In this article, I will be documenting numerous examples of game journalists who were in favour of blacklisting game developers and/or pressuring them to change game content, because they either disagreed with the personal politics of the game developer(s) or because the content of a game was deemed offensive. This article is a work in progress, so be sure to check back every now and then for updates.

Blacklisting of game developers

1. Kevin Dent - As shown in leaked emails from the GameJournoPros, former Giant Bomb journalist Patrick Klepek made a request to “stop quoting [Kevin Dent]”, stating “that guy is a known creep, and I’m not sure why we keep giving him a spotlight”. This request was met with approval from other members of the GameJournoPros. Adam Rosenberg wrote “done and done”, and Alex Navarro replied by saying “we as a collective industry would do well to pretend he no longer exists”. Following the alleged blacklist, Kevin Dent was no longer quoted, referenced or promoted in any major capacity by the GameJournoPros with the exception of a single mention by Kotaku about the game Rekoil, following the post by Klepek on 25 July 2013.

2. Russ Roegner - Tweets and emails from the GameJournoPros suggest that Russ Roegner may have been blacklisted by the video games press.

In May 2014, Roegner replied to a tweet by game developer Rami Ismael, stating that “There’s no issue with gender equality in the game industry. I wish people would stop saying there is.” This was met with much criticism from both game developers and journalists. Leigh Alexander published a threatening tweet, stating “be careful with me. I am a megaphone, I am much less kind than Rami and I won’t mind making an example out of you.” She continued by stating “by now the entire industry you want to work in is chastising your comments and you’re still arguing”. Other game journalists such as Ben Kuchera and Ian Miles Cheong wrote “You really should quit while you’re ahead.” and “This has been an amazing look at someone just starting out burning every bridge possible. What a wreck.” Leaked emails from the GameJournoPros show Daniel Starkey voicing his opinion as well: “we just saw career suicide”.

Laralyn McWilliams commented on the situation, stating “keep in mind that you’re in front of a group of people that do a LOT of hiring in the industry. Like me”, and “it’s great to see en masse spontaneous ridicule like this”. Likewise, Brenda Romero responded by suggesting Roegner to “back away from his keyboard”, affirming that he was “being discussed at the highest levels of the industry, but not for reasons one would aspire to.” Dustin Clingman, Chair Emeritus of the IGDA, also weighted in on the situation, stating that Roegner was receiving responses from “thought leaders in the industry”.

3. Other examples - On November 2, Ben Kuchera published a threatening tweet, stating “you MAY get 4,000 supporters at the expense of LITERALLY EVERYONE ELSE” A few days later, Arthur Gies suggested people to heed advice and “shut up”.

In October 2014, Robert Rosario, the then-Chairman of the IGDA Chapter of Puerto Rico voiced his disagreement with being labeled as a harasser by Randi Harper. On 14 April 2015, he stated that “I was actually blacklisted from speaking at certain events for a while” following his criticism. He was later unbanned after a number of phone calls and emails, as they apologised for overreacting.

On 30 April 2015, Mark Kern published two tweets in which he stated that “multiple aGG contacted Blizzard trying to have me fired” and “From prominent, public aGG figures who will remain unnamed, I received threats against my company” following a petition that he made in February 2015. In June 2015, game developer and former game journalist Shawn Elliott made it clear that he was “aware of instances in which you’ve attempted to have people fired for disagreeing with you and Anita’’ in a tweet directed at Arthur Gies.

Game developer Jane Ng has insinuated that she would not employ pro-GamerGate students, stating “not hiring them [does not] equal discrimination”. Likewise, game developer Jonathan Blow mused on blacklisting pro-GamerGate developers from the industry: “I wonder what percentage of #gamergate people hope to get a job in the industry someday?”

Censorship and heavy criticism of video games

1. Bayonetta 2 - The game Bayonetta 2 was heavily criticised by Polygon’s Arthur Gies in his review of the game, which was published on 13 October 2014. While praising the game for the eponymous main character’s development and improved gameplay mechanics, he criticised it mostly for “blatant over-sexualization”, particularly Bayonetta’s revealing outfits and gratuitous titillation at her expense being frequently provided as an “implicit reward for doing well”, stating “It’s sexist, gross pandering, and it’s totally unnecessary. Bayonetta 2 needs prurient rewards even less than the original Bayonetta did, because the on-screen chaos you can wreak through skilled play is infinitely more satisfying.”. The game was scored 7.5/10 in the review.

