Ryan Perez fired from Destructoid

[Northeastmonk]

Former Destructoid writer Ryan Perez lashes out at gaming enthusiast Felicia Day

What prompted a gaming writer to go on a Twitter rampage against actress, gamer, and self-described "new media geek" Felicia Day last weekend? The now-fired blogger says he was just acting "drunk and stupid." But the incident is yet another example of how easy it is for gamers to bond over misogyny.
"Does Felicia Day matter at all?" Destructoid contributor Ryan Perez tweeted to no one in particular last Friday night. "I mean does she actually contribute anything useful to this industry, besides retaining a geek persona?" Then, he tweeted directly to Day: "Could you be considered nothing more than a glorified booth babe? You don't seem to add anything creative to the medium."



Perez' tweets could've gone unnoticed a few months ago; if the U.S. had a dollar for every bitter, ignorant dude online, we wouldn't be in a recession. But there's been so much rampant misogyny in the gaming industry lately that people are justifiably on edge when it comes to sexism, and Perez woke up on Sunday morning to an onslaught of Twitter followers (he had around 50 when he first tweeted at Day, now he has almost 2,500) thanks to shoutouts from people like Cosplay burlesque performer Veronica Belmont and Wil Wheaton, who each have way more than a million fans following them on Twitter. "I have fucking had it with idiot asshole men being shitbags to @feliciaday because they're threatened by her creativity and success," Wheaton tweeted. "I'm sick of idiot men giving *any* woman grief in gamer and geek culture. Enough already, we're better than that."

Wheaton criticized Destructoid for employing an "ignorant misogynist," and soon, the website cut ties with Perez. "Destructoid has ended its relationship with Ryan Perez, effective immediately. We again apologize to @feliciaday and all others concerned," the website's editors tweeted. Perez also made a big, pathetic multi-tweet show of apologizing to Day, who classily accepted his apology.

You might think, what's done is done: a nobody writer says a shitty thing and pays the price. But let's revisit the original question: why did a gaming blogger risk ruining his career by calling Day a "booth babe"? Because he didn't think twice about the repercussions of calling a prolific, well-established gamer a "booth babe" since the idea that women gamers are "lesser than" is so pervasive within the community.

Although Perez lost his writing gig and got publicly excoriated by some of his idols, he also gained a following of guys who called out Destructoid for firing him and eagerly jumped aboard the Day-bashing train. One blogger, "Mundane Matt," became extremely interested in the issue and spent 20 minutes interviewing Perez about how and why it happened. "I was just being drunk and stupid," Perez said, adding that he had only joined Twitter a month ago and didn't really understand how it worked. (He also said it was his idea to distance himself from Distructoid.) The two men bonded over how unfair it was that everyone assumed Perez was sexist simply because of the sexist nature of his tweet. "People thought I actually gave a shit because she was a woman," he said. "I don't care about the gender … it's so beneath me, I don't give a shit."

But his tweets imply otherwise. "I should have been smarter and just made a comment against God or the Catholic Church…" he tweeted at one point, before he apologized. Also: "Why are so many women following me? If you're waiting for another 'misogynist' thing that you can get angry at, don't bother. Fuck off." According to PC World, at the time of his initial Felicia Day tweet Perez' Twitter bio read: "I've been a gamer for about 1.412 seconds. In that time, I've written for GamePro, Bitmob, and now I write for Destructoid. I love the smell of busty women."

And it's no wonder that Mundane Matt sided with Perez; he recently posted a video to his blog by tweeting, "I love "Girl Gamers" but I hate 'Gamer Gurls,' and I won't put their pussy on a pedestal." Another recent entry instructed Felicia Day fans to look at a PG-13 rated photo of Day, "conquer it, calm down, and fuck off."

How can the gaming community weed out sexism if its members continue to bond together over imagined misandry? Publicly criticizing and refusing to work with writers like Perez is definitely a great start, and he's not completely oblivious to the fact that he fucked up: "I'm getting what I deserve, there's no unfair treatment," he told Matt. But their bro-bonding interview doesn't even begin to explore the possibility that there's a problem with sexism in the gaming community; it's all about how hard the last few days have been for Perez. That's way more telling about how Perez really feels — and about the issues within the industry — than his apologies.

http://jezebel.com/5922961/the-fight...some-big-names

His original Tweets.


http://mundanematt.tumblr.com/post/2...ut-felicia-day
^Phone interview with Perez about what happen.

I personally think he was a jerk for what he said. Why gaming has celebrities outside developers boggles my mind (to a point). I'm laughing because this is news.

[Ernst]

So here's the problem. They absolutely have reason to be pissed at this guy's sexism, but the article once again goes way beyond the scope of that. There is NOTHING sexist about those tweets. Nothing. The other stuff, YES. It's like when Bill Maher calls Sarah Palin a bimbo. He doesn't get fired. This is ridiculous. What is it with this? And the way the article paints the interview as two misogynists bonding is absurd. It shows how you aren't allowed to dissent from the popular opinion anymore without being called a misogynist. Sad state of affairs.

[Northeastmonk]

Destructoid made a Tweet saying they let go of Perez. Isn't there rules against that?

Twitter, Facebook, etc. all of it seems to be an instant hazard for people. There will always be people to disagree with and all it is doing is playing "sides".

