The 'Very Worst Video Game Site On The Internet' Award goes to . . .
once more unto the breach, O my brothers and sisters
I think I may have discovered the worst video game website on the internet. I present to you, dear readers, The Gamer:
The screenshot above is of an article I criticized months ago during the Troy Leavitt/Hogwarts Legacy controversy, when the gaming press smeared and dragged Leavitt, a producer on that game, for his opinions on Anita Sarkeesian, The Last Jedi and various other issues. Notably, Leavitt had done nothing wrong beyond making videos that these people disagreed with, and yet many in the press shamelessly printed whatever they pleased about the man.
The worst of the bunch, however, was The Gamer’s Editor-in-Chief, Kirk McKeand. While other articles were unfair in their reporting, McKeand’s piece went one step further, accusing Leavitt of orchestrating his own scandal in order to profit. Here’s my video on the matter. Read on below for more.
After Leavitt announced that he would put out a video on his YouTube channel to clarify things (since almost nobody in the press contacted him for his side of the “story”) McKeand wrote:
Leavitt has since put out a tweet announcing that he’s parting ways with Avalanche:
“1. I have made the decision to part ways with Avalanche Software. I have nothing but good things to say about the game, the dev team, and WB Games,” he said in a tweet.
“2. I will be releasing a YouTube Video about this soon on my channel.”
That second point is where everyone should start stroking their chins. It’s classic grifter tactics. Leavitt will release a video claiming he’s left to save the project - a selfless act to defend the developers there. You see, he aims to become a martyr in the eyes of his supporters. The video will likely demonise games journalists as the root cause of his problems, rather than being used for introspection or to admit that his actions had consequences.
This is idle speculation, first of all. Second, that last line about admitting his “actions had consequences” is pretty hilarious. Sure, there are times when someone complains about cancel culture after having done something truly egregious, but expressing one’s opinions on YouTube is not one of them. Is having a differing opinion now considered an “action” that deserves “consequences?” Apparently.
Kirk continues:
Once he does this, the views on his channel will skyrocket, thanks to both his supporters and people who are morbidly curious. The algorithm will reward him for it and he’ll get back to putting out videos about why he hates Brie Larson or some other asinine shit. Along with people like Shapiro, he will become another cog in the hate machine on YouTube, his videos revolving around the algorithm and reinforcing the beliefs of people who already watch similar tosh. Either that or he’ll go the crowdfunding route and promise to lead development on a game “free of politics”, and the suckers will eat it up. If he was being assigned to a Hogwarts house, it would be Griftindor.
I’ve written about this before, but now that I’ve spent my weekend engaged in various absurd spats with McKeand (and his cronies) directly, I have a better understanding of him and his associates. Anyone willing to print this kind of nonsense should not be taken seriously.
And so, when McKeand published a piece today on game writer Chris Avellone breaking his silence on sexual misconduct allegations, it was no surprise that he did so in as spiteful and petty a manner as possible, distorting timelines, mocking Avellone for including “hurt feelings” in the defamation suit and so on and so forth. Despite the alleged misconduct occurring on the day Avellone and his accuser met, McKeand spins the story to make it sound as though Avellone helped find his accuser interviews beforehand when this is clearly not the case.
McKeand also fails to mention that Avellone calls out The Gamer specifically as the single most egregious example of “reporting” on the sexual misconduct scandal. The site’s original piece claimed that Avellone was accused of “drugging and raping countless women.” This was never the case. No such allegations were made unless you consider buying someone drinks “drugging” (and if so, what do you call spiking someone’s drinks, if simply buying drinks is now drugging?) The headline was eventually altered slightly but the article itself includes no corrections or updates to indicate that an error was made and does not link to any updates.
In fact, the same is true of McKeand’s “grifter” piece about Troy Leavitt. Leavitt came out with his promised video in which he explained his circumstances—he had to retire to help a sick family member—and criticized the press for not doing its due diligence. He did not crowdfund a game “free of politics” nor did he begin a YouTube career as a right-wing firebrand. Despite none of this happening and despite McKeand’s entire article being exposed as smoke and mirrors, no correction or update was issued.
So let’s look at The Gamer’s various policies shall we? Here’s the site’s fact-checking policy if you’d like a hearty chuckle:
We strive for 100% accurate headlines and apply a rigorous vetting process to every news article on the site. Rumors and insider reports are identified accordingly to ensure distinction between confirmed information and industry buzz that is of interest to our readers.
Before any article is written, we ensure the information is new and accurate. We verify sources and always dig down to the original source (and reference material if applicable) before the writing process begins. Even if other outlets report an unsubstantiated piece of news as official confirmation, we require 100% confirmation to claim it’s actually confirmation. We do not post clickbait. Our headlines might be bold - but we don't throw out broad statements just to sound bold. It has to be accurate and fact-checked. TheGamer’s articles don’t just report the news, we provide industry-leading context that explains why that news is important to you.
Here’s the site’s correction policy:
As mentioned in our fact-checking policy, we aim for accuracy of info at all times - as well as transparency in corrections. If we update a post because there's an error in it (we included the wrong producer or actor in a cast list, or had the wrong date, etc.), we add a bolded correction line in the article.
This makes certain we remain accountable for our content - and abiding to trusted journalism standard. We believe that with great power comes great responsibility. We aim to be accountable, accurate, and an authority.
