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And Kotaku once again spins the wheel against the players >The explosion of outrage has many on social media discussing the extent to which video game culture

by bdz 8y ago

And Kotaku once again spins the wheel against the players >The explosion of outrage has many on social media discussing the extent to which video game culture enables entitlement. It’s not surprising, after all, that there’s been some pushback on the idea of a mobile Diablo game. What’s shocking here is the sheer amount of molten vitriol that’s pouring in over what seems to be a pretty cut-and-dry situation: A proper new Diablo has been and continues to be in the works, and Diablo Immortal is its own thing that’s not detracting from that. Also, the game itself is fine, if a little too shallow. No harm, no foul—aside from maybe some hurt feelings over unfulfilled expectations. And yet, people have decided that this is the ultimate betrayal, all because a single game isn’t hyper-focused on the diehard PC and console crowd. It’s fine and understandable to be skeptical of a big company, but the reaction here is wildly disproportionate to what Blizzard’s actually done. Or see Mashable https://mashable.com/article/diablo-immortal-hands-on/ https://mashable.com/article/diablo-immortal-hands-on/ Or this https://twitter.com/WillJPowers/status/1058446033724694528 https://twitter.com/WillJPowers/status/1058446033724694528 Gaming journalism is just terrible trash. The fact that these companies are trying to be immune and there are people who get paid to defend them is outrageous. No other medium does that. And people wonder how the hell do they get away with p2w and gambling mechanics in games.

