Current Events > The hateboner against Neil Druckmann feels a bit silly

(+) Yeah! (+)

Fair enough if you don't like cinematic action games or whatever. Cool. Doesn't mean you have to hate the guy who leads the games that are typically seen as the top of that genre but still.

But there's this weird rage against this game like he's some arrogant, elitist asshole all over social media and on boards like here. Kinda feels more like tall poppy syndrome than anything actually substantial.

It's not really unique to him either. It's like when a game developer is popular for around 10 years a large vocal group of people find ways to hate them. I find the hate boner against Cliffy B weird for similar reasons although he has said some stupid stuff in the past compared to Druckmann.

No idea what your even talking about

but Neil Cuckmann sounds funny lol

You cant bite through a finger in one chomp.

for real.

all of this backlash seemingly came out because of TLoU2.

even if you think it's the worst game ever (I think it's great, though), it's still one game. a lot of developers release multiple bad games, and don't receive this kinda treatment.

besides that, he hasn't said or done anything, as far as I'm aware, to warrant these negative feelings.

Lairen posted...

You cant bite through a finger in one chomp.

what if the chompee has a calcium deficiency?

Some of the stuff I've been told he's done seems a bit questionable. Like telling his twitter followers to vote for his game for Game of the Year at the game awards to combat racism or homophobia or something.

I don't think I've ever played a game he's made so I don't really have an opinion on him. From an outsider perspective, the hate campaign against him seems completely disproportional to anything he's supposedly done.

DeadBankerDream posted...

Some of the stuff I've been told he's done seems a bit questionable. Like telling his twitter followers to vote for his game for Game of the Year at the game awards to combat racism or homophobia or something.

I'm not sure if this is the tweet you're talking about. But damn if it is it's the perfect example.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/5/1/7/AACT2jAAEGk9.jpg
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/5/1/8/AACT2jAAEGk-.png

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/5/1/9/AACT2jAAEGk_.jpg

Poor dude makes a light hearted joke about the people being angry at him, still feels bad over it and deletes it and people get extremely angry about it.

Like god damn. It's a wonder he posts on social media at all.

iirc, TLoU2 was already winning the player's choice poll, and his joke was illustrating how the haters (the ones who were sending death threats to the actors, were anti-LGBTQ+, etc.) were in the minority, and that led to tons of people voting for Ghost of Tsushima because it was its only real competition.

Seems like the same type of people that go after Kathleen Kennedy tbh.

That being said I wish Druckmann would make a game that's actually fun to play.

Punished_Blinx posted...

Fair enough if you don't like cinematic action games or whatever. Cool. Doesn't mean you have to hate the guy who leads the games that are typically seen as the top of that genre but still.

But there's this weird rage against this game like he's some arrogant, elitist asshole all over social media and on boards like here. Kinda feels more like tall poppy syndrome than anything actually substantial.

It's not really unique to him either. It's like when a game developer is popular for around 10 years a large vocal group of people find ways to hate them. I find the hate boner against Cliffy B weird for similar reasons although he has said some stupid stuff in the past compared to Druckmann.

Many gamers have undeveloped social skills and the disposition of children. They don't know how to express their negative emotions any way than calling him names

Geeks and Gamers truly are a cancer of the internet. When the Dune movie came out and I saw they had changed Kynes into a woman, I googled "dune genderswap" or something to see what kind of hilarious outrage I could find and Geeks and Gamers was the first result. I think the dude in the video hadn't even read the book.

People are still bitter that he killed their digital daddy.

Is all he's know for the TLoU series (Of which, the first game has been redone three times and a single [one] sequel) across 12 years?

#TeamAbby

-ZIO- posted...

Is all he's know for the TLoU series (Of which, the first game has been redone three times and a single [one] sequel) across 12 years?

He really is milking the fuck out of that cow, though. Dont forget the new HBO Max retelling of the first game that just came out.

People hate him because he created female characters with emotions and not 34GGG rocking anime boobs.

Also he doesnt hate gay people and the fact that theres a female love story just angers them.

Usually their criticism of TLOU2 is that the plot doesnt make sense and they wrongly use the term plot holes.

-ZIO- posted...

Is all he's know for the TLoU series (Of which, the first game has been redone three times and a single [one] sequel) across 12 years?

Sorta. That's his baby so to speak and what really launched him as a top Naughty Dog guy.

But he's been with Naughty Dog since 2004 and was a game designer/script writer for both Uncharted 1 and 2. After Amy Hennig left he became one of the leads for Uncharted 4 and basically helped save that project as it was going through development hell.

It just reminds me of that Mindy Kaling topic. It's not enough that the Velma show is bad, but she's also this absolutely terrible person. When you hate something enough, you just want to tear it down to the ground I guess is the mantra a lot of people on the internet want to do.

Smashingpmkns posted...

Seems like the same type of people that go after Kathleen Kennedy tbh.

That being said I wish Druckmann would make a game that's actually fun to play.

Have you played TLOU2? It's not perfect, but I think the gameplay in that game is way better than the first and it gives you more freedom on how you tackle the missions.

Like really, the people whining about him mostly all complain about diversity being represented in his games, so I don't take a lot of them seriously.

The ones who actually legitimately point out writing issues though, I take those. And I've seen at least one or two people bring up legitimate criticisms about TLOU2's story.

