Rudy Ferretti, former retro-gaming champion, actor, and game developer, infamously known for speaking of hate and anger directed towards women, dies of suicide. Ferreti is found in his home in Dover, New Hampshire, along with an ex-girlfriend, believed to be killed by him.
Wired recounts Rudy Ferretti's feat way back in 2015 when the former retro-gaming champion created a game for the Atari 2600 entitled, Pigs in the Castle. The game explores a castle stormed by the hero (Ferretti), killing pigs to reach the main boss.
The gaming community believes that these 'pigs' are a metaphor for women. Before the game's launch, Ferretti released a video that stated his hate and anger against 'feminists.'
Rudy Ferretti is dubbed as the "Console Player of the Century" for his achievements using retro-consoles and successfully navigating old games. He also leads the community of retro-gamers in misogynistic treatments against women that is still apparent in the niche gaming community.
The Boston Globe reports that the ex-girlfriend was shot to death by Ferretti and initially ruled out that the crime committed was a homicide. Despite this, the police still treat the case as a murder-suicide investigation.
The 41-year-old gamer is presumed to shoot ex-girlfriend, Amy Molter, 46, once in the head, before shooting himself, resulting in death. Both were found in the apartment of Ferretti at 577 Central Avenue.
Ferretti is one of the many male players in the retro-gaming community to portray and exhibit traditional attitudes and views concerning gaming in general. Statistics show that 80 percent of gamers back in the early days, particularly in 1983, were male, and ever since then, there has been a notion that gaming is for men.
However, female gamers dominate the industry as they make up 46 percent based on a study made in 2019. Traditional players who are hardcore and avid fans of the earlier era are still presumed to be promoting toxic masculinity in the niche gaming community.
Ferretti's Attacks against Women
Catherine De Spira, a known arcade game collector, and researcher is one of Ferretti's recurring targets, repeatedly reported the late gamer's erratic behavior against women and even to himself. De Spira's problems started when she wrote for Twin Galaxies, a known website about arcade games dominated by men.
Ferretti asked the website to do a full-spread interview of him and his achievements that featured all of his life's work. However, as the interview started, Ferretti immediately uttered, "You f*cking c*nt," which led her to hang up.
Pigs in the Castle's official Facebook page stated the goals of the game are to "kill 100 or more pig b*tches to get to the boss," believing that this stated is aimed at women in general.
Ferretti also branded women as "radical feminists," "feminazis," and more.
Retro-gaming's targeted harassment against women
De Spira notes that the niche community of retro-gaming is fueling and supporting his actions to continue the targeted attacks against women, as she told Wired.
Private messages, comments in videos, and forums all talked about misogyny. This made Ferretti think that his actions support a more significant cause that aims to keep retro-gaming for the masculine community.
Rudy Ferretti's behavior was repeatedly targeted by concerned individuals and those who aimed to make the community open to everyone, regardless of gender. However, these actions were unsuccessful and did not make as much difference.
