On Telltale Games’ Ableist Treatment of Sarah

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  • you downers have no life..TROLLERS!

  • Definitely not. I am a person who is all about creativity and people expressing themselves. That's why I get a bit defensive when it comes to the writers or artists power over their art. Usually when people say what you say, I feel like people are taking away from the person who created that thing. The way you describe it has put it into a better context for me, though.

    Well I think they are. It's nothing to do with entitlement, think of it more like partial adoption. I think that when an artist puts a chara

  • I doubt you were joking, the content of your other comments on this thread say otherwise. I only called you out in the first place because I know you're a Tumblr person, and I know far too many Tumblr users who share the same idiotic mindset, and fail to see the hypocrisy in it. Now you're backtracking because you don't want deal with the repercussions. Don't dish out bullshit that you can't take yourself.

    Ellias posted: »

    I was just joking lol well somewhat, I was joking about the cis thing (I'm cis gendered too) since it just sounds funny to say it and to

  • I totally agree with you... People just hate handicaps, in real life they may not show it, but its in games that people show their true feelings! People didn't like ben, and now they don't like sarah... Both characters had great character development and to see them getting so much hate...

  • edited August 2014

    He said, she's abnormal and she did this abnormal behaviour so I hate her and she should die. That was what he said. He clearly said that he realised she wasn't normal, thought it was due to being coddled and when he realised she still wasn't normal afterwards he decided he hated her.

    DomeWing333 posted: »

    Well. What he literally said was that he hated her because "she sucks," "she was this season's Ben," and "she wasn't meant for this world."

  • edited August 2014

    Right, but he would say the same thing of Ben. Ben was "abnormal" for a survivor in the same sense that Sarah was. Or so Greg thought. He thought that Sarah, like Ben, was responsible for her abnormal behavior because he didn't know that she abnormal to the extent that exceptions should be made to excuse her behavior (what we call "a disability"). I feel like the discussion has kinda stagnated on this point for quite some time...

    He said, she's abnormal and she did this abnormal behaviour so I hate her and she should die. That was what he said. He clearly said that he

  • How was Ben abnormal? And if his reason for hating Ben was that he was "abnormal" then he was also an asshole in that case. I guess it just hit a few more nerves when it's said about a character who so many fans identify with, hence this furore.

    DomeWing333 posted: »

    Right, but he would say the same thing of Ben. Ben was "abnormal" for a survivor in the same sense that Sarah was. Or so Greg thought. He th

  • I dunno who Greg Miller is but accusing him of being sexist and ableist based off of this seems like a bit much, especially since he's largely responding on how he saw a big part of the fanbase react. Even if the accusation is accurate his views do not necessarily reflect that of Telltale who I think handled Sarah well and realistically if not politically correct.

    I think you should watch the interview, and you will understand why people are mad. He said that he hated a "child.", and was happy to see this "child die.", He also said, he couldn't wait to get rid of her because she had "problems.", he was happy because he got enjoyment in slapping Sarah, a disabled girl.

    Something just sin't right with this guy. I don't blame Telltale, i think they should just distance themselves from this guy.

    Fredward posted: »

    Massive overreaction and reading motives that aren't there. Telltale created a game with a realistic portrayal of the apocalypse, hard fact

  • The.... downers?

    koban4max posted: »

    you downers have no life..TROLLERS!

  • edited August 2014

    Well Ben was abnormal, like I said, in the sense that he just wasn't like the other survivors. He was meek, panicky, cowardly, etc. Other characters, while they had their own demons and issues, were more or less able to get their shit together when push came to shove. Ben didn't and a lot of people, Greg included, hated him for that.

    The only thing new with Sarah is that she had a valid excuse for not getting her shit together that Greg and many others didn't pick up on. But not picking up on that doesn't make him an asshole. What arguably does make him an asshole is hating someone for being a shitty survivor. And in that case, he would be an asshole for hating Sarah and for hating Ben. Which is what your opinion seems to be. And that's fine. That's consistent. It's only inconsistent if you call someone an asshole for hating Sarah but don't call them an asshole for hating Ben.

