Greg Tito Is UHURA!

Former Escapist editor-in-chief Greg Tito is now WotC's new Communications Manager according to D&D Brand Manager Nathan Stewart -- "Please welcome Greg Tito newest member of the D&D team. Greg joins our team as Communications Manager and official bag of holding holder." Greg was laid off from The Escapist a couple of weeks ago. He mentioned his recent layoff, whihc also involved others: "Due to budget cuts at Defy Media, the parent company of The Escapist, Game Front, and GameTrailers, a large number of my colleagues have also been let go. This news sucks for everyone, including those left behind to run these publications. My thoughts are with all of you and I hope you bounce back with a new gig soon."

 

[Jester David]

This article puts it pretty well.

http://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=1253173

I can actually see why someone might want him in such a position. I'd never put him there, but he sounds "safe" for a megacorp that wants to be seem inclusive.

The post that spawned that post was this one, written by Greg Tito:

Hello everyone,

The Escapist ran a story about Quinn's harassment in late 2013 with little evidence other than her word. We will always default towards helping out people who are the subject of harassment on the internet. I do not support behavior of that kind and will strive to protect those who are feeling the effects of it. We will signal-boost those incidents because I think it's important to create change, and will only choose not to post such stories if I decide they will do more harm to the situation.


I continue to ask that you consider whether your actions in crafting a false narrative are helping anything. How will arguing about this situation on this forum make the world a better place? It just doesn't make sense to me why it's so important that this person is tried before a jury of the internet and found guilty of her alleged crimes. The parties directly involved have already resolved any personal issue they had, or I hope they are at least working towards it now. That is all that's important.


What you think is happening just isn't true. There is no conspiracy. There is no breach in ethics. There is nothing wrong except that a small group of posters on the internet think there is.


Contrary to your claims, harassment and abuse on the internet are very real things that cause actual harm to people. It's important for you to see how participating in crafting this story contributes to harmful actions and deeds. Please respect all people going forward.

He doesn't sound too bad. I'm actually encouraged by his hiring.

 

[Dannager]

GameJournoPros was, of which Mr Tito was a member. Having one's own secret mailing list to coordinate political agenda driven strategy across various, supposedly independent sites is definitely very much an "in the shadows movement", coming up with the week's talking points and narrative to push.

Oh no! A professional mailing list? Why, they're absolutely poised to take over and suppress the internet of 1991!

 

[variant]

Again, this isn't something you're going to magically win ground on. Gamergate isn't an in-the-shadows movement. It's not a secret. It isn't being suppressed by a monolithic, organized conspiracy. We're all familiar with it in at least a passing capacity. You guys lost the "it's-about-ethics-in-games-journalism" war for about eight different reasons, and the movement is now out of credibility. I even agreed with you guys in the first couple of weeks, before the shine wore off.

When all you have left are dogwhistles, it's probably time to retire the cause.

Who are you even talking to? Sorry, but I don't play in online hash tag movements. I don't even use Twitter. However, what I do is gather facts before I form an opinion on someone or something. What Greg Tito has said and done is available on the internet. I am basing my opinion on his actions and words, nothing more.

 

[BrockBallingdark]

Yeah this thread ain't for me. I'll go check out other threads about gaming.

 

[Leatherhead]

I am quite frustrated at the prospect of having another internet war dragged here, we have more than enough of them already.

 

[variant]

I am quite frustrated at the prospect of having another internet war dragged here, we have more than enough of them already.

I don't think it's going to drag some internet war here. He is from what I've read, generally not disliked by people who support Gamergate. He didn't censor them on the Escapist forums despite having dissenting opinion. When I did my search on him, all I see is posts by them saying it's unfortunate he lost his job.

 

[Eminence_Grise]

What does a communications manager do anyway?

 

[redrick]

Ethics in table-top-gaming journalism. That is a great buzz-word. The discussion of sexism, racism or any other kind of prejudice must be unethical. The criticism of death threats and threats of rape and sexual assault is unethical.

Come on, guys. If you're such champions of speech and ethics, why are you working so hard to silence people who challenge your idea of gaming? Why are you working so hard to silence people who sometimes say things that make you feel like a sexist, or a racist, or somehow not a perfect person? We can read tons of articles about how we need to be better DMs when it comes to creating more interesting encounters and adventures, but we can't handle somebody telling us we need to be better gamers by taking a moment to think about how hostile our hobby can be to women who also love imagination, adventure, fantasy and role-playing games?

 

[variant]

After reading opposition views on him, I am more inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he was just naive instead of unethical. He backtracked on his opinion that they did nothing wrong when they dragged a completely unrelated online community through the dirt on one person's word without doing research. He did apologize (albeit through one of his editors) and update the Escapist's ethical policy. At least, I hope that is what it is and not just pressure from the owners for them to clean up their act.

 

[Leatherhead]

I don't think it's going to drag some internet war here.

Based on the rest of this thread, it already has.