Scorpia's views have often been considered controversial. Read her review of Baldur's Gate in CGW's issue 177 and compare the star rating and the fact the magazine was named RPG of the year in that same issue! The main body of the text may be Scorpia's but other material is from another hand.

While she had serious criticisms about the single player campaign, she praised the multiplayer game. If ever there was a time when a reviewer got it the wrong way around, it is here. Compared to the endless battles of the Gold Box series (and I just beat Pool of Radiance!) it is hard not to appreciate the real time approach of Baldur's Gate.

CRPG Addict's blog often talks about Scorpia when he gives his reviews and she had published a contemporary review.

I've actually been reading through old CGW mags in PDF form over the last month or so and got to thinking about the mysterious Scorpia. I found some interesting links last week.

http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/ArinnDembo/201 … for_Scorpia.php
http://www.quartertothree.com/game-talk/showt … Scorpia-is-back

Interesting.

I'm sure, being a female columnist, especially at the time when the gaming scene was (and still is) dominated by men had an impact on her being anonymous.

She should also have the guts to put her real name when she's arguing her points, though. Maybe she was afraid of severe backlash, being a female columnist after all.

And she should also admit that she's not good for RPG games, instead of judging and giving verdicts based on what she couldn't enjoy, and just focus on pure adventure games.

http://www.scorpia.com still works.

Assuming that's her, then it can probably easily be guessed who she is from that site and its links. I have a guess already, it's not hard. No doxxing please.

[EDIT] Scratch that, I have *two* guesses now.

That site is definitely Scorpia's, the same person who submitted reviews for CGW, no doubt about it.

Based on the information that Stiletto identified and a little checking elsewhere, there is a very good real life candidate for the person behind the persona known as "Scorpia." When you cultivate an air of mystery and gain some prominence in the gaming world, people's curiosity will naturally be raised.

That could or could not be John Van Caneghem's idea of putting it in his game. After the much harsh review of Might & Magic II by Scorpia, and even in the reply, as shown the attached page from CGW, she didn't answer to the points he listed out.

And the above screenshot is from Might& Magic III, if I'm not mistaken - just after the "event" following the M&M II.

I wonder if we could ever see a REAL picture of her...or her name.

Malik wrote:

That could or could not be John Van Caneghem's idea of putting it in his game. After the much harsh review of Might & Magic II by Scorpia, and even in the reply, as shown the attached page from CGW, she didn't answer to the points he listed out.

And the above screenshot is from Might& Magic III, if I'm not mistaken - just after the "event" following the M&M II.

I wonder if we could ever see a REAL picture of her...or her name.

It was https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ue2EvW-0oTU

Matt Barton has great interviews. I've watched nearly all of them. Really enjoyed his series with JVC.

I had a love/hate relationship with Scorpia back in the day. She gave me something to read in the genre I liked most (RPG), so I looked forward to the content. But I often disagreed with her opinions and would be frustrated at her negativity towards great games.

Why go to all the trouble? So she wrote some reviews you disagreed with - 20 years ago. She's (was?) a reviewer. That's her job. Game reviews are pretty much the least consequential things in the universe. Entertaining to read, but if you don't like them you can just close the magazine and enjoy your life. Much like games themselves for that matter.

What possible benefit would you gain in "tracking her down" in 2017?

Maybe she wrote under a pseudonym for a reason. Maybe she was actually a composite name for a few different writers. Maybe she just didn't want her other writing works associated with "gaming." Let's not forget that becoming known as a "games writer" would have slammed some doors shut for you in the wider literary world not too long ago.

And why the hell do you need a picture so much?

It's one thing to take a crack a solving an 'open mystery' in the (short) history of your chosen hobby, but don't forget this is a real person who chose how she put her work (herself) out there. No need to stalker down all her details if she didn't want to share them with the world. Let's not originate a "Retro-Gamer-Gate(tm)" here over some 20-year-old reviews please.

CGW has had worse...

leileilol wrote:

CGW has had worse...

Talk about a schizophrenic review...

Scorpia is one person, not a collective pseudonym. I am sure that many people would be interested in an interview with Scorpia, who need not reveal her true identity so long as the reviewer could confirm he is interviewing the real Scorpia.

It's must be very comfortable, bombarding and making controversial opinions and remaining anonymous. 😜

Edit: I'm heavily editing this post and my next one because they were too flame-y and accusatory, and that wasn't my intent. Also, I didn't notice the first posts in this thread were two years old.

This is not something that needs internet sherlocking and no one's doing the world a "favor" by "exposing" someone who wrote game reviews years ago. Reviews of pop media are the most inconsequential form of writing in existence, and doggedly tracking down someone's details because of some and especially trying to get their picture when they chose not to publish it is hugely disrespectful. Let's not pick at the open wound left by "gamergate" not too long ago; regardless of the intent in doing so nothing good's gonna come out of it.

I think my point was adequately made in my first post and I don't have anything nice to say further, so let's leave it at that.

^^ This kind of attitude is exactly the reason why necrosposting is looked down upon in many forums.

FYI, that IS my real name. Yours?

(In fact, I am one of the very few who are using real names here!)

Picture? You first.

Anyway, this is not about you or me. Don't know why you came here flaming. If you have any info about Scorpia, then please do so. Otherwise, refrain from moving this thread into personal attacks.

Edit: heavily edited to remove flames and accusatory language. Which was basically this whole post. I have a colossal headache, I'm tired, and my feelings on this matter have been adequately expressed in my first post and the addendum to the second one. Done here.

Frankly, apparently her writings were so noticeable they are still being remembered 20 years later because of this, and I'm not really seeing how today it is relevant to give this writer some slack just because it's a she.
It's not like women are excluded from being total a-holes or whatever.

Edited to remove some content that was removed from previous replies as I was slowly typing this one 🤣