Phil Spencer apologizes for sexist and embarrising objectification of woman

Agreed 100%. But I don't expect the anti-PC meatheads on this forum to take a post like this into consideration. These people have no capacity for nuance and they belong to a culture in which classy or mature behavior is actively scorned. Just look at all the people on OT who are attracted to Donald Trump because of his crudeness and vulgarity.

Wow...you guys are really okay with this?

MS seems to have forgotten that not every developer is male, and that most women probably don't wanna watch half naked women dancing in an erotic manner. I mean what if MS hired half naked men dancing erotically? As a heterosexual man, I certainly wouldn't wanna watch that shit, so why do you find it okay that women have to watch what is pictured above? Not only is this awfully unprofessional, it also makes the female attendees at the even feel out of place and uncomfortable.

But on the other end the mud-slinging battle, I'm also kind of tired of seeing the "SJW" tag lazily thrown around in these types of discussions. It's a facetious and contemptuous label that distorts real groups of people, and I see it as an easy form of dismissal that never creates any good discussion. How can there be an intelligent transaction of ideas and insightful viewpoints when both sides are using the basest part of their brains, just hurling labels and stereotypes all day, and refusing to even listen to the experiences of those they know little about.

I'm surprised that gamespot hasn't just banned the term altogether. All it does is promote venomous discussion on these boards.

I'm surprised that gamespot hasn't just banned the term altogether. All it does is promote venomous discussion on these boards.

Oh look everybody, yet another SJW advocating censorship on the internet.

I'm surprised that gamespot hasn't just banned the term altogether. All it does is promote venomous discussion on these boards.

Thank you for proving my point.

Also, you should actually google and learn what censorship actually is.

Anyways yeah, keep the salty tears coming. Y'all can cry about SJWs and feminazis or whatever witty name you come up for them, but that won't change the fact that, like someone has already said, the gaming industry is maturing

You want the term banned, which is what censorship is. Basically you don't want people discussing things that hurt your feelings. Again, just because you personally don't like the discussion at hand doesn't mean it shouldn't take place.

Censorship involves the government silencing people. Gamespot is a private organization, they can do whatever they want within their legal boundaries. It's not censorship for GameSpot to ban people for having unwanted forms of discussion on their website. It's the same reason why I have the right to kick people out of my house for spouting racist or other hateful spic that I dislike. If your pre-determined idea of censorship was a reality, then no one would be banned ever. People would be able to say whatever the **** they want, even if it was incredibly evil non-sense. People can say whatever the **** they want, but don't expect every website to give you a platform for your thoughts.

Censorship involves the government silencing people. Gamespot is a private organization, they can do whatever they want within their legal boundaries. It's not censorship for GameSpot to ban people for having unwanted forms of discussion on their website. It's the same reason why I have the right to kick people out of my house for spouting racist or other hateful spic that I dislike. If your pre-determined idea of censorship was a reality, then no one would be banned ever. People would be able to say whatever the **** they want, even if it was incredibly evil non-sense. People can say whatever the **** they want, but don't expect every website to give you a platform for your thoughts.

@ianhh6: I didn't actually mean to ban the term. I just find its constant use around here quite frustrating. I tune my brain out anytime I see that term being used. It doesn't promote well-rounded discussion. For example, you're not going to have an intelligent discussion about race if someone starts the conversation off using words like "zipperhead."

Microsoft GDC party criticised for exotic dancers, Phil Spencer apologises

Microsoft came under fire last night as a corporate-sponsored GDC party made numerous attendees feel unwelcome due to the presence of exotic dancers dressed as scantily-clad schoolgirls.

Various video game developers found Microsoft's use of exotic dancers at what should be an event for people of all stripes to be deeply offensive.

Here's a selection of choice tweets regarding the event:

Brianna Wu: Extremely disappointed @Microsoft and @Xbox hired women wearing these outfits to perform at @gdc. PLEASE RT. pic.twitter.com/JYFTTGdzQk

Another person: Ehhhhh I feel so icky about this because I was at Microsoft’s Women in Games Luncheon and now feel deceivespd...

A woman: This is how the games industry excludes women: By pretending we don't exist and having dev parties with strippers.

