Temple of Kraden News:
| Greetings, heathen. Perhaps some fortuitous blessing of Kraden's grace hath led you to our humble Temple, or perhaps you are simply curious about this strange and wonderful cult. Should you be willing - and dare to hope - to achieve enlightenment, the door opens before you. Lo! Leave your old life behind! For once you step through, you become something more than just yourself. You become a Kradenette. Are you willing to make the rapturous plunge? Do you have what it takes? One of us! One of us! One of us! Already one of us? Make your presence known: |
| SSB: Women, Men, & Gaming; I will make the topic | |
|---|---|
| Tweet Topic Started: Sep 6 2014, 09:34 AM (14,631 Views) | |
| Saturos | Mar 31 2016, 05:31 PM Post #281 |
![]()
heart-under-blade
![]()
|
Yeah, being anti-harassment is definitely not a political thing. >_> And yes, Nintendo did already make the statement. Also, look at the backlash Nintendo is getting now. Making a statement earlier maybe would have pissed off some assholes, but not making a statement also results in backlash. Being a progressive company is not at all at odds with making a profit; if anything, people who like that stuff would support the company even more vigorously. If you're going to piss off some people either way, might as well err on the side of what's right in opposing harassment. |
![]() |
|
| HyrulianJedi | Mar 31 2016, 06:49 PM Post #282 |
![]()
uguu~
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
This is only true if the opinion you are supporting has more supporters willing to vote with their money than detractors willing to vote with theirs. The Chik-Fil-A fiasco several years back is a great example of it. A lot of proponents of same-sex marriage did boycott the restaurant, yes - and opponents of it more than made up for those losses. And while no, harassment itself is not a political issue, the average person does not look into the details of stories that they hear. You can be sure that, had Nintendo stood up for Rapp in all the ways Crash listed, there would be articles appearing about how Nintendo defends and supports pedophiles who support child abuse. And whether or not those would have an impact on Nintendo as a company could be debated - but you can be sure it was a potential outcome they took into consideration. Is it unfortunate that they didn't take that ethical stand? Yes. But it's not surprising in the slightest, and I suspect few companies would have. |
![]() |
|
| Nell | Mar 31 2016, 07:16 PM Post #283 |
|
The Pretender
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
Would having plebeian "Nintendo supports pedophile" articles written about them be better or worse than the situation they're in now? The question I'm getting at is: how should a company like Nintendo react in the event of one of their employees receiving unwarranted harassment? |
![]() |
|
| HyrulianJedi | Mar 31 2016, 07:53 PM Post #284 |
![]()
uguu~
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
Who can really say? Sometimes shit articles like that take off, sometimes they fizzle. Sometimes people get whipped up into a frenzy by incomplete stories, and sometimes they just ignore it. It's fairly unpredictable, and impossible to say what would have happened. It's entirely possible this backlash itself will go nowhere, too, and simply fade out again after a month. As to what Nintendo should have done, ethically, they should have supported her and spoken out against the harassment immediately. But as a business, Nintendo's ethical decisions can have an effect on their profit. Is it right to put profit above ethics? No - but from a business standpoint, it's often the safer move. It may have been the wrong one, business-wise, in this case, yes, but anticipating public reaction is always a game of chance. It's absolutely not a decision I agree with, but I can understand why it was made, and I think surprise at it comes from projecting one's own ideal image of Nintendo. |
![]() |
|
| Gnarlymaple | Mar 31 2016, 09:57 PM Post #285 |
![]()
|
The only important take away from this whole thing. Unforgivable. Also, just curious: are people in positions like what she had obligated to have Twitter/social media presence or is this just something that people in her position commonly do? |
![]() |
|
| Crash | Mar 31 2016, 09:59 PM Post #286 |
![]()
Wheey! I've became a human being!! I am very handsam!
![]()
|
It is very possible that her position required her to have a public social media presence. |
![]() |
|
| Nell | Mar 31 2016, 11:57 PM Post #287 |
|
The Pretender
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
I don't think anyone's surprised so much as they found Nintendo's behaviour to be objectionable. You can make arguments that either action/omission by Nintendo would have "had an effect on their profits". As I said earlier, as soon as harassment started, they were in a lose-lose situation. I'm yet to find a rationale for not speaking out aside from mere risk aversion, in the economics sense. |
![]() |
|
| UltaFlame | Apr 1 2016, 12:48 AM Post #288 |
![]()
Thanks Poui.