Vox writer Todd VanDerWerff called Bayonetta a “seriously objectified female protagonist” while Huffington Post writer Alexis Kleinman wrote that “even the more famous, developed characters are problematic in their unnecessary sexualization”.

2. Divinity: Original Sin - Numerous complaints were made by consumers about the design of the female character’s breast plate that was featured as the cover of the game Divinity: Original Sin, following the launch of the game’s Kickstarter campaign. Following these complaints, the official Twitter account of Larian Studios announced that they had changed the size of the breast plate.

Thierry Van Gyseghem, an animator and artist who worked on the game, published a blog post on 26 June 2013, titled Save the Boob-plate!. In the blog post, he argues that “In a lot of ways, you’re forced to self-censorship when it comes to publishing your work” and “Apparently it was deemed to be sexistic and women unfriendly by the way the female protagonist was portrayed: with a bare belly.”:

In the world of journalism there are channels that take an aggressive stance against everything they judge even remotely sexistic and in many instances denying the word of opposition by disabling criticism and reactions on their articles or blogs. Also blackmails in the form of “change your game art or we won’t publish a single word about you.” is a common behavior found among those. Fact is, there is a strong lobby going on out there which is holding a very aggressive campaign for women in the games industry. — Thierry Van Gyseghem

In December 2014, Nichegamer reported that the pre-censored artwork had returned and could be seen in advertisements on Steam. In an interview with One Angry Gamer in March 2015, Van Gyseghem was asked about his stance on censorship, to which he replied:

When you own a pizza place and one day the mob enters your little shack, threatens you by saying if I don’t stop selling pepperoni pizza’s they’ll do anything in their power to make sure you go out of business, then what should we call this? Blackmail? Censorship? Harassment? Extortion? or simply a trade embargo? — Thierry Van Gyseghem

3. Dragon’s Crown - Following the 2013 trailer release for the game Dragon’s Crown, Kotaku’s Jason Schreier published an article on 12 April 2013, titled Game Developers Really Need to Stop Letting Teenage Boys Design Their Characters. In he article, he voices his opinion about the design of the sorceress’ character, stating, “as you can see, the sorceress was designed by a 14-year-old boy” and “Perhaps game development studios should stop hiring teenagers? At least they’re cheap, I guess.” In a series of forum posts, he argued that sorceress’ breasts “[are] part of a lolicon fantasy, drawn to appeal to people who are interested in lolicon fantasies” and “I’m just baffled at how many people don’t see why people like me consider it problematic”.

Several days after the article was published, Vanillaware’s George Kamitani, the creator of the game, published an image of three sexualised dwarf characters on his Facebook account, describing it as “The art of the direction which [Jason Schreier] likes was prepared”, as “it seems that [he] (…) is pleased also with neither sorceress nor amazon.”

In a follow-up article, which was published on 23 April 2013, Schreier admitted that his previous article was “snarky [and] short”, while also arguing that “the game’s voluptuous, hyper-sexualized sorceress character looks like it came out of the notebook doodles of a teenage, heterosexual male”. In regards to the image that Kamitani published on his Facebook account, he stated, “I must instead like an image of muscled men hugging. A gay joke, perhaps?” He further went on to call the game and character design “embarrassing” and “juvenile”, as “I wouldn’t want to be seen playing it in public” and “I don’t want them to perpetuate the ugly “boys’ club” mentality that has pervaded gaming for almost three decades now”. He also argued that “the sorceress is symbolic of a much bigger problem”:

But the dwarf isn’t making many people uncomfortable, because men don’t get sexually harassed at PAX East. Because male designers don’t get mistaken for receptionists. Because male reporters are never asked if they really play video games.— Jason Schreier

