thoughthead

As a child, I was taught that “biting the hand that feeds you” was a rather foolish approach to life. It is often marked by a self-serving attitude or action whereby an individual causes damage to an existing relationship with a person whose normal duty it is to provide an essential good, service, or benefit to the aforementioned individual. Knowing this, I have to ask myself why Jeff Bell–whose title of “Corporate Vice President of Global Marketing, Interactive Entertainment Business” ostensibly requires him to retain good ties with those in the gaming community–would opt to commit such an egregious act against a consumer of the very products and services that Mr. Bell has been hired to promote. After careful consideration, I have come to a few conclusions–but my goal is not to answer the question for you. My hope is that more people will begin asking their own questions–in the hopes that a dialogue can be crafted between the fans of gaming and the executives that seek to popularize gaming in our culture.

Firstly, it is my obligation to point out that in writing this article, I am taking other reporting sources–namely, 1up and Joystiq–at their word in relation to the subject matter of this issue. As previously reported, Jeff Bell–Corporate Vice President of Global Marketing, Interactive Entertainment Business for Microsoft–was outed as the source of a disparaging query that was delivered to NeoGAF forum contributor “a Master Ninja” in the light of remarks [registration required] made at the expense of Mr. Bell and his prior performance during the Microsoft press conference associated with last week’s E3 Media & Business Summit held in Santa Monica, CA. The question allegedly posed to “a Master Ninja” by Mr. Bell was simply: “And your contribution to society is….what?” While benign unto itself, since Internet message boards are often a sounding board for friendly and unfriendly jibes and insults alike, this very pointed and condescending question points towards a deeper and more disturbing trend amongst those who ‘have’ towards those who are perceived as ‘have-nots’.

The question I would expect to receive after having reached this part in the article is “why, then, do you talk about ‘biting the hand that feeds you’?” Well, I’m glad I’m pretending like you asked. Simply put… you, your friends, I, or anybody who buys games or supports the gaming industry by consuming the products they provide, are essentially providing the salaries and enhancing the wealth of the executives that market such products to us. Money is not invented, and all cash flow comes from somewhere. Co-marketing, ad dollars, grants, alternative revenue streams–they all trickle down to some key part of the chain, without which, the whole financial tree dies for lack of a solid root. We are the root. Without gamers, there would be no executive positions within the ‘Interactive Entertainment Business’ arm of Microsoft… because the division would cease to exist in its current form.

Knowing this much about the symbiotic nature of the gamer/gaming-executive relationship, common sense dictates that if you choose to bite the aforementioned ‘hand that feeds you’, your actions are dictated by one of the following:

• Feeling that your position makes you so far above reproach that acting out will result in little or no real consequences
• Failure to recognize the importance of the second party to your own existence and well-being
• A fundamental misunderstanding of the party towards which your actions are directed
• Relative anonymity or jocose intentions when performing the act against the second party
• Innate behavior (see Prisoner’s Dilemma or The Scorpion and the Frog)

We can safely assume that Mr. Bell’s actions are not those of a person wishing to deliberately cause harm to another person due to an inherent behavioral pattern of malice towards others, so the latter scenario is one that can be dismissed quickly. Each of the other points poses interesting questions, though.

For instance; perhaps it has never occurred to Mr. Bell that his actions would yield such a backlash, as they are sure to once this event has circulated through a full news cycle. Perhaps Mr. Bell checked his prior marketing and managerial experience at the door and chose to ignore the fact that we, as gamers, do actually represent more than a whining, sniveling, pre-pubescent pile of rubbish–and in doing so, violated the trust placed in him by Microsoft to be an effective vessel for public relations and brand promotion. Perhaps this whole event was just the culmination of a seemingly harmless jab, put forth under an expectation of privacy and relative anonymity–something never expected to be answered or acted upon. In the latter case, Mr. Bell should at least realize that detective work is a part-time job for any self-respecting gaming news enthusiast–of which, NeoGAF is in good supply.

Most interestingly, perhaps Mr. Bell temporarily lost focus of that which he should be most grateful for. I am reminded so often of what I have to be thankful for. Thanksgiving may only come once a year, but it should last 365 days in the hearts and minds of those as fortunate as Mr. Bell (and anybody reading this article, for that matter). To pose the question “And your contribution to society is….what” is tantamount to suggesting that the worth of a person is directly tied to their financial wealth or their social influence.

I pose the following to you, Mr. Bell:
If your local sanitation workers stopped picking up your garbage… if your ISP stopped servicing your copper/fiber/cable/satellite… if your local grocers stopped selling to you… if the wait-staff at your favorite restaurant stopped serving you… if your local DMV’s clerks walked out on the job… if your local gas station attendants turned off the pumps… if your favorite retailers had no hired help… if the police and fire stopped responding to your calls… or even if your sitter didn’t show up when you feel like going out without children in tow… then perhaps you’d see their contribution to society. Any time you ascribe a low societal worth to someone else, you maroon yourself on the island of self-importance.

We are your public servants. We are your stockpersons and cashiers. We are your waiters and waitresses. We are your local retail workers. We are your service technicians. We are your flight attendants. We are your bank tellers. We are the engineers designing the bridges you drive across. We are your local school and university educators. We are the medical technicians responding to your emergency. We are your very own employees. Given the circumstances, we are even the people who post things about you on Internet message boards.

Most importantly, we are gamers. We have opinions about a great many things, and that only means we care. I have never enjoyed writing about anything I found boring or completely disinteresting.

The ball is in your court, Mr. Bell. I would love nothing more than to hear from you personally about the content of this article. I realize you’re a busy man, but I also realize you are passionate about your work–you wouldn’t be reading gaming-related message boards if you weren’t. Here’s an open invitation to bridge the gap to those of us who want to better understand the people behind the devices that bring us so many hours of great entertainment when we get home from work or school every single day. The whole thing is much easier than it seems–earn our trust and we’re guaranteed to love you for it!
-AH

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The author can be reached via email at: ackerhack@gmail.com

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