varies on the map.

There are maps with All Hispanic + Black CTs etc.

That also ignores the Half-Life series & Portal series which features prominent characters of color.

It's a bit ridiculous to base their ecosystem off of player characters in de_dust 2 anyways.

 

[Teletraan1]

You know, I've never really paid attention to this localization problem with Valve. I always assumed they contracted the work rather than fansourcing it. It's really odd. Blizzard employs like a gazillion localization staff to ensure their services and content are in as many languages as possible for an international audience. Valve can't do the same?

They probably had the translation team working on some drivers. I am sure a stray level designer gave it a crack but probably didn't really work out so they figured they would just go on radio silence over it and hope Geoff Keighly didn't harass them about it or anything.

 

[Unison]

A few thoughts...

- Wouldn't the fact that this employee was telecommuting make the claims of damages due to a "hostile work environment" much more difficult to prove?

- Hostile work environment is harder to prove if you're fired, in general... It's easier if you quit, generally, or have begun going to the EEOC while still employed.

- Unless there's smoking guns (e.g. e-mails, witnesses, etc...) or a paper trail of reported complaints, these cases are extremely hard to win.

- Is there any sense of the context under which this employee was called it? I didn't read the court documents, but I have witnessed people using that terminology without ill will, because it's socially awkward for some to address transitions.

- Is there more to the claim than being called "it"? I am not saying that that's proper behavior, of course, but it seems very thin ground to get a jury to award such a large settlement. I don't know that most people would agree that this behavior was so outrageous that it alone could justify the claim. That says a lot about the political situation of transgendered people in the USA, but it's the way it is at the moment, I'm afraid.

- The question of unpaid labor seems to be beside the point to me. Even if it's unethical, the company would seem to have every right to fire someone for critiquing their business practices. Again, not great for corporate culture, but definitely not illegal. I think that this is just an attempt to smear Valve with bad PR to force a settlement?

Not trying to upset anyone... just trying to understand.

 

[Trouble]

No, it's totally true. It just requires the team to be welcoming of you. Their stack ranking evaluations will weed out people who aren't performing and Valve is not shy when it comes to firing people. Of course, stack ranking systems also mean people have to play the political game of getting people to like them to get good scores.

Don't get me started on stack ranking. It's just about the worst possible way to do employee evaluations. Microsoft invented it and they don't even do it any more. It just leads to cliquish behavior and only really measures an employees ability to navigate the political environment of the company.

 

[Atomski]

Terrible news.. hopefully valve takes care of it swiftly.

On the translation complaint dont lots of companies do this? Like I remember facebook and such would rely some on community for translation help. Never figured it was a big deal.

 

[Toxi]

I have to wonder how Valve gets anything done reading about its corporate structure. Well, outside unpaid labor.

 

[shangolin]

Yes, I did agree, I just said I think he probably has a right-libertarian lean (as is incredibly common in the tech industry.) Can you see that jumping from that to an accusation of racism was a reach?

Do you have some statistics that show the lean of the tech industry? I would actually think it's more left-libertarian leaning, at least publicly if not privately. I'm mostly referencing my experience in reading general political views of NeoGAF, success stories of people like Anita Sarkeesian, and reading articles like this one.

Silicon Valley has long been a bastion of liberalism. Since George H.W. Bush won Napa County in 1988, Republican presidential nominees have lost every county in the Bay Area. In 2012, President Obama won 84 percent of the vote in San Francisco to Mitt Romney's 13 percent and raised more for his reelection campaign from Bay Area donors than from those in New York or Hollywood. Political donations specifically from tech workers follow that trend: Google employees collectively gave $720,000 to Obama in 2012, versus $25,000 for Romney. Crowdpac, a nonpartisan political analytics firm, found that between 1979 and 2012, tech companies have overwhelmingly favored liberal candidates.

