A Note From the Editors

CW: Discussion of sexual, emotional and physical abuse.

We as startmenu editors would like to make a statement regarding the recent reports of abuse, harassment, grooming, assault and rape across the games industry. We discussed this on the latest episode of the podcast with Louise, and we’d like to also have our statement available here.

Firstly, we’d like to make some things abundantly clear: we believe those coming forward and thank them for their bravery. We stand in solidarity with you. These are our friends, our current and future colleagues and people that have given us time and opportunities we can only thank them for, and it breaks our hearts to see so many awful things befall them.

startmenu was founded with the purpose of being a jumping off point into this industry. An inclusive community where people can share their work, get experience and make connections. We exist to make getting into the industry more comfortable and accessible. For that reason both editors are keeping very close tabs on as many of the allegations as we can. We will amplify these reports and will not be working with anyone we know to be an abuser in order to protect our community.

Fortunately, we are yet to run into a situation where one of our writers or someone we work with has been directly involved in these events. With that said, if we ever find that we have been working with such bad actors this is our public promise to cut all ties as quickly as possible. If you ever see us working someone you know to be a dangerous or toxic part of the gaming community, contact us publicly or privately and we will support you.

Again, we will do our best to amplify information about predators and abusers in the industry and ensure our community knows to never engage with them.

There is no place in this industry for predators or abusers. Please fight for those coming forward, confront people around you if you know them to be toxic or abusive and push to improve the industry, both for those already working in it and for the next generation of people coming into it.

As mentioned on the podcast, we recommend following @BetterTheMask on Twitter. We’d also like to recommend following @DennyVonDoom. Both have been doing invaluable working in collecting and threading the reports as they come.