Topic: Indie developer attempts suicide on live stream

[idolminds]

This is a very strange story that was brewing for a little bit now, so lets start back at the beginning.

Chloe Sagal developed a game called Homesick. About a month ago she ran an indiegogo campaign to raise money for a life saving surgery. She said that she was in a car accident and that there was sharpnel in her leg or something that was causing metal poisoning and that it would ultimately kill her. Bunch of people pledged money, a few indie developers sold their games for a couple days and would give the money made in that time to this cause. Project Zomboid was one of them, which is how I initially heard about this story.

She raised the money. But then indiegogo canceled the campaign and refunded everyone. The Project Zomboid people gave the money to another charity (and offered refunds out of their own pocket). But there wasn't much of a reason given. All indiegogo would say is it was suspected as fraud.

You can read about that here one Eurogamer.

That sort of fell into the background after it all happened, with some rumors swirling around as to why. But then last night Chloe made a post.

I've failed.

I've failed at everything I love, I've even failed at saving myself countless times, all because I'm a coward.

If it wasn't enough, everyone was quick to tell me that I had failed, as if no one else had bothered to tell me. Constantly barraging me over and over and over, as if I needed to know.

Just keep telling yourself that I'm just a drama queen, and I don't know what pain is. It hurts so much, and I'm tired of feeling it. I'm tired of being afraid of everything, I'm tired of wearing this mask that kills me everytime I take it off.

Everyone has to be so sure of themselves, and would rather subject someone to a lifetime of pain than to bend just a little bit.

I don't care anymore.

To the people I love and/or care about the most, Morgan, Mike, Katie, Jesse, Kathy, Jessica, Eddie, Indy, Kyle, Santino, Keone, Isaiah, Amari, Ayana, Jaylin, Elija, Jutta, Andrew, Dawn, AJ, Jake and Connor, it's not your fault, and you did what you could. I also want to say I love and care about you, my family. I also wanted to thank everyone who did try to support me over the past few months while recognizing that this is a private matter, and especially thank you to the ones who did not choose to help but still realized it was a private matter and didn't harass me or anyone else who chose to help.

And I wanted to say fuck you to my family, everyone who felt the need to say something nasty to me in this last month, all those people who are so sure they know what's going on with me, those doctors who never took the time to properly work with me, the ones who antagonized me for my situation, and those who just turned me away. I could only hope you feel bad for putting me in this situation, but odds are you won't learn a damn thing from any of this, and continue to hurt more and more people with your ignorance. You can't hurt me anymore.

I don't know what else to write. I'm tired of talking.

If you're sick and want to watch my final moments,
[URL REMOVED]

People got worried, some tuned in. She apparently tried to overdose on pills and then the stream was cut by the site. The good news is authorities were notified and got there in time. She is alive and recovering.

But new information has come to light now. I think I'll let this post from neogaf cover it.

Allistair and I were the two people directly involved in a very similar situation a little over a month ago, but in that case the threats were being made privately over Skype. A Polygon editor was also involved, but to a lesser extent. I think one thing should be cleared up though, prior to the Indiegogo campaign neither Allistair nor I knew Chloe on a personal level at all. We both got to know Chloe when we were attempting to fact check essentially before driving our audience to help her campaign. I say this because this is the second time I've seen either he or I be referred to in a way that implies that we have a close relationship to Chloe. We were both extremely close to the situation, but I do not think either of us hit a point where we could have been called close friends of Chloe's.

I personally have struggled with the knowledge that I gained last month, as has Allistair. The cat is out of the bag now though, as he confirmed on Twitter. The Indiegogo campaign was not entirely genuine, it was actually quite deceptive. There was no metal poisoning, Chloe wanted a different kind of surgury that would help Chloe become the gender that she identified most with. We both figured this out, Destructoid was actually just about to publish a story on it. This is when Chloe went into a panic the first time.

Last time around it took many hours to finally determine who Chloe actually is, as it turned out Chloe Sagal is an alias. I live very close to Chloe, and her school, and it wasn't until the police were able to get in touch with a trusted professor that Chloe's real identity was located by police in Illinois. The resolution of the situation last time with authorities was that they would be doing a wellness check, but I got the impression that she told police that there was no threat, and they lacked the evidence to actually force her into a temporary involuntary psych eval.

