Greg MillerKonto zweryfikowane

If I've learned one thing covering games for 12 years, it's that nothing's simple. Creating the suit wasn't simple. Getting it to work wasn't simple. Making sure it didn't break the game wasn't simple. Getting Sony/Marvel/etc. approvals wasn't simple. This took forever.

So, now, put yourself in Insom's shoes. You're working on this thing you know people want, you're excited to give it to them, but contracts and red tape keep you from even being able to TEASE that you're doing it. You're close, but you still can't say anything. Excitement!

You put out DLC 1 and its suits, and people are stoked but asking about Rami. DLC 2 comes out and people are happy but there are more Rami comments and they're just assuming it'll be in DLC 3.

So you announce the suits for DLC 3, and the vocal minority implodes. They're screaming at you for not doing the thing you're actually doing. They're shitposting that you don't listen and don't care about the fans. They're forgetting the HOURS of enjoyment they got from your art.

Meanwhile at Insom, you have a team only hearing that they suck. Bad comments drown out good ones, and the angry people are the only ones talking. The team is hearing that they suck when they've been busting their ass trying their goddamn hardest on this project for years.

And again, the vocal minority don't represent the OVERWHELMING majority of players who loved the game, but when any of love something, our natural instinct isn't to Tweet about it. We smile and go about out lives. Anger leads us all to venting. (Like this thread.)

So Insom keeps working on the suit or at least on building to today's announcement, but think about how bittersweet that is for them. They were probably so happy to get this suit in the game originally, but then the storm came.

They're not dumb over there. They knew that some people would look at this as a "we won" moment for trolling, but what's the alternative? Not release the suit? Waste all that hard work, screw over the silent majority that appreciated the work and never had an unkind word to say?

No, you put out the suit and hope people understand that this wasn't a knee-jerk reaction thrown together in a week. And you take a deep breath and know that in six months, this'll be a "Man, can you believe it got so crazy" story with colleagues. But folks, that's not enough.

I've been saying "be better to each other" for a long time. Many of you have taken it to heart, and I thank you for that, but today's the message is a bit more proactive: The silent majority has to get off the bench.

Every day, tell someone who brings joy to your life that you love their work. To close out the year, hit up every creator you dug in 2018. When you see HATE on the Internet and want to RAGE back, mute the jerk and send LOVE to the person/dev/etc they were attacking.