Gamasutra writer Christian Nutt, who calls himself “a gay nerd”, described Kamitani’s Facebook post as “casual homophobia”, arguing that it made him feel “that the creator of a game I’m looking forward to thinks I’m invisible to him”, in reference to his depictions of sexualised dwarfs, and “then that I’m ridiculous to him, too. And my immediate reaction is to feel betrayed”. Penny Arcade Report’s Ben Kuchera wrote that Kamitani’s retort was “a gay joke” and continued by calling his art “disappointing,” “done, old, creaky, and a relic from another time” and “obvious and bland.” He elaborated by stating that “The whole sorry story is a depressing look at how adolescent this industry — and many of the people in it — continue to act.” and “Instead, [George Kamitani] decided to double-down on homophobia, and only apologized when the story blew up.’’

On her personal blog, Erin Fitzgerald, the voice actor for the game’s sorceress and amazon, commented on the “ridiculousness of large breasts making a game “sexist””, arguing that “Both women are 2 of the strongest female characters I have ever voiced.”:

Not once do these characters have to use their sexuality to get ahead. They don’t have to say demeaning things lowering their self worth. They don’t even make sexual references in the dialogue. They are not in need of men to handle their business. This is a kick ass fighting game using ALL FEMALE CHARACTERS people! — Erin Fitzgerald

4. God of War: Ascension - In an interview with IGN’s Michael Tomsen, which was published 19 July 2012, Sony Santa Monica Design Manager David Hewitt, was asked if there was a kind of violence that wouldn’t be shown in the game:

There are some things we’ve pulled back from. I think where this has been an issue is with violence against women — the team’s pulled back from some of that and assessed that a little more carefully. There are certain things that carry has a different kind of resonance that we don’t want to get into. This isn’t about statement-making in that regard. It’s about fleshing out this character. — David Hewett

The Escapist journalist Grey Carter gave one possible explanation for the developers’ decision: “could [it] be because the recent bouts of controversy surrounding the trailers for Tomb Raider and Hitman: Absolution have turned the issue of violence against women into a maelstrom of bad PR that has developers fleeing for the hills?” MVCUK’s Ben Parfitt published an article on 20 July 2012, in which he wrote that the debate surrounding violence against women has been “one of the hottest subjects in games media in recent weeks”, even going as far as stating:

But in these financially tough times, bad press is more dangerous than ever. And who wants their new game to be the next in line for headlines accusing it of sexism? — Ben Parfitt

Both Gameranx and Kotaku have criticised how the God of War series depicts violence against female characters. On 20 July 2012, Gameranx’ Ian Miles Cheong wrote that God of War 3 featured “an exceptionally disturbing scene”, in which the protagonist of the game chains a partially clothed woman to a gear mechanism. He further went on to write that “The God of War series is known for its brutality and violence, and has — in the past — depicted violence against women, which is rather uncommon even in videogames.” On 18 March 2013, Stephen Totilo wrote an article in which he criticised “the intersection of two ideas that don’t comfortably co-exist”, regarding “violence against sexualised female characters”:

That finishing move doesn’t just split her head. It cuts her breast. Violence against both of those body parts is disturbing. But one’s the norm in games; one is not.— Stephen Totilo

Jim Sterling mocked the critics of the game developers’ decision, stating, “Anyway, you may proceed to the obligatory, “Oh but violence against MEN is okay!?” posts.” In his video review of the game, Adam Sessler raised controversy over the “Bros before Hos” trophy that could be earned by defeating Fury, one of the game’s female antagonists, which he described as “one of the most violent things I’ve ever seen in a video game”. He even went as far as giving the game a lower review score, stating:

This gut punch of misogyny irredeemably sours the game and it’s shocking that such a talented developer would traffic in such a contemptible attitude. — Adam Sessler

Engadget’s Xav De Matos commented on the situation as well, stating that “the attached award [is] perceived as misogynistic”.

The developers of the game would later release a patch to change the trophy’s name to “Bros before Foes”, as they stated that “the text was too offensive to some members of our community and impacted their enjoyment of the game”.

