Adrian Chmielarz 🧙♀️🔥 · @adrianchm
19th Feb 2015 from TwitLonger
Thank you for your support, @oliverbcampbell and others.
You might want to read this first: https://twitter.com/bonegolem/status/568072438518562816
I am not pissed. I am afraid.
How can I not when the review editor of Polygon implies I am an indecent, terrible human being, and for that my game is not worth playing?
How can I not when the founder of VG247 warns the developers not to engage in what basically is a thinly veiled version of, as someone translated it, “Nice little game you got there, would be a real shame if no one gave it coverage, a real damn shame.”?
How can I not when I was one of the first veteran developers vocally refusing the narrative that #GamerGate is the “worst of gaming culture”, the misogyny incarnated, the harassment horde – and we all know that you can recognize pioneers by the arrows in their backs? How could the same press that demonizes #GamerGate give any coverage to a guy who doesn’t?
Is this fear justified? Is the threat of a blacklist real?
I certainly hope it’s not. But this fear is something most independent developers - especially those with families and team members to support - live with anyway. I have my own trolls and my own stalkers, and my games were shit on by some gamers too – but I fear none of these things. I’ve made enough decent games in my life to know there’s enough people in the world to like what I design. But I do fear that after spending two years of sixteen hours a day no one will buy our games only because no one will know they exist.
But that is exactly why the diversity of information sources is so important to me as a creator and a businessman. Digital distribution and social media made word of mouth ten times more powerful than ever before. Game casters seem to care more about the games themselves than any political views of their creators. The competition between websites and blogs makes them look for an original content. And, in a shocking turn of events, not every gaming website or blog is in the business of assassinating the gamer identity.
I don’t know what the future holds. We live in a world in which its brightest minds can be humiliated and turned into a teary mess for wearing the wrong t-shirt. But we also live in a world in which thousands of people protested that, and I’m sure Matt Taylor heard them.
I’m not good enough to polish the man’s shoes, so this is obviously not a direct comparison – but I heard you too, and while I can’t speak for other developers, I do want to publicly thank you and everyone else who helped – you know who you are – for your voices of support.