I was pretty critical of the flaws TLOU1 had gameplay wise. It really annoyed me that this stealth action game would block by progress with doors or unfairly spawn enemies around corners.

Didn't experience any of that with TLOU2. I think the gameplay in that is pretty excellent overall. I don't think any other game really gives me that 'Rambo' feeling as much as it did. I'm a killing machine but I have to be smart about it and the game generally rewards your ideas. Which is always a big thing for me with action games.

I think it was overall a pretty big step up for Naughty Dog's gameplay as I don't usually feel like that with them.

Creators who act dismissively towards criticism get shit on, that's just standard.

Hoodroar posted...

Creators who act dismissively towards criticism get shit on, that's just standard.

what criticism, that was warranted (like, not being hateful towards individuals or any demographic), was he dismissive towards?

People are still butthurt that Joel, an overly violent man, got what was coming to him and that Ellie was the real villain in her own game.

(warning: TLoU II spoilers above)

Gamers are a sensitive bunch.

tlou2 is the only game ive ever played that has a good story so i think he is cool

boxoto posted...

what criticism, that was warranted (like, not being hateful towards individuals or any demographic), was he dismissive towards?

He said critics in general were "way less important" than the rest of the reception the game got. He specified that the hostile critics were worse, but still.

this came up after googling, and it seems he's referring to a certain kind of critic - the ones who sent the hateful comments:

From death threats to hurtful imagery and plenty more, developers and actors across the board received a ton of hate for their work on Part II. Theres so much that I was not prepared for, Druckmann said.

The reaction to the making of this game, to how this game has been received, its been a huge learning growth for me. At the end of the day, to all our critics, we listen to that stuff and we digest it, but youre way less important,

https://www.dexerto.com/the-last-of-us/neil-druckmann-explains-why-last-of-us-2-backlash-laughable-1393207/

To extend that quote

While certain complaints are taken onboard, much of the hatred is filtered out by devs, Druckmann added. Some of you are not important at all when you shout or threatenits laughable. We send it to each other as jokes some of the time.

I think purely negative comments made on social media are a lot less important than actual meaningful conversations and proper criticism yes. I'm sure that logic would apply to basically all developers.

Like when people call Miyamoto an out of touch hack is he going to say "Oh yeah you're right. I better go retire asap."

Of course not. Most of the hate and discourse around TLOU2 was overall worthless as soon as it became a battle for culture wars. It's not like Druckmann as ever indicated a phobia for criticism and improvement either. Uncharted 4 and TLOU2 clearly tried to respond to some of the negative feedback.

I never understood the hate TLoU2 received.

And I've heard all the criticism. There's obviously some flaws in the game. But there's nothing anyone could say about it that would warrant the amount of hate it received

Ar0ge posted...

I never understood the hate TLoU2 received.

Right wing reactionary tantrum.

can't duck the druck!

Ar0ge posted...

I never understood the hate TLoU2 received.

And I've heard all the criticism. There's obviously some flaws in the game. But there's nothing anyone could say about it that would warrant the amount of hate it received

It's a popular game, so you'd be seeing more hate with it than some genuinely terrible game that no one's ever heard of. I believe the devs also added fuel to the fire by interacting with said haters but I never looked into that.

MJOLNRVII posted...

It's a popular game, so you'd be seeing more hate with it than some genuinely terrible game that no one's ever heard of. I believe the devs also added fuel to the fire by interacting with said haters but I never looked into that.

The fuel to the fire was that there were major leaks before launch and a lot of misinformation happened because of them.

I still remember people saying that Joel and Ellie would be portrayed as villains and Abby would be a protagonist. That Abby was trans. That Neil Druckmann inserted himself into the game so he could have a scene where he got to mocap a sex scene with Laura Bailey. It was pretty ridiculous.

Punished_Blinx posted...

The fuel to the fire was that there were major leaks before launch and a lot of misinformation happened because of them.

I still remember people saying that Joel and Ellie would be portrayed as villains and Abby would be a protagonist. That Abby was trans. That Neil Druckmann inserted himself into the game so he could have a scene where he got to mocap a sex scene with Laura Bailey. It was pretty ridiculous.

I love how folks just decided Abby was trans and ran with it

Cuz it seems like most gamers are altright based incel types.

Ar0ge posted...

I never understood the hate TLoU2 received.

And I've heard all the criticism. There's obviously some flaws in the game. But there's nothing anyone could say about it that would warrant the amount of hate it received

Same. I've seen people call it a trainwreck and a piece of shit and I'm just dumbfounded.

I think the biggest thing with TLOU2 is that gamers are so used to video games simply being escapist power fantasies. Especially for story based games.

So when you're playing as a character who has an objective that ultimately is frustrating or unappealing to see a lot of people just disconnect from it.

It's funny I'm overall more excited for TLOU season 2/3 just to see how different it feels and how it is received in that medium compared to a game.

There are elements of "I don't really want my playable character to do this" in TLOU1 and Uncharted 4 but I don't think there's any mainstream AAA game that pushes that concept as much as TLOU2 does.

I didn't have a problem at all but I've always liked seeing situations from different perspectives so TLOU2 just really clicked with me overall.

The funny thing is I overall expect TLOU3 to be a much more optimistic and hopeful game and a lot of people will probably see that as a reaction to the reception of 2. But I think that's always intended to be the direction.