Support NeoGAF

[near]

Guys, is this sexual harassment?

"The investigation found that Barrett called lower-level female employees attractive, asked them to play truth-or-dare and made references to his wealth and power within the studio.."

That is as far as the article really goes to describe Barrett's behaviour.

 

[Sethbacca]

Guys, is this sexual harassment?

"The investigation found that Barrett called lower-level female employees attractive, asked them to play truth-or-dare and made references to his wealth and power within the studio.."

That is as far as the article really goes to describe Barrett's behaviour.

In any work environment asking someone to play truth or dare would be considered sexual harassment, as would implying a tit for tat that you could use your influence to help with upward mobility in your job. It's not even a gray area, literally nobody with a functioning brain would attempt it in a professional environment.

 

[simpatico]

Here is where I stand with this. Telling a coworker to fuck off or calling a female coworker cute can be considered misconduct. The extent of Chris Barrett's misconduct is up for debate, but it remains a fact that he was dismissed for misconduct, and that is a fair decision for any company to make. He wasn't cancelled, he was fired by he's employer without public discourse encouraging it. The only problem I have with this is Jason Schmucks article, we didn't need to know about he's firing. He wasn't fired for sexual harassment, which is an entirely different thing.

TLDR:
Fuck Jason Schmuck

Fair enough, but the reason he does it is because so many people go "wow just wow" and it gives him impressions for a week. There needs to be a sober counter to it. If not the wow just wowers dominate the discourse and impose it to the culture. Imagine if the drill bit industry had as many reporters as the gaming industry. With their own tabloid writers and ambulance chasers. You might see a lot of the same problems. We just need to demand evidence. It's 2024, you've got a lot of mediums to choose from for how you present it. If you don't want to share it, the police report will suffice until the trial is over. Anything short of that should be kept completely private. When it's not, we need to remind them. Without a counter it all gets worse.

I have to assume at this point that you're not in the U.S. or have never worked in a professional environment because you keep making this about reportable crime somehow? You don't have to do something illegal to be fired for creating a hostile work environment. There doesn't need to be a reportable crime for any of this because that's literally not how any of this works. In almost any job in the country you're going to get training on what constitutes sexual harassment on day one, and then annually after that. The shit that you should or should not be doing is crystal clear for anyone whose brain has more control of their body than their dick does.

Bungie did what they have to do. We must assume that Jason went to them first.

 

[Sethbacca]

Bungie did what they have to do. We must assume that Jason went to them first.

Yeah, essentially as far as corporate America is concerned they don't want the legal exposure for failing to handle a complaint. It's all about saving cash from settlements and preventing bad PR. Simple harassment or something like that would be handled by a corporate HR department who is there to protect the company. One complaint if substantiated is enough to fuck you, multiples and you may as well just kiss your ass goodbye.

The law wouldn't get involved in any of this unless there were allegations of rape, or maybe the harassment went into the realm of stalking and that kind of thing.

 

[Superkewl]

He must have glanced in their direction in the company gym

 

[analog_future]

Guys, is this sexual harassment?

"The investigation found that Barrett called lower-level female employees attractive, asked them to play truth-or-dare and made references to his wealth and power within the studio.."

That is as far as the article really goes to describe Barrett's behaviour.

Yes. By definition.

 

[near]

In any work environment asking someone to play truth or dare would be considered sexual harassment, as would implying a tit for tat that you could use your influence to help with upward mobility in your job. It's not even a gray area, literally nobody with a functioning brain would attempt it in a professional environment.

I disagree. Truth or dare is a party game, that doesn't necessarily have sexual connotations. Him referencing he's wealth and power is again not sexual harassment, unless he was actually asking for sexual favours in return, which the article does not describe or detail. If there was any sort of sexual harassment at play here, I do not doubt for a second it would be in the article. I don't condone he's behaviour, but misconduct and sexual harassment are very different things, the former being more broad. He's actions seem more like some guy trying to get laid, failing, and then getting exposed.

 

[simpatico]

Yeah, essentially as far as corporate America is concerned they don't want the legal exposure for failing to handle a complaint. It's all about saving cash from settlements and preventing bad PR. Simple harassment or something like that would be handled by a corporate HR department who is there to protect the company. One complaint if substantiated is enough to fuck you, multiples and you may as well just kiss your ass goodbye.

The law wouldn't get involved in any of this unless there were allegations of rape, or maybe the harassment went into the realm of stalking and that kind of thing.

When it gets reported like this, the public at large will make the immediate make the connection between Barrett and rape. Even though it wasn't in the article. Think about any public figure you've heard of that had "sexual allegations" and how comment sections respond to them forever. Jason knows this.