5. Hatred — The game Hatred was criticised by multiple media outlets, both the gaming media and mainstream media. Following the release of the game’s trailer, Colin Campbell published an article for Polygon, in which he described it as “The worst trailer of the year”:

There was a time when opponents of video game violence would use the term “murder simulation” to describe combat games. This was before anyone thought it would be a good idea to produce an actual game that revels in mass murder. — Colin Cambell

Destructoid writer Brett Makedonski also commented on the game’s trailer, stating that “if you watch it while at work, anyone that sees very well may think you’re a psychopath.” Forbes’ Paul Tassi referred to the game as a “mass murder simulator”, and argued that “the game has a right to exist under free speech laws, but the question is whether or not it will do more harm than good to the industry as a whole.” Gamezone writer Matt Liebl stated that “you should be scared of a game like Hatred (…) because of the perception those outside of the industry may have.”:

I do, however, think that if someone has the inclination to already pull off such a horrible thing like a mass shooting spree, they might pick up a game like Hatred and, not necessarily learn from it, but be influenced by it. — Matt Liebl

Engadget writer Ben Gilbert stated that the game “focuses on violence and murder as the point. In most violent video games, murder is the means, not the objective.” On 24 October 2014, Stephen Snook published an article for Techraptor in which he argued that “I believe that artistic expression is important to a fault. (…) Even if it means defending people you don’t agree with. This is a really important aspect of our medium.”

On 15 December 2014, Hatred briefly appeared on Steam Greenlight, but was promptly removed, with a Steam representative stating that the company “would not publish Hatred.” On December 16, the game was returned to the service, and an apology to the development team was sent by Gabe Newell. Following this, it became the most voted game on the service and was approved successfully on December 29.

Upon launch, on 1 June 2015, Hatred quickly became a best seller on Steam, and has held an overall reception of “Mostly Positive”. Mytheos Holt would later publish an article for The Federalist about the game:

Is it possible that “Hatred” might resonate with genuinely disturbed people, or people with harsh life experiences? Sure. And given the cathartic function that video games (particularly shooters) can serve for the disturbed, this might be a feature, not a bug. However, for those not afflicted with a life experience that connects with the ravings and carnage of “Hatred,” this game can also be a source of relief. For in giving us the opportunity to play it, it also congratulates us for being incapable of identifying with it. In short, by traversing the bleak, virtual landscape of Hatred, we find ourselves reassured that our real world will never match it because beauty and love exist. — Mytheos Holt

6. Heroes of the Storm - In an interview with Blizzard’s Dustin Browder, Rock, Paper, Shotgun’s Nathan Grayson asked his opinion about the design of female characters in the game Heroes of the Storm. In the first paragraph, he writes that “Unfortunately, Browder’s perspective on the MOBA genre’s epidemic of absurd, hypersexualized female characters turned out significantly less [delightful], as he asked “it got me thinking about how often MOBAs tend to hyper-sexualize female characters to a generally preposterous degree (…) How are you planning to approach all of that in Heroes?”

In response, Browder states that “We’re not sending a message to anybody. We’re just making characters who look cool.” and “No one should look to our game for that.”, while also taking Grayson’s “very fair” feedback into account.

Grayson, seemingly not entirely satisfied with this answer, went on to write “But it’s not even about a message. The goal is to let people have fun in an environment where they can feel awesome without being weirded out or even objectified. This is a genre about empowerment. Why shouldn’t everyone feel empowered?” After this question, a PR representative of Blizzard stepped in, as “the interview (…) obviously ended in an uncomfortable place.”

Prominent Youtube personality TotalBiscuit criticized the above question, as well as other aspects of the games media in a video entitled “I will now ramble about games media for just under 30 minutes”. Pointing out that very premise that “MOBAs” as a genre “tend to hyper-sexualize female characters” is not a widely held view or accepted as fact, and instead Grayson was engaging in a form of Begging the question in order to state his own belief as fact.

In a follow-up to the interview, which was published on the same day, Grayson told his critics to “stop that right now”, in regards to his comments about the design of female characters, as “this stuff isn’t (…) political at all” and “To insist otherwise is to vastly undermine both gaming as a medium and, you know, your own species.”

