Social media has given gamers the opportunity to connect with developers in a way that would have been inconceivable just a decade or two ago. Unfortunately, many have abused that opportunity, using it instead to harass others, including apex legends developer Respawn Entertainment. Earlier this month, Respawn released a statement defending its employees and pledging to “take appropriate action” against those who harass its staff members. Rapper and gamer T-Pain has now weighed in on the harassment on his own Twitter account, criticizing those who have been targeting Respawn employees.
“Brother, you need to relax. It’s a fucking game, man. Play something else if you hate it that much, bro. Get away from your PC/console if you’ve become so consumed by a game that you feel the need to threaten people.” they work hard to do it. T-Pain wrote on Twitter.
While video games spark a lot of passion in gamers, it’s important to remember that the games we love are made by real people. Game development is a difficult and time-consuming process, and burnout is a very real risk for employees. Online bullying makes these employees much less likely to want to engage with the fan community as well. Hopefully, T-Pain’s comments will provide some much-needed perspective for those who mistreat developers and their employees online.
At the end of the day, those who work on video games are in business because they have a passion for the medium and want to make games that people love. Harassment of employees will only drive people away from the video game industry, or it could talk them out of development.
apex legends It is currently available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PC and Nintendo Switch. You can check out all of our previous coverage of the game here.
Are you disappointed by the bullying issues at Respawn? Do you think developers should take more steps to protect employees? Let us know in the comments or share directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp to talk about all things gaming!
[H/T: Games Radar+]