pcwalton 8y ago
> And people wonder how the hell do they get away with p2w and gambling mechanics in games. Because that business model is profitable, and entertainment is a business like any other. If you don't like it, you are free not to play it. Besides some potential for gambling addiction (about which state lotteries are a far more important target for your ire if that is your concern), mobile games produce no externalities whatsoever. I continue to be completely mystified with the concept of outrage about video games. If you want to be outraged about corporate behavior, there are a multitude of examples of corporate malfeasance with actual negative externalities, such as the coal industry's contribution to climate change.
- jakebasile 8y ago
  You're mystified by it because you probably aren't a dedicated gamer. To lots of people, including myself, gaming is a huge part of their identity and lifestyle. It's a hobby like any other such as repairing old cars, painting, craft beer, etc. The "but climate change" is just whataboutism because gaming isn't important to you, so why aren't people paying more attention to what is important to you. edit to clarify: This may sound a little hostile but it isn't intended as such. I'm just explaining that some people really do care about this stuff just as you really care about your own hobbies or pet cause.
  - darpa_escapee 8y ago
    As someone who self-exiled from the gaming community, there are also people within the community, including journalists, who beat on the war drums in order to rile up gamers. For the last ~4 years, everything from game reviews that gamers disagreed with, to character stencils, have been positioned as the worst things to ever happen to gaming. Some in the community liken it to actual discrimination against gamers.
  - BoiledCabbage 8y ago
    > It's a hobby like any other such as repairing old cars, painting, craft beer, etc. And yet you don't see people who follow those hobbies throwing an absolute fit like gamers are now doing continuously.
    - jakebasile 8y ago
      A big part of that is comparative population size, and the general "connectedness" of the fanbases. All online communities are trending worse and worse, and gaming is not unaffected.
      - thomasz 8y ago
        I double dare anybody to show me an even remotely comparable example of people getting so angry about fishing gear or woodworking tools.
    - 8y ago
- malvosenior 8y ago
  > I continue to be completely mystified with the concept of outrage about video games. People are always going to be upset when something they're passionate about gets ruined. Being continuously attacked by the game press also sets up the whole conversation to be very hostile. The internet is great for consumer rights. Consumers hold all of the cards and corporations are there to serve them. I don't think anyone should be feeling sorry for companies will multi billion dollar marketcaps or mainstream press. They are not ever going to be the victim.
- kowdermeister 8y ago
  This is all fine, but I help demystify the problem here. They marketed the new game to a completely detached audience as the highlight of the event. And when real questions came in, like "maybe a PC version comes later?" The reaction is: "You guys not have phones?"[1] I can see people snapping to rage mode. And then the gaming 'media' calls theys guys out as assholes, which really shows how strings are really pulled behind the curtains. [1]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqjVdPtB9lU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqjVdPtB9lU
  - Buldak 8y ago
    So the complaint is just that Blizzard should have framed their announcement differently? The project is fine, but just don't present it at Blizzcon? That seems so feeble to me, and the sort of criticism you get when fans can't reconcile their displeasure with the understanding that Blizzard is rational to pursue the mobile gaming market this way. As for "You guys not have phones?", that was obviously a bad look, but seeing as it was an off-the-cuff remark in an awkward exchange, I'm not inclined to hold it against the speaker.
    - sharpneli 8y ago
      >The project is fine, but just don't present it at Blizzcon? Precisely this. It's not that feeble because you must remember what Blizzcon is. Know your audience. Blizzcon audience has paid $199 to get in. They are quite hard core PC gamers. If your main show for them is something they are not interested of course they are gonna be unhappy. If Blizzard wants to change Blizzcon they should tell the audience that "Blizzcon 2018 is focused on mobile" before they buy the tickets. Don't suddenly change the theme and expect a good reaction
      - happytoexplain 8y ago
        You're making a point that keeps being brought up about expectations, which is valid and I get it, but I think the point was not that people should not rightfully criticize Blizzard for that, but rather that the absolute outrage seems ridiculous. This sort of over-the-top accusative outrage is a sad fixture in modern culture, but it seems bizarrely more common in video game news than elsewhere.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- chongli 8y ago