 

[Sethbacca]

I disagree. Truth or dare is a party game, that doesn't necessarily have sexual connotations. Him referencing he's wealth and power is again not sexual harassment, unless he was actually asking for sexual favours in return, which the article does not describe or detail. If there was any sort of sexual harassment at play here, I do not doubt for a second it would be in the article. I don't condone he's behaviour, but misconduct and sexual harassment are very different things, the former being more broad. He's actions seem more like some guy trying to get laid, failing, and then getting exposed.

Truth or dare is not just a party game, and no reasonable person would treat it as such. That would require a feigning a level of ignorance that no reasonable person would believe. A lawyer would eat that shit for lunch. You don't even need to ASK for sexual favors for it to be considered harassment, the implication alone is enough. I'm telling you, i've worked in corps ranging from Citigroup to Healthcare startups and everything in between, this is standard day one information.

 

[near]

Truth or dare is not just a party game, and no reasonable person would treat it as such. That would require a feigning a level of ignorance that no reasonable person would believe. A lawyer would eat that shit for lunch. You don't even need to ASK for sexual favors for it to be considered harassment, the implication alone is enough. I'm telling you, i've worked in corps ranging from Citigroup to Healthcare startups and everything in between, this is standard day one information.

The article doesn't go into detail or provide proper examples of he's behaviour, what has been provided is just typical misconduct in the workplace. Calling someone attractive isn't by itself sexual harassment, now if he was constantly pursuing an individual with the same remarks, and making sexual references then sure. Again, the article doesn't indicate this. Truth or dare is a party game, and if it was in a sexual nature, he wouldn't have asked to do that in the work environment. My point is, the article and the evidence provided does not implicate him of sexually harassing employees, but rather suggested.

What counts as sexual harassment at work?

The BBC speaks to experts about sexual harassment and what to do if you experience it in the workplace.

www.bbc.co.uk

"
What is sexual harassment?

Sexual harassment is unwanted behaviour of a sexual nature, says Alison Loveday, an employment lawyer and business consultant at Lockett Loveday McMahon Solicitors in Manchester.

"It must have either violated someone's dignity, whether it was intended or not, or created an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for them, whether it was intended or not.

"It can be a one-off act or a pattern of behaviour but it doesn't have to be repeated," she says.

According to the workplace experts Acas, examples include:

• flirting, gesturing or making sexual remarks about someone's body, clothing or appearance
• asking questions about someone's sex life
• telling sexually offensive jokes, making sexual comments or jokes about someone's sexual orientation or gender reassignment
• displaying or sharing pornographic or sexual images, or other sexual content
• touching someone against their will, for example, hugging them
• sexual assault or rape

In the workplace it covers employees and workers, contractors and self-employed people, as well as job applicants.
"

 

[StreetsofBeige]

well where there's smoke there's fire. If 8 people have complained after an HR investigation, it's pretty hard to dispute unless a mob of women banded together to falsify an accusation.

If it's he said/she said with one person anything can happen. I've seen it myself where a chick on the firing line pulled the 'ol sex harramnent when she was about to get fired. She dragged a lot of people into it, but ultimately lied and got fired. And the guy she accused was scott free.

 

[near]

For the record, I don't dispute him getting fired. I just think there is a difference between sexual harassment and misconduct in the work place, while the former also falls under the latter, the latter is also very broad.

 

[Sethbacca]

When it gets reported like this, the public at large will make the immediate make the connection between Barrett and rape. Even though it wasn't in the article. Think about any public figure you've heard of that had "sexual allegations" and how comment sections respond to them forever. Jason knows this.

Nobody is going to conflate sexual harassment with sexual assault. Completely separate things. They’ll thing he’s a dirtbag but nobody gonna accuse the dude of rape, just of being an opportunistic douche.

For the record, I don't dispute him getting fired. I just think there is a difference between sexual harassment and misconduct in the work place, while the former also falls under the latter, the latter is also very broad.

The problem is that the accuser defines the interaction. You don’t need to think it’s harassment for the other person to report it as such. HR will almost always side with the accuser if presented with minimum evidence. The best way to avoid it is just to avoid any appearance of it at all.

It takes less effort to not interact on that level than to interact on that level. So just don’t do it.

 

[near]

The problem is that the accuser defines the interaction. You don’t need to think it’s harassment for the other person to report it as such. HR will almost always side with the accuser if presented with minimum evidence. The best way to avoid it is just to avoid any appearance of it at all.

It takes less effort to not interact on that level than to interact on that level. So just don’t do it.

That is a fair point, I might be looking at this through a single lens, and not really considering the possible victims. I agree with you. But then again, every Jason article irks me one way or another.

 

[onnextflix5]

What does this have to do with the topic ? Is this the new vegan meme where if you haven't told someone something's woke or DEI every 5 minutes your balls will implode or something?

