January 17, 2008 -
What a week gamers shared with conservative talk show host and author Kevin McCullough (left).On Monday GamePolitics reported that McCullough had wrong-headedly trashed Mass Effect, treating the popular and well-regarded 360 title with the kind of disgust usually reserved for snuff films.
On Wednesday we were outraged by McCullough's Thompson-esque bashing of "gamer nerds."
But now McCullough has backed off a good bit, even issuing an apology of sorts:
Based on the multitude of response by gamers who share my concern for decency in the entertainment of our children, it is obvious that I had been misinformed on at least two points of substance in my original column.
For this I DO apologize to the gaming universe!
...I still do concur with my original position that the objectionable content in Mass Effect is still offensive, and should be kept out of the hands of those under age.
GP: Well... To be honest, Kevin, your original position wasn't that Mass Effect was merely "offensive," but rather that it constituted digital sodomy and "virtual orgasmic rape." But we're glad you're willing to learn from other viewpoints (unlike some critics we know). McCullough continues:
Mass Effect fans have demonstrated that the three minute cuts on YouTube are only arrived at after hours of play. So in their argument the "percentage" of objectionable content is heavily outweighed by the overwhelming amount of content leading up to it. Point well made...
GP: While we respect and appreciate McCullough's about-face, the real take-away from this episode is the persuasive power of gamers when they unite against a common threat.
McCullough spent most of this week's radio program discussing the Mass Effect affair with some very level-headed gamers. It's worth a listen...
Comments
So no, you can't ignore this guy. You may not see his influence here in the gaming world, but out in the political one (where I spend most of my time these days) his site's not small fry. They may be crazy and hyper-partisan but they're not harmless.
"But he also learned a lesson. The next time he wants to bash a game, he had better be informed."
No, I doubt that. I'm with PA, the only lesson he learned is that this is a great way to generate hits.
@ Steve
If that's true, that's awesome, but it still falls short of doing the right thing unless a FULL and ACCURATE retraction is posted. But yes, I'm glad it's gone and good on our community for standing up for Mass Effect and for ourselves.
Sorry, this guy just annoys me so much.
/end rant"
Sueing him would be very unreasonable. He apologized isn't that enough? It's not like he killed somebodys baby. All he did was say some very ignorant things.
I wouldn't be at all surprised to find out that this, the article being pulled, was the action Bioware took.
"I mean, he is in a position of power and he has used it irresponsibly."
He isn't a person of power. Gabe from Penny Arcade spelled it out nicely for us when trying to research who this guy is. Short answer: He's a nobody. He has three local sponsors and a VERY small fan base of "muscleheads." We, the outraged gamers, are the largest audience he has ever had.
I don't think Bioware (or EA, or MS Game Studios/whoever own the rights to it) would look like penny pinchers. To gamers (the people they care about), I think they would look like heroes. The guy is insinuating gamers are rapists. Since townhall is filled with and run by like-minded, holier-than-thou, politicos and trashing gaming is a universally safe bet to earn scare points with their generation, there is little us gamers can do to stop this filth. We can spam emails and articles, but given the territory, they are plenty used to it anyway.
However, Bioware, EA, and MS all have alot of power and money that we don't have. If they wanted, they could get results very quickly that we cannot. This guy made serious allegations we aren't really able to defend but through co-ordination that usually doesn't exist and brute force. If one of those companies were to stand up and take action on our behalf, I would applaud them.
Personally, I think it's likely they may have had something to do with the article being pulled. They scoffed and called names after gamers flooded the site and offered factual rebuttals. Then, all of a sudden, the article is pulled? I have a hard time buying that they suddenly took us seriously. Maybe.
I know I'm interested to find out why the article is gone now. Do they actually have some standards there? Was there a change of heart? Was there a threat of legal action?
BTW, I don't know that a suit would need to be seen through, it just needs to put a good scare into them.
I had quite a few words for the guy myself when he first popped up on the radar, but in the past couple of days, he's made more concessions than just about anyone else we've ever seen on this site, and he seems to have backed off the topic entirely now.
Let's give it a rest.
Did he at least leave an update saying he removed all his incorrect statements? Or is he playing the "I never said that" ploy?
Oh and yes to everyone who said his apoligies seem half-hearted. You can't honestly know this without talking to the guy in person (and even then not everyone can).
You seem to forget the pride and anger issue. Mainly the over the top insulting comments caused him to be angry (who can blame him). This wrath made it a lot harder to swallow his pride and own up (this is something that happens in everyone). So the fact that he's giving us this apology probly means it took a lot of effort on his part (this doesn't seem like an "Ok I was wrong, can we please drop the issue and move on" apology). It's hard to swallow your pride sometimes.
Persuasive power? If we had that then we would never come across as nerds with no life. We were arguing facts about the game. This isn't an issues debate where there is two sides and whatnot this issue is pretty simple. Mass Effect is not nearly as bad as the man describes. That's it.
Oh and if we have persuasive power, why not use it on politicians?
let us rather be glad we have corrected him!
The smirk on his face suggests "HAHA! I am a pimp and you are not, lowly, single, gamer nerds! For I am not, a gamer nerd and I hop the clubs with my fellow guidos!"
JT will probably either agree with or lie about the nature of his acusations, and say that he was silenced by pixelante thugs.
Or act like the apology was forced or never happened.
That's a horrible attitude to have.
Perhaps. But Anonymous had no real part in this by the looks of things. then again I could be wrong.