VG24/7’s Dave Cook wrote that “Browder’s comments caused much debate over the weekend” while Eurogamer’s Wesley Yin-Poole said “All eyes now turn to the next showing of Heroes of the Storm to see whether Blizzard makes any changes to its character design.

Dustin Browder would later apologise, stating:

In a recent interview with Rock, Paper, Shotgun, I responded poorly to a statement the interviewer made about over-sexualized character designs in games, and I want to apologize for that. This is a serious topic and I don’t want anyone to think that I, or anyone else at Blizzard, is insensitive about how we portray our characters.— Dustin Browder

7. Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number - The game Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number was criticised for its depiction of a rape scene in the game, as was first shown in a demo at Rezzed and at the 2013 Penny Arcade Expo. It featured gameplay in the tutorial that had players appear to attempt to sexually assault a woman as the Pig Butcher. The player character lowered his pants and straddled the woman before the scene is interrupted by the director of Midnight Animal, revealing the whole sequence to be a film shoot. Cara Ellison published an article about the game on 15 August 2013 on PC Gamer, in which she made the following statement:

How can you enjoy yourself in a game if you are the victim of every brutal crime, and not the perpetrator of them? A horrible question — but it’s about freedom, power, and who gets to have those things. The sexual violence at the end of that tutorial will single out a fifth of the female audience who have experienced sexual violence. I’m thinking about them when I turn back to the game. — Cara Ellison

As Rock, Paper, Shotgun writer Nathan Grayson would later report on 5 September 2013, Dennis Wedin, one of the developers of the game, stated that the scene was cut from the demo, and that they were reconsidering putting the scene into the final game, stating that “It didn’t come out the way we wanted it to. So that’s why we took it out.”

On 14 January 2015 it was reported that because of the implied rape scene, the game had been refused classification in Australia, which prohibits sale within the country, effectively preventing its wide release there. In an official statement from Devolver Digital and Dennaton Games the creators mentioned that they had added a cut and uncut option for the slasher-flick level. Dennaton also reconfirmed that the context of the scene is important and that they were “concerned and disappointed” by the actions of the Classification Board, stating it stretched the facts in its judgement of the game. The statement concluded with Dennaton confirming that they would not challenge the ruling.

8. Lionhead Studios - On 27 March 2015, after wishing everyone a “Happy #NationalCleavageDay” in a tweet which featured an image of a female character with two foaming jugs in front of her cleavage, a backlash followed from both journalists and consumers. Gameranx writer Holly Green was the first person to make a complaint, writing “Did you seriously just do this?”. Lionhead Studios responded with an image of a man’s buttocks: “Just to be clear, we don’t discriminate…”, to which Holly Green responded by saying “Digging yourself a deeper hole”. Ian Miles Cheong also commented on the image, writing “It’s ludicrous to paint anyone criticizing the @LionheadStudios tweets as “sex negative.” They were immature and promoted gender stereotypes”. Lionhead Studios was eventually pressured into deleting the tweets, as well as their Facebook post, and apologised.

Gamezone writer Matt Liebl described the situation as “Apparently, the internet has lost all of its sense of humor”:

With all the drama surrounding sexism in the video game industry, it has somehow become wrong to tweet — as stupid as it may be — even the slightest joke regarding a female’s breasts. — Matt Liebl

9. Mother Russia Bleeds - On 2 July 2015, Polygon writer Megan Farokhmanesh published an editorial piece about the game Mother Russia Bleeds. In the article, she initially mentions that the game has “seemingly little regard for the victims of that virtual violence”. She briefly describes the game’s story, before extensively criticising the game’s representation of transwomen, stating:

It (…) feels grossly, unnecessarily exploitative, and this response is disturbingly careless. I asked if there was any concern in including violence against transgender characters, since the transgender community experiences a lot of violence in real life. — Megan Farokhmanesh

In response, Devolver Digital vowed their support for creative freedom, as “the game is about violently fighting your way out of a repressive regime (…) in which enemies are of all genders, including transgendered people.”

Farokmanesh saw the response as evidence of “a well-known problem in video games: representation of marginalised groups.” She even went as far as contacting the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), an organisation that concerns itself with the representation of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in entertainment and the media. Nick Adams, director of programs for transgender media at GLAAD, expressed concern over the high rates of violence against transgender women in the U.S., despite not having played the game at all.

