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Majority of developers see player harassment as a serious issue, survey suggests

IbizaPocholo

NeoGAFs Kent Brockman

As noted by Axios, the poll was organized by the Game Developers Conference and its affiliate publication Game Developer, and surveyed some 2,300 game developers from around the world.

91% of respondents agreed that player harassment and toxicity toward developers was an issue in the industry. About 4% of respondents said it was not an issue, while 5% indicated they were unsure.

Around 40% of those surveyed said they’d experienced harassment from players themselves or seen it happen to someone on their team.

Those working in community management, marketing, or PR reported experiencing or witnessing harassment more than those in other roles.

Men surveyed were less likely to say they experienced or witnessed harassment than women or non-binary people, and those who identified as part of the LGBTQ+ community were more likely to say they experienced or witnessed harassment.
 
I'd assume that men overall get the same amount of hate and actual threats, but are just less sensitive about being called whatever. This is a survey and not an actual statistic who reported what how often. I'd guess though that among the serious threats, finding personal address and such, was probably more often targeted at the minorities.
Once the over the top hate crowd knows what you are sensitive about they of course will target exactly that and the people falling in those groups. So it's hardly surprising that they feel more h(a)unted.
The probable victims get told and educated that they likely will become victims and are then of course easy to trigger. Practically no one cared about alphabet people before they whined about inclusion and wanted to be in the spotlight. Of course there is especially for them push back when they want to take over succesful shit instead of just doing their own.
 
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Solution: Tyler the Creator.jpg

Presumably these people grew up on 00s era internet. What happened to them?

Not talking about any real life harassment ofc.
 

RoboFu

One of the green rats
Lol what else are they going to say?

It’s like asking a restaurant owners if they think starving people is bad.
 
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UnNamed

Banned
This happen when studios give too much power to idiots just because idiots are those who give them money.

I'm always baffled by how developers with a strong relation with their audience are the most affected.

Meanwhile Nintendo: "Fuck you, you'll never receive a proper online chat, and just be glad we give you these 35yo game as gift, and our next system will be as powerful as a microwave"
Gamers:"We adore you Nintendo!"
 
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Drizzlehell

Banned
This happen when studios give too much power to idiots just because idiots are those who give them money.

I'm always baffled by how developers with a strong relation with their audience are the most affected.

Meanwhile Nintendo: "Fuck you, you'll never receive a proper online chat, and just be glad we give you these 35yo game as gift, and our next system will be as powerful as a microwave"
Gamers:"We adore you Nintendo!"
Nintendo has their shit unlocked. They basically trigger Stockholm syndromes among their fanbase.
 
I remember when Atari 2600 didn't put developer names anywhere on the cart or game. Sounds like we need to go back to those days.
 
They arass us with their shit, feld promesses, half finish games at 80€ with loot boxes… but i guess that’ s okey !

anigif_enhanced-1646-1451946163-2.gif
 
  • Praise the Sun
Reactions: Fuz

Saber

Gold Member
Yeah yeah...

Call players for harassment and the next day they will be doing survey to players "could you please helps us getting better pretty please?"
 
I don't even know what they mean by player harassment. The only harassment I experience is stupid in game currencies and launching games incomplete or needing patching.
 
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KungFucius

King Snowflake
Now make the survey asking players.
What the fuck is that supposed to mean? I mean seriously why would anyone with a clue about anything think this is a reasonable ask? A survey shows people feel harassed by people online, put out a survey to ask if people harass people? Or do you want people who are butthurt when a trans character in a game to cry about how much they feel harassed by it as if that fucking matters?
 
I guess we all forgot how to use the mute button, huh? Anytime someone is being a toxic asshole to me, I mute them, problem solved.


EDIT: Nvm, I just saw it was about the developers.
 
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Kimahri

Banned
They need to grow a backbone and take the bad with the good.
When they make a great game, gamers praise them to high heaven. When they make a shit game, they get trashed, or when devs do scummy practices, they get trashed, rightly so.
This is impressively wrong.

Take the bad with the good. Come on now, the amount of ludicrous bullshit idiots throw at devs is not something they should just take.

Even when you make great games there's a bunch of whiny little shits who'll make a stink about something because who the fucks knows, maybe they're just so miserable they can't feel any joy unless they make someone else miserable.
 

Fake

Member
What the fuck is that supposed to mean?

Just a little of reality to your mind. This survey englobe both real threat (dead threat, bad word and harassing) with valid critics.

AKA, generalization. And just by your post temperament, pretty much the article baited you.

Making people fight with each other over the internet, between people that still want valid critics and the others bashing one another because 'bruh, so you defend death threats'.

Same old shit, different day. Wanna a taste? Go to the Battlefield 2042 reddit and see for yourself.
edit: Here, let me help you.
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What people get from media?
b45rscofzba81.jpg
 
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The_Mike

I cry about SonyGaf from my chair in Redmond, WA
This happen when studios give too much power to idiots just because idiots are those who give them money.

