Law & Order SVU “Intimidation Game” is “ripped from the headlines” of “Gamergate”. An oversimplified explanation of Gamergate: it’s a polarizing controversy over what is perceived as widespread misogyny in video games and the video game culture, which morphed into an ethics and culture war. Last year, three game developers found themselves being attacked in Internet forums, where they were threatened - anonymously - with various acts of violence including rape and murder. There is a lot more to this issue and rather than explain it here, my suggestion is to check your Internet search engine of choice to get all the details.
Full disclosure: I don’t play video games for a lot of reasons. I understand that many get enjoyment from video games; I don’t. That’s just me and is in no way meant to be a diss against those who enjoy video games.
The episode was action packed, which kept my attention. The location scenes heightened the tension and drama; this aspect of this episode was very well done.
There were times the episode was clichéd and cringe-worthy, even for someone like me who avoids video games like the plague. The constant gamer slang got old, and (like Benson) I started to feel like I was being treated like an idiot who couldn’t grasp the simplest gaming concepts. I also felt like there was a contest going on to see how much gamer slang someone could cram into the episode. I suspect that gamers watching this episode hated it for the negative way gaming was depicted. Not all male gamers are violent, crazy, misogynistic lunatics. Yes, there are many out there who are very passionate about gaming. I heard from a lot of them last week, with many nasty comments being lobbed at me when I first posted the episode information, as if I wrote the damn thing. But I also heard from many who were level headed about the issue.
Before the opening credits rolled, I said to myself, “bored already.” The opening scene in the doctor’s office felt shoehorned in. I suppose it was to set the stage for Benson to later voice her concern that as Noah grows up, she will be faced with more complex behavioral issues. I did question the doctor’s comment during his talk with Benson that breaking things is in a boy's DNA, which in my mind translated to “boys will be boys.” He may have meant it in a lighthearted manner but the episode itself seem to imply that male gamers have violent behavior because it’s in their DNA too.
Rollins made an insensitive comment to Raina when she called them for help while using the kidnapper’s cell phone. Rollins says they will be there as soon as they can. Well, that wasn’t very reassuring.
A glaring error: This case and last week’s episode, "Decaying Morality,” overlapped dates, starting with Sunday, January 25. Amaro was nowhere to be found in this current episode, but on this same date in last week’s episode, he was clearly in the SVU squad that day and even interviewed the dentist in his office with Carisi. I don’t see how Carisi could work both the gamer conference case and the other case simultaneously. There is a similar conflict with those two cases on January 27. These kinds of errors are just plain sloppy and it annoys me to no end.
Please note: Everyone can feel free to make comments about this episode here; all I ask is to keep it civil, on topic, and leave out the vulgarity and insults. This is my blog and my rules, and if someone can’t play by them, they shouldn’t be shocked when they find their comment deleted.
Here is the recap:
Cast:
Mariska Hargitay – Sergeant Olivia Benson
Ice-T – Detective Odafin “Fin” Tutuola
Kelli Giddish - Detective Amanda Rollins
Danny Pino - Detective Nick Amaro
Raúl Esparza - ADA Rafael Barba
Peter Scanavino - Detective Dominick Carisi, Jr.
Guest stars:
Mouzam Makkar - Raina Punjabi
Peter Mark Kendall - Steven Kaplan
Griffin Matthews - Leslie Connolly
Susannah Flood - Sarah Keller
Adam Scarimbolo – Security Guard
Bill Irwin - Dr. Peter Lindstrom
Jefferson White – Gary
Logan Paul – Ryan
Toby Turner – Game Host
Jack Vale – Himself
Andrew MacLarty – Zachary Carter
James Ciccone - Peter O'Neil
Juliet Pritner – Marissa Rossi
Bruce Falk – ESU Commander
Kelly Evans – Reporter
Luke Marinkovich – Anthony Rossi
Evan Jay Newman – Pierce
Anthony Mazza – ESU Officer #1
Josh Daniels – ESU Officer #2
Trevor Zhou – Douchey Guy
J. Clint Allen – Laser Pointer Guy
Benson is in Dr. Lindstrom’s office, discussing her experiences and issues with raising Noah, and how much she loves him. She worries about how he will grow up with his history, but is still going through with the adoption. Lindstrom tells Benson that boys run around and break things; it’s in all their DNA.
Meanwhile, Fin, Rollins, and Carisi are at a gamer convention and Fin is clearly enjoying himself. Fin refers to “campers” in the video game he is playing, explaining that campers are lazy creeps who hide behind stuff and don’t engage, waiting for you to run by and shoot you in the back. Carisi thinks this is better than ComicCon and Fin says wait till they see the main event with teams playing for long periods, saying they are not “noobs”, explaining that is short for “newbies.” At one of the gamer booths, some guys make threats to one of the women, Sarah Keller, working the booth over the game that her boss, Raina Punjabi is developing. She tells them to get out of there and ridicules them back. Rollins makes a comment to Fin that some gamers are overgrown boys staring at a screen pressing buttons, asking isn’t there a basketball game on? Fin, laughing, asks if she’s seen the Knicks lately. Rollins spots Leslie from their “Glasgow Man” case at a booth and video game of his own. He tries to get Rollins to try his virtual reality game, saying it is like being inside the game. Rollins says she’s good.
Back at the booth, Sarah takes a break and leaves the booth. She heads to the restroom and finds the gamers who were antagonizing her earlier are waiting and they viciously attack her in a stall.