90% of the replies here are not directly related to this topic so Not sure why your getting your knickers in a twist. That time of the month maybe

 

[Robot Carnival]

I was gonna say maybe that's just his awkward attempt at trying to social with the ladies at work and what not. but reading the 1st page I not only found out he's married, but to a total smokeshow? yeah, no. dude's just an idoit.

 

[Dthomp]

He must have glanced in their direction in the company gym

This is Bungie we are talking about, and they have alot of things, like Knitting Classes, cooking classes, DEI safe spaces for every color under the rainbow...but a gym, that wasn't one of those things. I hear gyms create toxic masculinity and we all know that is a pretty low percentage of the crazy bungie staff at this point

 

[Ribi]

Was his misconduct making destiny games?

 

[Toots]

"The investigation found that Barrett called lower-level female employees attractive, asked them to play truth-or-dare and made references to his wealth and power within the studio.."

If you boss you're not attracted to tells you everyday you're good looking so you know he fancies you. He also asks you to play silly games with him that you don't want to play because you need to work when he, in a supervising role, can do fuck all of his day without consequence. He then make reference to his wealth and power within the studio that employs you, so everytime he asks you to play his games you have in the back of your head the threat of what he could do to your career if you denied his requests.
That is a hellish situation, and could be construed as sexual harrassment (/coercion ?).

 

[TheKratos]

I seriously do not get grown up men behaving in this fashion in a professional setting. Most of these idiots are rich enough to buy sex from escorts. Why do such things and lose your comfy job?

Power trip. Only if you get in that position that feeling creeps up, some just can't control it.

 

[adamsapple]

Bungie is quietly scrubbing this man's existence out of their socials.

 

[Timberwolf25]

Bungie is quietly scrubbing this man's existence out of their socials.

F them. This shit reminds me of OW renaming McCree to Cassidy.
It's part of your history. You've already fired the guy.

Since you are "scrubbing" him from your vidocs, are you also going to delete all the content he directed in game? If not, Cowards!

 

[Rentahamster]

This?



He kind of reminds me of a less charming Ryan Reynolds.

 

[Pegasus Actual]

Should have just gone with THEY / THEM, the zero-effort lifehack that converts "problematic" directly into "pride"

 

[proandrad]

F them. This shit reminds me of OW renaming McCree to Cassidy.
It's part of your history. You've already fired the guy.

Since you are "scrubbing" him from your vidocs, are you also going to delete all the content he directed in game? If not, Cowards!

Ok, don’t be so dramatic. The company is just trying to distance themselves over some idiots actions. Devs shouldn’t be inserting themselves into something they don’t own anyways.

 

[Timberwolf25]

Ok, don’t be so dramatic. The company is just trying to distance themselves over some idiots actions. Devs shouldn’t be inserting themselves into something they don’t own anyways.

I wasn't trying to be dramatic. The guy is part of your history, whether they like it or not, he's done stuff that you've released. It's not like taking him out of a vidoc is going to change that.
Vidocs are akin to the behind the scene footage you get for movies/games/music. Erasing them accomplishes nothing as vidocs are usually released ahead of the game.

Firing him is enough to distance themselves from him.

 

[proandrad]

I wasn't trying to be dramatic. The guy is part of your history, whether they like it or not, he's done stuff that you've released. It's not like taking him out of a vidoc is going to change that.
Vidocs are akin to the behind the scene footage you get for movies/games/music. Erasing them accomplishes nothing as vidocs are usually released ahead of the game.

Firing him is enough to distance themselves from him.

They are a video game company, vidocs are just marketing for the company. The company gets to decide what they want to change for a product that is only made for profit. There is nothing they do that is important enough to be preserved for historical context. The only obligation Bungie has is to pay him for his services.

 

[Draugoth]

Holy shit

 

[consoul]

You can flirt at work, but never with people below you in the hierarchy. Even if there's mutual attraction there, it will always be seen as using a position of power to inappropriately coerce a subordinate. It's a no go. You don't do it. If you do, you should expect to lose your job.

 

[TheInfamousKira]

Bungie? More like illegal base jumping.

 

[Hookshot]

Holy shit

Wait a staff member pulled a knife on another, and it was the the knife wielder who wasn't fired?

 

[adamsapple]

Holy shit

Held up a kitchen knife told Marty to back off.

Holy fucking shit, Marty. The fuck you doing?

 

[ManaByte]

I think we know now why Marty was fired.

 

[near]

Who is Marty? Martin O'Donnell?