For its part, head of Xbox Phil Spencer sent out an industry-wide e-mail apologising for this. He calls Microsoft's decision to hire exotic dancers at a supposedly professional industry event "unequivocally wrong" and noted that "this matter is being handled internally". You can read his full statement on the party below:

"How we show up as an organisation is incredibly important to me. We want to build and reflect the culture of TEAM XBOX - internally and externally - a culture that each one of us can represent with pride. An inclusive culture has a direct impact on the products and services we deliver and the perception consumers have of the Xbox brand and our company, as a whole.

It has come to my attention that at Xbox-hosted events at GDC this past week, we represented Xbox and Microsoft in a way that was absolutely not consistent or aligned to our values. That was unequivocally wrong and will not be tolerated. This matter is being handled internally, but let me be very clear - how we represent ourselves as individuals, who we hire and partner with and how we engage with others is a direct reflection of our brand and what we stand for. When we do the opposite, and create an environment that alienates or offends any group, we justly deserve the criticism.

"It's unfortunate that such events could take place in a week where we worked so hard to engage the many different gaming communities in the exact opposite way. I am personally committed to ensuring that diversity and inclusion is central to our everyday business and our core values as a team - inside and outside the company. We need to hold ourselves to higher standards and we will do better in the future."

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-03-18-microsoft-gdc-party-criticised-for-exotic-dancers-phil-spencer-apologises

Memo to Microsoft.... GDC is not COMPUTEX nor New York Auto Show.

http://www.guru3d.com/news-story/computex-2015-some-booth-girls-of-computex.html

http://www.autoevolution.com/news/here-are-the-hot-girls-of-the-2015-new-york-auto-show-video-94283.html

Wow...you guys are really okay with this?

That's an event for developers of video games, this isn't some strip joint.

MS seems to have forgotten that not every developer is male, and that most women probably don't wanna watch half naked women dancing in an erotic manner. I mean what if MS hired half naked men dancing erotically? As a heterosexual man, I certainly wouldn't wanna watch that shit, so why do you find it okay that women have to watch what is pictured above? Not only is this awfully unprofessional, it also makes the female attendees at the even feel out of place and uncomfortable.

If Spencer didn't apologize, then so-called "SJWs" would just boycott Xbox and jump ship to PS4 instead.

You want the term banned, which is what censorship is. Basically you don't want people discussing things that hurt your feelings. Again, just because you personally don't like the discussion at hand doesn't mean it shouldn't take place.

@ianhh6: I didn't actually mean to ban the term. I just find its constant use around here quite frustrating. I tune my brain out anytime I see that term being used. It doesn't promote well-rounded discussion. For example, you're not going to have an intelligent discussion about race if someone starts the conversation off using words like "zipperhead."

And I don't care that much about "SJW" being typed, but the sentences following it are usually lacking any sensible content

Apparently you don't understand the term censorship dude.

You want to suppress speech, which is what censorship is.

What exactly do you and others still not understand about it?

Phil Spencer was right to apologize. The previous day he was part of MS's annual "Women In Gaming" luncheon that was meant to unify, educate and inspire other women to enter the game industry. These kind of events are designed as forward-thinking gatherings to promote diversity and workplace reform. But then, after the luncheon was over............

Many of those same GDC attendees were hit in the face with this: short-skirted ladies shaking it to loud Rihanna music. And yes, they were encouraged to flirt with the men in attendance and get them to dance too. Player interaction indeed.

It would make Phil and Microsoft look really frickin stupid to continually hold an annual luncheon called "Women in Gaming" (meant to gradually change our ways of thinking and dissolve the existing barriers for women) and then to dish out, in typical brain-dead fashion, the old 1990s idea that female eye candy is the only way to unwind and please a large group of people at a party. That's like saying "there's Vegans coming to the BBQ party? Who cares. They'll pick the meat out of the dishes." The other big GDC companies didn't have dancers. Most of them never needed dancers or a single skirt to create a fun or relaxing atmosphere. MS is not only showing their poor chain of communication here, but also looking like an unthinking dinosaur in some ways, looking in wrong and confused directions. Maybe that's why the Xbox One is.....oh nevermind.

Some of you also need some statistics. There were only 3%-5% women working in the games industry the 1990s (you could almost round it to ZERO depending on how you look at it). If you were a women saying you wanted to get into the games industry back then (programming, artist, game producer, etc), they'd give you "a look," as if you've just said it was your lifelong dream of becoming an Anglican Nun, and were moving somewhere deep within the French Alps for the rest of your life. And the one receiving your news would be privately thinking: "What happened to you? What's wrong with you?"

