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I think the devs should remove TotalBiscuit's name from the game

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Trar:
You're probably aware that TotalBiscuit is one of the names that can be automatically used if you don't enter a name for your character. I'm not aware as to why; although I seem to remember him doing a video or two on the game, I can't find said video(s).

I think his name should be removed from the automatic name list for the reasons outlined in this Gamasutra blog by David Gallant. Basically, he's aiding and profiting off of sexist harassment in gaming and is actively promoting regressive, abusive viewpoints. It's for this reason that I hate to think his name is in DoomRL.

thelaptop:
I don't think this is up for discussion though.  It's a decision that only Kornel can make -- it's his game after all.

I am less concerned about the politics behind and more concerned about gameplay, which of course OP's request doesn't really affect.  In other words, I personally don't care much if the name is in or out, but to formally take it out will be up to Kornel's call, since it is a political thing and he probably needs to weigh in more on that than I.

Of course one of the ramifications from this is that it sets a precedent where we start lopping stuff off of DoomRL (or any ChaosForge game for that matter) when things we put in start to offend people (e.g. Carmack did something and many people don't like it -- does it mean we have to remove him as The Final Boss?; or the whole Hellish imagery present with DoomRL -- must we change them to something else?).  I am not sure if that's a healthy outcome to have.

Malek Deneith:
I'll admit that I only briefly skimmed over the article, but at what I got from the glance it looks to me as Internet Drama 101. Maybe there is something to that, maybe there isn't, but I feel that trying to determine if there is substance enough to claims in the post, would require more effort that a sane man should put towards shit like that.

Trar:

--- Quote from: thelaptop on January 27, 2015, 17:31 ---I don't think this is up for discussion though.  It's a decision that only Kornel can make -- it's his game after all.

I am less concerned about the politics behind and more concerned about gameplay, which of course OP's request doesn't really affect.  In other words, I personally don't care much if the name is in or out, but to formally take it out will be up to Kornel's call, since it is a political thing and he probably needs to weigh in more on that than I.

Of course one of the ramifications from this is that it sets a precedent where we start lopping stuff off of DoomRL (or any ChaosForge game for that matter) when things we put in start to offend people (e.g. Carmack did something and many people don't like it -- does it mean we have to remove him as The Final Boss?; or the whole Hellish imagery present with DoomRL -- must we change them to something else?).  I am not sure if that's a healthy outcome to have.

--- End quote ---

I'm less worried about 'setting bad precedent' and more with the fact that TB has demonstrably proved himself to be toxic. The chances that John Carmack will start acting the same are practically zero, and removing one name from a list will have much less of an effect than removing every trace of Hell from the game. Even if Carmack did start acting this way, he's still one of the creators of Doom. That would be enough to justify him remaining in the game. Regardless, you're right in that it is Kornel's decision.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)Besides, you still have to fight and kill him.

--- Quote from: Malek Deneith on January 27, 2015, 22:02 ---I'll admit that I only briefly skimmed over the article, but at what I got from the glance it looks to me as Internet Drama 101. Maybe there is something to that, maybe there isn't, but I feel that trying to determine if there is substance enough to claims in the post, would require more effort that a sane man should put towards shit like that.

--- End quote ---

I'm pretty sure these things are both relatively easy to discern from his public social media and videos, and important enough to do so if you have millions of people reading, watching and absorbing his viewpoints.

Malek Deneith:
Thing is you claim TB is "toxic". You use the article linked as proof, but... it's one point of view. Throwing the thing into google you can get other, dissenting points like here for example (just a random one that came up). There are probably more sites that would support your claim, and more that would go against it. The point is that unless you're willing to dig deep down to the root of the goddamn thing - which would mean finding the original posts, videos and what not (which would probably mean also learning about the whole GamerGate SNAFU that thankfully blown over the parts of internet I frequent), the only way to decide on whom you trust is to flip a fucking coin.

Also, that aside let me tell you a small story, a comparison of sorts that came to my mind when mulling over the situation during the day. Here in Poland is a man called Jurek Owsiak. That man is known for one thing: every year for 23 years now he throws a big fucking charity event, one which gathers millions, usually despite the influential people in the country shitting on him, which then are spent on buying much needed medical equipment for hospitals through the country. There is also another man, Piotr Ikonowicz. He's a politician, but unlike most of that lot he doesn't keep his head stuck up his own ass and instead of growing fat of off people's taxes he prefers to spend his time running an office dedicated to people in need. So essentially two great chaps, right?
Well this year somewhere during or after the event he runs Owsiak spoke some rather stupid stuff on what should be done with how polish medicine functions. In reaction to that Iknowicz, in a column he runs in a newspaper I read, started to throw mud at Owsiak, all while beating his chest like a primate over how what he does for people is better.
So what should I do then? One could say both of these gentelmen went "toxic" so should I scoff and disavov them? Refuse to support Owsiak's charity event, ignore Iknowicz even though he's one of few politicians that seem to care about people?
I say no. And you know why? Because, at the end of the day both of these men are just human. And that means that they're prone to having faults, and no matter what they do they might have some stupid opinions too. But at the end of the day, what they do is worth more good than their occassional fuck-up does evil.

"But Malek", I hear you say, "surely you can't compare making video game reviews to helping hospitals and people in general". Well true, what TB does is nowhere near that. But even so he does provide a valuable service: in this day where developers forgot what a demo is, where so called game journalism seems largely riding the hype train, TB is a surprisingly solid source of information on new releases. Each one he reviews is given a fair amount of time, with as much relevant information provided as his first-impressions format allows. He isn't afraid to rip a bad product or company a new one. And he tends to bring up good indie titles a lot, and they need all the press they can get, to not be drowned out by AAA companies with their megabucks advertising. And that, in my opinion has value. That is good. We gamers need stuff like that to make educated decisions on what to buy or not to buy. And in my opinion that's enough to overlook the occassional fuck up, assuming what the originally linked blog says is true. Because John Bain, as influential he might be, is still human and thus allowed to make errors, including errors of judgment.

And frankly fuck it, when I go to view one of his vids I'm interested in the title he's reviewing, not in what his opinions on subject X is. On anything else I can make my mind up on my own.

That's my $0.02 on the subject, please excuse if it's difficult to read - tends to happen when I start writing a longer post.

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