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Games forum NeoGAF in chaos after owner accused of sexual misconduct

Games forum NeoGAF in chaos after owner accused of sexual misconduct

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Influential games forum NeoGAF is in disarray after a woman accused owner Tyler Malka of sexual misconduct in 2015. In a Facebook post that’s preserved here, the woman — identified by Kotaku as a film director who has worked with Malka — said that he followed her naked into a shower against her wishes while the two were in New Orleans on a road trip. While she initially didn’t name Malka, she followed up with a comment reading “Google Evilore,” which is his NeoGAF handle. Kotaku reports that since then, more than half the site’s moderators have quit, and a number of users have written inflammatory posts in protest, hoping to get themselves banned.

This isn’t the first red flag around Malka. As Kotaku and Glixel note, he wrote in a 2012 post about groping a woman who asked him to buy her a drink in a bar, in order to “show that I wasn’t being taken advantage of.” (Malka defended his actions in a follow-up post, then allegedly banned critics.) But this direct accusation was apparently a step too far for many users. The site spent part of the weekend offline for “scheduled maintenance,” then reappeared this morning apparently purged of posts about the incident.

NeoGAF launched in 2004 as a spinoff of the Gaming-Age Forums, and it’s become a major source of leaks and insider knowledge — as well as meticulously constructed hoaxes — in the gaming world. Malka himself has supported politically progressive causes in the past, but Kotaku also spoke to users who felt he’d been dismissive toward stories of sexual harassment. Malka has not responded to a social media message requesting comment; as Polygon notes, his online presence is limited.