Sunday, January 20, 2019

Michael A. Stackpole: The Resurection!


I've had several questions about the state of noted author Michael A. Stackpole.  On January 5th, 2019, I wrote that Stackpole was on the dark side of the lawn (as in pushing up daisies, six feet under, deep-sixed, checked out, living in the box condo, etc.), having committed seppuku (harakiri).  I made the remark that:
The cause of his untimely demise was self-impalement upon Constance, Stackpole's personal +5 Holy Avenger.

Meaning that he fell on his sword (publicly resigned GAMA) and so became a martyr for all to see and admire.

The +5 Holy Avenger is a reference to the Dungeons and Dragons fantasy role playing game.  In the game, a paladin (holy warrior) might gain a magical sword, the much coveted and oft abused plus five holy avenger.  Such items are often intelligent and have their own name, hence Constance.


The point of all this is to ridicule Stackpole's resignation.  More people have heard of Stackpole than have ever heard of GAMA, and the only people who could possibly give a tinker's damn about Himself's ostentatious resignation are Himself and the other members of the board, who are well rid of a grandiose gadfly.

To the best of my knowledge, Michael A. Stackpole is still with us, for good or ill.  Physically, anyway.  Mentally might be a different story.

Patricia Pulling has been worm's food for over 20 years, and hence has nothing to say.  She said plenty when she was alive, but that was then and this is now.

However Gamergate got into this dog pile, I guess it's in.  It's old news, and the reason that it's difficult to understand is because it's all about the hysterical actions and reactions of SJWs under self-induced delirium.

You can learn all about Gamergate by reading What Is Gamergate, and Why? An Explainer for Non-Geeks along with Know Your Meme - Gamergate, which gives a slightly more comprehensible explanation.

From Know Your Meme:

GamerGate refers to the online backlash against perceived breaches of journalistic integrity on video game news sites that occurred as a result of the Quinnspiracy, an online controversy surrounding indie game developer Zoe Quinn's alleged affairs with a number of men working in the video game industry, including Kotaku staff writer Nathan Grayson. The term has also since been used to describe the group of internet users, based mainly on Twitter, who claim that there is a lack of transparency within the video game journalism industry. These same people have also been criticized of practicing misogyny and sexism by many, through harassment and trolling, referring to their opposition as social justice warriors.

That's all the explanation I'm going to write today.

2 comments:

Glen Filthie said...

I am not a gamer myself, Jack, but I know plenty of folks who are. They all had their noses right out of joint over Gamergate and I never really understood the ins-and-outs of it. I can see some of the denizens of that crowd being awfully tough to get along with.

Mad Jack said...

What do they expect? Game reviews are opinion pieces, no more nor less. I'm not much on video games, but you're right about the developers and the reviewers.

If you believe the media, Quinn got doxxed and received death threats. Your reaction and my reaction to a credible death threat is one thing, but Quinn got so uptight she started couch surfing. As for the doxxing part, I have no idea, but I'd think law enforcement would be of some help.