Clearing Up Misunderstandings, Part 6: Callout Posts
Every now and then, I see posts from people who claim that Iām a horrible, terrible, disgusting person. As evidence, they post something that I wrote over a decade ago when I was a teenager, post an out-of-context screenshot, or grossly misinterpret something that Iāve said or done. In the beginning, I didnāt let these things concern meā¦but, as time passes, more and more people are taking this nonsense seriously. Unfortunately, I think itās time for me to address some of these issues.
Iāve heard people complain about certain words that I have used. Iāll give you an example. One time, I said the phrase āproblematic tranny stoner girlfriendā when I was chatting with my friends. Thereās a screenshot of me saying thisā¦without any context, of course. So, whatās the context? I was quoting a transgender person who said the phrase during a live-stream. I quoted the phrase because it sounds funny, like āflying purple monkey dishwasherā. I obviously wasnāt attempting to dehumanize or insult anyone; a dehumanizing statement would sound like āI hate trannies!ā or something along those lines.
If you ever see me use a word like ādykeā, ātrannyā, or āfaggotā, Iād like you to do one thing before you draw any conclusions: look at the context. How am I using the word? If I ever say something like āAll faggots should burn in hell!ā then, obviously, that would be a homophobic statement. But, if I say āSup, faggots! How are you all doing today?ā Then I am using the word āfaggotsā the same way Iād use the word āfriendsā - without any ill intent or any reference to homosexuality whatsoever.
Iāll be honest with you: Yes, I make edgy jokes, and yes, I make politically incorrect jokes. No subject is too taboo for me. Iāll joke about any subject. Race, gender, sexuality, religion, anything. White people, black people, Christians, Muslims - I donāt think that any subject should be āsafeā from humor. With that said, none of my jokes are actually meant in a hateful or spiteful way. If someone gets offended by my jokes, I feel like itās their fault for being too sensitive.
So, remember: when I use āoffensiveā words, Iām not trying to dehumanize anyone; chances are, Iām just picking a curse word at random. And, if you ever hear me make an edgy joke, itās obviously just a joke, and not an actual, genuine insult aimed at a real group of people.
YandereDev defends child abuse!
Based on some remarks I made in an old blog post, some people are claiming that I donāt see anything wrong with pedophiles or child abuse. Iāll take this opportunity to clarify myself. The first thing I should mention is that whenever I say the word āpedophileā, Iām using the dictionary definition of the word: a person who is attracted to children, not someone who molests or rapes children.
Here are my thoughts on the matter:
1. Pedophilia is a mental illness.
2. In a perfect world, there would be no pedophiles.
3. Anyone who molests a child or rapes a child should be executed.
4. I hope that itās possible for medical science to produce a cure for pedophilia.
5. Being a pedophile is involuntary.
Itās that last part that confuses people. People donāt understand what I mean by that, and assume Iām saying that pedophilia is a sexual orientation.
Hereās what I really mean by that: Being afflicted with pedophilia is like being afflicted by any other mental illness, like Alzheimerās, schizophrenia, or dementia; you donāt choose it or ask for it. It develops inside of you, and then youāre stuck with it forever.
Pedophiles probably wish every single day of their lives that they could be normal. Pedophiles are probably disgusted with themselves for having an attraction towards children. Many pedophiles probably commit suicide so that they wonāt have to live with the shame of being attracted to children. Pedophilia is a curse that nobody should have to suffer from, which is why I hope that one day it becomes possible to develop a cure.
Now, letās get something straight. What youāre attracted to isnāt a choice - but rape is a choice. Being attracted to children is no excuse to rape children. Rape is one of the worst things that a human can possibly do, and child rape is even worse. As I stated above, I think that raping a child should be grounds for execution.
To summarize: I pity pedophiles, because they suffer from a mental illness that they never asked forā¦but if they dare to lay their hands on a child, that pity is instantly gone.
