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| SXSW Interactive cancelled two events during their gaming festiva |
A GAMING festival has cancelled two events, one which was about harassment, after receiving threats of violent attack.
South by Southwest (SXSW) received "numerous threats of on-site violence" relating to their Interactive festival in Austin, Texas.
The two cancelled events were about integrity in gaming journalism and harassment around gaming.
The news comes after the GamerGate controversy which saw female developers threatened with attacks and even death threats.
The threats came from users of online forums such as Reddit, 4chan and 8chan.
In a blog post Hugh Forrest, the SXSW Interactive director, said: "We had hoped that hosting these two discussions in March 2016 in Austin would lead to a valuable exchange of ideas on this very important topic.
"However, in the seven days since announcing these two sessions, SXSW has received numerous threats of on-site violence related to this programming."
The two cancelled events were about integrity in gaming journalism and harassment around gaming.
The news comes after the GamerGate controversy which saw female developers threatened with attacks and even death threats.
The threats came from users of online forums such as Reddit, 4chan and 8chan.
In a blog post Hugh Forrest, the SXSW Interactive director, said: "We had hoped that hosting these two discussions in March 2016 in Austin would lead to a valuable exchange of ideas on this very important topic.
"However, in the seven days since announcing these two sessions, SXSW has received numerous threats of on-site violence related to this programming."
One panel, named "SavePoint: A Discussion on the Gaming Community" was set to focus on the social and political landscape in the gaming community, with a strong emphasis on "the journalistic integrity of gaming's journalists".
The second, called "Level Up: Overcoming Harassment in Games", would explore "data around abuse in larger gaming communities", as well as other related topics.
Although neither had any direct link to the GamerGate online movement, SavePoint was set to feature prominent GamerGate supporters, while Level Up had confirmed it would likely see the topic discussed.
We canceled two panels for #SXSW 2016. Here's why: https://t.co/Cn0qwGS2WZ
— SXSW (@sxsw) October 26, 2015
The Open Gaming Society, the official organiser of SavePoint, revealed they planned to go ahead with the panel and were shocked to find out that it had been axed.
"The event page has been removed, and our access to the session production guide has been revoked. This comes as a shock to us, but we weren’t unprepared. We’ve spoken with representatives from SXSW Gaming and they explained to us their reasoning behind the decision," the post reads.
"SXSW feels that both the organization and its staff have been under siege from all sides and from all parties since they announced the panels early this month.
"They want to encourage open discussions, but they don’t want to fuel a vicious online war between two sides who are extremely opposed to one another.
"Though SXSW has cancelled the panel, we still plan to have a panel regardless. This has been a backup plan from square one and now we are forced to act on it.
"We will organise, fund, and host the panel ourselves. We plan to do so around the same time as SXSW to allow for the largest possible audience."
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