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So Chella and Todd decided to take a little break last week, and wouldn’t you know it, the entire world seemed to be coming apart in their absence. It was truly a very rough week for gamers.

Rough Week For GamersFirst we had allegations that a female developer was trading sexual favors to journalists in return for good reviews. There was some outrage against the journalists in question, but oddly enough, most of the rage was directed at the developer herself. Her accounts were hacked. Nude photos were posted online. And her personal information was put on display, which was accompanied by death threats.

Then there was the backlash against the backlash, which was fairly understandable, since all of the actions against the developers were over the top, even if she did do what some people claim. All the hatred directed at her made all gamers look bad, with several organizations calling our community bigots, misogynists, homophobes and other names based on the actions of what is certainly a vocal minority.

Capping it all off there were the hacks that took down several gaming services, including the PlayStation Network. While the group responsible for those attacks never claimed specifically to be gamers, it was just one more thing we had to endure last week.

A few good things did come out of it, including campaigns to restore some decency to the industry, and to stop the hatred. We break it all down in the lounge this week, so fasten your seatbelts.

 

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Picture of John Breeden II
John Breeden II
As a journalist John has covered everything from rural town meetings to the U.S. Congress and even done time as a crime reporter and photographer.|His first venture into writing about the game industry came in the form of a computer column called "On the Chip Side," which grew to have over 1 million circulation and was published in newspapers in several states. From there he did several "ask the computer guy" columns in magazines such as Up Front! in New Mexico and Who Cares? in Washington D.C. When the Internet started to become popular, he began writing guided Web tours for the newly launched Washington Post online section as well as reviews for the weekend section of the paper, something he still does from time to time. His experience in trade publications came as a writer and reviewer for Government Computer News. As the editor of GiN, he demands strict editorial standards from all the writers and reviewers. Breeden feels the industry needs a weekly, reliable trade publication covering the games industry and works tirelessly to accomplish that goal.