An unnamed game developer tea-bagged a game journalist after doing a team-kill in an unnamed PvP-game, and in result game journalists attempted to smear the developer in the public media space.
Ian Miles Cheong spotted the tweet chain, consisting of former Game Informer editor, Michael Futter, and former Mic journalist, Amanda Farough.
Game journalists are trying to get a developer fired for ‘teabagging’ a game journalist in-game during the PAX preview of his title. That’s not petty at all. pic.twitter.com/cWdHkWtEOE
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) April 9, 2018
The two attempted to stir up drama over the incident, with Futter stating that game developers shouldn’t tea-bag after team-killing, especially if the person being tea-bagged is a woman.
Friendly tip for devs showcasing games: don’t intentionally team-kill a journalist and then teabag them… especially if she’s a woman.
— Mike Futter (@Futterish) April 7, 2018
Certain people told Futter that the whole thing seemed to be blown out of proportion, while others called for naming and shaming.
Casey, it’s unprofessional to TK and teabag in the middle of a press demo. It’s especially unprofessional when you’re demoing the game for a woman. It may not have even been done maliciously, but it was unprofessional.
I urge you to get media training before you demo your game.
— Mike Futter (@Futterish) April 8, 2018
Futter informed his social media followers that Farough would be in contact with the developer’s publisher.
I believe @AmandaFarough is going to be contacting their publisher.
— Mike Futter (@Futterish) April 8, 2018
I am.
— Amanda Farough (@AmandaFarough) April 8, 2018
For the people who attempted to downplay the event – a few of whom were game developers – Futter shot back, threatening to blacklist developers with no coverage for engaging in conduct that he didn’t approve of.
I see you’re working on your first game and may at some point be demoing it for the press. You might think it’s hilarious.
It is the quickest way to ensure you don’t get coverage. It’s not professional, and it could kill a publishing deal. Have a good day. https://t.co/jAvyffvyEv
— Mike Futter (@Futterish) April 8, 2018
Michael Futter was part of the original GameJournoPros group, a secret organization of game journalists. They would use the group to help each other out, provide each other with job opportunities, and even help shape narratives within gaming.
Patrick Klepek, who at the time was with Giant Bomb, used the GameJournoPros group to request a blacklisting of another game industry professional Kevin Dent. A blacklisting of former game journalist, Allistair Pinsof, also took place using the GameJournoPros group, as reported by Gamezone.
For this most recent event, there was ample push back from the community to name and shame a developer for tea-bagging. In fact, musical artist Deadmau5 recently tea-bagged an opponent during a PAX East demonstration involving PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, much to the delight of the audience. The stream was captured by Wanza7.
While Futter and Farough originally sought to publicly shame the developer out of a job, it turns out that the entire event was actually an accident. Farough later acknowledged that the developer was originally intending to tea-bag his “dev buddy” but did so to Farough instead.
Now, granted he thought I was his “dev buddy” by accident, but holy shit was that a mistake. No PR around. Just dudes showing me a game and rolling the dice on being rude.
(Roll succeeds. Target mismatch. Roll for initiative.)
— Amanda Farough (@AmandaFarough) April 7, 2018
Essentially, the gist of the story is that Futter and Farough believe that you shouldn’t treat women the same as men, and that when gaming with women, men need to avoid certain antics that they would otherwise perform in the company of other men.
The duo believe that men and women obviously aren’t equal, and that women are more fragile, less emotionally capable, and far more sensitive than men when it comes to playing video games. They even went so far as to nearly get the developer reprimanded for treating a female game journalist the same way he would a male gamer.
Farough amended the approach by later stating that there was no intent to get the developer fired, but to have him go through media training, so that he treats women differently than men during press demos.
I hope so. I’m going to get in touch with their publisher and get them some media training. I’m not humourless (as you know!) but I don’t have time for frat bros during a demo, regardless of intent.
— Amanda Farough (@AmandaFarough) April 8, 2018
Can’t believe that I have to say this: I am not interested in hurting devs because I was annoyed by a lack of professionalism. What happened was unfortunate and a reminder of how not to conduct a press demo.
I’m not responding to any further tweets about the incident. Thanks.
— Amanda Farough (@AmandaFarough) April 9, 2018
Even still. it appears the event has blown over, for now. However, the Regressive Left seem to have put tea-bagging on the list of things you can no longer do in the presence of women.
I attempted to reach out to Michael Futter for comment, but he has me blocked on Twitter.
(Thanks for the news tip Lyle)