Yandere Simulator is supported by donations. Someone who donates a specific amount of money becomes a āsponsorā and can give me a logo to display before the gameās title screen. One of the sponsors chose a āBlack Sunā for his logo. During the point in time when that sponsor sent me their logo, I had never seen the symbol before, and had no idea what kind of connotations it might hold. A few people contacted me and told me that it was a Nazi symbol, so I decided to do some research. I learned that it was originally an occult symbol, before it was hijacked by the Nazis for their own purposes. I was not certain if the sponsor interpreted the symbol as a Nazi symbol or as an occult symbol. I didnāt want to remove a sponsor logo over a theory about what the sponsor might be trying to express with the logo, so I did not take action. This obviously does not mean that Iām a Nazi.
YandereDev opposes Social Justice!
I donāt have a problem with fixing social injustices. However, I do have a problem with āSocial Justice Warriorsā. No, Iām not talking about people who advocate for socially marginalized groups; Iām talking about people like this. I have a problem with people who use āsocial justiceā as an excuse to scream at others, bully others, and threaten others. I have a problem with people who think that they are justified in acting like total assholes, as long as they are doing so in the name of social equality. I have a problem with people who spend most of their time shaming others for āmicroaggressionsā or āmanspreadingā and stupid made-up bullshit like that.
Some game developers put LGBT characters into their games solely because they want to brag about how inclusive and progressive they are. āLook at us! We put a marginalized group into our game! See how virtuous we are? Will you praise us now? Will you give us a good review score?ā Thereās a part of me that is hesitant to include LGBT characters in Yandere Simulator purely because I donāt want to be interpreted as one of those game developers who is only doing it to score points with the social justice crowd. Iām not opposed to the concepts of diversity or inclusivity, but I really, really donāt want anyone to mistake me for a member of the SJW cult.
YandereDev supports GamerGate!
This is a nuanced issue. This is not a black-and-white issue. This is an issue with many shades of gray.
In 2014, some gamers found evidence of corruption, collusion, and numerous conflicts of interest between game developers and game journalists. The gamers called out the devs and journos. Internet trolls saw this as a great opportunity to harass the devs and journos who were being called out, some of whom were female. Sadly, a headline like āHate mob harasses womenā attracts more attention than āInternet sleuths uncover evidence of corruption in the game industryā, so the media gave most of its attention to the trolls who were writing mean things, instead of giving attention to the people who were actually exposing collusion and conflicts of interest.
As an indie game developer, allegations of corruption in the game industry were very serious issues to me, so I paid extremely close attention to the GamerGate scandal. At the peak of the controversy, I probably dedicated at least one hour every day to reading about the latest discoveries and revelations. I saw a lot of trolls saying a lot of rude things, but I also observed a lot of people who were genuinely trying to expose unethical business practices in the game industry, because they cared deeply about their hobby and didnāt want to see it infested with corruption. That was the side of GamerGate that didnāt get any attention from the media.
Unfortunately, third-party trolls hijacked the GamerGate hashtag and used it for spewing hate. A handful of Internet vigilantes went too far and actually doxed some of the people who were being accused of unethical behavior. This gave lots of ammunition to the developers and journalists who were trying to prevent people from taking GamerGate seriously. They spread the notion that GamerGate was a hate campaign, and most people fell for it. The words āethics in game journalismā became a punchline. Discussions about the topic were banned in most gaming forums. Everyone associated with the movement was labeled racist/sexist/homophobic/transphobic/misogynist manchildren who were only interested in harassing women.
Iām far too busy to engage in any kind of activism, offline or online. Throughout GamerGate, the only thing I could do was watch from the sidelines. I wasnāt rooting for the people that were harassing women, but I was definitely rooting for the people that were exposing unethical behavior.
YandereDev wrote creepy, sexist articles!
