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June 22 2020, PCGamer - Chris Avellone accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women
June 29 2021, PCGamer - Chris Avellone files libel suit over last year's sexual misconduct allegations
March 25 2023, Chris Avellone's blog - JOINT STATEMENT FROM KARISSA BARROWS, KELLY BRISTOL, AND CHRIS AVELLONE
March 25 2023, PCGamer - crickets
March 25 2023, Kotaku - crickets
It's remarkable that rpgcodex had the coverage that aged best.
Erik Kain working his beat as a based games journalist as well.
I'm not sure what more to add to this that hasn't already been said. Mostly I felt like summing up the entire event from primary sources for posterity and clarity, so that it's obvious who the liars are, and who the good faith actors are.
Christ.
It's good to know he didn't actually do it. Apparently any of it. And that justice, ultimately, was served.
Not so good that it took two years and a "seven figure" lawsuit to clear his name. I can hope that the relevant outlets get around to their mea culpa, but like you, I am not optimistic.
To be accurate we don't KNOW he didn't do it. We just know he won a court case about it, so that his accusers (or their attorneys) had to draft said statement, which contradicts their earlier statements.
That may well mean he didn't but could mean there wasn't enough proof etc.
Just like people being found not guilty does not actually mean they are not guilty.
It does mean he should be treated as innocent though you probably still wouldn't want to find out your daughter was dating him.
I did say rpgcodex had the best coverage. You should have read it.
This during a period she claimed she was warning everyone off of Avallone for being a sex pest.
I am a longtime member of the Codex as it happens. But i would point out if you look at Chris's own admissions he apologised for inappropriate sexual propositions and said there was some truth to the accusations.
The position seems to be he did do most/all the things in question but with consent. That the accusers public views shifted on that doesn't actually prove they are lying.
They may well be and indeed it is probably most likely but we don't "know" it.
Did she rationalize the events because she liked/loved/was in awe of Chris? Once emotion fell away did she see the truth?
Or was it just a vendetta? That seems most likely but we don't know it. I'm not taking issue with Chris being exonerated, some of my most favorite games he was involved in. Just being overly sure in our knowledge.
I'm really not buying into this mealy mouthed "We'll never really know" attitude. And I'm not buying into this framing of "Is she lying, or has her feelings towards a past event shifted over the years?" She told a material lie. To repeat.
Here she is saying at the event where Avellone "assaulted" her, he was being such a sex pest she, as well as other witnesses, immediately had him blacklisted. And then here she is, in a recording, after this assault and public sex pestery that was so bad a gaggle of witnesses was able to compel a blacklisting.
The discrepancy between these two accounts is not a matter of the mists of time altering our perspectives of past events. It's a material, bold faced lie. The gulf between them is irreconcilable and not due to the fragility of memory. And one of them is a contemporary recording of her, in her own words. Stop hedging.
Even if that were true...so what tbh?
Or are we arguing that consent can not only be revoked during the act but long after?
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