He's manned up a lot more than other people who have spoken before thinking, and I do have some respect for him for that, even if it wasn't a full apology, it's as close as we can reasonably expect.
Hopefully, he will have learned a lesson about learning about something before posting about it, if that is the only effect we have on him, it is still a positive one in the longer term. You will already note that the phrase 'Gamernerd' has stopped being used, which is good, I personally found the term demeaning and insulting, yes I'm a gamer, but it's something I do, not something I am. Just one man realising we are not 'spotty 13 year-olds' but are in fact young adults upwards.
On the other hand, that was a pretty funny arc, err... thing to see through.
Now let's focus on something which might be a bit funnier to poke at. This wasn't worth a good old faux news scare about y2k causing computers to explode.
And I guess he understood the fact that we are adults, for most of us. The thing, now, is to make the rest of luddites of his kind understand that.
And, come on, can research actually hurt?
If in Russia, people kill each over Lineage 2, imagine what would happen to this sore loser in America… [/quote]
Uh huh, and statements like that do exactly what for our cause? Infer that because someone makes up a bunch of bullshit, gamers are going to be out for his blood?
Anyone who has spent more than 5 mins on a forums know the keyboard commandos are touch when it comes to anon. talking but most of them would wilt like a daisy in a face to face.
The more relevant faction of gamers are the people like GamerDad or the majority of the esteemed readers of this page. People who get pissed off at being characterised as a bestiality loving sodomist hiding under a rock gamer-nerd, but can express that anger in a reasonable argument that even the hate mongers find hard to take out of context.
That being said, the apology is bunk and the guy is trying to cover his ass because he's been caught firmly in the spotlight with his lies exposed.
Look if there is one thing the world dosent need is another jackass pissing everyone off and then talking about how hes "christian"
Look! people hate christians enough already without you kicking the world in the crotch..so please(look i said please) STFU!
big puffy red eyes
loss of hair
lime green tie
general sleezy look
One Hundred dollars says he played through this game 20 times trying to find the "porn".
oh and the radio description=
Banking on the reliability of Common Sense over Partisan Politics we take back the turf that has been yielded to the dastardly devil dogs of immoral, anti-God, liberalism...
Wow...ChristianGamer i have to say...i think you might have a point there lol.
ah well hes just trolling gamers for fun and profit leave him alone or sue his ass pick one... dont just blog about it
oh he didnt really give an apology
in fact 20 min into the radio cast he calls all gamers lifeless douche bags(basicly)
Why the fuck are you addressing /b/ on GP?
McCullough spent most of this week’s radio program discussing the Mass Effect affair with some very level-headed gamers."
"Level-headed" is the key phrase. This is a reminder that while insulting people we disagree with may be cathartic, the best way to make our case is by communicating rationally and showing politeness and respect...even to people who are obviously and demonstrably wrong.
In my opinion, the guy is seriously trying to make up for what he did. Humility is a bitter pill to swallow, so don't go knocking him if it takes a while to go down all the way. He's doing what he can, and he's trying to meet us half-way here. He still has his views, and some immature gamers emailed him in pretty dumb ways, and under those circumstances we can never expect a full "Hey, I fucked up, I'm sorry" type of post.
Take it and run with it - this is a guy who is willing to learn from his mistakes, unlike certain other would-be-censors.
I would hate to see him getting off the hook so easily.
I, personally, think this will do, in a way, there's only so much you can demand of anyone's pride, how much would any of us be prepared to admit our beliefs were wrong if it came to light that something we believed was actually wrong? You have to give people room to step down into, in a way, that's what Diplomacy is.
I suppose we have to, as a group, be prepared to meet people half-way on their beliefs, and agree to have some disagreement with them. That doesn't mean we stop defending our right to play and enjoy the games we so choose to in the privacy of our own homes, it just means that we have to accept that their are people who believe that doing so isn't good for us. I think we have to do it, if for no other reason, because we risk becoming the very people we are trying to defend ourselves from if we don't.
"I suppose we have to, as a group, be prepared to meet people half-way on their beliefs, and agree to have some disagreement with them. That doesn’t mean we stop defending our right to play and enjoy the games we so choose to in the privacy of our own homes, it just means that we have to accept that their are people who believe that doing so isn’t good for us. I think we have to do it, if for no other reason, because we risk becoming the very people we are trying to defend ourselves from if we don’t."
I understand what you're saying, but here's the rub. I don't for a moment believe that he believes any of the garbage he spewed, or ever did at any time. I believe he willfully lied, and did so in the most outrageously overblown manner that he could contrive. That sort of blatant behavior, in my book, nullifies any sort of remorse or compassion I would potentially feel for him when the light does come shining down on him, exposing him for the worm he is.
In truth, I don't care if he apologizes or not, because to me it means NOTHING. He's shown us what his word is worth; why should it be more trustworthy or merit our attention more when it's expressing a so-called apology than when it was spewing the bile that started this whole affair? No, the only thing I care about at this point is that someone outside the gaming community publically acknowledge the multitude of lies in his article, and call a spade a spade in that he wasn't "misinformed" but "completely dishonest".
I don't expect this to happen, but it's what would settle the matter for me. I owe this man absolutely nothing; he can take his pride and shove it, to be quite honest.
His original column (The one that started the fiasco) is now gone. He deleted it. Probablly from the pressure of his detractors.
http://www.gametrailers.com/player/usermovies/163925.html