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Thoughts on Scott Cawthon's Retirement?

Lemme preface this by asking everyone to be civil and to not get into any heated political debates. This is just asking about Scott Cawthon himself, his retirement, and a small amount of things surrounding it.
(Also if this should be moved somewhere please do so, just thought this would be a good place to put this lol)

Scott Cawthon, renown developer and creator of the Five Nights at Freddy's franchise, announced his retirement today on his website. Before this he had been facing a large amount of backlash for certain donations. Many many people have shown their support for Scott regardless of the controversy and have accepted his retirement. Many are sad he is no longer going to be creating new things and many are worried for the future of the FNaF franchise. On the other hand however many have ridiculed Scott and have continued to harass supporters of his.
Personally I didn't mind who he donated to even if I don't agree with it. I am sad he has chosen to retire as he was a massive part of my childhood but I can also accept why he's chosen to do so. He feels he's getting old, has done enough, and no longer wants to continue to develop these games. I do worry for the future of the games though as I am certain they will loose his spark.
That's just my opinions though, what are yours?
Originally posted by Rammy
Lemme preface this by asking everyone to be civil and to not get into any heated political debates. This is just asking about Scott Cawthon himself, his retirement, and a small amount of things surrounding it.


Originally posted by Rammy
Before this he had been facing a large amount of backlash for certain donations. [...] On the other hand however many have ridiculed Scott and have continued to harass supporters of his.


If you strip out the political context like this it's pretty easy to make the other side sound wrong for attacking Scott and his supporters. For those unaware, Scott Cawthon donated thousands of dollars to such figures as Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell, the Republican Senatorial Committee, and others in the American right-wing. Given what these politicians stand for, its unsurprising that many people are upset with Scott contributing financially to their causes (which arguably does more to help them than just parroting their beliefs online).

If you're personally fine with that, then that's your own prerogative, but it's disingenuous to not include why people are calling him out and present it as a completely out-of-the-blue occurrence.
Originally posted by DeppySlide
If you strip out the political context like this it's pretty easy to make the other side sound wrong for attacking Scott and his supporters. For those unaware, Scott Cawthon donated thousands of dollars to such figures as Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell, the Republican Senatorial Committee, and others in the American right-wing. Given what these politicians stand for, its unsurprising that many people are upset with Scott contributing financially to their causes (which arguably does more to help them than just parroting their beliefs online).

If you're personally fine with that, then that's your own prerogative, but it's disingenuous to not include why people are calling him out and present it as a completely out-of-the-blue occurrence.

True but I fear by bringing it up it'd immediately bring out biases, possibly even encouraging some to immediately discredit him without knowing his actual views or him as a person, which is sadly all too common. Essentially people could see he donated to several right-wing figures and immediately assume he's some racist, sexist, fascist supporter, which just isn't true. Apologies if I'm explaining poorly btw.
Originally posted by Rammy
I fear by bringing it up it'd immediately bring out biases, possibly even encouraging some to immediately discredit him without knowing his actual views or him as a person, which is sadly all too common. Essentially people could see he donated to several right-wing figures and immediately assume he's some racist, sexist, fascist supporter, which just isn't true.

Honestly, if he's giving away his own money to support people with racist/sexist/fascist beliefs, I can't exactly blame some people for assuming he harbors similar beliefs himself. That seems like the most natural takeaway, though I suppose the alternative explanation is that he's either ignorant of said politicians' more harmful beliefs and policies, or just simply doesn't care. The latter seems more likely in my opinion, but that's still not a whole lot better in many people's eyes.
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I heard that he got doxxed and his wife threatened, which he did not deserve at all. He has just as much of a right to give money wherever or vote for whoever as you do to not give any more money to him, and I think voting with your wallet more productive than harassing/doxxing someone. I've also seen progressive and independent-leaning YouTubers calling out the Twitter mob for that (not just TheQuartering), so it's not even one particular side of the aisle leaping to Scott's defense.
I'm one of those ppl who separates creator opinions from works (I am not a Trump or McConnell fan), tho I haven't even been interested in the series since either FNAF3 or FNAF4 came out, and I still wouldn't be anyway regardless.
If Team Cherry came out with similar political opinions, I'm still buying Silksong no matter what.
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Originally posted by Sokobansolver
I heard that he got doxxed and his wife threatened


That's definitelly some shitty behavior. I hate how this "two wrongs make one right" mentality is still so prevalant. Even if his decision to donate to these people was bad (which I completely agree with), doxxing him still isn't justified, and especially not threatening his wife, who probably had absolutely nothing to do with this. This is unfortunately a very common occurence. If people disagree with a person, they often see it justified to harm people related to them, which of course it isn't. And I mean in this case, it may be about something somewhat "serious", but I've seen that shit happen over way more meaningless stuff as well. For example Joe Merrick, the creator of Serebii, is getting a lot of hate from people who hated Pokemon Sword/Shield for the sole reason that he didn't, and they've even started harassing his girlfriend. People are really shitty.