    How was Ben abnormal? And if his reason for hating Ben was that he was "abnormal" then he was also an asshole in that case. I guess it just hit a few more nerves when it's said about a character who so many fans identify with, hence this furore.

  • Ben was not abnormal even among the survivors. He was kind of a pussy but not abnormally so. But yes that's my opinion. Though Ben did get his shit together, what are you even talking about.

    DomeWing333 posted: »

    Well Ben was abnormal, like I said, in the sense that he just wasn't like the other survivors. He was meek, panicky, cowardly, etc. Other ch

  • Well, he kinda got his shit together after you save him. He still passes the fuck out when Lee goes to chop his arm off if it's just him. Prior to Episode 5, though, Ben's shit was distinctly not together. I mean even Clem is like "Why the fuck are you leaving me with that guy? Do you want me to die?" ...maybe not in those words....

    Ben was not abnormal even among the survivors. He was kind of a pussy but not abnormally so. But yes that's my opinion. Though Ben did get his shit together, what are you even talking about.

  • edited August 2014

    Except it was. He was not, at any point, non-functional. He was a bit of a coward in leaving the supplies for the bandits but then he found the balls, after he realised it had gone way too far, to tell you about it. Can you refresh my memory on how his shit wasn't together after that point? I do have a bad memory so help me remember.

    DomeWing333 posted: »

    Well, he kinda got his shit together after you save him. He still passes the fuck out when Lee goes to chop his arm off if it's just him. Pr

  • Excuse me? People don't hate the disabled. I'm sorry you feel so jaded as to suggest that, using a videogame as proof, but you're wrong. Why are so many people here so ridiculous and extreme in their views? It's incredibly sad.

    I totally agree with you... People just hate handicaps, in real life they may not show it, but its in games that people show their true feel

  • edited August 2014

    Haha thanks, you'll probably get shit from the Tumblr, Feminist and Sarah radicals for being in my fan club but I love you all the same :) Welcome aboard!

    Dyeingbrad posted: »

    Feminist radicals happened. I am now apart of your fan club. c:

  • There was leaving running off and leaving Clem in the middle of the streets, not looking after Clem and letting her wander off in Savannah after Lee specifically told him to watch her, losing track of Clem again and letting her play outside by herself, there's the infamous hatchet-in-the-door handle fiasco, and there was him spilling his guts to Kenny at literally the worst possible time. He didn't "cease to function" like Sarah did, he just functioned very, very poorly.

    Except it was. He was not, at any point, non-functional. He was a bit of a coward in leaving the supplies for the bandits but then he found

  • I think he apologised because he didn't actually mean to offend people, he just expressed his opinion on a video game character and people are taking it way to far. I don't see why they think his opinion of Sarah would transcend in to real life. "Sarah was disabled (psst... she wasn't) and Greg said something I didn't like about her, so he MUST hate disabled people!"

    IGN is a shitty company, they wouldn't give a flying fuck about a group of angry people on a forum. Greg apologised for his actions and upsetting people (without the prompting of IGN, I would assume) and people give him shit for trying to make up for it. What more do people want from him? There's not much else he can do... and IGN aren't going to sack him for pissing Tumblr off :P

    theonys posted: »

    Anyway I can't blame them for that. I don't think he apologised because he actually felt guilty.

  • Exactly. This isn't constructive at all. It's "I'm angry with you killing off someone I liked so suddenly, and now I can say she's disabled to add more fuel to the flame!"

    remorse667 posted: »

    They need constructive feedback like "you need to work more on your meeting your release dates" "The game is laggy. Needs to be fixed" "You're killing off too many characters" Not some tumblr bs like this..

  • edited August 2014

    I don't see how this is in any way abnormal. The only one that comes close is the hatchet in the door handle. I've heard many parents attest to how difficult it is to keep an eye on children. He's not exactly the most courageous person on the planet but abnormal? Really?

