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Biggest Headache For Game Developers: Abusive Fans
chicksdaddy writes "Haters keep buyin' — that appears to be the dynamic playing out in the ever-hot video game industry, where game developers say harassment and trolling from their rabid fans is turning them off of development completely, according to a report over at Polygon.com. 'Fans are invested in the stories and worlds that developers create, and certain design decisions can be seen by fans to threaten those stories and worlds,' said Nathan Fisk, lecturer at the Department of Science and Technology Studies at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and co-author of the book Bullying in the Age of Social Media. 'Harassment silences and repositions content creators in ways that protect the interests of certain fan groups, which again is no justification for the kinds of abusive behavior and language seen online today.' The problem is widespread enough that it may even pose a threat to the future of the industry. Developers, both named and those who wish to remain anonymous, tell Polygon that harassment by gamers is becoming an alarmingly regular expected element of game development. Some developers say the problem was among the reasons they left the industry, others tell Polygon that the problem is so ubiquitous that it distracts them from making games or that they're considering leaving the industry."
Couldn't have happened to nicer set of people... right? Wrong! Gaming industry is rotten inside-out, infamous for sweatshop-like working conditions (look up "EA widow"), end-of-project layoffs, and large studios buying and gutting creative studios on one side and 'designers' squeezing all kinds of shady profits (zero-day DLC, "free"-to-play micro-transaction games targeted at minors) while constantly failing to innovate (e.g. any sports game franchise).
Gaming industry deserves all the abuse it gets. Extreme cases of abuse aside, all criticism is they get is deserved.
Since when is "I will find you and kill you" useful feedback, let alone appropriate? And who should have to listen to dreck like that?
I guess "I will find you and kill you" became acceptable feedback when many of the top games on Xbox Live are games in which you try to find and kill people.
Don't train your customers to enjoy killing people in gameplay if you don't want them to treat the very thought of killing someone so casually.