What a fucking week and a half this has been. Right after a gaming Youtuber cleared his name, this shit happens.
This is a very emotionally-charged situation, as things happened extremely quickly, so I'll keep things brief. Do note that many Twitter accounts involved in this are either deleted or private, so much of this comes from this article, as it's the most comprehensive reservoir of information I could find. Shit on KYM all you like, usually information is compiled better than most elsewhere (except the Ooblets article).
On August 26th, 2019, indie developer Alec Holowka, known for Night in the Woods and Towerfall, was accused of gross sexual misconduct and emotional abuse by a... fellow indie developer? (I think?) Zoe Quinn when she visited her in Winnipeg. Many things happened in the following five days: people coming out in support of Zoe, people coming out in support of Alec, people coming out against both, etc. I don't need to cover Zoe Quinn's extensive history online, though I do find it appropriate to note that she has a history of being, let's say, less than completely honest.
Shocking news came on August 31st, however, from Alec's sister, Eileen, that he "passed away". Given Alec Holowka's history of mental illness, that he was himself a victim of abuse, and that in the five days he could be said to have lost everything, it can be gathered that this was, in fact, a suicide.
Now for the subjective part. Eileen's announcement of his passing used his death as a soapbox to defend Zoe from "harassment", with a vague implication that her brother was abusive to Zoe, without any evidence besides her own word (which given that Eileen's twitter bio has "feminist" in it, kinda makes sense...). Best-case scenario here, Zoe was grossly irresponsible; she should very well know that a mere accusation can destroy a man's life, and should also have known about Alec's mental health situation. Worst-case scenario, she actively intended for him to commit suicide.
There's other things to add to here other than Zoe's history of dishonesty, like public allegations lately turning out to be mostly to entirely bullshit (Slazo, ProJared, Vic Mignogna), so the trend continuing here would be incredibly plausible. Was Alec a perfect person? Certainly not, he had issues and demons of his own to deal with.
Suffice to say it's a shit situation, and my heart goes out to Alec's family, except his sister, and some of his friends. And given that Night in the Woods is about, in part, mental illness and depression... damn. I know I could've written this better but as I said, the situation is quite emotionally charged, and there's a lot of shit still being said from every possible angle.