  Besides some potential for gambling addiction (about which state lotteries are a far more important target for your ire if that is your concern), mobile games produce no externalities whatsoever. I don't think it's fair to claim that. Lotteries have been around a lot longer and gambling addiction has had a lot more time to be studied. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if mobile games turn out to be as bad or worse than lotteries. The sheer amount of effort into creating addictive game mechanics and leveraging of statistical methods, such as A/B testing, puts traditional casinos and state lotteries to shame. Having said all that, you don't have to look very far to see some alarming articles about the effects these products have on young children [1]. [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/26/style/phones-children-silicon-valley.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/26/style/phones-children-sil...
- ggregoire 8y ago
  > I continue to be completely mystified with the concept of outrage about video games. What about the concept of outrage about programming languages, frameworks, web browsers, operating systems, laptops, phones, open source? I guess 99.9% of the population would be mystified with the outrages that we can see on Hacker News. - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17221527 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17221527 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17413572 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17413572 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15940144 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15940144 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18052923 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18052923 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17927972 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17927972 (just few recent examples, the list could go on)
  - pcwalton 8y ago
    I think a lot of people have overly strong opinions on things like programming languages and web browsers as well.
  - thomasz 8y ago
    The comments in these links are downright tame compared to r/diablo right now, while the stakes are way higher. The decisions of tech giants like Google, Microsoft and Apple have real, tangible impacts on our careers. Diablo is just a goddamn video game.
    - pcwalton 8y ago
      > The decisions of tech giants like Google, Microsoft and Apple have real, tangible impacts on our careers. Not only that, they have an impact on democracy. The importance of FB, AMZN, AAPL, GOOG, and MSFT to society has never been higher. The relevance of ATVI to anything important is, to a first approximation, zero.
      - jakebasile 8y ago
        Again, you're essentially saying that because games aren't something you care about that it's wrong for anyone to care deeply about them.
- bassman9000 8y ago
  > If you don't like it, you are free not to play it And Blizzard is free not to listen to the otherwise more than justified response. And when they have to close because all the fanbase has moved on, and we get thousands of tweets about how great the developers working there were, and how sad it is they don't have a job any more, we'll be free to ignore them.
fishtank 8y ago
What injustice has been dealt to the subset of "the players" who are outraged about this?
- sharpneli 8y ago
  They paid hundreds of dollars to go to an event that traditionally has had pc announcements. Then without warning the event was changed. I already used the concert analogy but it’s good. If your rap music concert suddenly switches into techno the audience may be angry without being entitled edgelords. It’s about knowing your audience. And most importantly communicating it.
- swdunlop 8y ago
  Mostly disappointment after hyping themselves up for a PC sequel to Diablo. I am not outraged, but just cynical: From the article: "it’s a fully fledged Diablo experience on mobile, which everybody will get to play, and hopefully, which will bring new heroes to Sanctuary as well as welcoming our community back into it and something we’re very excited about." Blizzard has simplified their games to grow their customer base, such as the Cataclysm expansion to World of Warcraft. These simplifications have not been well received by the existing players. My reaction to Diablo Immortal is skepticism about how much crunch there will be. Diablo 3 was not terribly interesting for me after you got past the first few playthroughs, compared to Diablo 2 or more modern ARPGs like Path of Exile. It's not really anger, it's disappointment; if Immortal turns out to be a great game, I'll happily buy it. The noises Blizzard are hearing from the fans are basically a reminder that they have lost customers when trying to get new ones.
malvosenior 8y ago
The vitriol expressed by the gaming press against fans far exceeds the gamers anger. Gamers: "Is this a joke? We don't want mobile Diablo" Game Press: "Gamers are whiny, entitled, toxic babies" You can see it here for yourself: https://i.redd.it/6mgpttba94w11.jpg https://i.redd.it/6mgpttba94w11.jpg It's been this way for a long time and was the reason Gamergate became a thing (see "Gamers are Dead"). The worst part is that because the journalists in the game industry are friends with the journalists in the mainstream media, their take on "toxic" gamers gets spread beyond the industry and their own actions never get called out aside from grassroots movements. In the end, people who don't have time to research the topic themselves, believe the narrative they're told thus empowering the journalists to continue to attack their audience.
- pcwalton 8y ago