Though I guess that's a different topic entirley. To get back to Scott Cawthorn:

Criticizing him and distancing from him for his opinions: Okay.
Doxxing him or harassing people related to him befause of his opinions: Not okay.
Feel free to visit my website/blog - it's updated rarely, but it looks pretty cool!
Criticizing Cawthon for the decisions he makes is one thing, but doxxing him and harrassing his family is another.

Hate him for whatever you want. Whatever. That's your choice. But if you bring his family into this mess, you're no better than the figures he supports. In fact, that would make you worse. People like that deserve no rights.

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STELLA!
i don't think you can talk about this topic without acknowledging the political implications of it. his address being shared wasn't okay (although it was already public technically, political donations are public), but it doesn't suddenly make the fact that he donated to politicians who push anti-lgbtq campaigns disappear. and i think the willingness to defend him while knowing who he donated to just by virtue of him being doxxed is really sus. it's deflecting the issue completely.

edit: furthermore, i think seeing how quickly people come to the defense of scott and shift the argument towards doxxing rather than what it was originally about (his support of anti-lgbtq politicians) is wild, especially considering i don't tend to see the same crowds come to that same defense in regards to lgbtq support.
it's all controversial bs and anyone who really attacked mr scott for HIS opinions (despite not hurting anyone and being generally one of the nicest game devs out there) is a delusional coper. I don't care, attack me all you want
i just lurk sometimes
Originally posted by Arash
Criticizing Cawthon for the decisions he makes is one thing, but doxxing him and harrassing his family is another. Hate him for whatever you want. Whatever. That's your choice. But if you bring his family into this mess, you're no better than the figures he supports. In fact, that would make you worse.

Originally posted by RPG Hacker
That's definitelly some shitty behavior. I hate how this "two wrongs make one right" mentality is still so prevalant. Even if his decision to donate to these people was bad (which I completely agree with), doxxing him still isn't justified, and especially not threatening his wife, who probably had absolutely nothing to do with this.

Could not agree more with this, the harassment of anyone solely for their political beliefs just isn't right. I fall under the belief that so long as your beliefs don't actively promote hate then you are fine. Of course what "promotes hate" could be subjective as well but that's a topic for another day ig.


Originally posted by Arash
People like that deserve no rights.

I don't know about "no rights", thats a bit extreme. I'd much rather them understand how harmful it is to do this to someone, and if they are fine with the harm done then maybe get them help for dangerous behavior.


Originally posted by idol
i don't think you can talk about this topic without acknowledging the political implications of it ... it doesn't suddenly make the fact that he donated to politicians who push anti-lgbtq campaigns disappear. and i think the willingness to defend him while knowing who he donated to just by virtue of him being doxxed is really sus. it's deflecting the issue completely.

I'm not against discussing the political side of this, all I asked was to keep it civil. and no of course it doesn't, in his own words though he merely donated and voted for he who believed was the better option between the ones given to him. a lesser of the evils i guess?


Originally posted by idol
his address being shared wasn't okay (although it was already public technically, political donations are public)

afaik the only thing shared with those donations are the names and states, no addresses or anything of the sort.


Originally posted by idol
furthermore, i think seeing how quickly people come to the defense of scott and shift the argument towards doxxing rather than what it was originally about (his support of anti-lgbtq politicians) is wild

I feel it's more about them understanding people can have differing opinions and choosing to look past what political views he may have and instead respecting or admiring him for what he's done and the kind of person he is/presents himself as.
Originally posted by idol
especially considering i don't tend to see the same crowds come to that same defense in regards to lgbtq support.

I'm not sure if I'm misunderstanding but I've seen plenty of LGBTQ people come to support Scott as well, many of my close friends who are LGBTQ are in support of him too. given his past of working with and showing his support of the LGBTQ community I highly doubt he harbors any anti-LGBTQ views. so long as he is not against people having their rights i'm fine with whatever he believes, even if that i don't support it.
Originally posted by idol
edit: furthermore, i think seeing how quickly people come to the defense of scott and shift the argument towards doxxing rather than what it was originally about (his support of anti-lgbtq politicians) is wild, especially considering i don't tend to see the same crowds come to that same defense in regards to lgbtq support.