Nichegamer’s Alexis Nascimento-Lajoie published an article in response to Farokmanesh’ piece, writing:

Everyone should be depicted equally in games, both positively and negatively. If we start making exceptions to who gets depicted how because “X group is/has been marginalized”, then when do we stop?— Alexis Nascimento-Lajoie

10. Resident Evil 5 - Following the release of Resident Evil 5‍ ‘​s 2007 E3 trailer, MTV Multiplayer writer Stephen Totilo published an article on 3 August 2007. In the article, he mentions how it bothers him that “so many hardcore gamers say it’s no big deal” regarding the depiction of a white protagonist shooting “impoverished African villagers — the very image of global poverty”:

My problem is that it presents a fantasy I don’t desire. It looks like it’s an advertisement to virtually shoot poor people. — Stephen Totilo

Gamepolitics reported on a blog post by Kym Platt on Black Looks, a blog dedicated to exploring issues concerning African women, who called the game’s setting as depicted in the trailer “problematic on so many levels”:

The black people are supposed to be zombies and the white man’s job is to destroy them and save humanity (…) including the depiction of black people as inhuman savages, the killing of black people by a white man in military clothing, and the fact that this video game is marketed to children and young adults. Start them young… fearing, hating, and destroying black people. — Kym Platt

In an interview with MTV Multiplayer’s Tracey John, which was published on 10 April 2008, Newsweek editor N’Gai Croal voiced his concern about the game’s depiction of black people, stating, “Wow, clearly no one black worked on this game.” and “There was a lot of imagery in that trailer that dovetailed with classic racist imagery.” He further elaborated by explaining that the imagery of black zombies carried a different history and weight than the depiction of zombies in Resident Evil 4, which took place in Spain.

The second trailer for the game, released on 31 May 2008, revealed a more racially diverse group of enemies, as well as Sheva, a half-African BSAA agent, who assists the protagonist. Resident Evil 5 producer Jun Takeuchi assured, however, that the accusations of racism “didn’t have any effect on the game design.”

In Eurogamer’s February 2009 preview of Resident Evil 5, Dan Whitehead also expressed concerns about the controversy the game may generate, stating that “it plays so blatantly into the old clichés of the dangerous ‘dark continent’ and the primitive lust of its inhabitants that you’d swear the game was written in the 1920s” and “there are even more outrageous and outdated images to be found later in the game, stuff that I was honestly surprised to see in 2009.” He also argued that the addition of the “light-skinned” Sheva “compounds the problem rather than easing it.”

In his review of the game, GameRevolution’s Chris Hudak called the racism allegations “stupid”, stating, “If you are aware from the outset that the game takes place in Africa and yet you are still troubled by any skin-tone-related aspects (…) there exists the possibility of simple, congenital retardation on your own part.”

11. Starcoon - Kotaku writer Mike Fahey raised controversy over the game Starcoon, seeing the ‘raccoon’ part of the game title as a racist slur. Following the criticism, the developers of the game changed the title to Curio’s Starquest. Polygon’s Emily Gera published an article on 2 May 2013, writing that “Nnnnice Games (…) announced today official plans to change the name of the racoons-in-space project following controversy over the accidental use of a racial slur in the game’s title.”

Kotaku went on to publish two more articles about the game’s title, even though the problem had already been settled.

12. Tentacle Bento - On 14 May 2012, Gamasutra editor Brendon Sheffield published an article on the website Insert Credit, titled Tentacle Bento and Kickstarter: When No Regulation is Bad Regulation. In the article, he expresses concern about the Kickstarter campaign for the tabletop game Tentacle Bento, calling it “a game about rape” and “The (…) troubling thing is how many people are supporting it without thinking about it.” He further went on to elaborate on how he was “offended by the game”, stating, “Tentacle Bento’s Kickstarter success is the product of a society that doesn’t take sexual assault against women seriously enough” and “there is a clear line between fantasy and reality”, but that “with rape and molestation, that line is not so clearly drawn, and it results in “cute” games like Tentacle Bento.” In the final paragraph of the article, he advises people to not support the game and instead to write a letter of complaint to Kickstarter, as “Kickstarter is a big enough company that it should be filtering this sort of thing. The company should not help to facilitate the idea that rape is no big deal.”