In 2010, I wanted to get a job writing about video games. I noticed that a website named āThe Examinerā had two game-related openings. The openings were āSports Games Examinerā and āVideo Game Babes Examinerā. I thought that the second opening sounded hilarious, and I wanted to know what it would entail, so I applied for it. I got the job, but I never actually received any explicit instructions on what to write about, so I decided to just wing it and write about anything that involved female video game characters. Sometimes I posted articles like āTop 10 most revealing outfitsā and āTop 10 biggest boobsā, but I also wrote about actual news, too. I wrote about games that were banned or censored for being too lewd, and wrote about controversies that revolved around lewd content in games. Sometimes I even tried to shine a light on overlooked female characters, or write articles promoting more respectable female characters who donāt look like Barbie dolls. Sometimes I wrote about things that were sexy, but I donāt believe I ever wrote anything that was sexist. Looking back, I donāt feel ashamed of the articles that I wrote for that site.
YandereDev wrote rape stories!
When I was younger, I spent a lot of my time writing fanfiction. I wrote a lot of very dark stories. I wrote stories where characters killed each other, lost their limbs, lost their eyesight, got disfigured, or were subjected to a sexual assault. Almost all of my stories revolved around miserable characters who were suffering in some way, either psychologically or physically.
Hereās a question for you: Game of Thrones is a TV show with rape scenes. Does that mean itās a ārape showā? No. Some of my old literature has rape scenes. Does that mean Iāve written ārape storiesā? No.
Have I written dark stories? Yes. Have I written stories with mature themes, meant to be read by adults only? Yes. Were people raped or forced into sexual slavery in my stories? Sometimes. Have I written stories about the psychological trauma that a rape victim goes through? Yes. Are any of the rape scenes in my stories meant to be arousing or titillating? No.
Ha! I know where this misconception comes fromā¦
One of my friends makes a lot of politically incorrect jokes. Sometimes Iāll ask him silly questions just to hear what kind of edgy joke heās going to make in response. In May of 2016, a black child fell into a gorilla pit, and the gorilla was shot to death. I wanted to hear what kind of edgy joke my friend would make about the situation, so I asked him about it. To my surprise, he didnāt reply with politically incorrect humor. I was shocked that he wasnāt acting like his usual, edgy self. I expressed my surprise by stating that I expected him to make a racially-charged remark. Someone took a screenshot of this interaction with my friend, and tried to suggest that I was encouraging racism.
This is one of many examples of weird people stalking me, taking screenshots of things that I say, and then presenting those screenshots out-of-context to try and make me look bad. Please, donāt be gullible. Donāt fall for that crap.
Ā·Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Yes, I say taboo words and make edgy jokes when Iām talking to my friends in private, but nothing I say is ever meant to dehumanize anyone.
Ā·Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Yes, I feel pity for pedophiles, but I donāt think that child abuse or child rape is excusable for any reason.
Ā·Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā No, I donāt support the political beliefs of every single sponsor who has ever donated to Yandere Simulator.
Ā·Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā No, I donāt oppose the concept of social justice, but I do reject people who treat others like shit and try to use social justice as justification for their awful behavior.
Ā·Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā No, I donāt support Internet trolls who harass women, but I also think that there was a side of the GamerGate movement that genuinely was concerned with ethics.
Ā·Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Yes, I held a position as āVideo Game Babes Examinerā at a website, but Iām not ashamed of this at all, because I did my best to write interesting and entertaining articles.
Ā·Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Yes, I wrote dark literature that involved mature subject matter, including sexual assault, but I have never attempted to make rape seem erotic.
Every time I see a ācallout postā that accuses me of something horrible, itās always about something that I could easily clear up with a few words of explanation. I honestly donāt believe that Iām the evil, nasty, disgusting monster that these callout posts make me out to be. Iām just a dude who is trying to make people happy by developing a video game.
I generally try to discourage people from contacting me, so that I can focus all of my time and attention on developing Yandere Simulator. However, all of my hard work will be wasted if people decide to abandon the game because a dumb post on Tumblr gave them a warped impression of me. So, if you ever read a ācallout postā and think to yourself, āThis is disgusting, YandereDev needs to explain this!ā then feel free to contact me via e-mail and ask for an explanation. Iāll gladly clear up any misunderstandings.
And, before you let a callout blog twist your opinion of someone, consider the words in this blog post.
origamiaround
stormborns
tangentwithtanner
yousharknotpass
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