Not sure if that was directed at me, but I didn't really defend Scott at all. In fact, I literally said it's justified to criticize and distance from him, and I fully agree with his opposition in this case. Like, I never cared for his games, but especially don't plan to buy them after this. I just didn't really have anything to add to this point that hadn't already been said, and I don't know much more about the situation than what has been stated in this thread, so I elaborated on the doxxing part instead, which I felt was also worth pointing out.

I also think you're misunderstanding the point I was trying to make. I never said or implied that because he was doxxed, he's suddenly innocent. My statement wasn't even meant as a defense of him. In fact, most of my argument didn't even focus on the doxxing part, but on the "attacking his wife" part, which I think is worse than the doxxing. Anyways, the actual point I was trying to make was "Yes, we should critize and distance from him, but let's not resort to actual harassment, especially not towards unrelated people, because this has never accomplished anything and it's pretty much the same shitty behavior that the people we're criticizing would use - there's way more effective ways of dealing with this, anyways, and if we just stop buying his games, enough damage will be done".

Still, that's not claiming that Scott wasn't guilty. He is, and yes, that deserves to be called out. I just didn't really have much more to add to that, I think people have already explained why he decisions were bad better than I could, and I didn't feel like just repeating "Scott bad" would have added much.
Feel free to visit my website/blog - it's updated rarely, but it looks pretty cool!
Originally posted by Rammy
so long as he is not against people having their rights i'm fine with whatever he believes, even if that i don't support it.

Do note that supporting associations that are actively against those rights counts as being against those rights, no matter what you say.
I didn't even know this guy's name before the recent controversy, but a person with enough wealth and access to information to develop games cannot be excused for political naiveness in 2021 in my opinion.
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So why the empty numb?
I just see it as dumb and nonsensical. I think ideas shouldn't be sacred cows indeed, and you may disagree with Cawthon's ideas, but between that and doxxing and stuff there's a long stretch. I simply don't see the purpose, and I honest to god think the "bad stuff he supports" is greatly exaggerated, in polite terms. You can't change my mind.
i just lurk sometimes
Originally posted by RPG Hacker

I also think you're misunderstanding the point I was trying to make. I never said or implied that because he was doxxed, he's suddenly innocent. My statement wasn't even meant as a defense of him. In fact, most of my argument didn't even focus on the doxxing part, but on the "attacking his wife" part, which I think is worse than the doxxing. Anyways, the actual point I was trying to make was "Yes, we should critize and distance from him, but let's not resort to actual harassment, especially not towards unrelated people, because this has never accomplished anything and it's pretty much the same shitty behavior that the people we're criticizing would use - there's way more effective ways of dealing with this, anyways, and if we just stop buying his games, enough damage will be done".

That was pretty much the entire point of my post.

I could go into further detail, but I'd basically be parroting what others have already said.

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STELLA!
Originally posted by leictreon
I simply don't see the purpose, and I honest to god think the "bad stuff he supports" is greatly exaggerated, in polite terms.

He directly funded political campaigns for Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell. I think that's about as clear-cut "bad stuff" can get.
Originally posted by leictreon
you may disagree with Cawthon's ideas, but between that and doxxing and stuff there's a long stretch.

I just want to make it clear that I agree with this to an extent. Not respecting him for the kind of thing he supports and thinking he should be doxxed or have his family damaged are completely different things. I think it's best that they don't get bundled as one.
It's easily the best thing I've done
So why the empty numb?
boohoo. if you don't want people to come after you for this shit, don't show off that you're doing it.

imo, he can donate to whoever he wants. i've never played his games but i wouldn't skip them because of that.

i just find it so funny that this dude sent money to republicans, not a little, but $40,000+, and then when people find out about it he runs away with his tail between his legs
I think it's bad enough when people spread homophobia and transphobia just by making comments in public forums and in social media, affecting those around you in negative and harmful ways just because you think it isn't right.

I think donating tens of thousands of dollars represents not only an amplification of this kind of evil noise, it also demonstrates a pair of very disturbing realities. One, Scott Cawthon is either nonchalant about what his political contributions mean for LGBT people, or that he actively desires to reverse the progress LGBT people have made because it reflects his own beliefs. Two, he individually has exponentially greater influence on the system, because he has a lot of money and that's how our system works.

Doxxing is bad, his wife and child should obviously not be subjected to anything like that. But you don't donate $40k to people by accident, or without knowing full well what they are about and what they want to see done in this country, and trying to act like it was just harmless expression done for noble reasons doesn't wash with me when you are spending more money than most of your fans make in a year.
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