 

[Majukun]

then we discover that the culprit was not a native english speaker but german,which now actually has a third gender ,and was just trying to translate that in english,just like I usually assign things a gender when speaking english because i'm italian and we consider things to be either male or female

anyway,we can only hope for a quick and just resolution,but i always wondered if there's a table anywhere that quantifies moral damage in monetary penalties and how it somehow always reaches several millions bucks

 

[Aztechnology]

Ok wait so they let her move to L.A from the main office in Seattle because she said she needed to for her gender reassignment surgery and was depressed likely due to a long time if feeling like she didn't belong and was having issues with the transition as any one would. Sorry I'm all for Transgender rights, but there seems to be more information that needs to be sussed out before we start accepting the information/accusation as black and white. It sounds like Valve is probably being scummy about localization and translation as a big company (big suprise). They gave her alot of leniency that most work places would never afford their workers here. I feel like it's important to know if she was complaining on social media or any other outlets publicly (reddit obviously) etc. Anything that would draw ire from the top about basically making the company feel threatened in that regard.

As far as her higher up caller her "it" we'll have to wait and see if she has evidence (does she? Emails recording etc?) or if coworkers can corroborate at least. To me this sounds like someone that got fired because they may have been rabble rousing in the companies eyes, and is now disgruntled.

Valve is wrong either way in this case, but to make bold claims about what essentially amounts to hate speech here makes me a little more cautious. I'm not saying it didn't happen. I just want to remain impartial until more evidence is presented. GAF is quick to go into Lynch mob mode with very little information to go off of.

Can someone help me fill in some gaps here? I don't have the app so I can't look through all those documents.

A few thoughts...

- Wouldn't the fact that this employee was telecommuting make the claims of damages due to a "hostile work environment" much more difficult to prove?

- Hostile work environment is harder to prove if you're fired, in general... It's easier if you quit, generally, or have begun going to the EEOC while still employed.

- Unless there's smoking guns (e.g. e-mails, witnesses, etc...) or a paper trail of reported complaints, these cases are extremely hard to win.

- Is there any sense of the context under which this employee was called it? I didn't read the court documents, but I have witnessed people using that terminology without ill will, because it's socially awkward for some to address transitions.

- Is there more to the claim than being called "it"? I am not saying that that's proper behavior, of course, but it seems very thin ground to get a jury to award such a large settlement. I don't know that most people would agree that this behavior was so outrageous that it alone could justify the claim. That says a lot about the political situation of transgendered people in the USA, but it's the way it is at the moment, I'm afraid.

- The question of unpaid labor seems to be beside the point to me. Even if it's unethical, the company would seem to have every right to fire someone for critiquing their business practices. Again, not great for corporate culture, but definitely not illegal. I think that this is just an attempt to smear Valve with bad PR to force a settlement?

Not trying to upset anyone... just trying to understand.

None of those questions should upset anyone here. Context and understanding of all the available information is extremely important.

Edit: I would urge GAF to be more objective here as all the information needed to make an informed decision hasn't been presented.

 

[BreezyLimbo]

A few thoughts...


Not trying to upset anyone... just trying to understand.

Nobody should be upset.

There is the other side of the coin. She had some unpaid wages, was let go/fired after complaining, and now they're trying to 'get back' at valve by suing for an unrelated reason that is more or less based on hearsay to get 'revenge' for those unpaid wages.

At-will states suck, because working in a volatile system like the games industry, you're set off even worse. The translator lives in LA as well, and it's expensive living there as well, so having a lawsuit happen where one of the hopes would be that Valve would 'settle'(ie hearsay litigation will draw out the case, keep them in the news, and only look bad for Valve even if in the end they are wrong since there will probably be emotional testimony that no matter if it's false or not, due to internet mobs and 'guilty until proven innocent' mindsets, it'll only go bad for Valve.)

That's the other side. It's in the realm of possibility.

 

[Jintor]

if true that's fucked up

 

[besada]

GAF scares me. This thread, with a cursory glance many people were quick to cast judgement in its entirety. These are not people I would want on a jury. The onus is on the person making the accusation in this case. They need to provide compelling evidence.

Fortunately, this thread isn't a jury, nor is it bound by the rules of a jury. It's a forum for discussion.

