Orth, Anita, and Internet Animosity

 There are times I just don’t get the internet and the way it behaves. At times it is a force for good and a resource of a vast amount of knowledge. Other times it is a force of pants-on-head retardation that uses the insane power it has for the cruelest and most horrid things I can imagine. I have yet to experience true internet backlash myself, but I look forward to the day when I start getting the death and rape threats towards me and my family. That will be a sign I finally made it big on the internet… or I truly did something awful, in which case, I deserve SOME of that backlash for my insane hubris at the time.

A recent article has been going around where the now infamous Adam Orth speaks out about the way the internet treated him in light of what he did. For those who don’t recall, he was the guy who, when asked about whether the XboxOne (Xbone) would be an always online device responded with the comments of, “Even if it is, deal with it.” Adam Orth was a guy who worked in Microsoft and worked close to the XboxOne. He was considered to be a source of reliable information on the subject. His response to the questions got a tone of hate.

But that shouldn’t have been unexpected. When a customer asks about a product you have information on and are responsible for and you act dismissive, disrespectful, and genuinely unhelpful, you deserve to get what’s coming to you on that regard. If he didn’t know, he should have said so. If he did know but wasn’t allowed to discuss it in public forum, he should have said so. Instead he dodged the question, made a flippant remark, and genuinely acted like what most of us would call, “a stupid asshole.” When I call up a store or contact support for information or assistance on a product, the last thing I want to hear is “whatever your problem is, deal with it.”

His little response became memetic and was the first stumbling block the Xbone would hit in the many announcements to come. And it wasn’t even the fact the device was a bad device, it was that the PR surrounding it, starting with Adam Orth, was conceited. They held back information, dodged questions, and kept being as vague as possible until the last minute (E3). All of which led to much wild speculation on the internet, massive rumors (some were true), and just a media frenzy that exploded into sheer chaos. Had they just given us information and not been so secretive about it (regardless of reason) their device might not have received all the animosity it earned and the people responsible for showing off the device might have come off in a much better light instead of all looking like pompous asshats who are trying to imitate Steve Jobs (the king of pompous asshats).

I engaged in a discussion on the comments of one of these sections stating “That while I disagree with the level of backlash Orth got, I feel no sympathy for him since he brought it on himself.” Death and rape threats on the internet are the work of trolls and pinheads who like to use their animosity-megaphone to hurt people and that shouldn’t be allowed. But a backlash of a lesser magnitude, at the very least, was very much deserved. I then go on to compare Adam Orth’s situation to that of Anita Sarkeesian. (Which got me some arguments about how I’m wrong simply for mentioning her name).

This prompted an amusing question in my mind, why are people on the internet so violently against her and what she does? I don’t always agree with everything she says. I don’t think the amount of money she earned or claimed she needed was necessary to make the product she is putting out. I don’t think she’s delivering her information in the best way possible, as her videos are too long and not quite as punchy or eye catching as they need to be for the short attention span of the internet. But while I still feel she’s entitled to voice her opinion on the internet about negative female tropes in games (or any medium) there are many out there who still react like she’s a cancer of the gaming world.

Common arguments I came across generally boiled down to how she won’t have a discussion with people on the topic. This gives people the impression that she believes herself to be completely right and that her arguments are without fault. First, guys, that’s a very large assumption that ignores a pretty big and important factor. During her initial launch of the kickstarter and videos about the Women Vs. Video Game Tropes she allowed comments and discussion. The reason none of her videos allow for such discussion anymore should be clear based on all the comments she got there. When people are attacking you based on your gender and potential faith (many calling her a “filthy jew”) as well as getting constant rape and death threats, yeah, I think she’s entitled to turn off comments if that means she can sleep soundly at night.

Some consider that to still be wrong. Saying she should have to endure the hate in order for the conversation to happen. Mind if I ask why? Yes, I’d like to have the discussion about the facts she presents in a meaningful manner, there are quite a few who would. But why she should give up her own peace of mind simply to please your ego? Some people can brush off that kind of online bullying and torment because that’s the person they are. Some confront it (for good or ill) with their own brand of arguing and bullying because that’s the kind of person they are. In this case, she chooses to just walk away from the people acting like four-year old rapists and murderers because rather than deal with that level of immaturity, she took the smarter approach and just stayed away from it and blocked it out entirely. I may not agree with her entirely, but that’s a legitimate way for her to deal with those people.

But, back to the original topic because I got horribly off the wall there. In comparing Adam Orth to Anita Sarkeesian in terms of the internet backlash, we have two very different cases here. In one corner we have a guy who made a dumb mistake because he tried to be funny or coy or because his stupid bosses at Microsoft game him the go-ahead. In the end, he got what he deserved for being a jerk to his curious customers (and then some). I don’t agree with how bad it got, but that’s the internet’s mob rage storm. As for Anita, she was initial proposing an intellectual discussion based on gender roles in games. Had the animosity for her not happened and the bullying never existed, she would have done her videos and then never been heard from again because she isn’t that big a deal in the grand scheme of things. Yet the incident made her bigger and more noticeable. The negative kneejerk reaction to her proposal worked against the angry mob and while I wish it hadn’t happened because she didn’t deserve that, I’m glad it worked out better for her in the end. I wish it could be a lesson to all that you have to pick and choose your battles. You can’t just act like violent children towards everything that you disagree with on the internet. But that’s not likely to happen now, is it.

So where to from here? I guess we just sit back until EA makes another dumb mistake that we can spend hours calling them out for. We wait until another person proposes a discussion on a serious topic in gaming, only to be harshly criticized and threatened for suggesting such a “horrible thing”. It’s this kind of bullshit that makes me wonder if I still want to be known as a gamer or not. :/