When Did It Become Okay To Be Abusive To People In The Games Industry?

The title says it all, when did it become okay to be abusive to people in the games industry? A trend that has been increasing and increasing when a group of angered gamers are perhaps disappointed or annoyed about a game not going the way they wanted it to go. I want to use this article to make people see why it is wrong and that each person has feelings and a life and much of there time is spent on delivering the titles you wanted.

In the games industry, especially the triple A industry developers, publishers, management, they can all get it wrong, sometimes a title doesn’t go the way we wanted it to go. Sometimes we hype it up, we get it and it’s just not that good or it might be broken, we may even have been lied to a little bit. I know that’s happened, it’s happened to me. Of course, people can express their disappointment, but instead of what I’m seeing often, death threats emailed, DM’d or posted on a status, people need to go about it more constructively. Becoming abusive does nothing but hurt and damage people, mental health is a fragile thing these days and we should be kind to one another because we have no clue what the individual might be going through in there lives, even if they’re not going through anything, could you imagine spending nearly everyday for 3 years developing something, or marketing something that you’ve put your life and soul into? Release day arrives and suddenly there’s a hashtag, let’s go with the #GameFreakLied one as that’s the most recent one that has popped up. Can you imagine seeing the hate, the abuse, receiving emails threatening death, and other nasty vile things? Perhaps Pokemon Sword and Shield has disappointed some hardcore fans out there but really if you’re disappointed, review the game, say what you like and what you dislike in a constructive and kind way and just maybe people will take these complaints seriously and act on them. Becoming abusive does nothing, it won’t fix what you want to be fixed, it only goes to hurt people and if you can happily get on with your day to day life knowing that you’ve sent horrible things not just to the games industry but anyone in the world, then you might need to change your attitude.

It’s fairly easy, let’s stop being dicks, and actually express ourselves in a more encouraging and positive light rather than damaging peoples mental health.