Former employee let go in a murky scenario
Controversy has sprung up at Nintendo, everyone’s favourite family friendly video game company, with the recent firing of Nintendo of America employee Alison Rapp. Until her termination, Rapp worked at the Seattle branch of Nintendo of America in marketing, and had been the target of harassment by the collective of angry, nerdy man-children – mostly objectively speaking –referred to as GamerGate. This collection of basement dwellers, again in the objective sense, continue to harass, shame, discredit, and mock those who wish to make the video game industry, and videogame culture as a whole, more inclusive and accepting. Rapp’s dismissal from Nintendo has had gaming fans, and plenty of industry reporters and analysts, wondering exactly what had happened to spark the firing; whether it was the pressure from GamerGate, or if there were extenuating circumstances.
The main issue is that, other than Rapp and Nintendo, no one is really quite sure. Rapp announced her dismissal from her former employer over Twitter by tweeting out “Today, the decision was made; I am no longer a good, safe representative of Nintendo, and my employment has been terminated.” Since then, Rapp has not elaborated on the reason for her dismissal, though she sent out a string of tweets leading up to her announcement which implicates the harassment from GamerGate as a contributing factor. Rapp did, however shed some light on changes to her employment in the weeks leading up to her firing by stating: “When I got back from [vacation], Nintendo stripped me of my spokesperson status and did a ‘lateral move’ so I wouldn’t lead games as a [product manager] anymore,” she said. “This was because the GG mess meant they ‘looked at my tweets’ and decided I wasn’t a good representative of the company.” Nintendo, on the other hand, released a statement shortly after the firing stating, “Though Ms. Rapp’s termination follows her being the subject of criticism from certain groups via social media several weeks ago, the two are absolutely not related. Nintendo is a company committed to fostering inclusion and diversity in both our company and the broader video game industry, and we firmly reject the harassment of individuals based on gender, race or personal beliefs. We wish Ms. Rapp well in her future endeavors.” Nintendo also cited Rapp taking on a second job, a practice which is “in conflict with Nintendo’s corporate culture,” as the reason behind her termination. Rapp has confirmed that she was working a second job under a fake name, to help pay for student loans. This makes the act of placing blame more difficult, as Rapp was admittedly acting in a manner that was in conflict with Nintendo’s corporate culture and image, but her supporters argue that it was only through information dug up by GamerGate that this situation came about.
Regardless of whether Rapp was at fault for taking a second job, one of the main issues at play is that whether it was GamerGate’s involvement that caused Rapp to be fired, it looks this way from an outside perspective. This perceived victory, by means of harassment and bullying, will only heighten the vitriol and venom that already exists in video game culture and it appears to justify and condone the online harassment taking place. Video games are supposed to be a realm of escapism and fantasy, where it doesn’t matter who you are, when you pick up a controller you can be the hero of Hyrule. It’s a shame that one the road to be accepting and inclusive, video games just took one big step back.