  "GamerGate" was "a thing" because of disgusting, and deeply held, misogyny within the gaming community. The reason why every legitimate press outlet covered "GamerGate" from the standpoint of a harassment campaign against women is because that is precisely what it was.
  - malvosenior 8y ago
    As I said: "In the end, people who don't have time to research the topic themselves, believe the narrative they're told thus empowering the journalists to continue to attack their audience."
    - manicdee 8y ago
      Perhaps you need to research the topic yourself.
      - malvosenior 8y ago
        I've been following it for a long time. Just as in this situation, the journalists created Gamergate by attacking their audience in a coordinated fashion.
erik_landerholm 8y ago
Or...people could chill out and realize it doesn’t matter...like at all.
- thinkingemote 8y ago
  That would also apply to the company and the media alike
creddit 8y ago
So while I agree the Twitter post about toxic masculinity is both a HUGELY weird leap and a further sign of the times, Kotaku's take on the situation seems (at least the quoted bit, I didn't read the whole article) a perfectly reasonable and even the "proper" take on the situation. Perhaps barring the "video game culture enables entitlement" bit. It's a shame watching the quite literal rage that has come about from a company announcing a product decision that wasn't the one that some portion, however large, of the community wanted. Assuming Kotaku is correct and there is still a new Diablo separate from this in the works, then it's a societal disgrace to watch grown adults raging out over a mobile game being announced ESPECIALLY in the context of the game that they actually want is ALSO in the works. I find it odd that you demand some sort of standard from the game journalism community but find no need to expect a reasonable standard from the gamer community.
- slothtrop 8y ago
  > some portion, however large The largest, from what I gather. Speaking as a non-fan, it was an egregious mistake to announce it at a conference geared toward hardcore Diablo consumers. This is conspicuously glossed over in social media commentary: had they announced it online in business-as-usual fashion no one would care. Instead we're directed to shame fans about not collectively giving a fuck about mediocre cash grabs.
- BoiledCabbage 8y ago
  It truly is the bratty self-centered rage that's incredible to witness. "Hey, we're working on the game you want. In the mean time here's another game for different users." "Noooooo! I've been betrayed! This is the ultimate insult!!!!" And as much as people don't want to admit it, gamergate was the same thing. I've spent a lot of time gaming in my past, but there's something unhealthy floating around here. If you saw this own behavior in your own son or daughter you'd recognize it instantly. And now to take this one step too far, to where I'll get negative responses: It's almost as if the hundreds of hours spent in online cultures where flaming vitriol is spewed at the smallest slight has developed a subculture where (obviously not all) but a significant group of people can't handle when things slightly deviate from their wants. It's funny, but I'm reminded of Willy Wonka's factory tour.
sharpneli 8y ago
It was a massive gaffe by Blizzard almost perfectly designed to cause an outrage which the gaming press can then use to bash gamers. Compare this to Fallout Shelter. No-one minded as it was not made to be the prime of a show, especially one not focused on mobile gaming. Even announcing it before wc3 remastered would have produced way less outrage. It’s like having a classical music festival suddenly change into heavy rock and then whining about how the audience is entitled. There is nothing wrong with either music style. It’s just the sudden switch from what the audience expected that’s jarring.
- WalterSear 8y ago
  More like a classical music festival featuring Yanni.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
anothergoogler 8y ago
Talk about bad writing! I guess you need to write things like "molten vitriol" to get your point across when every sentence is hyberbolic. Some journalists need to learn that turning it to 11 isn't a legitimate approach outside of tabloids. Maybe Kotaku is a tabloid though.
- manicdee 8y ago
  Go read the comments on the Diablo Immortal gameplay trailer on YouTube. Tell me that's not molten vitriol.
BadassFractal 8y ago
> Gaming journalism is just terrible trash Any publications out there that might be an exception?
- jakebasile 8y ago
  I get my gaming news from the community via Reddit, Twitch, and direct from the developers on Twitter et al. now. I know these too can be manipulated but in general I'm talked down to far less by these sources than by the gaming press at large. That said, Niche Gamer is alright if you don't mind seeing a lot of anime in their articles. I don't care for anime games as a rule but it doesn't offend me either.
forgottenpass 8y ago
I expect randos on the internet to act like trash (if for no other reason, a chunk of the people acting like 12 year olds really are 12). I don't understand why the response from people that should know better is to act surprised at them, and feel justified in stooping to such low levels and pettiness themselves. Well, I guess I can make guesses as to the "why," but none of them are answers that would let me sleep well at night if I were the one doing it. Maybe the sleep deprivation is why they're so cranky.

