Dwarfs and orange condoms
October 27, 2011 10:48 AM Subscribe
This year the Games Media Awards in the UK were sponsored by a little know chain of shops from the North East, Grainger Games, looking to increase their profile... well following the last night's events they are pretty well-known now. Cue a next-day banning and apologies from Grainger and the organisers
Wow. That's quite something, even by company-funded bender standards.
posted by Artw at 10:55 AM on October 27, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Artw at 10:55 AM on October 27, 2011 [1 favorite]
(Also makes one look forwards to the oncoming extermination of bricks and mortar chains by online juggernauts. )
posted by Artw at 10:58 AM on October 27, 2011
posted by Artw at 10:58 AM on October 27, 2011
Even the journalist from Zoo magazine was puzzled as to why condoms should be distributed prior to a fancy sit-down meal.
It's quite an easy mistake to make. They told their vendor something about condiments, but also they couldn't afford mints, and well, there you go.
posted by kmz at 10:58 AM on October 27, 2011 [2 favorites]
It's quite an easy mistake to make. They told their vendor something about condiments, but also they couldn't afford mints, and well, there you go.
posted by kmz at 10:58 AM on October 27, 2011 [2 favorites]
More seriously, wow that is a sorry half-assed excuse for an apology.
posted by kmz at 11:02 AM on October 27, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by kmz at 11:02 AM on October 27, 2011 [2 favorites]
I'm a bit confused (and a lot of horrified). Intent Media couldn't have known about the drunk heckling side of things, but surely they knew about the dwarves, scantily clad girls, and the condoms? Or were these a surprise too?
posted by lesbiassparrow at 11:04 AM on October 27, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by lesbiassparrow at 11:04 AM on October 27, 2011 [1 favorite]
Sadly, the only part of that triumvirate that I'd consider completely surprising at a gaming event is the dwarves.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 11:17 AM on October 27, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 11:17 AM on October 27, 2011 [2 favorites]
Weird that there's no video or pics of any of this yet considering it was a media event. I'm not questioning that it happened the way they claim, just surprised that there's no footage of it, even if just a pic of dwarves standing next to a Hummer.
posted by Challahtronix at 11:18 AM on October 27, 2011
posted by Challahtronix at 11:18 AM on October 27, 2011
EDIT: I’ve since been informed that after I left, some of the G-crew were caught doing coke in the toilet by security, whilst others were seen to be physically intimidating some of the gaming media’s most prominent figures. Lordy.
Quality.
posted by Artw at 11:21 AM on October 27, 2011 [1 favorite]
Quality.
posted by Artw at 11:21 AM on October 27, 2011 [1 favorite]
Is dwarves the preferred nomenclature?
posted by cjorgensen at 11:24 AM on October 27, 2011
posted by cjorgensen at 11:24 AM on October 27, 2011
Is dwarves the preferred nomenclature?
They prefer "teenie-tots with hats"
posted by Cerulean at 11:31 AM on October 27, 2011
Metafilter: couldn't have known about the drunk heckling side of things, but surely they knew about the dwarves, scantily clad girls, and the condoms
Now to the article. Based on that description, I can't wait.
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 11:34 AM on October 27, 2011 [1 favorite]
Now to the article. Based on that description, I can't wait.
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 11:34 AM on October 27, 2011 [1 favorite]
I'm a bit confused (and a lot of horrified). Intent Media couldn't have known about the drunk heckling side of things, but surely they knew about the dwarves, scantily clad girls, and the condoms? Or were these a surprise too?
This could easily have been a surprise, at least in the details - "In return for our sponsorship money, we'd like to send by some reps to promote the chain, give out a freebie bag to the media, that kind of thing. Cool, thanks." I mean, this is 150% conjecture from me, but we don't know the terms of the deal, and it's amazing what can get left out of the explicit discussions if you're not actually worried about one of the parties doing something phenomenally stupid like this.
posted by Tomorrowful at 11:34 AM on October 27, 2011
This could easily have been a surprise, at least in the details - "In return for our sponsorship money, we'd like to send by some reps to promote the chain, give out a freebie bag to the media, that kind of thing. Cool, thanks." I mean, this is 150% conjecture from me, but we don't know the terms of the deal, and it's amazing what can get left out of the explicit discussions if you're not actually worried about one of the parties doing something phenomenally stupid like this.
posted by Tomorrowful at 11:34 AM on October 27, 2011
Teenie-tots with Hats - signifying decadence since the days of the Roman Empire!
posted by Artw at 11:35 AM on October 27, 2011
posted by Artw at 11:35 AM on October 27, 2011
Which dovetails nicely with that thread from earlier about Richard Stallman being paranoid that someone may try to give him a parrot in the course of a speaking engagement.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 11:36 AM on October 27, 2011 [6 favorites]
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 11:36 AM on October 27, 2011 [6 favorites]
Only in Middle-Earth.
posted by Curious Artificer at 11:37 AM on October 27, 2011
posted by Curious Artificer at 11:37 AM on October 27, 2011
Weird that there's no video or pics of any of this yet considering it was a media event.