Following all of this the small number of us that were involved discussed the situation further. Allistair had good intentions with his story, in that those that were donating didn't actually know the truth about what they were donating to, but he chose to cancel it given the circumstances - specifically that Indiegogo gave refunds to everyone already, and that a life was potentially on the line. I still had concerns about the ethics of doing so, especially because there were indie developers who promised days of sales for Chloe's operation to address "metal poisoning", which left me to believe that there was still damage done. Despite any concerns, I agreed to keep the situation private, including the truth about the campaign, and the fact that Chloe Sagal is an alias.

This is what I was referring to on Reddit (if you saw my post) when I stated that Chloe was given a free pass. How many journalists would give someone that ran a bogus fundraiser an out like that, especially when consumers (and indie devs) were being deceived? Very few, and in this case, Chloe truly lucked out. Despite that, Chloe chose to not only make threats of suicide again, but this time try to actually do it via a Youtube video, and a Twitch.tv stream.

Given that very few people knew that Chloe Sagal was an alias, very few people that wanted to help were actually able to. When I spoke with the local police last night (again, I'm very local to her, and already had contacts that were aware of the situation last month) they seemed entirely unaware of the events unfolding on Twitch, Youtube, and elsewhere. Police were finally en-route to try to help the person behind the Chloe Sagal alias, but the concern was that it was too late. This is where I immediately regretted keeping the fact that Chloe Sagal is an alias secret, as there were people genuinely trying to help from around the world for at least 2 hours prior to my involvement.

At this point I do understand that Chloe is safe, but the truth needs to be out there. As Allistair finally admitted on Twitter Chloe Sagal's Indiegogo campaign was completely deceptive. Chloe Sagal is not even a real name, it is the name that Chloe identifies with. Beyond that I don't want to get into gender debates or anything like that, nor do I think it's appropriate to attack anyone for referring to Chloe as a she.

I hope she recovers and can get some help.

[Quemaqua]

Jeez. That's... weird. And sad.

[Cools!]

Yeah, that's a weird story.

[gpw11]

Wow.  What a piece of garbage.

[idolminds]

Allistair dude has been fired from Destructoid over all this. Not sure what to make of the whole situation.

[Pugnate]

Who the hell is Allistair Dude? Am I so out of touch now?

[idolminds]

Allistair worked at Destructoid and was originally investigating that Indiegogo campaign. He found out why it was a fraud but was told not to report it. Apparently Chloe told him if he reported it she would kill herself. Since she tried to do that anyway, he decided to tell the whole story. Destructoid fired him.

[Cobra951]

That sounds really fucked up.  Fraud has to go unreported because whoever commits it might suffer otherwise?  Really?

[idolminds]

It was a really tricky situation. On one hand its probably a bad idea to out someone as trans before they are ready to do it themselves. There's a reason she kept is secret. On the other hand that was the basis of the fraud, the campaign was really for raising the money for the sex change surgery. How do you keep it a secret if you're trying to report the truth?

"The campaign is a fraud, it is not for a metal poisoning operation."
"Then what is it for?"
"I can't tell you."

People probably aren't going to just accept that answer. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

[Cobra951]

The whole thing stinks to me.  I stayed out of it before because I know some of my judgment comes from an old-world straight-laced place.  What made me chime in was someone getting *fired* over reporting the truth.  That should never get someone fired from a publication.  The only exception I can think of is national security. 

The official reason is disobeying orders, though.  That's the only tricky thing that makes me less than certain.

[gpw11]

The official reason is disobeying orders, though.  That's the only tricky thing that makes me less than certain.

Yeah, that's kind of how I see it. I have no problem if you're letting someone go for disobeying orders or breaking policy.  That's kind of the name of the game.

[Cobra951]

Granted.  But was he told "don't report this here" or was he told "don't ever reveal this anywhere".  The first is fine; the second is not.

After reading much of that thread, the "outing" apparently happened over twitter, not Destructoid.  If this is true, then there is no justification for the firing.

[gpw11]

To be fair, "don't reveal this anywhere or you're getting shit-canned" is a pretty standard part of most jobs. It would certainly be grounds for firing if I revealed certain contract details or client information in any medium.  That part isn't unusual...what is slightly unusual is that it's a "news outlet".  Keep in mind, however, that his Twitter account where he made this revelation is in essence a company account.  If he was told not to release the details on the site, he should have figured out that would transfer over to is Destructoid branded Twitter account.

The thing is that Destructoid got in a fair amount of hot water for outing someone, which is seen in a pretty negative light. Whether or not that's fair or justified is something else entirely, but I absolutely can't blame them for saying "We told this guy not to run this part of the story, and he just skirted it by releasing it on (essentially our) twitter account. Fuck him, he's not worth it."