by bdz 8y ago

pcwalton 8y ago

> And people wonder how the hell do they get away with p2w and gambling mechanics in games. Because that business model is profitable, and entertainment is a business like any other. If you don't like it, you are free not to play it. Besides some potential for gambling addiction (about which state lotteries are a far more important target for your ire if that is your concern), mobile games produce no externalities whatsoever. I continue to be completely mystified with the concept of outrage about video games. If you want to be outraged about corporate behavior, there are a multitude of examples of corporate malfeasance with actual negative externalities, such as the coal industry's contribution to climate change.

jakebasile 8y ago
You're mystified by it because you probably aren't a dedicated gamer. To lots of people, including myself, gaming is a huge part of their identity and lifestyle. It's a hobby like any other such as repairing old cars, painting, craft beer, etc. The "but climate change" is just whataboutism because gaming isn't important to you, so why aren't people paying more attention to what is important to you. edit to clarify: This may sound a little hostile but it isn't intended as such. I'm just explaining that some people really do care about this stuff just as you really care about your own hobbies or pet cause.
- darpa_escapee 8y ago
  As someone who self-exiled from the gaming community, there are also people within the community, including journalists, who beat on the war drums in order to rile up gamers. For the last ~4 years, everything from game reviews that gamers disagreed with, to character stencils, have been positioned as the worst things to ever happen to gaming. Some in the community liken it to actual discrimination against gamers.
- BoiledCabbage 8y ago
  > It's a hobby like any other such as repairing old cars, painting, craft beer, etc. And yet you don't see people who follow those hobbies throwing an absolute fit like gamers are now doing continuously.
  - jakebasile 8y ago
    A big part of that is comparative population size, and the general "connectedness" of the fanbases. All online communities are trending worse and worse, and gaming is not unaffected.
    - thomasz 8y ago
      I double dare anybody to show me an even remotely comparable example of people getting so angry about fishing gear or woodworking tools.
  - 8y ago
malvosenior 8y ago
> I continue to be completely mystified with the concept of outrage about video games. People are always going to be upset when something they're passionate about gets ruined. Being continuously attacked by the game press also sets up the whole conversation to be very hostile. The internet is great for consumer rights. Consumers hold all of the cards and corporations are there to serve them. I don't think anyone should be feeling sorry for companies will multi billion dollar marketcaps or mainstream press. They are not ever going to be the victim.
kowdermeister 8y ago
This is all fine, but I help demystify the problem here. They marketed the new game to a completely detached audience as the highlight of the event. And when real questions came in, like "maybe a PC version comes later?" The reaction is: "You guys not have phones?"[1] I can see people snapping to rage mode. And then the gaming 'media' calls theys guys out as assholes, which really shows how strings are really pulled behind the curtains. [1]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqjVdPtB9lU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqjVdPtB9lU
- Buldak 8y ago
  So the complaint is just that Blizzard should have framed their announcement differently? The project is fine, but just don't present it at Blizzcon? That seems so feeble to me, and the sort of criticism you get when fans can't reconcile their displeasure with the understanding that Blizzard is rational to pursue the mobile gaming market this way. As for "You guys not have phones?", that was obviously a bad look, but seeing as it was an off-the-cuff remark in an awkward exchange, I'm not inclined to hold it against the speaker.
  - sharpneli 8y ago
    >The project is fine, but just don't present it at Blizzcon? Precisely this. It's not that feeble because you must remember what Blizzcon is. Know your audience. Blizzcon audience has paid $199 to get in. They are quite hard core PC gamers. If your main show for them is something they are not interested of course they are gonna be unhappy. If Blizzard wants to change Blizzcon they should tell the audience that "Blizzcon 2018 is focused on mobile" before they buy the tickets. Don't suddenly change the theme and expect a good reaction
    - happytoexplain 8y ago
      You're making a point that keeps being brought up about expectations, which is valid and I get it, but I think the point was not that people should not rightfully criticize Blizzard for that, but rather that the absolute outrage seems ridiculous. This sort of over-the-top accusative outrage is a sad fixture in modern culture, but it seems bizarrely more common in video game news than elsewhere.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
chongli 8y ago
Besides some potential for gambling addiction (about which state lotteries are a far more important target for your ire if that is your concern), mobile games produce no externalities whatsoever. I don't think it's fair to claim that. Lotteries have been around a lot longer and gambling addiction has had a lot more time to be studied. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if mobile games turn out to be as bad or worse than lotteries. The sheer amount of effort into creating addictive game mechanics and leveraging of statistical methods, such as A/B testing, puts traditional casinos and state lotteries to shame. Having said all that, you don't have to look very far to see some alarming articles about the effects these products have on young children [1]. [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/26/style/phones-children-silicon-valley.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/26/style/phones-children-sil...
ggregoire 8y ago
> I continue to be completely mystified with the concept of outrage about video games. What about the concept of outrage about programming languages, frameworks, web browsers, operating systems, laptops, phones, open source? I guess 99.9% of the population would be mystified with the outrages that we can see on Hacker News. - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17221527 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17221527 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17413572 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17413572 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15940144 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15940144 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18052923 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18052923 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17927972 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17927972 (just few recent examples, the list could go on)
- pcwalton 8y ago
  I think a lot of people have overly strong opinions on things like programming languages and web browsers as well.
- thomasz 8y ago
  The comments in these links are downright tame compared to r/diablo right now, while the stakes are way higher. The decisions of tech giants like Google, Microsoft and Apple have real, tangible impacts on our careers. Diablo is just a goddamn video game.
  - pcwalton 8y ago
    > The decisions of tech giants like Google, Microsoft and Apple have real, tangible impacts on our careers. Not only that, they have an impact on democracy. The importance of FB, AMZN, AAPL, GOOG, and MSFT to society has never been higher. The relevance of ATVI to anything important is, to a first approximation, zero.
    - jakebasile 8y ago
      Again, you're essentially saying that because games aren't something you care about that it's wrong for anyone to care deeply about them.
bassman9000 8y ago
> If you don't like it, you are free not to play it And Blizzard is free not to listen to the otherwise more than justified response. And when they have to close because all the fanbase has moved on, and we get thousands of tweets about how great the developers working there were, and how sad it is they don't have a job any more, we'll be free to ignore them.

