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Unfortunately, this is not the first such case connected to the conference.
Image credit: GDC
President and CFO of Hooded Horse Snow Rui revealed that she was drugged while attending GDC last week.
In her post on LinkedIn, she shared her alarming story, saying that she was relaxing with her friends at a hotel drinking "approximately one drink per hour" when she suddenly "began deteriorating." It needs to be said that neither she nor her friends "were impaired or showing any signs of intoxication" but at some point, Rui stopped being able to reply coherently and even stand or walk.
Image credit: Eremite Games, Hooded Horse | Against the Storm
Her peers helped Rui to her room when she started "vomiting uncontrollably and slipping in and out of consciousness". She was then taken to an ambulance, while her friends reported the case to the police. Shockingly, the police insisted that she was simply drunk and there was no need for a thorough investigation.
"A fireman who had arrived with the police added: 'There are only two drugs common in this area, fentanyl and methamphetamine, and she doesn’t show signs of either, so it’s my medical opinion that she simply drank too much.' Apparently date rape drugs like GHB and Rohypnol are too uncommon to be worth considering."
Only after Rui's friends continuously insisted on an investigation, the officer promised to look into it. Meanwhile, Rui was delivered to the hospital with her husband, who asked to run tests on her, but the staff didn't want to do anything as they believed she "drank too much and there was no point running tests."
Eventually, the hospital agreed to do the tests. After a while, though, Rui called it and was informed that she tested negative for cocaine, marijuana, and other common recreational drugs. When asked about GHB and other date-rape drugs, the doctor said they hadn't tested for those because it would "consume too many resources."
Moreover, her case would not be investigated until 2 weeks later, when the GDC attendees would be gone already.
"What really scares me is this – this is the result when multiple witnesses have been with the victim every single minute and are pushing as hard as they can for San Francisco's police and emergency services to investigate and gather evidence. How much sooner would I have been dismissed otherwise? How many more cases like mine have been dismissed in the past?"
Image credit: Slavic Magic, Hooded Horse | Manor Lords
Unfortunately, this is not the first time GDC is in the spotlight related to drugs. Last year, GameIndustry.biz reported that four women and two men had their drinks spiked across three nights and four GDC events.
"At the GDC event, we take everyone's safety very seriously, we do our best to provide a secure environment on site, we enforce a strict code of conduct and make sure that the GDC team is available to help participants contact venue security or local law enforcement, to provide escorts, or to otherwise assist those experiencing unacceptable behavior to feel safe for the duration of the conference," replied the organizer after the investigation.
So many cases revealed are truly concerning. Imagine how many are not talked about still. Something should definitely be done to increase safety and eliminate such occurrences, but what?
Moreover, what and how should happen for the police and even doctors to take complaints seriously? It's a dangerous world we live in.
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