    Anyway, this is tangential, as you know. I think if greg hated him for being abnormal that's still assholish.

    DomeWing333 posted: »

    There was leaving running off and leaving Clem in the middle of the streets, not looking after Clem and letting her wander off in Savannah a

  • Go Echopapa!!

    Echopapa posted: »

    Haha thanks, you'll probably get shit from the Tumblr, Feminist and Sarah radicals for being in my fan club but I love you all the same Welcome aboard!

  • I think that if you could plot the "zombie apocalypse survivability" of Walking Dead Game characters on a Bell curve, Ben would be over one standard deviation from the mean. They don't call him the walking liability for nothing. :P

    I don't see how this is in any way abnormal. The only one that comes close is the hatchet in the door handle. I've heard many parents attest

  • No, this "simple entertainment" versus serious attitude is a dead horse, Rob. It's got nothing to do with my input on the topic at hand.

    Of course. Greg Miller made it sound like "you're in my way", however. There's a right way to make light of a game, and a wrong way. If Miller hadn't said otherwise in an apology, I'm sure everyone here would agree overwhelmingly that he made light of the situation in a mean-spirited fashion.

    We've all got better things to do with our time, Rob. I was just watching Archer a few seconds ago, now I'm here. Come back to this in a week if you want, but like you, I certainly won't be at my desk waiting like some modern-day Gollum.

    Rob_K posted: »

    What it really depends on is how you view games. Some people really just view them as simple entertainment, myself included, where nothing r

  • You are making a baseless accusation that anyone who abandoned or did not like Sarah is some villain and a hater. And exactly where is the clear evidence that Sarah is a disabled person anyhow? It is from your subjective opinion that she might be, but she may not be. She is just a troubled and disturbed young girl that needs help but cannot motivate herself to get help for herself, let alone help other people.

    We are talking about a fictional video game character. Not liking or appreciating such characters does not automatically translate into real life hatred towards certain group of people. Instead of making arguments about how a fictional character in a video game is so mistreated, why don't you use that same energy and enthusiasm towards real people who are really disabled in real life?

    DomeWing could not have better explained about Sarah any clearly. She did directly cause the deaths of Reggie and Nick. She almost got Luke killed. She could have gotten both Jane and Clem killed. She did directly put other people in danger for her lack of willpower to help herself even witn the helping hands reaching out to help her. Who says the zombies discriminate and gives a certain person a "free pass" for being different? When it is all said and done, Sarah is just like everyone else.... Survivor who is vulnerable to deaths at any time. Even the best of them like Lee succumbed due to pure bad luck.

    Sarah's second death could have been someone else's death. Death can come to anyone.... Everyone is the same... They are all vulnerable survivors. Just people trying to live another day.

    And for the last time, liking, appreciating, not appreciating, hating a fictional character in a video game does not automatically translate into that said person's point of view and how he/she conducts him/herself in real life.

    These were not conscious choices. And now we get to it, you don't understand how disability works and you hate her for her disability (note:

  • Please do not label people as haters just because they happened to not appreciate or like a fictional character in a video game. That kine of reasoning coming from you is, in fact, is offensive and insulting. Liking or not liking a fictional character in a video game does not automatically translate into real life point of view and treatment toward certain group of people.

    And exactly where is the clear evidence that Sarah is disabled? You are making an assumption based on your subjective observation of her. Don't parade around and preach people that it is a fact. You say you are tired of people saying "burden" and "liability?" How about I and many others are tired of your "Disabled people are hated because Sarah died?"

    If you are so passionate about people with disabilities, why don't you devote your time outside of your computer screen and instead put all that time into helping real people in real life who needs help? It is so easy for you to sit in front of your computer and act like as if you are a super saint, but it isn't so easy to apply it in the outside world, is it?

    And what gives you the right to label other people as haters? Aren't you a hater yourself for saying what you are??