No one has formed a lynch mob, no one has lit torches. People are expressing opinions and conjecturing about the facts, just in the way you were doing. Some people are convinced, others aren't. None of those people will have any effect on the actual court case.

Finally, if you, or anyone, thinks that this is a subject that can't be discussed because there aren't enough facts, feel free not to post in the thread. But the next person who scolds people for discussing the subject is going to get ejected.

 

[FF Seraphim]

A few thoughts...

- Wouldn't the fact that this employee was telecommuting make the claims of damages due to a "hostile work environment" much more difficult to prove?

- Hostile work environment is harder to prove if you're fired, in general... It's easier if you quit, generally, or have begun going to the EEOC while still employed.

- Unless there's smoking guns (e.g. e-mails, witnesses, etc...) or a paper trail of reported complaints, these cases are extremely hard to win.

- Is there any sense of the context under which this employee was called it? I didn't read the court documents, but I have witnessed people using that terminology without ill will, because it's socially awkward for some to address transitions.

- Is there more to the claim than being called "it"? I am not saying that that's proper behavior, of course, but it seems very thin ground to get a jury to award such a large settlement. I don't know that most people would agree that this behavior was so outrageous that it alone could justify the claim. That says a lot about the political situation of transgendered people in the USA, but it's the way it is at the moment, I'm afraid.

- The question of unpaid labor seems to be beside the point to me. Even if it's unethical, the company would seem to have every right to fire someone for critiquing their business practices. Again, not great for corporate culture, but definitely not illegal. I think that this is just an attempt to smear Valve with bad PR to force a settlement?

Not trying to upset anyone... just trying to understand.

Completely agree with this. I cannot fully cast judgement on this case without know more about it. Does she have an e-mail where the supervisor called her an "it"? This will be hard to prove without some sort of paper trail even if there is someone else willing to back it up, it is just hearsay for now.

Is she doing two separate suits? One for the hostile work environment and one for the unpaid labor? Or is this one big suit?

 

[braves01]

So why exactly does she have standing to sue for alleged promises made to others? She seems a bit remote from that.

 

[Aztechnology]

Fortunately, this thread isn't a jury, nor is it bound by the rules of a jury. It's a forum for discussion.

No one has formed a lynch mob, no one has lit torches. People are expressing opinions and conjecturing about the facts, just in the way you were doing. Some people are convinced, others aren't. None of those people will have any effect on the actual court case.

Finally, if you, or anyone, thinks that this is a subject that can't be discussed because there aren't enough facts, feel free not to post in the thread. But the next person who scolds people for discussing the subject is going to get ejected.

Point taken.

I made a blanket statement that is in way way representory of GAF. I simply get frustrated at times, like anyone.

 

[Gattsu25]

If there is any truth to those allegations that sounds like an incredibly hostile work environment.

 

[jackdoe]

I'm actually surprised that Valve has a bona fide Human Resources department, considering how laissez-faire their corporate structure is. That is unless it's as half assed as their customer service, which would explain how things got this bad, if the allegations are to be believed.

 

[Tom Nook Sawyer]

There's been stories of how shitty it is to work at Valve, this doesn't surprise me at all.

Have there? Can you link me to them? I'm actually curious to read about that

 

[TheLostBigBoss]

If there is any truth to those allegations that sounds like an incredibly hostile work environment.

I've read other stories like that in the gaming industry to where reading this doesn't really shock me.

 

[Kard8p3]

This is wildly off topic, but Chen, Dragon Knight, and Legion Commander, Bloodseeker, and probably more that I'm forgetting are all PoC. In fact, lots of racists complained when they changed Legion from being a white man in the original DotA to being a black woman for Dota 2.

DK is actually more or less white, but yeah, Dota 2 has great representation, idk why anyone would think other wise.

 

[JaseC]

Completely agree with this. I cannot fully cast judgement on this case without know more about it. Does she have an e-mail where the supervisor called her an "it"? This will be hard to prove without some sort of paper trail even if there is someone else willing to back it up, it is just hearsay for now.