It was an awards ceremony for journalists. There's plenty of pics of the actual event. A lot of them seem to have been changed around since this controversy, but you can see one of the awards being given out by a woman in orange here.
posted by cmgonzalez at 11:38 AM on October 27, 2011
It was an awards ceremony for journalists. There's plenty of pics of the actual event. A lot of them seem to have been changed around since this controversy, but you can see one of the awards being given out by a woman in orange here.
posted by cmgonzalez at 11:38 AM on October 27, 2011
There were some vague tweets from Keiron Gillen who seems to have been taking shelter in a pub - a lengthly RPS piece seems likely.
Oh, and they won!
posted by Artw at 11:39 AM on October 27, 2011
Oh, and they won!
posted by Artw at 11:39 AM on October 27, 2011
And just, as a member of the games press, I would be thoroughly horrified if I were there. It's not just childish, sexist, and offensive pandering in general, but it belittles what we do. And games journalists have been fighting for respect for some time now. It's not all playing and partying. It's a real job. And this sort of display doesn't sell that.
And this isn't a debate over whether or not those of us that write about games deserve it or not. This just plain damages our credibility regardless.
posted by cmgonzalez at 11:41 AM on October 27, 2011 [2 favorites]
And this isn't a debate over whether or not those of us that write about games deserve it or not. This just plain damages our credibility regardless.
posted by cmgonzalez at 11:41 AM on October 27, 2011 [2 favorites]
Well, most print games journalism remains garbage - I would give it a damning 7 out of 10, the worst possible score out of 10 - and Edge remains Edge, which is to say sniffy about all the rest but a little up itself. But on the web... RPS in particular is excellent.
posted by Artw at 11:44 AM on October 27, 2011 [3 favorites]
posted by Artw at 11:44 AM on October 27, 2011 [3 favorites]
you can see one of the awards being given out by a woman in orange here.
The scantily clad girls were the dwarves? This is confusing even by creepy gamer event standards.
Seconding looking forward to what RPS has to say about this.
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 11:45 AM on October 27, 2011
The scantily clad girls were the dwarves? This is confusing even by creepy gamer event standards.
Seconding looking forward to what RPS has to say about this.
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 11:45 AM on October 27, 2011
At first blush, I thought dwarves were perfectly in line with a gaming event. That is, until I realized they meant little people, and not stout miners with viking hats. WTF.
posted by arcticwoman at 11:51 AM on October 27, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by arcticwoman at 11:51 AM on October 27, 2011 [2 favorites]
I also suspect many in the industry would grudgingly admit that Granger Games is still better than Gamestop, all things considered.
Yeah but they still don't have Battletoads for the Wii.
posted by w0mbat at 11:56 AM on October 27, 2011
Yeah but they still don't have Battletoads for the Wii.
posted by w0mbat at 11:56 AM on October 27, 2011
At first mention of "Grainger Games" I wondered what the hell was going on. I've only seen them in Grimsby, and thought they were a little independent set–up local to the town. I suppose that would have been slightly more awesome if they were, however. Probably a lot less shameful too, given that a bigger company ought to have known better.
posted by Jehan at 12:07 PM on October 27, 2011
posted by Jehan at 12:07 PM on October 27, 2011
I remember a bazillion years ago attending a hospitality industry trade show where Playboy Hotels, Resorts and Casinos had a massive multi-booth exhibit to showcase their vacation spots. Right next to them was some cheesy little travel agency that must have seen their neighbour on the exhibit hall floor plan and chose to "decorate" their booth with a shapely model in a teeny bikini and a bucket of their business cards -- pretty much it. In exchange for accepting one of their business cards, you were offered the opportunity to use a stamp and ink pad and stamp the model anywhere on her body you wanted. The audience -- all meeting planning professionals -- were giving it a wide berth and I suspect not a few of them were wrongly linking that wing of the exhibit to Playboy -- shapely models in minimal fabric being what you see in the magazine.
The Playboy staffers, dressed to the nines in tuxedos and evening gowns, were royally pissed and must have used their clout big time because after about an hour or so, their exhibit hall neighbour was covered in a floor-length bathrobe and reduced to just thrusting business cards into the hands of anyone passing by. You could actually find the booth by following the trail of cards littering the path away from it.