The detectives watch people play the “Kill Or Be Slaughtered” game where Fin and Carisi are really getting into it while Rollins seems more entertained by watching the two detectives. While the crowd watching the game gets more involved in the violence, Sarah’s attackers ramp up their assault. But Leslie races to the detectives and alerts them that someone is in trouble in the ladies room. Rollins seems to be the only one who isn’t enthralled by the game and she tells Fin and Carisi – who aren’t even paying attention – not to worry, she has this.
Rollins enters the ladies room and finds Sarah and tells her she is a police officer. Sarah says she is okay, and explains these guys can’t stand women in gaming, and when Rollins asks what did they do to her, Sarah says “they leveled up,”
Later, Sarah is in the SVU interview room and Fin and Rollins are briefing Benson. Rollins and Fin explain that Sarah Keller, 22, works for Raina Punjabi, the game developer. Benson asks “this girl was attacked at the what again?” Fin explains it was at the IVL Finals – International Videogame League. Rollin add it is like March Madness for video games. Fin states he goes there every year and nothing like this has ever happened. Rollins says that Sarah told her that the guys who did this don’t like women in gaming. Fin says in their world, a developer is like God and some guys are not ready to give a girl that power. Benson asks if she knows her attacker, and Rollins thinks maybe, Carisi stayed behind to cull security footage. Benson asks if Fin has Rollins AND Carisi in on this - on a Sunday? Fin laughs and Benson says never mind, she is not going to understand a word of what anybody is saying about this, so she asks Fin to come with her to interview Sarah, and tells Rollins to follow up with Carisi at the “whatever it is.”
Benson and Fin speak with Sarah who explains there were two attackers, calling them “FALs”. Fin explains that means “Failures At Life.” Sarah describes them and Fin says that sounds like 80% if the crowd. She tells them about the attack and admit she does not know the attackers personally but they had stopped at her booth and was talking smack about her boss, Raina Punjabi because her game is not popular with KOBS addicts. Fin explains KOBS means “Kill Or Be Slaughtered.” Sarah adds that is just another carbon copy FPS with new skins and a 10 year old engine. Fin explains to Benson that means “first person shooter, ” a shoot-em-up game. Sarah says guys who play hate games like Raina’s and “Amazonian Warriors” is non-violent and non-stupid, which is like the opposite of a KOBS addict. They launch on Tuesday and it has been getting crazy on-line. Carisi enters the room and asks if they have a second.
As they walk into Benson’s office, Rollins says the security footage is like trying to find a geek in a geek stack. They have an image of the suspected perps with partial views of their faces. Benson asks if you buy tickets to this on a computer, and Carisi says they are running the buyers names against the sex offenders registry now. Fin says that is not what this is; these guys want Raina out of the gaming world. Benson questions just because she is a woman, and Fin states there are a lot of haters out there who thinks she slept her way into the business. Carisi explains she is engaged to that venture capitalist, Stephen Kaplan. Rollins says with sarcasm that because her fiancé has money, this means she has no talent. Fin replies, “To them” and they want to take her down, no matter what. Benson questions then why attack Sarah, why not just go after Raina?
At the production offices of Amazonia Warriors at 66 Tenth Avenue pm Sunday, January 25, Raina Punjabi tells Fin and Rollins that Sarah told them she fought them off, and she put a reward on her web site for anyone who catches these creeps. Fin asks if Sarah also told her these creeps have a grudge against her and her game? Raina states there is nothing in the game for them to be angry about; you can choose how you play. You can wage peace or war; you can have a patriarchy or matriarchy, be eco-conscious or industrialized. Fin says he knows, he read on Kotaku that it’s better than Civ V with Brave New World expansion pack. Rollins says the guys who attacked Sarah weren’t so evolved as her partner, and shows Raina some photos and asks if anyone looks familiar. Raina looks through the photos and says they all look familiar, that is the gaming demo and there are always a few haters in the mix. Fin asks if there have been anything specific like email threats post to her web site or other gamer sites or hacker attack? Raina replies all the time, but she can’t be bothered with that right now, she blocks it all out, emphasizing they launch in two days. Stephen Kaplan approaches and asks if everything is alright. Raina says the detectives are there about Sarah, and says this is her (Raina’s) fiancé. Fin says his name Stephen Kaplan, and shakes his hand. Stephen asks if Sarah is okay, and Rollins replies yes. Stephen explains they wanted to give Sarah the week off but it is too important a time. Raina emphasizes that Sarah does not want to miss any of it. Rollins questions that Stephen is not just and investor, asking if he works here. Raina states they are a team. Fin comments that they DID have an employee attack, and Stephen insists they take that seriously; their internal security is working on it. Fin states they will need them to give them any specifics from the past few weeks. Raina looks anxious and says she doesn’t have time for this right now. Stephen excuses her to go back to work and then apologizes to Fin and Rollins, explaining Raina is really under the gun. He adds this launch is a career changer, and they will give the detectives all they have.
Back at SVU, Carisi enters Benson’s office and says Fin and Rollins are working with Raina’s security team but not with Raina; the Amazonian Warriors is like roll out of a movie. Benson comments she has been reading articles on line, and worries this is Noah’s future playing cyborg cowboys and Indians? Carisi warns her not to tell Fin that, Kill Or Be Slaughtered is like a spiritual experience for him. Benson states she doesn’t get it,. And Carisi says she won’t get this either: Leslie Connolly, the Glasgow Man guy, he might have something for them.