One would think that proving the harassment would be rather easy given it started after the surgery, by which point she had already moved and begun working remotely, but Valve completely dismissing the allegations suggests it feels confident no such evidence exists, in which case the matter will just turn into he said/she said.

Have there? Can you link me to them? I'm actually curious to read about that

It's not "shitty" but there are accounts that paint a different reality than that depicted in Valve's employee handbook.

 

[Majima Everywhere System]

If this is how their supervisors act, no wonder why valve automates features that would be better staffed by humans.

 

[NormalFish]

I will never understand why GAF has so many members willing to give corporations the benefit of the doubt, but not an individual. I don't think there will ever be a more disappointing facet of the community.

More to the point, the various rumours and allegations thrown towards valve are worrisome. Place sounds corporate in the worst kind of way.

 

[poppedcollar69]

valve is so damn evil

 

[Reallink]

Isn't WA at will employment and Valve non-union? If they can get translation work for free making her position redundant, that seems well within their rights and makes the second complaint meritless from a legal standpoint. Ethically not so much.

 

[Davide]

$3m for not using a preferred pronoun is ridiculous.

 

[Risette]

I will never understand why GAF has so many members willing to give corporations the benefit of the doubt, but not an individual. I don't think there will ever be a more disappointing facet of the community.

More to the point, the various rumours and allegations thrown towards valve are worrisome. Place sounds corporate in the worst kind of way.

Well, more like not corporate enough in the worst way possible. If they had a proper corporate hierarchy and structure to deal with situations like this it probably could've been avoided.

Tech libertarianism gone wrong tbh

 

[Laughing Banana]

Can't believe someone in here actually said "But my Transgender friends are not offended by people calling them 'it'" in here damn.

I mean, even someone with half a brain can easily assume that treating a person like he or she is an object is not okay, but noooooooo, calling a person 'it' is not offensive you guys!

Damn.

 

[JoeyJungle]

I don't know anything about their unpaid translation stuff, but I'm really surprised about the allegations of trans discrimination. I thought Gaben himself pulled that one Dota commentator from that competition in China because he made sexist/transphobic comments on the first day of his stream? I know from reading comments from ex-employees that their structure isn't as hunkey-dorey as they claim, but I'm really surprised to see allegations of transphobia present and vocally expressed in the company.

 

[ElFly]

Kind of a bizarre conclusion considering how massively productive the company has actually been post HL2 EP2. Just because they don't make the games / content / services / hardware you want, isn't to say they can't accomplish anything.

Massively productive? HL2 EP2 and the Orange Box is their last attempt at being productive. After that we got: dota2 (a remake), the lab (a minigame collection it seems?), Alien Swarm (another remake made by a company they bought), L4D1 & 2 (they bought the external studio that did the first one, managed to spun out L4D2 in a year), CSGO (a remake) and Portal 2.

Even if I liked all those seven games (I like 3), seven games in almost a decade is p small. Particularly once you discount the remakes. The Lab sounds PRECISELY like they got together all the vr demos everyone worked on by separate (cause everyone works on what they want) and shipped them.

So yeah "massively productive" is a weird phrase. I guess you will hide behind "services" but that only proves my point that they cannot produce something the size of Portal 2 again (which ain't even that big of a game).

 

[Crosseyes]

This isn't the first time we've heard about those 'translated for free' allegations before and transphobic discrimination claims are rarely ever a lie given how exposed a trans individual has to make themselves to claim that, opening themselves to more abuse by doing so.

 

[Sunset Samurai]

I don't think her supervisor referring to her as it is offensive, honestly.

I know transgenders who prefer it, and that stuff is so different from person to person, it's like walking on eggshells all the time when you're talking to anyone. She should have informed people what she wanted to be referred to as.

????????? That's possibly the most offensive thing you can call one. Not buying it

 

[Muzicfreq]

Whoa, this is screwed up beyond belief. Valve sounds like a seriously dark place to work after reading this.. Wish her all the best.

Valve over the past few years of devs and employees coming out and sharing their experiences working there makes valve sound like one of the worst companies to work for combined with the failed grade on the BBB and them brushing it off as nothing.

