The past two weeks have been a source of reflection for us who write and edit for Medium Difficulty. First and foremost, the editor who posted Michael Robinson’s article “This Week In Twitter Chaos: A Plea For Civility” wants to formally apologize to those who were hurt or angered by the choice to publish an insensitive and disrespectful piece. The editor published the piece in the spirit of discussion, believing that it would merit response, but what they did not foresee was that the article did not contribute to the discussion and celebration of difference. Rather, the article led to the prevailing discourse of silencing dissent.
Medium Difficulty has always aspired to be a safe space for people of all identities, but in this instance, it has failed. We want to ensure it never happens again. All of us at Medium Difficulty want to officially declare that the site will be a safe space for people of all identities. While creating a safe space has always been a priority since the site’s creation, we recognize that making such a statement and always practicing it are two different things. From here on out we will work to ensure that the editors at Medium Difficulty reinforce these ideals through our improved editorial policies and structures.
In that spirit, we have expanded our volunteer editing staff from two individuals to five. This will allow us to move to an editorial board of five members, allowing for a more rigorous and nuanced approach. These members are: Kyle Carpenter, Kaitlin Tremblay, Meg Townsend, Sidney Fussell, and Jon Smith. Medium Difficulty reflects differing opinions and voices, and those of us involved take our ally-ship seriously. We want Medium Difficulty to reflect the differing perspectives found among our writers and editors, as well as to always provide a space for the multiplicity of voices found within the gaming community. Aside from our core editing staff, we will continue to feature regular contributors – writers and editors – who share our commitment to the medium, the criticism, and the social focus of Medium Difficulty. We will continue to be ever mindful of the site we want to create: one that features socially conscious, intersectional, as well as fun and intelligent criticism of video games.
