When asked by fellow Twitter users to elaborate on his GDC experience, Deniz claimed he intervened in a mugging, experienced racial abuse, “toxic dudes in events” and had his credit card skimmed. Deniz added that Airbnb hosts canceled last-minute on “heaps of people,” and “scores of devs” had “rejected visas or (were) hassled by TSA.”
“The downtown area felt really unsafe to both myself and apparently many other attendees,” he wrote. Deniz could not be reached for comment.
Deniz was not alone in his observations. Morgan Jaffit has attended GDC in San Francisco for more than a decade. In response to Deniz’s tweets, Jaffit, a co-founder of indie games studio Defiant Development, wrote: “Oh it’s not just you. Every international I’ve spoken with is still shell shocked after this year.”
SFGATE reached out to Jaffit, and the Australian developer described a host of crimes he witnessed during his week in San Francisco, including the smash-and-grab of a parked vehicle, a knife fight and, after a GDC presentation at the Four Seasons Hotel, “10 police cuffing a guy outside the door.”
“None of that was in ‘bad neighborhoods,’” he said over email. “It was all within one block of the show, or on Market.” The Moscone Convention Center is located on 3rd Street in SoMa.