fishtank 8y ago

What injustice has been dealt to the subset of "the players" who are outraged about this?

sharpneli 8y ago
They paid hundreds of dollars to go to an event that traditionally has had pc announcements. Then without warning the event was changed. I already used the concert analogy but it’s good. If your rap music concert suddenly switches into techno the audience may be angry without being entitled edgelords. It’s about knowing your audience. And most importantly communicating it.
swdunlop 8y ago
Mostly disappointment after hyping themselves up for a PC sequel to Diablo. I am not outraged, but just cynical: From the article: "it’s a fully fledged Diablo experience on mobile, which everybody will get to play, and hopefully, which will bring new heroes to Sanctuary as well as welcoming our community back into it and something we’re very excited about." Blizzard has simplified their games to grow their customer base, such as the Cataclysm expansion to World of Warcraft. These simplifications have not been well received by the existing players. My reaction to Diablo Immortal is skepticism about how much crunch there will be. Diablo 3 was not terribly interesting for me after you got past the first few playthroughs, compared to Diablo 2 or more modern ARPGs like Path of Exile. It's not really anger, it's disappointment; if Immortal turns out to be a great game, I'll happily buy it. The noises Blizzard are hearing from the fans are basically a reminder that they have lost customers when trying to get new ones.

malvosenior 8y ago

The vitriol expressed by the gaming press against fans far exceeds the gamers anger. Gamers: "Is this a joke? We don't want mobile Diablo" Game Press: "Gamers are whiny, entitled, toxic babies" You can see it here for yourself: https://i.redd.it/6mgpttba94w11.jpg https://i.redd.it/6mgpttba94w11.jpg It's been this way for a long time and was the reason Gamergate became a thing (see "Gamers are Dead"). The worst part is that because the journalists in the game industry are friends with the journalists in the mainstream media, their take on "toxic" gamers gets spread beyond the industry and their own actions never get called out aside from grassroots movements. In the end, people who don't have time to research the topic themselves, believe the narrative they're told thus empowering the journalists to continue to attack their audience.

pcwalton 8y ago
"GamerGate" was "a thing" because of disgusting, and deeply held, misogyny within the gaming community. The reason why every legitimate press outlet covered "GamerGate" from the standpoint of a harassment campaign against women is because that is precisely what it was.
- malvosenior 8y ago
  As I said: "In the end, people who don't have time to research the topic themselves, believe the narrative they're told thus empowering the journalists to continue to attack their audience."
  - manicdee 8y ago
    Perhaps you need to research the topic yourself.
    - malvosenior 8y ago
      I've been following it for a long time. Just as in this situation, the journalists created Gamergate by attacking their audience in a coordinated fashion.