[KingOfSentinels]

... is there rampant misogyny in the Industry? I must have missed it.

Well I think he's a bit of a dick for calling her out like that, but he has got a point, as has Mundane Matt, whoever he is; girl gamers seem to get idolised more than they should simply because they're girls and get special treatment. Some capitalise on this, some don't, but it's there. I see it a lot when playing with my female friends online. If Felicia Day was a fat, bald, ugly guy would she still have this 'celebrity' status? I doubt she would. Just make a female character in an MMO and watch how much free stuff you get from guys and how different you're treated. It's laughable.

It's not sexist to point this out and he's not guilty of being sexist, he's just guilty of being a bit of an arse.

[Ernst]

There's rampant sexism in the industry- it's institutional. But his tweets were not sexist. Maybe she is a glorified booth babe- it's not sexist to point that out. A dysphemism for someone who got where they are for the way they look/act. Vapid. It's RIDUCLOUS. And whilst there's this sort of deluge of criticism for anything that even resembles sexism, the actual sexism gets to go ignored in the flux.

[Mr.KUNG-FU]

She has the video game celebrity status because she makes a webseries about gaming. Hell, she's been an actress for a long time and she's been on TV shows like House, Eureka and the like. Of course she's a video game celebrity. Not that many actresses are vocal about their hobbies and I think she's a positive role model for young female gamers.

[spider-prime]

There is only one celebrity that matters in all of the whole world and history.... Bruce Lee and perhaps Jackie Chan. Fuck all the rest.

[zechin]

Meh, girls and gaming. There are more important issues than this. It's attention whoring enough to bring attention to a matter like this but until women stop behaving the way they do. There is no reason not to generalise. There are those who do capitalize on it, but really. If you are to look back on this situation in the future. In the end, some one lost his job and women just gave themselves more reason to feel smug about themselves.

Also Bruce Lee

[Ernst]

Originally Posted by zechin

Meh, girls and gaming. There are more important issues than this. It's attention whoring enough to bring attention to a matter like this but until women stop behaving the way they do. There is no reason not to generalise. There are those who do capitalize on it, but really. If you are to look back on this situation in the future. In the end, some one lost his job and women just gave themselves more reason to feel smug about themselves.

Also Bruce Lee

And it is posts like this that fuel the fires.

[Alucard]

Dude, Jackie chan would make an awesome booth babe. Remember him in street fighter?

[Northeastmonk]

In the movie industry celebrities come and typically stay. When you're talking gaming celebrities your real goal is to mention Game Developers and those who work hard making the games what they are. This fiasco is all on the small group that work off the scenes who are make a living from it. And there is nothing wrong with that.

But what is a joke is that if she had been, say a Hollywood Actor or Musician he wouldn't of been fired.

Say, @Madonna. Besides most of those developer's crude humor and so forth on Twitter do not get recognized by their company is a shame too. They're just as guilty. I feel as though this was making fun of the Video Game's sibling, aka "a friend in the industry".

Girls should game, but whats forthcoming is how it relates. Pro girls understand games.. woohoo.. what's next? It gets a tad redundant after a while. They look just as nerdy as we do, sometimes more. No pun intended.

[zechin]

Not if I pee on the fire with nonchalant effort.

[IoriYagami n8]

I think a part of the idea comes from the blow out over that whole Cross Assault thing. But in general people tend to be hyper sensitive on the issue.

For the most part, his comments are simply ignorant. When he makes a comparison to her as a glorified booth babe that is probably where he goes a bit far. I understand what he is trying to say, but it comes across in a manner that implies something derogatory. Each of the three statements above are asking the same thing. The first one, while perhaps rude, doesn't seem inappropriate. The second, sounds increasingly bitter. The third just sounds angry. He could have easily just stopped at the first one and gotten his point across.

That said, I can't say I agree with him. Does Felicia Day write articles about upcoming games or review them? Not heavily. I believe she has made recommendations based on what she enjoys or is excited about which carries over to her fans. Beyond that, she tends to promote "geek culture" through her roles on television and in other media. She often does so without wearing a bikini or acting slutty. So one could see her as a good role model for "geek girls." In that sense, she makes younger girls more comfortable within the gaming community as a whole. So yes, I would say she does something more for the industry than simply being a cute face.

On the other hand, what about Ryan Perez? He writes articles reviewing and previewing games, related media, and devices. What does he do for the industry? He promotes things and gives consumers a wider point of view regarding potential products. Yet thanks to forums like this, more and more of that info is spread through discussion with actual gamers, and not reviewers. So really, gaming journalist don't do much more than your average forum going gamer, they just get an early hands-on. Anyone into the hobby that can write at a college level could easy deliver the kind of content seen on most gaming websites. So really, it seems kind of dumb to me that someone who does so little for the industry should point fingers at someone else and make that type of accusation.

[Ernst]

You see, Iori, your critiques of this random guy are all perfectly valid. But he's not a misogynist based on those tweets. That's the problem here. The willingness of these people to fling around the misogynist label every time someone insults a woman. This is counter-productive for the feminist cause. You can't be considered equal if people use your gender to defend you every time you're attacked.

PS- I have literally nothing against this woman. I have no idea who she is.

[Northeastmonk]

I find Felicia Day being attractive, sexy, funny, and all that. But I was jealous when she got to introduce BioShock Infinite at the VGAs.