 

[simpatico]

During the PS360 gen, we all wondered what the Halo killer would be. Killzone? Resistance? Homefront? Nah, turns out it was Lorraine all along. RIP boys

 

[proandrad]

Am I missing something? The article never states he was fired for sexual harassment. Sounds like he was fired for acting like an idiot.

 

[adamsapple]

Am I missing something? The article never states he was fired for sexual harassment. Sounds like he was fired for acting like an idiot.

He was fired after an HR investigation took place. HR or Bungie has never, and likely will never, outright state in PR that he was fired for xyz specific reasons.

 

[proandrad]

He was fired after an HR investigation took place. HR or Bungie has never, and likely will never, outright state in PR that he was fired for xyz specific reasons.

Ok so everyone is just jumping to conclusions and trying to make some likely idiot a sexual harassment martyr.

 

[simpatico]

Ok so everyone is just jumping to conclusions and trying to make some likely idiot a sexual harassment martyr.

""It's just a coincidence bro, I swear""

Marty listen, we know you've crafted us three award winning soundtracks, but due to your non sexual harassing idiocy, we're going to fire you. Sounds very plausible man. S tier detective shit right here.

 

[proandrad]

""It's just a coincidence bro, I swear""

Marty listen, we know you've crafted us three award winning soundtracks, but due to your non sexual harassing idiocy, we're going to fire you. Sounds very plausible man. S tier detective shit right here.

Corporate world doesn't give a shit about individual workers and companies get rid of indispensable workers all the time. Steve Jobs got pushed out of Apple because he wasn't liked. You don't know him, so the guy could have been a complete asshole to work with and this was just the final straw. The main point is no one here knows, so jumping to the conclusion he was just fired because of some uppity bitches is just as harmful as calling any negative interaction with a woman is sexual harassment.

 

[simpatico]

Corporate world doesn't give a shit about individual workers and companies get rid of indispensable workers all the time. Steve Jobs got pushed out of Apple because he wasn't liked. You don't know him, so the guy could have been a complete asshole to work with and this was just the final straw. The main point is no one here knows, so jumping to the conclusion he was just fired because of some uppity bitches is just as harmful as calling any negative interaction with a woman is sexual harassment.

There’s a difference between “workers” and “talent”. At companies who care about staying in business, the talent should be allowed a much longer leash. Imagine the coup if Marty was let go because Lorraine couldn’t take a joke at a party. It’s a disservice to the other employees who depend on the company’s success to feed their families. Yes Bungie survived the loss of Marty, but how many other “Marty’s” got clipped between then and the release of Lightfall? I’m guessing more than a few.

 

[adamsapple]

Corporate world doesn't give a shit about individual workers and companies get rid of indispensable workers all the time. Steve Jobs got pushed out of Apple because he wasn't liked. You don't know him, so the guy could have been a complete asshole to work with and this was just the final straw. The main point is no one here knows, so jumping to the conclusion he was just fired because of some uppity bitches is just as harmful as calling any negative interaction with a woman is sexual harassment.

Uppity bitches? Aren't you a bundle of joy

He was the game director of Bungie's next big game before being fired quietly and unceremoniously. The whole point of the OP article is investigating why that happened.

 

[Hudo]

I miss Westwood so fucking much...

 

[Timberwolf25]

I thought Marty was let go because of a contract dispute? He wanted more money than Bungie was willing to pay him?

 

[mckmas8808]

I seriously do not get grown up men behaving in this fashion in a professional setting. Most of these idiots are rich enough to buy sex from escorts. Why do such things and lose your comfy job?

It's confusing to me too. It's crazy how easy is it to NOT do things like this to women.

 

[mckmas8808]

Wait a staff member pulled a knife on another, and it was the the knife wielder who wasn't fired?

So you want the person defending themselves from possible sexual assault to be fired for protecting themselves? Wow!

 

[Hookshot]

So you want the person defending themselves from possible sexual assault to be fired for protecting themselves? Wow!

The tweet said he stroked peoples hair not raped them. But yes I would agree that attempted murder is worse than being a tit at a Halloween party unless they are two unrelated times, then if she can prove she was genuinely threatened by his behavior she might have a case but that's not how I read it.

 

[mckmas8808]

The tweet said he stroked peoples hair not raped them. But yes I would agree that attempted murder is worse than being a tit at a Halloween party unless they are two unrelated times, then if she can prove she was genuinely threatened by his behavior she might have a case but that's not how I read it.

That was unrelated. She didn't say what he was doing to her, but I'd wager it was more than just stroking her hair. But again it's her experience that she's talking about. You are okay to think she's lying I guess. Either way it's weird for you to believe one thing she says (she pulled a knife on him), but the the other (what he did to her beforehand).

 

[Hudo]

This?



He kind of reminds me of a less charming Ryan Reynolds.

"We have Ryan Reynolds at home"