erik_landerholm 8y ago

Or...people could chill out and realize it doesn’t matter...like at all.

thinkingemote 8y ago
That would also apply to the company and the media alike

creddit 8y ago

So while I agree the Twitter post about toxic masculinity is both a HUGELY weird leap and a further sign of the times, Kotaku's take on the situation seems (at least the quoted bit, I didn't read the whole article) a perfectly reasonable and even the "proper" take on the situation. Perhaps barring the "video game culture enables entitlement" bit. It's a shame watching the quite literal rage that has come about from a company announcing a product decision that wasn't the one that some portion, however large, of the community wanted. Assuming Kotaku is correct and there is still a new Diablo separate from this in the works, then it's a societal disgrace to watch grown adults raging out over a mobile game being announced ESPECIALLY in the context of the game that they actually want is ALSO in the works. I find it odd that you demand some sort of standard from the game journalism community but find no need to expect a reasonable standard from the gamer community.

slothtrop 8y ago
> some portion, however large The largest, from what I gather. Speaking as a non-fan, it was an egregious mistake to announce it at a conference geared toward hardcore Diablo consumers. This is conspicuously glossed over in social media commentary: had they announced it online in business-as-usual fashion no one would care. Instead we're directed to shame fans about not collectively giving a fuck about mediocre cash grabs.
BoiledCabbage 8y ago
It truly is the bratty self-centered rage that's incredible to witness. "Hey, we're working on the game you want. In the mean time here's another game for different users." "Noooooo! I've been betrayed! This is the ultimate insult!!!!" And as much as people don't want to admit it, gamergate was the same thing. I've spent a lot of time gaming in my past, but there's something unhealthy floating around here. If you saw this own behavior in your own son or daughter you'd recognize it instantly. And now to take this one step too far, to where I'll get negative responses: It's almost as if the hundreds of hours spent in online cultures where flaming vitriol is spewed at the smallest slight has developed a subculture where (obviously not all) but a significant group of people can't handle when things slightly deviate from their wants. It's funny, but I'm reminded of Willy Wonka's factory tour.

sharpneli 8y ago

It was a massive gaffe by Blizzard almost perfectly designed to cause an outrage which the gaming press can then use to bash gamers. Compare this to Fallout Shelter. No-one minded as it was not made to be the prime of a show, especially one not focused on mobile gaming. Even announcing it before wc3 remastered would have produced way less outrage. It’s like having a classical music festival suddenly change into heavy rock and then whining about how the audience is entitled. There is nothing wrong with either music style. It’s just the sudden switch from what the audience expected that’s jarring.

WalterSear 8y ago
More like a classical music festival featuring Yanni.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]

anothergoogler 8y ago

Talk about bad writing! I guess you need to write things like "molten vitriol" to get your point across when every sentence is hyberbolic. Some journalists need to learn that turning it to 11 isn't a legitimate approach outside of tabloids. Maybe Kotaku is a tabloid though.

manicdee 8y ago
Go read the comments on the Diablo Immortal gameplay trailer on YouTube. Tell me that's not molten vitriol.

BadassFractal 8y ago

> Gaming journalism is just terrible trash Any publications out there that might be an exception?

jakebasile 8y ago
I get my gaming news from the community via Reddit, Twitch, and direct from the developers on Twitter et al. now. I know these too can be manipulated but in general I'm talked down to far less by these sources than by the gaming press at large. That said, Niche Gamer is alright if you don't mind seeing a lot of anime in their articles. I don't care for anime games as a rule but it doesn't offend me either.

forgottenpass 8y ago

I expect randos on the internet to act like trash (if for no other reason, a chunk of the people acting like 12 year olds really are 12). I don't understand why the response from people that should know better is to act surprised at them, and feel justified in stooping to such low levels and pettiness themselves. Well, I guess I can make guesses as to the "why," but none of them are answers that would let me sleep well at night if I were the one doing it. Maybe the sleep deprivation is why they're so cranky.