So, who is talking about “A non-profit organization funded by the U.S. government is joining the fight over Sweet Baby''? On their bingo cards?
In response to recent public discourse surrounding the aforementioned narrative consulting firm's activities, Take This, a nonprofit organization focused on “Mental Health in Video Games,” has made GamerGate clear and unambiguous to both players and the industry at large. He called for condemnation.
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Take This, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2014, describes itself as a “mental health organization that provides comprehensive resources, support, and consulting tailored to the unique needs of the game development community.” It is explained that.
Far from being a “minor player” in the industry, the company's board members and executives include Pete Hines, Vice President of Marketing at Bethesda, and Raashi Sikka, Vice President of Global Diversity and Inclusion at Ubisoft. , Head of Global Portfolio at PlayStation, and many other notable names. and acquired Christian Svensson.
As for their relationship with the U.S. government, their research is known as “Disrupting Video Game-Based Radicalization through Cross-Sector Collaborative Networks,” according to a public disclaimer in various white papers. Funded as part of the Ministry's official research project. ' (DHS # EMW-2022-GR-00036).
“This joint project by the Center for Terrorism, Extremism and Counterterrorism, Take This; [‘anti-disinformation’ AI developer] “We logically aim to develop a shared framework for understanding extremism in games,” reads the project’s official proposal summary, which is included in the official funding application. “This includes developing a set of best practices and centralized resources to monitor and assess extremist activity, as well as community managers, multiplayer designers, and others to monitor, detect, and prevent extremist exploitation in the gaming space. Includes a series of training workshops for lore developers, mechanical designers, and reliability and safety professionals.”
“Furthermore, this project will provide a first-of-its-kind collaborative structure for public-private partnerships on game-based extremism prevention and mitigation,” it added. “Taken together, this project will improve counter-extremism cooperation in the video game industry, while providing substantial capacity building within and between developers.”
As the sun continues to shine on Sweet Baby Inc.'s operations, Take This, which has taken the stand to defend the company, published a blog post on March 11 that claims: “”
“This is the latest targeted harassment campaign in the gaming industry, targeting Montreal-based narrative development studio Sweet Baby Inc.,” the company said in a statement. “This campaign is also impacting organizations and games associated with Sweet Baby, journalists covering the issue, and many other people connected to the target. You may be at a loss as to what to do and what you can do about it. That's where we come in.”
To provide such guidance, the nonprofit declared that “Discord, Steam, and X are the primary platforms where abuse and harassment takes place.”
“In these spaces, lists of game studios, companies, and affiliated organizations are circulated as mob targets,” they historically told readers. “Massive harassment campaigns like this are fueled by, and fueled by, political events. As political rhetoric intensifies in the lead-up to the U.S. presidential election later this year, this type of online activity We're going to see more activity, and it's important to understand that these phenomena are interconnected.”
Related: Major news organizations, video game developers and others step up to defend Sweet Baby Inc.
To this end, Take This provided advice to the industry on “what can be done to mitigate the harm” of harassment campaigns.
Regarding individual action, the company suggested that “it is extremely important to speak up and stand up for those who are being harmed.” This type of support can take many forms. This can also be done by emailing or simply contacting people who are or are close to the target of harassment (family, coworkers, and friends of the targeted person can also use these experience different types of harm in situations). .
Take This warned “industry leaders” that “there may be a tendency to be silent or cautious, but that is not really helpful.”
“At the time, many studios were hesitant to meaningfully address the hate and abuse from GamerGate,” they claimed. “The reasons vary, but typically this hesitation stems from a fear of losing profits or a concern that taking a stand will attract the attention of the Gamergate mob.”
“However, our failure to establish ourselves and communicate clearly with our community backfired,” the company continued. “In other words, by failing to clearly and unequivocally condemn Gamergate and the harassment and abuse that takes place in its name, we have created the space for that hatred and abuse to flourish, spread, and become normalized. is.”
Concluding with the warning, Take This finally says, “Hate, harassment, and harmful behavior have no place in gaming. We can reduce further harm to people and prevent further recurrence of these harmful events.”
Notably, despite the current “popular narrative” that frames the backlash against Sweet Baby as a “massive harassment campaign,” this is not a more disingenuous interpretation of the situation. .
At this point, the so-called “harassment” being perpetrated against them is on Steam curator lists created to track publicly credited works, Discord servers associated with list management, and among players. It's just a general negative feeling towards their operations that is brewing in the. Of all stripes.
On the other hand, the only person who called for “direct action” against individuals and organizations was Sweet Baby Inc.'s Chris Kindred, who responded to the creation of the aforementioned Steam Curator List by asking his followers and supporters to: A massive misreporting campaign resulted in the closure of both this game and its creator's Steam account.
Next: Sweet Baby Inc. staff throws tantrum over Steam curator list created to track, warns players for their work
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