When Uncle Elmer linked news of the Zoe Quinn affair(s) last week, I looked over the story and found myself mostly just appalled by the behavior of these “adults” involved in the gaming scene. Quinn herself isn’t much of a surprise, but given how easy it was for her to sleep with so many guys in the same industry in such a short timeframe I wonder how desperate these game developers must be. For starters, Zoe Quinn isn’t a stunner. Far from it. She doesn’t hold a candle to some of the manslayers I’ve come across in my day. It’s really one of those “no contest” sorts of things. She might hold her own in a place like Ketchikan, filled as it is with lonely fishermen, but the Bay Area? Pathetic.
I also have to say that I’m not too impressed by her boyfriend, Eron Gjoni. Sharing all the intimate details instead of sticking to the basic facts of a failed relationship is bad form. It’s a high school level of self-indulgence. For those readers who might be tempted to do the same, don’t. It’s best not to name names, post photos, publicly air text messages or trash the other party, even if they are in the wrong, because it reflects poorly on you. Longtime readers will know that I rarely mention my ex, and only do so when I have to explain important, relevant facts. I wouldn’t dream of posting her picture or any private correspondence. Nevertheless, I’m glad Zoe’s ex did it, because now I know a little more about the culture in the most economically dynamic part of America (nothing flattering), but eventually I just got tired plodding through all the gossipy details. After reading the story, I showed it to my wife, and she was pretty amazed that such childish people populate one of the wealthiest places on earth. I wonder sometimes whether these people – several of whom look to be in their thirties already – are aware of how outlandish and adolescent they appear to ordinary folks who are just trying to get by.
Because I was tired, I hoped that someone else would dig up some more of the facts, and Matt Forney has now done so. In his piece on Quinn, Matt delves into the hypocrisy and and pretension of the “SJW” indie gamer culture, cutting through the fraud and BS that has characterized the “official” response to the scandal Quinn caused.
Aside from that, what really ought to raise a few eyebrows is how much of a scam this gaming industry has become. As a parent, I’ve been exposed to Lord knows how many video games that my kids pull out of nowhere. These are mainly free games, and they are about as sophisticated as the Nintendo games I used to play in the 80s. Aside from the graphics, there isn’t much difference (I’m not talking Call of Duty here), but for some reason the mobile gaming industry is huge business. People are putting their faith in this useless crap, even investing billions in it. It’s driving paper profits and speculation. Instead of investing wealth in energy and infrastructure, we’re blowing our cash and human capital so that my son can race cars and my daughter spray makeup on Barbie on an ipad. This is the kind of investment that has negative returns on human capital, as kids get sucked into the screen instead of getting out and learning to survive in the real, physical world. Perhaps this explains the stunted emotional and social development of the gamers featured in the saga of Zoe Quinn.
Matt links Quinn to Anita Sarkeesian, another one of our favorite feminist scam-artists, who took a couple hundred thousand dollars to make a couple amateur videos. But unlike Sarkeesian, who rode a pity wave to the big bucks, Quinn apparently has some real clout. She strategically slept with a number of developers, businessmen and journalists to promote herself and her clique, and has simultaneously managed to motivate a lot of men to white knight for her. Developers and journalists who criticize her are threatened with termination, and outside critics are silenced with accusations of misogyny. In one bizarre article in the Globe and Mail, Emma Woolley claims that corruption and nepotism in the gaming industry is not such a big deal, because the real problem with gaming is the gamers (i.e. customers) themselves. How’s that for feminist business acumen?
This brings up a perplexing question: how on earth did this third-rate tramp manage to assemble so much backup?
I have a little theory about that. Since she slept with some six different men over two months while still carrying on a “relationship,” she’s a seasoned expert in whorecraft. With these women, six guys is nothing. That’s just how many her boyfriend knew about. The actual number of men she slept with over the past year could easily run into the dozens. It’s the factory trawler technique. Cast a wide enough net and one of these days you’ll pull up a treasure chest.
My theory, for which I have no evidence other than the fact that she allegedly slept with a married boss, is that someone – possibly a married someone – is highly embarrassed or frightened and wants the entire affair to go away. Or perhaps someone’s boss or investor feels that way. No sense in stirring up the natives, eh?
It’s just a thought, but there was sound reasoning behind the anti-adultery and anti-fraternization rules in corporate management and military officer corps that used to be the norm. Most of ultra-progressive Silicon Valley may laugh at these quaint practices, but I’ll bet there are a few guys out there who are really sweating right now.
Even so, what I can’t wrap my head around is “why Zoe Quinn, of all women?”
Shouldn’t these guys be ashamed of themselves?
Finally, if these are the kinds of people who will be running the tech industry – a major pillar of the American economy today – in ten years’ time, we’re in for a major “adjustment” at some point in the near future.
