Posted on 12/17/2024 1:12:00 PM PST by Angelino97
An online battle over video game reporting entered the real world on Wednesday, after one well-known reviewer filed a lawsuit in the Eastern District of New York against a rival, accusing him of orchestrating a harassment campaign that led to her losing her job.
Brooklyn writer Alyssa Mercante, formerly a senior editor at the game review website Kotaku, is seeking damages from California YouTuber Jeff “SmashJT” Tarzia, alleging that Tarzia created hundreds of false and inflammatory posts and videos designed to provoke hate towards Mercante and Kotaku.
Screenshots in Mercante’s lawsuit purport to show Tarzia making comments like “How many times do I need to teach these crazy bitches this lesson?” Other allegations include that Tarzia falsely stated Mercante engaged in prostitution, a crime in New York, and that Tarzia helped to accuse Mercante of antisemitism – a charge that ended with her compelled resignation.
Mercante also seeks to have the court recognize “stochastic terrorism” as a new residual liability tort, defined in the suit as a pattern of escalating harassment. A court in Washington has previously recognized this tort, according to the suit.
Tarzia, in response, is fundraising for a legal defense, and claims Mercante is attempting to silence him through the suit. “Mercante has retained activist lawyers with a clear agenda to bring this ridiculous case against me, and the video game industry to it’s [sic] knees […] This case isn’t just about me. It’s about all gamers,” Tarzia wrote in a post on the conservative crowdfunding website GiveSendGo.
The feud stems from the “GamerGate” controversy, a long-running and vicious online debate – linked to the rise of the alt-right over the politics of video games. Self-identified GamerGate supporters, including Tarzia, accuse developers and journalists of left-wing bias and favoritism. Opponents, meanwhile, including Mercante, say that those supporters are in reality an organized hate mob, focusing primarily on targeting women and seeking to punish opponents for their political views. Mercante’s former employer, Kotaku, has long been a lightning rod for this debate. The suit claims Tarzia’s campaign began following the site’s publication of an article by Mercante on a popular conspiracy theory.
The suit also touches on the separate, and equally loaded, internet battle over the game streaming website Twitch and the war between Israel and Hamas, in which several observers, including U.S. Rep. Richie Torres, have accused the site of platforming antisemitic creators. Mercante has been previously accused of antisemitism in connection to Twitch, centered around her positive coverage of controversial streamer Hasan Piker and an alleged retweeting of an X post skeptical of reports of rape occurring during the Oct. 7 attack on Israel last year. According to Mercante, Tarzia’s amplification of the antisemitism claim led to multiple individuals contacting Kotaku’s owners with these accusations, resulting in parent company G/O Media pressuring her to resign.
Mercante is seeking a jury trial in the suit, as well as damages in excess of $75,000.
First world problems
This could be the end of the World...
...of Warcraft
Live to win!!
Take it all!!
Quick!! To Best Buy!!
Mercante Is a vile witch and part the cadre of leftists who have inflicted the woke cancer on dozens of AAA IP’s. Game developers have lost hundreds of millions because of that crap being put into V Games. Gamers hate that BS.
Agreed. We DO hate that BS.
I’m a female gamer too, and not in a million years would I take what is coloquially called, “sh¡t talk” seriously enough to file a lawsuit. We talk smack to each other in competition. It’s normal. Obviously, she’s too sensitive and can’t handle it.
As soon as Fallout76 introduced a non-binary NPC, (though based on one from a novel, apparently) I opted not to interact with that storyline.
I swear if they start dropping this garbage into Gears of War, I’m burning my XBox.
Well it would seem they haven’t lost enough money yet. Look who they just put in charge of Halo..ugh and Don’t get me started on Acreed Shadows.
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