In addition to corrections, we believe it is important to update content (both related and evergreen) where possible - when new info is available. When we post news or a feature, all previous stories/features on that subject are updated with links to the new post so that readers always have the full picture no matter which of our articles on the subject they land on.
At the moment, no update has been made to the original Avellone story. The new article has not been linked to and no correction has been issued to note that Avellone was never accused of drugging or raping or drugging anyone. He was accused of making out with a woman without consent after getting her drunk and groping another woman without consent. This is barely recognizable as journalism.
Finally, we come to the Ethics Policy:
Our entertainment brands do not publish personal attacks against people and companies in the industries we cover, or against colleagues in our industry. We stress objectivity in reporting topics of a sensitive nature.
Leaving aside the personal insults and attacks that McKeand has leveled against me on Twitter—including mocking my appearance, the number of likes my stories receive, making a bizarre mom joke, calling my work “embarrassing” and so on and so forth because of a difference in opinion over an article about a press event—The Gamer has failed to update posts, issue corrections, or refrain from personal attacks.
I will once again reiterate that I do not know the truth of Avellone and his accusers’ case. In my article at Forbes I urged readers to keep an open mind and try to operate with the presumption of innocence. I believe that all parties involved should be treated with respect and that same presumption, because we do not know the truth of the matter. I reiterated this here at diabolical. We don’t know the truth of what happened as the only evidence we’ve been presented with amounts to a he said/she said situation. We have questions—such as why Avellone’s accuser introduced hooked him up with her friend a year after the incident—but as of now very few answers.
Finally, I will address once again my since-deleted tweet that various people are trying to use against me suggesting I’m a hypocrite or simply go the way the wind blows (as though my position now is in any way popular or doing me any favors with my peers).
When I saw Jacqui Collins tweet about a text Avellone had sent her that was sexually lurid and appeared very Inappropriate I tweeted “Wow. WTF is wrong with people?” This was based on a kneejerk reaction to the text message—a text that involves Avellone himself apologizing but is presented without much context. I did not tweet or comment about the any of the other accusations at all. I tweeted one thing. It was reactionary and based on a text that looked quite bad. I regret tweeting it. I have since deleted it because that’s not how I wish to present myself online.
The notion that I’m “courting a new audience” is absurd. As I’ve noted, I took a long break from controversial coverage for my own mental health—dealing with snakes and vipers strains one’s psychological wellbeing more than you’d realize—but I have a body of work we can easily glance over. I have been “cancelled” several times by other game journalists eager to see my head on a platter. I won’t go into all the details but the simple act of trying to report fairly and take a pro-consumer stance has been frowned upon by other journalists for reasons I can’t explain. I am not catering to a new audience. I have been writing the same sort of pro-consumer pieces (punctuated by some hiatuses) for a decade or so. Have I made mistakes along the way? Have I erred? Have I had bad takes? Have I had kneejerk reactions on Twitter I later regretted?
Yes! Of course! I make mistakes, I try to fix those mistakes, I try to own up to those mistakes. Sometimes not right away, sometimes I hold my ground and dig in deeper before admitting I was wrong. I’m human and subject to that most human of conditions: Fucking up. But I am trying to act in good faith and I’m trying to get at the truth, not just make peoples’ lives miserable. My Forbes article has been nit-picked to death by people who continue to ignore the central premise: That Avellone, just like anyone accused of wrongdoing, has the right to present his side of the story and we have a responsibility to weigh the evidence from both sides of this situation before rushing to judgment. The fact that so many people are angry about this is deeply troubling.
If people were actually honest about this, they would admit that the very moment these accusations were leveled they made up their minds and are now sticking to their guns no matter what. People didn’t wait to see evidence beyond some accusations on Twitter and no further evidence has emerged. Their minds were made up in an instant and they’re all digging in now, not even open to the idea that maybe—just maybe—they could have been wrong. Again, I’m not saying one way or another who is right and who is wrong. I’m saying that my own kneejerk reaction to the above tweet was irresponsible. The collective decision across the entire gaming community to simply believe accusations without proof is also wrong. However this shakes out, we should be more careful—especially members of the press—before we make bold claims. I include myself in this condemnation. I can always do better.
But hey, I look forward to more people on Twitter calling out my typos and bickering and arguing over phrasing instead of addressing the main point, the actual crux of the argument I’m trying to make. Oh, and keep the personal attacks coming please. Nothing exposes people for the frauds they are like seething hate and abuse on garish display.
Thanks for reading. I’ve started a Patreon for my podcast/YouTube channel also so feel free to check that out and if you’d like to support my work I would appreciate it. Also feel free to subscribe to this newsletter and my review newsletter fantastical!
The Gamer always struck me as a pretty low-rent site anyway. When it comes to games "journalism," I guess the bar is so low because there's really no "accountability" as far as some other entity to keep tabs on them. The only interested parties that might do so are other gamers, and of course we can so easily be dismissed as *checks notes* the alt-right, Gamergate trolls, neck beard nerds or whatever else they want to label us.
Great piece! Games 'journalists' need to focus on being unbiased and objective, but as you said, everyone has seemingly drawn a line in the sand and are unwilling to budge. It really shouldn't be too much to ask that all of the facts are considered when writing an article.