Allistair Pinsof · @megaspacepanda
5th Feb 2015 from TwitLonger
The obligatory response to @kotaku & @jasonschreier's deceitful hit piece
You can read Kotaku's post here: http://kotaku.com/gamergates-latest-conspiracy-theory-doesnt-hold-up-1684012308
It was made in response to this 3-part interview series conducted by TechRaptor: http://t.co/MvBqlXBOZB
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I'm going to quote and respond to specific things in this post:
1. "Pinsof has re-emerged as a GamerGate advocate"
Starting off on a bad note by stating something that is obviously untrue by doing a Twitter search history. I've frequently said I don't support GamerGate and discourage people from joining it (barely over a week ago: http://imgur.com/qUDib1N).
Either Mr. Schreier has a different definition of "advocate" than the rest of us or he is being disingenuous to his readers, who have reason to question the rest of his article(s).
2. "he said was a blacklist against him conducted by various gaming media outlets due to his history with Destructoid."
Now, he's just being deceitful. He knows I rejected this claim months ago and even tweeted my detailed response at him: http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2k8kds/iama_exgame_journalist_who_has_been_used_as/clj07k9
https://twitter.com/megaspacepanda/status/525835887783845888
3. "The anecdote is damning. But is it true? Tiff Chow says otherwise"
Would one expect anything else? I'm glad she at least was honest about being there and having a conversation with me. Was only smart, since there were at least 2 other journalist I know by name who were there. Unfortunately, no one was in the conversation but her and myself. I expected maybe she'd say it was a misunderstanding but here she says she doesn't make the claim at all. This is he said/she said. No greater truth will come from examining it. Nevertheless, her words had impact on how I viewed Boyer and the indie scene at the time and now. Given her response doesn't even acknowledge she said these things -- jokingly or not -- makes me question it still.
4. "All three of those jurors liked Faraway the most of all the eight games"
I've always been open to this being a misunderstanding and only wanted an investigation into the matter. But, why all this focus on joke awards and building this "we're just goofing around" narrative? Is that relevant or just editorial framing? The question is if the award show was rigged to award a friend. So who were the judges? If they are just randoms in a crowd, than obviously there could be no wrong doing but who are they?
5. "Boyer was a member of the oft-cited "Game Journo Pros" message board—a list I was also on—and although that group was mostly used as a forum for members of the press to swap 3DS codes and commiserate about industry issues"
Of course Mr. Schreier would rather focus on swapping 3DS codes rather than gifting party invites to those press on the list: http://i.imgur.com/BKSDhVz.jpg
Or that this list decided whether I should be fired based on hearsay.
Also, why have IGF chairman on the list at all? For that matter, why promote this guy's site that was built around hosting exclusives for indie developers who would inevitably apply to award shows he overlooks? No it doesn't establish favoritism, but it establishes a broken system that makes favoritism a conflict that could easily occur. One would expect media to be critical of it, but here Mr. Schreier is singing the praises of swapping 3DS codes while his colleagues get ready for their swanky indie parties. I hear there is a very special one coming up, will you be attending, Mr. Schreier? http://www.eventbrite.com/e/everything-is-going-to-be-ok-aka-that-venus-patrol-wild-rumpus-party-tickets-15218002455
6. "But McGrath disputes many of the details in Pinsof's account, like the claim that he was holding information as "leverage.""
McGrath wanted me to go public with his allegations until Indie Game the Movie suddenly decided to fix the credits like he and Degroot requested. Later on, he requested me not to go public (doesn't make interview any less on-the-record). So these allegations suddenly appear and disappear once McGrath got what he wanted. That sounds like leverage to me. Whether he shared this or anything else with IGTM, I have no idea.
7. "While McGrath does believe that Fish stole his dimension-swapping concept, he disagrees with Pinsof's assertion that Fish took all the credit."
A lot of the McGrath quotes come from a misunderstanding that I cleared up with McGrath last night and shared some details of this morning, expecting Kotaku to elaborate later which they did. Great.
The misunderstanding, which I previously stated on Twitter, was that McGrath explicitly told me in 2012 that he was still working on the game until Fez' IGF Trailer. We were discussing Fez so I understood he was talking about "his/the game" as Fez. When in actuality, he was talking about the game that he worked on with Fish that operated as the foundation for Fez. So, it suddenly made sense that Fish didn't steal any code or anything because Fish was making his own copy of McGrath's game. I don't blame McGrath for the lack of clarification and I don't see how I could have known he was talking about a separate game. It was a misunderstanding that I cleared up once I talked to McGrath. It's also worth noting I contacted McGrath before my interview to see if he wanted to speak for himself, clear anything up, or add anything else. He didn't respond. I'm happy he's speaking openly about these confusions now and was very generous with his time to both Kotaku and me.
8. "So you guys never agreed that Fish would not work on [Fez] anymore?" I asked.
"No, no, that was never even talked about," McGrath said. "I don't know where that came from. Maybe I said that in the original interview I did with Allistair? I highly doubt I would do that though… No, that never happened. "
Even in this Kotaku interview, he sees uncertain about this as he was with me last night. He seemed pretty certain about it 3 years ago, though. I think it could be that he felt stressed during that original interview due to the IGTM situation and maybe exaggerated a little or remembered things differently. I don't think McGrath would do anything malicious. He's a super nice guy. But I do think we say some things in heated conversations that we wouldn't outside them. Whatever the case, it seems we still don't have clarity on this. What is clear is that Fish still took McGrath's game concept without his permission, concealed its use in Fez until IGF Trailer, and no one cared at the time beyond McGrath, who was so hurt by it that he gave up working on whatever Fez-like game he could have one day released.
9. "as usual, this sequence of events is far more convoluted and nuanced than Pinsof and various GamerGaters have suggested."
My main point from the start of bringing this up is that in 2012 a developer presented me with allegations that implicated a notable developer and the media and indie scene that surrounds him in taking someone's personal work without permission and profiting off it. I think this needed to be brought to the public's attention and investigated. McGrath finally spoke out, clarifying that some things were exaggeration, misunderstanding, or true. I don't think Fish should get a free pass for taking someone's work without permission, nor should any media or judges who knew this yet ignored. Here, you seem to be defending Fish. I'll chalk it up to a difference of opinion, but, as a developer, supporting and rewarding this sort of behavior is worrying.
10. Scheier has his own vendetta against me, as do anyone on the Gamejourno Pros list who I've called out by name or in general in recent months. He was pretty clear about this in a lengthy, private conversation the other night. Nothing hostile. Just him lecturing me on going public with these interviews and not getting both sides of a story, because you know he totally did that with every gamergate story or when my employer came to him via GameJourno Pros with some bullshit stories and he shut me out when I asked if he would give me a minute to merely hear my side.
He also took offense when I mentioned Patricia Hernandez, the news reporter who contacted me asking for more information on the developer I potentially put in harm's way due to a very serious, regretful mistake on my part. (details here: http://t.co/MvBqlXBOZB) More importantly, the news reporter who was roommates with Anna Anthropy who was the main proponent of the mob who spread lies about me, sent death threats, harassed, and requested my employer to fire me (that last thing is totally fair and merited, I admit). When I confronted him on this, he said he didn't know. He also said he didn't overlook news at the time and wouldn't tell me who did.
I'm glad Mr. Schreier took the claims I presented seriously and contacted people to get their side of the story. It's not an actual investigation -- who admits to wrongdoing to a reporter? -- but it's something. The unnecessary personal attacks against me and pandering to his audience by heavily editorializing the news with a heavy anti-GamerGate slant like it's a damn reddit post, less so. It's about what I've come to expect.