Right when you think the gaming industry has taken a big step forward in the fight against sexism and exploitation, an incident pops up that will kick that confidence to the curb. The latest such incident has been shared by YouTube personality itsALICEduh, whose request to obtain a review code for a game was answered with a nude photo from a sleazy public relations representative.
The full story can be heard in this video upload. In the interest of professional courtesy — though Alice has every right not to show any such courtesy — the names of the game and publisher were withheld while the representative in question was referred to only by his first name, "Sam." The incident began on August 31, when Alice sent an email to the publisher asking permission to review a game for his YouTube channel. The following day, he received a reply from Sam that read:
Hi Alice,
your name is on my list 😉
A suspiciously candid response, but no reason not to believe that this simply meant Alice had been placed on a list of outlets to receive press copies. Then on September 2, Sam responded again, but this time from a personal email address. Rather than confirm that Alice was set to receive a copy of the game, Sam explained that he wants to help Alice grow his small subscriber base and would like to "find a transaction suitable for both our wants and needs." Still a little confused, Alice continued the line of communication as professionally as he could.
Fast forward to September 12, when Sam sent another email, again expressing his desire to help grow Alice's channel as well as to keep this exchange private between the two of them. By now, Alice was getting upset, and in his response, he accidentally dropped the ambiguous line that "if there is anything specific you want done then just let me know." Sam interpreted this as a come-on, and by the following day, he had mailed a photo of his penis.
For his part, Alice is doing what he can to report this matter to Sam's superiors and is asking everyone to share his story on social media sites to get the word out. There is zero excuse for such shameful actions in this or any industry, and the best way to make sure they don't repeat themselves is to spread let the public at large know that we won't simply sweep these episodes under the rug and keep our mouths shut.
