Game Developer Reports She Was Drugged While Attending GDC

Snow Rui, president and CFO of Hooded Horse, revealed that she was drugged while visiting San Francisco for the Game Developers Conference (GDC) last week. Rui shared her story on LinkedIn, laying out a full account of what happened as well as calling out “the complete indifference and inaction” of both GDC and the San Francisco Police Department.

According to Rui, she was drugged Thursday, March 21 while “unwinding” at her hotel’s lounge with some of her Hooded Horse colleagues. Rui stated that her and her friends were “drinking approximately one drink per hour” and showed no signs of “impairment” or “intoxication,” yet shortly before the bar closed, her colleagues noticed she had become nearly incoherent. They quickly tried to get Rui back to her room, yet by the time they reached her floor, she could no longer stand and had begun vomiting uncontrollably while “slipping in and out of consciousness.” Rui’s colleagues then contacted the San Francisco Police Department.

Rui and her husband were then taken to a nearby hospital while her friends explained the situation to the responding officers. However, Rui was later told that the officers “insisted [she] was simply drunk.” Rui added that an accompanying firefighter told her colleagues, “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.” It was only after her colleagues repeatedly insisted that they investigate what happened that the officers agreed to look into things.

Rui’s reception at the hospital was just as cold, as she and her husband were told “there was no point running tests” when she merely “drank too much.” Rui says her husband had to repeatedly demand hospital staff conduct a drug test analyzing her for traces of GHB, Rohypnol (roofies), and other date-rape drugs, which they eventually agreed to do.

A few days later, a doctor called Rui to tell her she had tested negative for cocaine, marijuana, and other common recreational drugs. When Rui asked about GHB and date-rape drugs, the doctor stated they had not tested for them as it would have consumed “too many resources.” To make matters worse, Rui was then told that a police investigator would not be assigned to her until two weeks after the incident was reported–well after the majority of GDC’s attendees would have left.

Rui ended her story by writing that she was scared this was the outcome “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.” While Rui was fortunate enough to be taken care of and protected through the ordeal, the story Rui told offers a glimpse at the reality for other GDC attendees who have reported similar situations.

Just last year, for example, GameIndustry.biz reported that four women and two men had their drinks spiked across four GDC-related events while multiple individuals came forward with claims of harassment and/or assault while on the conference’s show floor. GameSpot has reached out to both GDC officials and the San Francisco Police Department for comment, but has not yet heard back from either.