The world is a sick, broken place. What has the human race distilled to when a person can have their very safety threatened for putting their creative work out there into the public? Granted, people have their opinions of Phil Fish being a jerk, but this isn't an isolated incident. It happens in Hollywood, to celebrities and practically all developers in the game industry at one point. What has the gaming community come to when changing the fire time on a gun within a video game by 0.02 seconds leads to comments like "David Vonderhaar watch your back, the moment I see you at a CoD convention your dead. Fuck treyarch." or "I will skin your wife alive and have sex with her fleshless body. I will then wear her flesh and make you pay."
This is not okay! When did the gaming community be less about community and more about abuse? This kind of behavior is sick, regardless if these 'trolls' are 'just joking'. This kind of shit is not funny. It's abominable. It's disturbed. Just because your saying this in virtual space does not mean your not hurting someone REAL. It doesn't make it any less illegal to threaten and harass people like this. Why does this seem justified to the people who spew these threats? Is the human race than mentally ill?
I'd like to bring your attention to an amazing article written by Penny Arcade which articulates the whole situation well.
I hate to bring something so irksome onto the blog, but this is a serious problem in our community. As gamers and as people. I implore you all take a little time to really think about how your words effect people before you send them out there and find a little empathy.
