The Gamers Arms

Wow, I've gone from 'I've never heard of this game' to 'I don't care about this game' to 'holy shit these guys are actually terrible people' in record time.

Their responses to people on the Discord are disgraceful:

https://steamcommunity.com/app/593150/d ... 838956697/

https://steamcommunity.com/app/593150/d ... 840512250/

Have to wonder about the validity of the final image on that second link because this is the internet after all, but the response is awful.

They're not particularly smart are they. Goodwill and post-Epic sales for both this title and future games will likely be hit by their attitude. Why burn all your bridges with the community just for a single pay off from Epic? It can't be substantial enough to account for all the PR damage they're causing themselves.

This is not the first time I've seen a small dev ruin their reputation because they don't know how to handle negative press. That this is to do with Epic exclusivity is largely irrelevant. Responding to individual negative comments is generally a bad idea in my experience. In this case I suspect that they're used to replying individually to their followers because they have a small community, but trying to reason with angry people on an individual basis just leads to frustration.

Take it from someone who works for a company that isn't especially well liked; constantly having to defend something is time consuming and extremely tiring, and it inevitably leads to irritation and, if it continues, outbursts like those because of that irritation.

For Honor and Alan Wake are now free...

https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/c ... collection

GNOG is next up on August 8th...

https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/product/gnog/home

The Ooblets guy has posted on Medium.

I still think his initial post was very badly considered, and it seemed designed to annoy some people and poke the bear. Still, the amount of abuse they've got is atrocious. Complain about the decision, sure, but who could seriously think that death and assault threats were even close to human?

It would have been nice if he had addressed some of the more genuine and measured responses though. Overall, I still think he comes across as a bit of a dick and I won't be buying their game at all, but I certainly have sympathy for them about the torrents of abuse.

I have sympathy as far as nobody should ever receive that sort of abuse, regardless of what they've done, but this is par for the course for the Internet isn't it. I'm in no way suggesting that the Ooblet people asked for this, but it's just depressing how frequently it happens. I do sometimes wonder whether the Internet would be a better place if there was no near-guarantee of anonymity; that your actions on one site could be traced to your account on others, but I get the feeling it would just end up being some Orwell-esque dystopia.

The whole thing has followed the usual depressing pattern. Now that they have received abuse, which is totally out of order, they can just ignore all the measured responses and well meaning arguments about the move under the guise that it's just trolls saying it and also gloss over the fact that they were being dicks about it. The media has helped as they continue to give a totally free pass to anything surround the Epic store.

Much like most arguments on the internet because trolls are involved it has allowed Epic and it's supporters to just ignore any criticism about the store and deflect away from it's shortcomings. It's probably why Sweeney continues to act like a troll on Twitter, he knows that if he can rile people up then the media will continue to give Epic the support they need.

DjchunKfunK wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 07, 2019 8:48 am

The whole thing has followed the usual depressing pattern. Now that they have received abuse, which is totally out of order, they can just ignore all the measured responses and well meaning arguments about the move under the guise that it's just trolls saying it and also gloss over the fact that they were being dicks about it. The media has helped as they continue to give a totally free pass to anything surround the Epic store.

Much like most arguments on the internet because trolls are involved it has allowed Epic and it's supporters to just ignore any criticism about the store and deflect away from it's shortcomings. It's probably why Sweeney continues to act like a troll on Twitter, he knows that if he can rile people up then the media will continue to give Epic the support they need.

Yes, this part was particularly glaring for me as well. All the news sites I read pieces about this on basically covered it from the angle of 'developer of quirky indie game posts humorous, quirky announcement, which gets a totally and disproportionately out of order response from nowhere because gamers are toxic, entitled dicks'.

In any of the mainstream gaming media's coverage of EGS I've never once got the impression there's any kind of objectivity regarding Epic's practices or their negative impact on the PC gaming landscape, which I find just baffling. It's barely even acknowledged, most seem to peddle the line of 'it's free, why don't you just make an account if you want the game, weirdo'.

Sly Boots wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 07, 2019 8:56 am

It's barely even acknowledged, most seem to peddle the line of 'it's free, why don't you just make an account if you want the game, weirdo'.

This is the thing that ruffles my feathers. If you give someone your data, even if there's no money involved, it's not free. You've given them something, even if it's just another usage stat they can cite. And in the case of Epic they have done nothing to earn my trust that they will use my data safely and responsibly, so they're not getting it.

Unfortunately it's easier and attracts more clicks for the media to pick out the trolls rather than stick up for consumers as a whole, many of which have perfectly valid criticisms and concerns. Abusive tards online ruin it for all of us because sites can easily take a few of their comments and run with an article about the "entitled gamer community".

I haven't downloaded the Epic Store yet because I don't trust them with my credit card information.

Eurogamer's take on the developer statement about the abuse they've received.

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2019 ... game-drama

Aside from reporting the developer's statement they don't really add much in terms of editorialising what happened. It does feel like the worst of the abuse has just obscured all the genuine concerns over what has happened in this case, and still no real reporting on some of the really poor posts and comms from the devs that poured petrol on the situation.

GNOG is now free...

https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/product/gnog/home

Hyper Light Drifter and Mutant Year Zero are next up on August 15th...

https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/c ... collection

Those are some tasty games for next week.