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[bigNfanboy]

You guys give too much attention to what Zoe Quinn says.

 

[Hoje0308]

I mean, I think it's a coincidence as well, but you are aware that Nintendo games have a fuckload of internet memes references, right?

Yes, which is why I mentioned their family friendly reputation. For all of their fuck ups, I simply can't see them going anywhere near this issue, and especially not to make a joke.

 

[saturnine]

this thread is a fucking madhouse

people really need to take a break from their insular communities and step away from the keyboard for five minutes

 

[cyba89]

This is the kind of shit that was probably just a coincidence, but ultimately will force Nintendo to change it anyway, expect that text to be removed in the final version

And it will become the next Nintendo censorship-gate

 

[Glass Shark]

I can't imagine Nintendo would have knowingly put in a GamerGate reference, but that Five Fun Guys thing makes this whole situation so iffy. If it weren't for that one aspect, I'd say without a doubt that it was intended to be a Watergate thing.

 

[Figboy79]

I'm pretty sure the intention of this joke was a Watergate reference, including the five guys aspect of it (considering that Watergate actually involved five men/guys).

With that said, I can 100% see how the combination of the five fun guys pun, and the watergate reference, and the "exposed" aspect of the joke (wasn't it Zoe who had some nude photos a photographer took of her spread around the internet), would lead anyone to make the connection to GamerGate. I didn't know about the Five Guys thing until this thread, but yeah, after learning that, I can also understand how someone who was shat on the way Zoe was would react like she did to a "joke" like this.

I personally think it was an unfortunate coincidence, but in this day and age, with sexism and harassment still a prominent issue in the industry, I wouldn't be surprised if it was an intentional dig. My feeling is that it's a Watergate joke, but I'm also not dismissing the GamerGate connection. It'd be safer to remove the joke or alter it in some way.

 

[Leunam]

I don't even know anything about her, not even what she looks like.

When I say "not everything is about you", I'm referring to literally anyone who has ever said that something happened in entertainment media was because of them.

Unless it's on South Park, or you're someone incredibly famous, i.g Arnold Schwarzenegger or Donald Trump, it isn't about you.

I mean you're right, it can be a throwaway comment if you're not familiar with the whole story behind GamerGate and Zoe Quinn.

But then you have shit like this:

She thought.... How can I make myself relevant again?

 

[Enter the Dragon Punch]

If that's really what the video shows, then it's definitely Watergate.

I say this as a big ZQ supporter.

just watch the video if you wanna know what it shows

 

[Kinyou]

You know, it is possible for writing to reference more than one thing.

Sure, I guess you can but why would they reference both things? It doesn't make sense

 

[Altairre]

I'm with Austin on this one.

 

[A Link to the Past]

You really think game developers and large publishers shelve this under "worst things ever?"

For the industry, GG was really bad.

 

[RulkezX]

Mario Pary 8 team names

Officially the most destructive l, historically accurate e-pun of all time

That wraps that up then , surely ?

Twitter can find something else to rant about.

Side Note - I think some of you really over estimate just how well GG is known outside of certain demographics / sites online.

 

[SneakersSO]

I honestly can't believe how many users are acting like this one situation absolves all of the bullshit and trauma that Quinn has been put through.

It's super disgusting.

This is a reference to a meme that was born on GAF that is used ironically. You've been had.

This whole thing revolves people not understanding a huge historical reference though, so I shouldn't be surprised that a reference that is a bit younger would catch a few people.

 

[GinoFelino]

easy to misinterpret that IF you hand pick two screenshots

the video of that scene mirrors the events of watergate pretty obviously

After all that's happened, are you sure you want to state that Zoe Quinn is somehow attention-starved and is 'handpicking' screenshots to, as others here have said, 'stay relevant'?

I can't believe the lack of empathy ITT.

 

[Cromwell]

I honestly can't believe how many users are acting like this one situation absolves all of the bullshit and trauma that Quinn has been put through.

It's super disgusting.

It doesn't, but someone could very easily get fired if she keeps doubling down on this.

