Recently twitter was all about “Nintendogate” as developer Zoe Quinn interpreted dialogue from upcoming Wii U game, Paper Mario: Colour Splash. The dialogue in question is from a group in the game called the “Five Fun Guys” where someone’s career will be in ruins, and predicts the newspapers will call it “Shufflegate: Exposed” (because of all the shuffling and dancing).
what the fuck did I ever do to you, Nintendo, that y’all had to make my suffering into a fucking joke pic.twitter.com/8It2z8X7bH
— teënage shirtbag (@UnburntWitch) June 22, 2016
The reason this developer is upset is because she thinks it’s reference to her involvement in gamergate. She was accused (falsely) of receiving positive coverage from journalists with whom she was in a relationship with. The events that followed lead to severe harassment towards Zoe Quinn. Nintendo has denied it has any reference to gamergate or any sexual harassment.
While Gamergate was a genuine issue of sexism within the industry, this is not. I feel this is just someone from the gaming community trying to gain attention, and not fully understanding what has happened in the world and understanding references.
“It’s a watergate reference” career ruining?
And after a “five fun guys” line? How fucking dense do you have to be to tell me this???
— teënage shirtbag (@UnburntWitch) June 22, 2016
The Five Fun Guys, was a reference to Watergate, where five men were caught breaking and entering into the Democratic National Committee headquarters at their Watergate complex in 1972. This ultimately lead to then president, Richard Nixon leaving office back in 1974. Nintendo even said it is a reference to Watergate.
This proves that some gamers and developers aren’t aware of their surroundings and jump to conclusions. It shows that gamers think that references are within their own mediums. Gamers need to grow up and realise that developers are human beings and can reference stuff outside of “geek culture”.
It also shows that community need to actually research before they give opinion, and not just defend their beloved developers. Take the controversy around Resident Evil 5, gamers are just colour-blind racists. Fans of the game were defending it for the fact that the zombies were black, but misinterpreted what the controversy was about.
Credit: Neogaf.com
The actual criticism being the portrayal of the non-infected were so cold, menacing not that much human. Plus, there was not much of a distinction between the infected ones. It showed that people in Africa were not much better than zombies, and hardly human. But fans of the game shot this down pretty much saying “it’s in Africa, so it should show African people”, missing the point entirely.
Credit: Neogaf.com
Gamers need to get educated before they start accusing, they need to understand that game developers are human beings with interests outside of gaming, and can reference outside the world of gaming. And game developers need to understand that they can be racist, it’s wrong. Just because your fans back you, doesn’t mean you’re right. Hopefully one day words with gate on the end will be used for actual controversies or scandals.