There's a moral there. Not everything gamers do in the quiet of their basements after dark should make its way into a public forum of their peers? Only thing missing would have been to have been raining orange Cheetos onto the stage every time a winner was announced.
posted by Mike D at 12:37 PM on October 27, 2011 [2 favorites]
The Playboy staffers, dressed to the nines in tuxedos and evening gowns, were royally pissed and must have used their clout big time because after about an hour or so, their exhibit hall neighbour was covered in a floor-length bathrobe and reduced to just thrusting business cards into the hands of anyone passing by. You could actually find the booth by following the trail of cards littering the path away from it.
There's a moral there. Not everything gamers do in the quiet of their basements after dark should make its way into a public forum of their peers? Only thing missing would have been to have been raining orange Cheetos onto the stage every time a winner was announced.
posted by Mike D at 12:37 PM on October 27, 2011 [2 favorites]
Sounds as if it all went off like clockwork-- orange clockwork.
posted by jamjam at 12:39 PM on October 27, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by jamjam at 12:39 PM on October 27, 2011 [2 favorites]
Only thing missing would have been to have been raining orange Cheetos onto the stage every time a winner was announced.
Oh come of it, these is England you are talking about - Wotsits
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 12:51 PM on October 27, 2011 [2 favorites]
Oh come of it, these is England you are talking about - Wotsits
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 12:51 PM on October 27, 2011 [2 favorites]
How thoroughly bizarre. I used to be a regular at Grainger Games back when they were selling second-hand Megadrive carts from a market stall in Newcastle's Grainger Market. I knew they now had a bunch of stores throughout the North-East, but had no idea they were national. Or ran by such utter fuckwits.
posted by anagrama at 1:08 PM on October 27, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by anagrama at 1:08 PM on October 27, 2011 [1 favorite]
Dwarfs and orange condoms.
To the tune of "Nights in White Satin."
posted by Graygorey at 1:55 PM on October 27, 2011 [3 favorites]
To the tune of "Nights in White Satin."
posted by Graygorey at 1:55 PM on October 27, 2011 [3 favorites]
Weird that there's no video or pics of any of this yet considering it was a media event.
All I can find is pictures of condoms and two dwarves.
posted by Busy Old Fool at 2:03 PM on October 27, 2011
All I can find is pictures of condoms and two dwarves.
posted by Busy Old Fool at 2:03 PM on October 27, 2011
RPS in particular is excellent.
I fear it is getting less so, these days, churning out the 'here's a trailer' and 'here's a press release' posts. I'd prefer a site (and tried to build one, but it didn't gain much contributor traction, sadly -- should've gathered a Core Writing Crew first) where things were perhaps just slightly less frequent and a little more depth-y.
But still, in terms of PC gaming, Rock Paper Shotgun remains one of the best in the niche -- certainly better than the big, totally ethically compromised sites like IGN and the like.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 2:05 PM on October 27, 2011
I fear it is getting less so, these days, churning out the 'here's a trailer' and 'here's a press release' posts. I'd prefer a site (and tried to build one, but it didn't gain much contributor traction, sadly -- should've gathered a Core Writing Crew first) where things were perhaps just slightly less frequent and a little more depth-y.
But still, in terms of PC gaming, Rock Paper Shotgun remains one of the best in the niche -- certainly better than the big, totally ethically compromised sites like IGN and the like.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 2:05 PM on October 27, 2011
I expect better from Hermione's family, even if they are a bunch of Muggles.
posted by etc. at 2:33 PM on October 27, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by etc. at 2:33 PM on October 27, 2011 [2 favorites]
The Grainger Games apology lacks a certain . . . er . . . conciousness . . . acknowledgement of misdeeds. It reads like dry technical instructions rather than a heartfelt apology for poor behavior. I'm surprised it doesn't end with,
That should hold the $#^!-heads. Nobody can take a friggin' joke anymore."
posted by arkham_inmate_0801 at 2:43 PM on October 27, 2011
That should hold the $#^!-heads. Nobody can take a friggin' joke anymore."
posted by arkham_inmate_0801 at 2:43 PM on October 27, 2011
The Guardian takes home the best newspaper reporting award... which is probably deserved.
posted by Artw at 2:44 PM on October 27, 2011
posted by Artw at 2:44 PM on October 27, 2011
While waiting for RPS to rip Grainger a new one, you can always read about another sterling moment in gamedom.
Wow, lot of posts today on RPS
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 4:18 PM on October 27, 2011
Wow, lot of posts today on RPS
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 4:18 PM on October 27, 2011
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I also suspect many in the industry would grudgingly admit that Granger Games is still better than Gamestop, all things considered.
posted by 2bucksplus at 10:54 AM on October 27, 2011 [1 favorite]