Kotaku’s Luke Plunkett also commented on the game, writing that “this is clearly intended to be a game about tentacle rape”, and “this game reflects poorly on Kickstarter, who seem to have no problem (provided they even know about it) hosting the project. Shortly after the two preceding articles were published, the game’s Kickstarter campaign was suspended on 15 May 2012, despite the following statement that the developers had made:

A note to our sponsors. Tentacle Bento is a mature themed product not intended for sale to children under the age of 17. In the long history of horrible combinations of tentacles and school girls, we have taken a cheeky satire look at the genre to create a silly, if not innuendo rich, product. We are firmly against the depiction of violence against women in any regards.

Ironically, a game with a similar premise, Consentacle, received favourable coverage by Gamasutra’s Editor-in-Chief Leigh Alexander. Clark and Alexander have started communicating through Twitter since February 2012 and became Facebook friends a month afterwards. Their twitter conversations appear to be quite friendly, and they have also made plans to meet with each other in person on April 2012, 25–26 March 2014 and 30 March 2014. Gaming journalist William Usher has identified Clark as part of the same inner circle Alexander belongs to. Leigh Alexander failed to disclose this personal relationship with developer Naomi Clark in the article about her game.

On 16 February 2015, Techraptor writer Georgina Young published an article after reaching out to one of the creators of the game, John Cadice. Regarding the game’s cancellation by Kickstarter, he stated:

Long story short, Kickstarter was threatened by a private movement from a perturbed online personality that felt our product has no place in the world, and pretty much painted it something vastly horrid and awful and well beyond anything we had designed or intended. Kickstarter took a safe approach and just killed it without discussing reason. We take no offense, we understand the business decision, and managed to still successfully self fund on our own website. The net effect, more people learned about the game, we got TONS of supporting emails from new fans who were just reading up on the controversy, and frankly, did better than we expected with an outpouring of support from old and new audiences. We delivered a cool product, fans were happy, and we sell it to this day. — John Cadice

13. Wildstar - Cassandra Khaw, a writer for USGamer, published an article titled Wildstar and the Case of the Too Pretty Alien Females on 13 December 2012. In the article, she argues that Carbine Studio’s game Wildstar “lets you be anything you want — except if you’re female and don’t want to be a pretty space princess.” and “There is a frustrating absence of weight to [the female characters’] characterization.” Engadget’s Elliot Lefebvre published an article about the game as well on 13 January 2014, The Nexus Telegraph: WildStar’s great big sexist elephant in the room, in which he writes that “this sort of subtle and passive sexism weaves its way into the game on a consistent basis” in regards to the lack of customization and the high heels that female characters wear, calling it “sexist nonsense”:

I like a lot of things that the game is doing, and I don’t think it’s intentionally sexist. I think it’s unintentionally sexist because it’s being designed by a bunch of people who aren’t trying to keep their eyes open for this. For that matter, I think that Carbine is composed of a team of people able to step back and say that even if this wasn’t intentional, it still happened, and the team as a whole needs to address it rather than hiding behind the age-old deflection of “well, it wasn’t meant to be like that, so it’s not our fault. — Elliot Lefebvre

Following the criticism of Khaw and Lefebvre, Gareth Harmer, one of the developers of the game, announced that a new beta patch would bring “female breast reduction”, in which they specifically cited the two articles above as cause for the changes:

Carbine has also responded to feedback from a variety of sources about some of the female character models by slightly reducing the bust on Aurin and Human (both Exile and Cassian). While it’s a minor change, I personally feel it’s an improvement that makes them more proportionally sensible. Besides, as Stephan Frost mentioned, body shape sliders might be added post-launch. — Gareth Harmer

This decision was met with applaud from Engadget writer Justin Olivetti, stating, “The change to bust sizes will bring the characters into a more reasonable proportion.”

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