 

[SarcasticD]

Just going off the picture alone, I registered it was a Watergate reference than anything

 

[Huge Succeeded]

Can someone just make a gif of the entire scene please

 

[vulva]

Shufflegate-gate will be the end of Nintendo

 

[abstract alien]

Do not yield to this carny ass shit, Nintendo.

 

[AcademicSaucer]

No matter the arguments in here, someone at Nintendo is really dense to be making any -gate joke within a video game, and especially from them, at the time being. Regardless of intent.

When can games have -gate references again? 5 years from now? 10 years?

 

[freenudemacusers]

If anything, I'm more impressed that so many people on GAF have never heard of the Watergate scandal.

Or people who think the average gamer is at all aware of it, moreso than watergate. Not shocked we've gone to 25 pages about it tho

 

[Bright-Light]

okay but seriously GAF going full on Davinci Code to solve the pun and proving that it was about Watergate is the best

Quinn just needs to say it was a misunderstanding and that it is kinda easy to misconstrue it and then just take the L and give up

I agree, she has just made an honest but embarrassing mistake.

 

[Brakke]

Is there even anything specific about "career ruining"? Like... isn't Zoe working on a game right now even? Or did she give that up to work on Crash Override?

 

[Mega]

regardless of how people read this, the fact remains that Nintendo is completely tone-deaf. It shows that no one at Nintendo is watching or are informed enough to care irrespective of what thing they tried to reference.

There is no fact to your statement. Watergate reference + use of the popular ___Gate meme. There is nothing tonedeaf over a light-hearted joke in a game aimed at kids and Nintendo fans who know nothing about GG and Zoe.

 

[Ashodin]

okay but seriously GAF going full on Davinci Code to solve the pun and proving that it was about Watergate is the best

Quinn just needs to say it was a misunderstanding and that it is kinda easy to misconstrue it and then just take the L and give up

This will never happen. If she retracts her statement or says anything about it that looks so, people will assume GamerGaters have won. It's something she can't take back now that it's out there.

 

[Jangowuzhere]

This is a watergate joke, can we /endthread now?

I understand completely why some people would draw connections to Quinn, but I seriously doubt that's what they were going for.

 

[Rebel Leader]

Mario Pary 8 team names

Officially the most destructive l, historically accurate e-pun of all time

Well then

 

[Olly88]

Mario Pary 8 team names

Yep, just got a screenshot.

 

[Choppasmith]

Yeah, I watched the video. I'm not seeing the Gamergate connection at all. But then I didn't know about the original "5 guys" thing for either gate. Man what a crazy coincidence that is.

While I think Zoe is overreacting, if something seemed a little too similar to recent troubles I've had (that was public knowledge), I'd probably be upset too regardless of original intent.

Sadly, I don't think Nintendo can "win" here. Even if someone from Treehouse went to great lengths to explain the joke as a Watergate reference Quinn and her followers would just scoff and handwave it as an "obvious lie" and if they said "yeah it was a reference to you sorry" then that would just be endlessly lambasted.

 

[ModBot]

Watching a video of the scene makes it seem likely that this was an unfortunate coincidence, but truthfully I think when we all saw the juxtaposition of the two images, there was a visceral "Awkward, that clearly could play the other way too". The thread is being locked because at this point it has degenerated to people, including people with multiple past gamergate bans and people fresh off bans for losing their shit about feminists, hurling unusually personal invective against Quinn.

Maybe a more sane and empathetic way to respond would be to notice that this is a person who, as a result of being constantly harangued by abusive Twitter weirdos, has a hair trigger when it comes to this stuff. Given that the main grievance being expressed by the people who are very angry about Quinn being angry is that she's jumping to conclusions, it's disheartening to see those same people jump to the conclusion that she must be a pathological narcissist because she reacted poorly to this.

This is one of the many actual replies she got her for Tweet, in response to a conversation about making the industry a less hostile place:

Take the time to be aware that getting outraged about outrage is the outrage culture you're outraged about.