I'm always baffled by how developers with a strong relation with their audience are the most affected.

Meanwhile Nintendo: "Fuck you, you'll never receive a proper online chat, and just be glad we give you these 35yo game as gift, and our next system will be as powerful as a microwave"
Gamers:"We adore you Nintendo!"
Thank you for your contribution to show OPs statement is real.
 

SmokedMeat

Gamer™
Being on Twitter is a mistake. If you’re a developer the last thing you should do, is interact with the wackos on social media.
 

TonyK

Member
Sadly, I need to agree. I work in the industry and it's very hard to read some comments. I don't know how community managers can do their work, it will destroy me.
 

01011001

Banned
they should refuse to make shitty games with microtransactions then.

AAA games get worse and worse, people get fed up with mtx and unfinished shitshows.

many of these developers actively work and therefore support morally bankrupt, manipulative and disgusting practices by helping to make products that are designed to get kids into gambling like scenarios where they get hooked by psychological manipulation and spend all their money buying worthless digital goods that were simple unlockables in older games
 
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lukilladog

Member
Devs who cannot handle being a public figure or are clueless about public perception should just avoid social media and stop being crybabies.
 
Can you blame the gamers when shit like BF2042, GTA trilogy, Cyberpunk, ... is released. The state of these 70 dollar games are a disgrace. Not to mention a lot of games are basically just reskins from previous versions with build in casinos (see FIFA games).
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
91% is absolutely insane. That means these guys are interacting with their fanbases which makes no sense because other than a few devs on twitter, i dont see any devs interacting directly with players. In fact, they hire community managers who get all of the hate from GaaS players.

ND has Neil who got a lot of hate, and the Abby actress. Nolan North never gets any hate. Amy Henning never got any hate. I am struggling to see why any of the devs who are not on twitter would worry about random online crusades they have no direct interaction with. People on twitter sure, but like 5% of the people are on twitter. 91% saw someone get harrassed? How?
 

JaksGhost

Member
Devs who cannot handle being a public figure or are clueless about public perception should just avoid social media and stop being crybabies.
But what about the gamers that are digging up Linkedin profiles and harrassing devs that have little to no social media presence?
 

Griffon

Member
There is absolutely no excuse for gamers who harass, doxx, and send treats to developers.

What the fuck is wrong with some of the snarky posts I'm reading here?! People getting that sort of hate for just making a silly video game is unacceptable.
If you don't like it just don't buy it, or get a refund, and move on with your fucking life.
 
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93xfan

Banned
It’s true. Mr X won’t stop following me in Resident Evil 2. And the Shinra corporation refuses to leave me alone.
 
Devs: "We want to use gaming as a platform to push political issues! Everything is political!"

Later...

Devs: *bitch and moan about online harassment.*

I know correlation doesn't always = causation, but in this case..... well.......
Seth Meyers Lol GIF by Late Night with Seth Meyers
 
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Crayon

Member
If you can't deal with it, you should know by now. Get a social media manager, they get paid peanuts. Or find it in yourself to abstain. It would be lovely if twitter was a kind and caring place but it's not and nothing will change that. Adapt.
 

winjer

Gold Member
In any group of people, there is always bound to be some bad apples.
And when we are talking about a group of consumers that numbers upwards of 3 billions, then the bad apples can number in a few millions.

On the other hand, too many games are being released in very poor state, some loaded with NFTs or MTX, denuvo, and all sort of bad practices.
So when studios decide to abuse gamer's trust, there is bound to be consequences.

Newzoo-2015-2023-Global-Players-1-1024x576.png
 
91% is absolutely insane. That means these guys are interacting with their fanbases which makes no sense because other than a few devs on twitter, i dont see any devs interacting directly with players. In fact, they hire community managers who get all of the hate from GaaS players.

ND has Neil who got a lot of hate, and the Abby actress. Nolan North never gets any hate. Amy Henning never got any hate. I am struggling to see why any of the devs who are not on twitter would worry about random online crusades they have no direct interaction with. People on twitter sure, but like 5% of the people are on twitter. 91% saw someone get harrassed? How?

This so freaking hard.

Other than a few notable/notorious exceptions, the vast majority of developers working in studios have no visibility to the general gaming public.

That 91% would somehow try to have us believe that rabid online hater gamers are getting the full studio employee lists somehow and going online to harass even the inturns that worked on some asset modeling over a summer placement.

I honestly think most of the women and LGBTQ+ devs complaining about harassment are largely conflating people being mean on their personal Twitter accounts (just because), with people harassing them because of what they work on professionally.

That's like a lollypop lady complaining about coordinated online harassment against lollypop ladies, just because someone called her a cunt on her personal Twitter when she was on there arguing about Harry and Megan.
 
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