The thing gets me is that while the fact that this chick is transexual is definitely a large part of the story, it's also totally not a necessary part.  Campaign found to be fraudulent, surgery not needed, whole story made up...that's all anyone really needed to know in order for Destructoid to do their journalistic duty and avoid the messy issue of someone threatening to kill themselves if they were outed.  I don't know why they didn't run with that and why this guy didn't just stop it at that.  Ultimately, it doesn't add any thing whether the chick/dude wanted the money for a sex transformation or to buy a sweet new ride - the point is that they didn't need it for life-saving surgery.

[Pugnate]

Sounds like she was manipulating him.

[Xessive]

If you're going to commit fraud it's practically a given that if you're caught you're going to be revealed and put in the spotlight for everyone to see. Now it just sounds like a loophole around any ramification to fraudulent activity.

Journalist: You're embezzling money and falsely telling people it's for charity. I'm going to out you and let the world know.
Conman: If you tell people I'll kill myself and it will be on you!
Journalist: Shit.

But in this case it was:
Journalist: I call your bluff. Bring it on bitch/bastard.

It's a shitty situation but I agree with GPW, the details were not critical for the general public, "fraud was committed, we're cancelling this project, you will be refunded."

[Cobra951]

Entire Internet:  "Fraud?  What fraud?"

Journalist:  "I can't tell you."

EI:  "Oh, so you were IN ON IT!!!111"

J:  No, no, I . . .

EI:  "A WITCH!  BURN HIM!"

[Xessive]

Entire Internet:  "Fraud?  What fraud?"

Journalist:  "I can't tell you."

EI:  "Oh, so you were IN ON IT!!!111"

J:  No, no, I . . .

EI:  "A WITCH!  BURN HIM!"

Hahaha yeah, that so would have happened

[gpw11]

Entire Internet:  "Fraud?  What fraud?"

Journalist:  "I can't tell you."

EI:  "Oh, so you were IN ON IT!!!111"

J:  No, no, I . . .

EI:  "A WITCH!  BURN HIM!"

The golden line is "XXXX fabricated a story in order to raise funds for a life-saving operation they claimed was necessary.  This claim was fraudulent, no operation is necessary, and the fundraiser in question has been removed."

I don't even know if anyone would ask WHY they took the money because no one really ever asks that in cases of fraud like this - because everyone can think of a thousand reasons they could use 20 grand.   But if they do, all you have to say is "I'm not at liberty to say - there's confidential information involved which may harm parties not involved in the fraud if released" or "I can't comment on what the money was for, only that the medical reasons stated where not in the least bit true", or a variety of other simple statements that are used all the freaking time.

The only thing that Destructoid really had to withhold was that it was for a sex change operation.  "Fraudulent activity in which a fundraiser was set up under false pretenses when in reality, the person who set it up planned on keeping the money for personal gain". Bam. That's it. That's all that had to be said.

I don't know what the threat was exactly, but I can't blame Destructoid for not going through with running the story - the damage had been mitigated as the fundraiser was taken down and they were dealing with somoene making threats of suicide.  They did, however, probably drop the ball by not saying anything.

This guy, however, started a shitstorm by going on his (company branded) twitter account, going against his editors orders and released the information anyways. Fair enough if you're uncovering Watergate, but not really in this case. Why?  Because his editor knows his job and knows that outing a suicidal transsexual is probably more trouble than it's worth. Especially since LGBT groups are pretty well organized and really really against outting people without their consent.  Don't get me wrong, I do know why he did it and it wasn't malicious, but the timing was off (there was no chance of further fraud at this point) and he went about it in the wrong way.

So, looking at it from the editor's perspective, this guy just caused you a headache, a vocal group wants him fired, and he deliberately disobeyed your policy. Not worth the trouble = fired.

It is unfortunate, because it could have probably been pretty easily avoidable if he had acted slightly differently or just realized that he was walking on eggshells.  I don't think he grasped the sensitive nature of what he was dealing with and ended up losing his job because of it.  He didn't do anything unethical, but doesn't really have a leg to stand on regardless.

[gpw11]

Also, it seems that when I've read about this a lot of places people are looking at it two dimensionally - that pointing out Pinsof mistakes is defending the person committing fraud.  The person who committed the fraud and the emotional blackmail is absolutely abhorrent. No one is going to argue that. The criticisms arise from Pinsof revealing her TS status while she was in the hospital on suicide watch - a good month after the investigation was closed and her scam shut down.