Nick Robinson

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About

Nick Robinson is a gaming journalist most known for his work for gaming website Polygon, including several online shows he has worked on with The McElroy Brothers. In 2017, he became the center of a sexual harassment controversy after it was alleged he had attempted to solicit nude photographs from fans and other people in the industry.

Online History

Robinson's earliest online activities come from accounts under the name "Babylonian." His YouTube channel was created in 2005;^[1] his Twitter account was created in 2008.^[2]

Robinson's journalism career began in 2011 when he worked as an intern for gaming website Giant Bomb. In 2012, he became a writer and host for the YouTube channel Rev3Games; this continued until 2014 when the channel ceased operations.^[4] In 2013, he started the Podburglars podcast with cohosts Matt Kessler and Ben Pack; a previous incarnation of the podcast was created in 2011 under the name "Internal Affairs."^[5]^[6] He joined Polygon in February of 2015.^[3] In 2016, he created a Vine profile which gained over 80 million Vine Loops.^[9] He has worked with Griffin McElroy on the podcast Cool Games Inc. as well as YouTube series Car Boys, Touch The Skyrim, and Let's Go To Hell.^[10]

"Krystal From Star Fox" Controvery

On March 26th, 2017, Robinson tweeted "no offense but anyone who acts like they didn't jack off to Krystal from Star Fox Adventures is lying to you." His tweet gained over 900 retweets and 3,000 likes.

Nick Robinson Follow @Babylonian no offense but anyone who acts like they didn't j------- to Krystal from Star Fox Adventures is lying to you RETWEETS LIKES 샤, 905 3,089

The following day, Anita Sarkeesian of blog Feminist Frequency angrily responded to Robinson's tweet, saying "Nobody in our office feels that way about Krystal. In fact, we find her character deeply disappointing. Here's why." She then linked to a video produced by her team on the "damsels in distress" trope of video gaming (photoshop collage of the whole exchange below).

Nick Robinson @Babylonian Follow v Feminist Frequency * @femfreq Follow ﹀ no offense but anyone who acts like they didn't j------- to Krystal from Star Fox Adventures is She's LITERALLY trapped in a crystal. Finding lying to you a female character who is damseled and stripped of her agency arousing is kinda gross tbh Nick Robinson RETWEETS LIKES video boy at @polygon anime iker @CoolGamesinc co-host other videos on youtube.combabylonian and streams on twitch twbabylonian 6:41 PM-26 Mar 2017 RETWEETS LIKES Feminist Frequency @temfreq 요. Follow v8 65 San Francisco, CA 80.7M Vine Loops Joined September 2008 6:08 PM-27 Mar 2017 Nobody in our office feels that way about Krystal. In fact, we find her character deeply disappointing. Here's why: youtu.be IX6p5AZp7r_Q Feminist Frequency @femfreq Follow Attitudes like this are indicative of just how male-dominated gamer culture remains. NEWS FLASH: We don't care about your boners. Nick Robinsonネ@Babylonian no offense but anyone who acts like they didn't j------- to Krystal from Star Fox Feminist Frequency Adventures is lying to you @temfreq Help us address sexism, racism, and bigotry as they pervade mass media and RETWEETS LIKES RETWEETS LIKES 10 our everyday lives. Give now. 15 115 6:08 PM-27 Mar 2017 6:09 PM -27 Mar 2017 Joined July 2009 10 v 60

Instantly the moment became a target of jokes on Twitter as people mostly agreed that Sarkeesian's response and the ensuing dialogue about sexual-attraction to video game characters was over-the-top.

the mental image of someone running around their office seriously asking everyone "is krystal from star fox hot?" is f------ hilarious Feminist Frequency@femfreq Nobody in our office feels that way about Krystal. In fact, we find her character deeply disappointing. Here's why: youtu.be/X6p5AZp7r_Q twitter.com/Babylonian/sta

Abby "Doxy" Denton @mizabitha Follow . Everyone in my office masturbates to Krystal from Star Fox. We haven't done any work in weeks RETWEETS LIKES 17 61

Sexual Harassment Controversy

On August 2nd, 2017, Robinson began a Twitter thread which criticized the Nintendo Switch port of the video game Overcooked.^[7] Several users found Robinson's complaints to be strangely hostile in nature, especially those directed toward a survey meant to help the developers fix the criticisms. On August 3rd, Twitter user Bloody Honey posted a tweet proposing that Robinson was too busy messaging female game developers to do the survey.^[8] Following this tweet, several others tweeted about receiving harassment from Robinson; a NeoGAF thread compiling some of these tweets was created on August 4th.^[10] Another thread on Internet drama forum KiwiFarms was created the same day.^[13] Also on the same day, Polygon Editor-In-Chief announced via Twitter that Robinson had been suspended from the website bending an investigation from Vox Media.^[11]

Bloody Honey @bloodyhoney Follow Maybe Nick would have time to help the Overcooked devs out if he wasn't in every woman in games' DMs all the time

chris grant @chrisgrant Follow I've heard the allegations re Nick Robinson and am taking them seriously. Nick has been suspended pending a thorough Vox Media inquiry.

Personal Life

Robinson was born in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and currently lives in San Francisco, California. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Journalism from University of North Carolina at Asheville. He is also the older brother of electronic musician Porter Robinson.^[12]