i really hope posters like that are a minority. i hope you'll give moderation a chance to action posters like that before you deactivate your account. i would hate for this forum to chase away yet another industry person with stupid Gamer Rage :/ i mean you must do what you think is best for your own peace of mind and career. i guess i just want to express support and that i think the way people treated you in this thread is really saddening
Lol seriously get out while you can. The amount of hate this forum has delved into is sickening. Seriously, Era is like the most toxic, negative gaming site I've been a part of.
Just wanted to follow-up with the same. It's always interesting seeing a dev tag chime in since y'all are the one's most involved. It's just extra shitty over a game demonstrably being overhated.
It'll be a shame to see you go and I'd wish you'd stay but understandable if you're just sick of it. The site is an absolute toxic hellhole about this game for some reason and its embarrassing.
I wish you wouldn't. Your presence is appreciated and not just as a person working in the industry, but as a generally thoughtful poster.
I genuinely appreciate all the kind words and support. And I really appreciate the mods and admins work on the forum. I know they all do their best.
Regardless, I am still considering it. Me possibly losing food on the table and a roof over my head for stating heartfelt opinions is not a great trade off. Doxxing is a real thing I have dealt with a lot.
This may be going into too much detail but I have been in the industry for over a decade now. I enjoy my job very much despite regularly not being able to go see family, because I believe if I can do for one person what Kingdom Hearts did for me when I was 11 during a time my parents were going through a messy divorce... it would be worth it. Games have the ability to transform and even save people, because it saved me.
I worked on a lot of games in my time in the industry. A lot. I can take criticism because, and this should be shocking to no one, every game gets criticized. Its a part of the job to take that criticism, even if the person wishes the worst on you, you take it as valid criticism.
Despite working on games many have expressed is their favorite game of all time, ever since working on FFXV I have received near constant passive-aggressiveness, harassment, and even death threats. What I find most interesting is those that send me harassment and death threats for FFXV, on their online presence talk about other games I worked on being the best game ever and wish the devs all the praise and good fortune in their lives and careers. Its wild.
Games are extremely hard to make and are extremely taxing on us. We want people to have the best experience when people play our games. I have never worked for a single dev that wants to "scam" people out of their money, and every single one thinks about the players experience. Your enjoyment matters to us. If you are not having fun on any game I have worked on I am personally sorry you feel that way. Please know any game myself or any of my colleagues have worked on we put everything into it.
That said it is always extremely disheartening when people take the least charitable approach for why a dev who DID NOT WORK ON THE GAME wants to see the full product before making any criticisms and doesn't want to give credence to the dog whistles this game in particular brings out of people.
And for reference, yes, harassment and death threats do get to us. A lot. Some of us go to therapy because of it. When we released Final Fantasy XV I was so proud of the team and game. I never thought when working on it I would be inundated for YEARS with harassment and death threats and questions about if I even deserved to have a job in the industry. The only thing that got me through those years is my family/friends and a reddit post I actually have printed out from someone stating how the game changed their life and made them rethink life choices and how they are now going back to school and reconnected with family.
That is why I make games. Because they can have a profound effect like that. And that post I read every time I have a hard day or get another death threat. It gets me through and want to work hard for the people who do care and the future people I can impact positively.
Sorry this is long and ramble-y and has very little to do with Forspoken. But that is the reason the posts earlier made me not feel welcome and unsafe. I hope everyone can be measured when talking about Forspoken criticisms going forward.
And for those quoted thanks for the support. I am still going to think on it and likely still deactivate.
As for the mods and admins, thank you for all your hard work and efforts.
Happy gaming everyone...