    Criticisms about any video games are usually refreshing to read, but this??? It is getting out of hand now.

    These were not conscious choices. And now we get to it, you don't understand how disability works and you hate her for her disability (note:

  • really assholic sarah was good hispanic girl carlos good guy

  • edited August 2014

    I don't deny that Greg is a jerk, nor am I defending or validating what he said. What I'm mad about is that people are acting like he committed a crime by expressing his opinion, and are trying to get him fired. People are even trying to force TellTale into making an official public apology, like its their fault for not anticipating Greg's opinion. No matter how unpopular or harsh an opinion is, I don't think anyone should be forced into censoring themselves/being politically correct because it might hurt someone's feelings. People need to toughen up and just brush it off, there are always going to be people who say controversial things, but they aren't obligated to apologize for their personal opinion.

    Yep, the country where we supposedly have the right to freedom of speech. Seriously what is happening to America.

    CrazyGeorge posted: »

    If IGN has to cut off the finger to save the hand, trust me they will. I think Greg will be ok, hopefully he will stop making insensitive

  • edited August 2014

    This is redundant. Stop making this about me. The story isn't theirs. I know. Why do I worry? I don't worry but I do care all the same when people start alleging people had some sort of vendetta against this character and that two employees and one journo's so called opinions towards autism or "special" people reflects that of their whole company. This isn't about fictional characters for me, it never was. This is about real life human beings.

    I came in with its not your story because I read something similar or along the lines of this in the OP.

    people who chose to save her and believe in her got screwed over by a nonsensical death a few scenes later with no real development in-between.

    Got screwed over? How? I really would like to know how. Who are you to decide that it was nonsensical? Do you write? Have any accolades that can prove you a master of story crafting? No? Nonsensical means to have no meaning or makes no sense. Well it makes perfect sense to me if you stand on a deck while it falls you're going to fall with it. No meaning? I highly question that too as the episode seemed to be focused on making the point that you (Clementine) can make it without others, that their burdens would slow her down, put her in danger. And even though Sarah did die you could convince Jane to help her even though she wouldn't have at the start. That's character development. Sarah had development in that time as well, she was dealing with the loss of her father. When the roamers came out of the woods it was Sarah who spoke up first, she was more brave in that moment and all the moments leading up to her death than ever before throughout the entire season.

    I have no idea what you're talking about or how this post addresses anything discussed in this comment thread. I never accused you of being

  • Yeah, let's have more threads about "Kenny vs Luke." Any criticism of the company doing offensive things is unimportant because it makes people feel uncomfortable, and discussions should never be uncomfortable.

    Can we all just let this thread die? Like seriously, there is no need for this thread and it makes a really poor representation of what this

  • Controlled as long as no one is against me. I'm annoying like Sarah I'm sure I with garner haters against me and enough of them will shut me down.

    Echopapa posted: »

    Dude, as long as you're not stupid, know how to use a weapon and how to survive, you've covered the basics. If you were in a wheelchair and

  • greg was a horrible interviewer.. -_-

    Dyeingbrad posted: »

    That is exactly what was said. No one called him a dick, but they called him out and critiqued his apology.

  • Alt text

    here ya go guys

  • Yeah, except Greg Miller isn't at all what this thread is about. It's apparently about how Telltale is ableist for portraying mental disability fairly instead of idealistically. Greg Miller isn't even named in the thread title, he's an afterthought.

    CrazyGeorge posted: »

    I dunno who Greg Miller is but accusing him of being sexist and ableist based off of this seems like a bit much, especially since he's large

  • edited August 2014

    I technically devote 100% of my time to helping people with disabilities. You have no idea how much my computer screen has helped me to improve my mental condition. You don't know anything about me or my life so how 'bout you stop talking about it.

    I did not call everyone who didn't like sarah a hater. I said several times that I can understand the decision to abandon her. There's not much point going through your post point by point because you clearly don't understand the problem here in the first place.