Today, the total number of women working in the games industry has increased dramatically - to almost 25%. The fastest change has come in the last 3-4 years. The biggest working numbers are in North America. This is the same period of time where people (here and elsewhere) would constantly berate everything related to women in gaming. SJW this, ugly fat women that. "They should pipe down. PC is killing America. SJW are the fingers around its neck."

All of this extreme message board nonsense has done little to sway reason. Progress for workplace diversity has been forged, without your help and amidst your jokes. The reason it has happened so fast is because open, intelligent discourse (like these Women in Gaming events) has helped paved the way for so many of them. Visibility, action and even protective spaces is valuable for many in unprivileged positions. So despite all the jokes here, women seem to have found encouragement, because they FINALLY feel like some/many men in the industry DO CARE - by holding panels with thoughtful discussions, inclusive events, enacting policy changes, and showing support elsewhere on the internet, away from the immature muck.

The industry is not STATIC, and is sure as heck not same as it was in the 1990s. I could see why there were booth babes, leggy dancers and pretty models everywhere in those early conventions. It was almost all male attendees back then. But there's been quite a dynamic shift these past few years that no one can miss, and the convention floor does not look the same as it did back when you wore Reebok Pumps and read Nintendo Power. If you look at the photos above of the Women in Gaming attendees and think to yourself "ugly, fat, jealous, miserable ladies...anonymous faces, undeserving of attention....should never be listened to.....", maybe it's time you begin stopping with the polarized way of thinking for once. For every stereotype you have of females in the industry, keep in mind that they could easily direct some crushing blows towards video gamers. OH BOY could they have a field day on the physical appearance of those mocking them. They could stereotypically sum up many male gamers and say that, instead of looking like David Beckham, gamers have bodies that have a closer resemblance to Winnie the Pooh. Oooooh. Pass the Doritos.

I should also clarify (before I get accused) that I am not supporting extreme forms of "feminism" or any other group here. I'm not for the off-the-charts-crazy tirades where "everything a man has touched needs to be demolished," etc. When looking at reasonable vs. unreasonable modes of progress, I support the reasonable.

But on the other end the mud-slinging battle, I'm also kind of tired of seeing the "SJW" tag lazily thrown around in these types of discussions. It's a facetious and contemptuous label that distorts real groups of people, and I see it as an easy form of dismissal that never creates any good discussion. How can there be an intelligent transaction of ideas and insightful viewpoints when both sides are using the basest part of their brains, just hurling labels and stereotypes all day, and refusing to even listen to the experiences of those they know little about.

And one last thing to this long post. I'm sure that many of these ladies (Brianna Wu even mentions this in one of the links) are NOT mad at the ladies performing, or about sex & entertainment in general. Brianna Wu says she's pro-sex, and I'm sure she loves her Game of Thrones. What they're asking for is some extra consideration for all attendees, and some refinement to the old ways of thinking. The milieu is different today, and still changing. Some of you labor over what chip dip to use or what movie to watch at your own parties because you want as many people happy as possible. At GDC, with more women attending than ever before, it's probably time to be more attentive to all attendees and the shifting currents in your industry. Or, you could bury your head, act the exact same way you have for decades, and look really stupid in five-ten years.

censorship =/= breaking the first ammendment. You know that, right?

The dancing girls are not the norm at GDC. Microsoft did this before but forgot to uncheck their box this year (and are only reacting because they got caught), and they look extremely silly doing this after hosting an annual "Women in Gaming" event.

Yes, a lot of the GDC after-parties are like a nightclub atmosphere with loud music (I posted an Oculus pic above). But saying "they all have dancing girls like a nightclub" is wrong, because most of them don't. If you're saying "Let MS have their way, there's barely any dancing girls left"....well, others could say, "F--- off, MS. I don't have to love everything you do, when others don't even need to lower themselves to this level." It goes both ways.

And it could be about time to retire the dancing go-go girls, because the GDC landscape is changing. What you call "oversensitivity" I could call, "Wake up, dummy MS."

And I don't care that much about "SJW" being typed, but the sentences following it are usually lacking any sensible content, solution or nutritional value, and that's what bothers me when I read pages of clone posts that are more obnoxiously cliched than a Michael Bay flick. What's stopping the other side from typing "BFG" whine too much (Big Fat Gamer) or "URNs" get jelly (Ugly Reddit Neckbeard)?

Not so fun when you only play the label/name game without adding better content, huh?