We Need to Stop Being Toxic to Video Game Developers, With the Exception of Bobby Kotick
You’d think in the hellscape we live in, fans might be excited by a new Monkey Island game directed by Ron Gilbert. And they were! Most of them. Almost all of them. But not enough of them, because some fans decided that the artstyle wasn’t to their liking. And as is always the case in video games, those folks were really normal about it and decided to endlessly attack the series’ original creator until he decided to stop posting about the game entirely.
Which is sad. Because there’s no reason to harass or insult developers.
Unless they’re Bobby Kotick. Then it’s okay.
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Like them or not, video game developers have an extraordinarily difficult job. Even the smallest indie game takes thousands of hours to craft; even the biggest triple-A games suffer under tight budgets and tighter deadlines. Sure, it’s disappointing when you’ve paid for a game that lets you down or a series is ‘ruined’ by a choice you don’t like. It’s understandable you’d be mad. But you have to remember that, with the exception of Bobby Kotick, these developers are real human beings with real feelings.
Now, let’s be clear: There is a difference between criticism and an attack. It’s fair to criticize a game for promised features that fail to deliver. Heck, it’s even fair to criticize an artstyle you don’t like. But developers don’t make these choices to piss you off. When fans flood a developer’s feed and forums and inbox with accusations, a valid criticism becomes a wave of hate. And nobody deserves that, outside of the CEO of Activision Blizzard who has made billions while overseeing a company that systematically replaced the joy in its titles with loot boxes.
It’s disappointing that
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