    Given that you can't tell whether she has a disability or not, forgive me for not taking too much stock in your opinion on other people's thoughts and motivations. How about you actually read people's posts before spewing a bunch of shit, absolutely noone has said "sarah died therefore telltale hates disabled people".

    Please do not label people as haters just because they happened to not appreciate or like a fictional character in a video game. That kine

  • This is what you should have posted in the OP. That being said, this is still a bad argument. Nonsensical - I know what it means and it describes sarah's death just fine. Why was she even on the deck? Right at the edge no less? How did that big chunk of debris come to be on top of her? Why did clem not jump down to help? Why did bonnie and mike fire 1 shot each and then nobody did a single thing to try and help. It makes no sense at all.

    Like I said, no real development. She sat in a corner, said some shit like she was in denial, then died. That's not adequate character development for a character who had masses of potential development.

    One doesn't need writing accolades to criticize someone elses writing any more than you need to be a cook to say whether a meal tastes like shit. That is a total bottom-of-the-barrel argument.

    Ismokeherb posted: »

    This is redundant. Stop making this about me. The story isn't theirs. I know. Why do I worry? I don't worry but I do care all the same when

  • edited August 2014

    Like I said, we'll have agree to disagree. Neither of us will be swayed in our opinions.

    I have absolutely no disagreement when it comes to saying that Greg could have worded what he said better. But that is beside the point. The point being that there are far more worthwhile things to get worked up over. This is just the new thing people have found to hate Telltale over. It's just people following the pack really. (I don't mean everyone, but a lot? Yes)

    I'm honestly done debating this because there's nothing more to say. If you disagree with me, that's fine.

    Archer? I've never seen that. I have it on my to watch list for Netflix though. I've watched Fairy Tail and a few other animes recently. Currently, working my way through D Gray Man and Hunter x Hunter. Physcho (spelling?) Pass looks like it'll be worth a watch too and Hunter is rather good, though I'm not one who likes subtitles too much if it can be avoided.

    Hbh128 posted: »

    No, this "simple entertainment" versus serious attitude is a dead horse, Rob. It's got nothing to do with my input on the topic at hand.

  • Just curious.... If you are saying that this game isn't real life, why are you and others continuing to tie Sarah's death and depiction of Sarah to real life issues and real life people? So the story does not need to depict realism but a certain special character in that story must be tied to real life people and issues? I don't quite follow this flawed way of logic and reasoning.

    emmuh28 posted: »

    The difference is, this game isn't real life. The universe of TWD isn't dictated by God or fate or chance or whatever. It's dictated by writ

  • Much respect to you and what you had to say. Hit the nail on the head on the spot. I can't see how anyone can argue with this. Not surprised with the lack of replies directly to this post in opposition.

    Lilacsbloom posted: »

    I'm sorry but I'm getting a little fed up with this. I'm a female that suffers from depression, anxiety and has had panic attacks in the pas

  • Yeah, but if people are still upset they should still have the right to message Telltale about it. I just think it best to keep a level-head about it because they're more likely to listen.

    And I don't know about that, I had a couple people reply to me on tumblr about it. Although it wasn't anything scary, we just talked.

    Much respect to you and what you had to say. Hit the nail on the head on the spot. I can't see how anyone can argue with this. Not surprised with the lack of replies directly to this post in opposition.

  • edited August 2014

    So somebody disliking a character who from your point of view has a mental handicap means that they hate people with handicaps? Let me say that again just in case you don't understand, are you seriously saying that a person who dislikes a fictional character from a fictional video game means they hate actual people in real life with real handicaps? Please let that ruminate before answering.

    I totally agree with you... People just hate handicaps, in real life they may not show it, but its in games that people show their true feel

  • You sound like you have evidence that proves a direct correlation between persons' behavior towards disabled people in games and their attitude toward the disabled in real life. And also that Ben is disabled. Care to share?

    I totally agree with you... People just hate handicaps, in real life they may not show it, but its in games that people show their true feel

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