We Talk About This Week’s Allegations on Today’s Waypoint Radio
August 30, 2019In the past week, we've seen a slew of survivors of sexual assault and harassment in the games industry take to social media to speak about their traumas. As this wave of accusations began, Motherboard's Lauren Kaori Gurley spoke with three of the survivors. She's joined by Danielle, Rob, Patrick, and Cado as they discuss sexual harassment in the workplace and the power dynamics that surround it. You can read the beginning of Lauren's article and listen to the full episode below.
In a single day this week, three prominent men in the video game development industry were independently accused of sexual assault.
On Monday, Nathalie Lawhead, an independent video game designer from California, published a 6,800 word blog post. Lawhead alleged they were raped by Jeremy Soule, an acclaimed composer known for his work on The Elder Scrolls and Guild Wars series. Hours later, in a lengthy post on Twitter, indie developer Zoe Quinn accused Night in the Woods developer Alec Holowka of sexual abuse and imprisoning Quinn in Holowka's home in Winnipeg. A third accusation came from a woman named Adelaide Gardner against Luc Shelton of Splash Damage, who worked on Gears of War 4. Gardner told Motherboard Shelton assaulted her in 2018.
Soule, Holowka, and Shelton did not respond to requests for comment.
The accusations have started conversations about sexual assault in the video game industry, and about how powerful men can crush the careers of women and non-binary people trying to enter the industry. Late last week, Riot Games announced a settlement with two women who filed a gender discrimination suit against the Santa Monica-based League of Legends developer last year—which prompted a 100-employee walkout in May.
After the break, Danielle brings us the aptly seasonal Knights and Bikes, with a touch of nostalgia for times past and summer's end. Rob, Patrick, and Cado are playing Control, or is the game playing them? Then Patrick and Cado talk about the Pinball Roguelike Creature in the Well, and just how imprecise the Switch's analog sticks feel all of a sudden. Then we take a quick dip in the question bucket, and pour one out for all our lost save files.
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