Kotaku Writer Challenges Gamers to a Fight, Then Changes her Mind

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Want to see one of the funnier stories in the cold war between gamers and games journalists? Don’t worry; it won’t take long. This is the saga of Alyssa Mercante throwing down the gauntlet to gamers… and then quickly picking it back up. You remember Alyssa Mercante, right? She’s the Kotaku journalist whose name everyone’s become familiar with in the past few months – the one who infiltrated the Sweet Baby Inc. Detected Discord server, planned a hit piece on Melonie Mac, and tracked down and harassed the wife of Jeff from Smash JT. Well, she’s had all’s she can stand, and she can’t stands no more, so she challenged anyone who disagrees with her about diversity and whatnot to a physical fight (after mischaracterizing them, of course). You can see the clip, courtesy of Olde Man Grimm:

https://twitter.com/OldeManGrim/status/1800124577521254648

Sure, because all the tough guys I’ve ever met have made duck lips while threatening people. But let’s be real: nobody thinks this is a legit challenge. Olde Man Grimm is exactly right in calling Mercante “Frosk 2.0.” This is performance art, virtue signaling as a champion of diversity before pretending to be willing to fight for it, as if that would ever come up. This is the same thing we see online every day, how the distance created by the internet has bred a new generation of phony tough guys who will never have to follow through on their braggadocio. This one just happened to be in front of a camera.

The thing is, Mercante is such an unlikable figure (going after people’s families will do that to you) that someone decided to take her up on her offer. Vera Dark – who was blocked by Mercante because of course she was – offered to step in the ring with her:

https://twitter.com/Vara_Dark/status/1800397931347894522

Let’s do one better and lay it out publicly.

Winner gets $1k, loser has to put up content publicly announcing their loss (an article from you, a video from me) and what, 3 months for a venue and train?

— Vara Dark (@Vara_Dark) June 11, 2024

Initially, Mercante puffed up like a porcupine at the accepted challenge, then listed some demands:

Okay so you have a venue picked out? Do you have sponsors ready to go? The only connections you’ve got are to irrelevant websites and activists who sit on their asses all day saying “words are mean”. Hit me up when you’re done tweeting about mean YouTubers and have grown a… pic.twitter.com/o9yp17qH9K

— Vara Dark (@Vara_Dark) June 11, 2024

You already tried to change the terms though to get out of it? So I just should just trust you? HA.

No shot you expect someone else to do all the preparation when you’re the one who went on the unhinged rant in the first place.

I would REQUIRE streaming it to my channel, as… https://t.co/4TBQqU4ja8

— Vara Dark (@Vara_Dark) June 11, 2024

But, predictably, Mercante backed out, after which she suggested taking it to the streets:

Well. Guess it’s not happening. Fun while it lasted, Alyssa. pic.twitter.com/otJRUzS947

— Vara Dark (@Vara_Dark) June 11, 2024

I was totally interested in a live-streamed, sanctioned match but now she’s just devolved into threatening me with an illegal street fight. That’s mentally deranged behavior… Reminds me of a certain group of people out there… Antifa.

Seek help, girliepop. #EndKotaku pic.twitter.com/1nU2USSocY

— Vara Dark (@Vara_Dark) June 11, 2024

Of course, this was never really going to happen. But more importantly than popping the phony tough guy balloon of a games journalist/hobgoblin is the larger picture, and I come back to Olde Man Grimm’s comment for that. He’s right that this was modeled after Frosk’s rant about how being attracted to hot women is racist or something. And what happened shortly after Frosk made a fool of herself while those imbeciles clapped for her? G4 collapsed. Kotaku has gone through a tumultuous time lately, with signs that its parent company, G/O Media, is trying to get rid of its staff. It may not be long before it’s dustbinned permanently.