![]()
|
Yeah, but as a business whose profits support and pay the wages of quite literally more people than you have probably met in your life, Nintendo's first priority has to be maintaining its ability to pay those employees. Yes, not standing up for one individually is a negative ethically, but the issue for a company that oversees so many people is more than just how their actions relate to that one individual. Standing up for someone who is being accused of supporting pedophilia is almost inviting that hate machine to direct its targeting back on to you. Almost any subject other than this one would have been easier for Nintendo to leap to Rapp's defense with, considering how emotional people get whenever that subject is brought up. Assessing and responding to risk is an essential aspect of starting, running and maintaining a company of Nintendo's size. It's a lot easier to save face in the wake of being accused of not support your employees against harassment than it is if you're being painted with the brush of supporting pedophilia. Like HJ said, it is impossible to determine when and where which articles or coverage is going to go viral and become a major issue. And despite what Crash said, it -is- a political issue. Just because a subject is primarily about an ethical problem does not mean it is wholly divorced from political standpoints or views. If it has the possibility to affect profits, or to determine public opinion about something, it's political. If it informs or changes or deals with company policy, it's political. And Nintendo has to look at it from a political lens and take its stances depending on what's most likely to keep their profits going so their employees can feed their kids. And at the end of the day, if it's between you, your harassment over comments made in the past and your own negligence in putting personal views on a twitter that's attached to a company versus the entire company's employee base being able to feed their kids - well - you're probably not going to keep your job. |
![]() |
|
| Saturos | Apr 1 2016, 01:01 AM Post #289 |
![]()
heart-under-blade
![]()
|
Pretty sure it's nowhere near that catastrophic - and it was less personal views and more academic views. Plus the whole pedophilia thing was mostly whipped up by literal white supremacists who saw an avenue of attack. It's a dangerous precedent to set in terms of academic freedom and employee confidence/morale, though ofc as a private company Nintendo has the right to ignore that. It is a shame that workplace laws in Rapp's state are bad enough that this kind of stuff can just happen, but yes. By your definition of political, Ulta, basically everything ever is political. Which may well be true, but it renders designated this or that 'political' or not a moot point. |
![]() |
|
| UltaFlame | Apr 1 2016, 01:35 AM Post #290 |
![]()
Thanks Poui.
![]()
|
That was more or less my point. That just about anything can become an avenue for political action. My main point was that Nintendo's first worry should primarily be to their larger employee base as opposed to single, individual employees. Doesn't stop the whole situation from being really upsetting, just saying I understand why Nintendo made the decision it did. |
![]() |
|
| Momentime | Apr 1 2016, 01:48 AM Post #291 |
|
uh oh
![]()
|
I struggle to find a situation worse for Nintendo than to have them be accused of supporting pedophilia, both domestically and abroad. The thing is, the elements present are twofold: one, as HJ said, any news of this sort follows the meme creation pattern, which is, you can basically roll a die to determine if something is going to spread like wildfire or stops before it even begins. The second is that any story like this can easily mutate into something far more malicious sounding than the truth, and in doing so dilutes the truth, sometimes to the point of being lost. Like you said Satty, the whole thing was penned by GGers. So, I answer, yes, being called pedo lovers is way [radio edit]ing worse than a couple of outraged gamers on the internet tut-tutting. So some indie game dev cancels his game. There goes like, what, 500$ worth of profit, if that? Versus this story blowing up and Nintendo having to scramble their PR reps and lawyers? Haha, nah. And I disagree with saying this or that is political is a moot point. Some issues are inherently more political than others, but that's another topic. I think whether Nintendo intends to be political or not, or whether it is objectively political or not, the perception of being political is just as important, if not more so. Besides, we (USA) do have harassment laws, so to me harassment is a political issue. |
![]() |
|
| HyrulianJedi | Apr 1 2016, 07:37 AM Post #292 |
![]()
uguu~
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
That what can happen? I'm not sure what law would have changed any action on Nintendo's part - they had a legal reason for firing her, regardless of it was an excuse reason or not. What kind of workplace law would have changed this? |
![]() |
|
| Crash | Apr 1 2016, 10:32 AM Post #293 |
![]()
Wheey! I've became a human being!! I am very handsam!
![]()
|
Probably no workplace law, but something else the game industry desperately needs that may have protected her is unionization. |
![]() |
|
| « Previous Topic · Games · Next Topic » |











![]](http://z1.ifrm.com/static/1/pip_r.png)







1:44 PM Jul 11






