Its a tough situation but here we go. If you think of it as a gamer manipulating the system to their advantage then it doesn't seem all that different. That is assuming she was doing this to get ahead. This is all speculation and she may not have done any of this.
If she didn't do this then she is the ultimate victim of the internet. But if she did then I don't fault her for trying to manipulate the system to her advantage. Shady back room deals happen in everyday society all the time with many different things being used to manipulate the system. There's always a conspiracy theory or another about some site taking bribes. Or swag bags. Or media parties or whatever.
The only problem I have with it is that if it was used to advance the cause of this game. Because as a game goes its not all that great and that if all that was done for this, then I feel that it was a bad cause.

So many post for a RUMOR.

When i read some post, we could shoot down every single human on world as soon there is a rumor of a bad thing :p

The fault here is not solely on her; the 5 guys are as much to blame as she is! Offering your body to get special treatment is just wrong, but so is accepting that offer!

People need to talk about this for both of those reasons. What she did was wring, five times over. What 5 guys did was just as wrong. Don't put the blame solely on her.

She should be fired. They should be fired.

In that case you should be bashing the 5 guys she slept with as well, as they're the ones giving you a false image of her gaem, no?

While she definitely deserves a lot of shit if this rumor is true, then so do the 5 guys she slept with. They're the ones that will offer you a wrong image about her game, no?

This.

What are you even talking about? Can you even distinguish the difference between having consentual sex and sexual harassment? She could have sex with 4000 men, cheating on her boyfriend and it still would not matter or be comparable. Sexual harassment and abuse is not equal to cheating. When you understand the basic difference, come back.

Edit: 

You do realize that sex is not sacrosanct, right? And much to your shock and disgrace, sex 'for favours' is a very common thing. It happens not just in game journalism but in much of everyday workplace. It is not necessarily correct (or 'ethical') but really, singling out a single woman for having consentual sex with others is verging on hypocrisy. The problem is not sex, if both parties are willing, but forced sexual intercourse, sexual harassment, physical or mental coercion and abuse, and the kind of aggressive sexism that seems to confuse the vast differences between doing something and having something done to you.

Well as much as I believe nobody is in the moral wrong here, Guys and Girls cheat all the time why this is any different is beyond me. However, I do believe her boss, her and maybe the Kotaku writer should lose their jobs. such actions is not right for the work enviroment. Nobody is saying her actions are fine but I really dont understand why people are getting mad and riled up at the issues they have no business getting mad at. Her cheating is her personal business. However, it got public when she slept with her married boss and she and her boss should be reprimanded for that. Everything else is none of anyones business.

OS: if her sleeping with the Kotaku writer has led to some unfair/special treatment from Kotaku then kotaku as a business should handle that. Still dont know why people are getting uber mad dont know how it affects your life....

I do agree that Zoe shouldn't be defended, but the same applies to those 5 Kotaku losers. It's a shame users got banned over something like this!

Few things get internet gamers  fired up to the point of ban-worthy behaviour like gaming politics and gender politics. This combined the two; a lethal cocktail. ;)