Valve is a shit company and the sooner people accept it the sooner we can move on

 

[NormalFish]

Well, more like not corporate enough in the worst way possible. If they had a proper corporate hierarchy and structure to deal with situations like this it probably could've been avoided.

Tech libertarianism gone wrong tbh

Ha. Fair enough. I was more thinking alongside the lines of everything being focused on efficiency and cost reduction to the extreme, rather than focusing on the consumer. Their actual structure isn't the classic corporate, for sure.

 

[Vinland]

BTW, the Wayback Machine version of the deleted reddit thread: https://web.archive.org/web/2016020...ow_a_whole_language_of_the_steam_translation/



It's about the discrimination. The unpaid translators issue is relevant because dismissing an employee for bringing up a legitimate issue in the company's external policies would speak to a pattern of inappropriate treatment.

But that would mean that the company didn't fire her because of discrimination it would be because of a potential labor law violation which typically bring in the IRS for tax evasion in many circumstances. I was once fired from an IT job for not banking my hours as was the culture there. Was a violation of state labor law and actually an illegal tax evasion on the company and my part and I refused. I had two options... Put the company in dire straights and my friends that worked there OR collect my unemployment to its fullest since they were in the wrong and couldn't chance challenging it.

While it does smell like the supervisor had it out for her because of bigotry there is nothing here that suggests the company was complicit with the bigotry. It sounds to me like middle management helping one of their own create a way induce her quitting and it backfired. Even still, The job relocation could have been initiated by HR not wanting to pay medical bills in California and there is some HMO secret limit she hit and Valve don't wanna deal with more in the future.

And now the company will probably deal with her directly and hopefully invoke a inquiry on that manager and evaluate his actions against his subordinate. I kinda hate to see the inflated seeking amounts but unfortunately that is the only way these companies will keep their house in order and welcome everyone. God help the company if there findings show the manager lived up to the accusations AND his peers knew and complied with his shitty reasons.

 

[domlolz]

It's still an issue in Valve's culture. I'll need to do some digging since I never saved them for posterity, but I've seen a lot of Gate-y rhetoric out of Valve employees on Steam's forums from time to time. And I should probably remind you that Gaben re-instated Hatred's presence on Steam and apparently reprimanded the employee(s) responsible for pulling it.

Can't find the post I'm thinking about, but for now have this.

Kinda weird how the "bad guys" of PC gaming, EA, are probably the most progressive publishers around, whilst our "glorious lord and savior" Gaben and Valve seem to have a lot of right-wing leaning to them.

gate-y rhetoric? jesus christ get a grip.

that post you screenshotted shows nothing egregious at all.

 

[Ailike]

Anyone thinking that entering an initial 3m demand will mean the individual will get -anything- close to that much should cool the jets. Its been mentioned that its just part of the process. Very very very few cases that involve employment end up going to trial, and any lawyer worth their fee will make sure we never know how much it ends up being.

That being said, 3m is absolutely ridiculous, if only for the 1m lost wage claim. I work with cases where families with people who die or lose a limb don't touch that much. You can't just say one million without a forensic economic report to back it up. And lost wages is just that. Is translation really worth a cool mil? This whole scenario just sounds like someone trying to get a name out there.

 

[DedValve]

I feel like if you go through all the trouble to have a sex change operation to show the world that you are the gender you feel you are, to be ok with being called 'it' kind of defeats the purpose of your whole journey.

 

[Aselith]

It's still an issue in Valve's culture. I'll need to do some digging since I never saved them for posterity, but I've seen a lot of Gate-y rhetoric out of Valve employees on Steam's forums from time to time. And I should probably remind you that Gaben re-instated Hatred's presence on Steam and apparently reprimanded the employee(s) responsible for pulling it.

Can't find the post I'm thinking about, but for now have this.

Kinda weird how the "bad guys" of PC gaming, EA, are probably the most progressive publishers around, whilst our "glorious lord and savior" Gaben and Valve seem to have a lot of right-wing leaning to them.

What is that screenshot even supposed to mean?