Support NeoGAF

[LectureMaster]

"Even if The Elder Scrolls 6 is great," Skyrim veteran thinks Bethesda developers will face harassment and "death threats" anyway

No matter what happens, "the internet is going to treat you like you're clubbing baby seals"

www.gamesradar.com

---

One veteran Skyrim developer reckons online harassment is almost inevitable for Bethesda developers, no matter how good The Elder Scrolls 6 is.

Nate Purkeypile's been around the discourse block enough times to know how these things go. He previously worked as an artist (sometimes a lead artist) on everything from Fallout 3 and Fallout 4 to Skyrim and Starfield, but whether his games are beloved or not, Purkeypile's seen the internet's worst colors.

During a talk at GDC, the veteran developer recalls that "putting out Fallout 76 was a tough thing" since "the internet can be really awful." Fallout 76 was by no means a game that deserved tons of praise at launch, but some bad apples online took things too far and began to harass Bethesda workers directly.

"Even if The Elder Scrolls 6 is great, I'm sure there's gonna be these hour-long YouTube videos [and] death threats yet again," Purkeypile says. "If you put out a game that people don't like, the internet is going to treat you like you're clubbing baby seals."

Former BioWare producer Mark Darrah also pushed back against the harassment that too many developers face in the internet age "because you don't know the circumstances that resulted in the thing that you're mad at." He also makes the very obvious but still necessary point that just because someone spent money on a game, it doesn't entitle them to dish out cruelty to strangers.

---

 

[LordCBH]

Cyber bullying? Bruh just turn off your computer and walk away lol

 

[kiphalfton]

By the time ESVI comes out, people won't know what Skyrim is.

 

[Fake]

 

[Donald mac Ronald]

This sounds like they are blaming the gaming community for not buying their game before it's been released.

I think alot of people have realised along time ago that people just don't care about Bethesda RPGs knowing it's still running on that jank engine. See star field.

Will this be any different?

 

[bitbydeath]

I hope this isn’t foreshadowing.

 

[LectureMaster]

 

[R6Rider]

After how cheeks Starfield turned out, my expectations of TES VI are lower than I ever imagined.

 

[Hawk The Slayer]

I highly doubt Elder Scrolls VI will end up being anywhere close to Fallout 76 and especially Starfield's level.

Elder Scrolls VI has the lore and a huge amount of loyal fanbase to back it up and would be one of the greatest games of all times and realities along with the last few Elder Scrolls and Fallout games. With the mods making it to beyond perfection. Starfield was a complete disasters and it's universe was plain and uninteresting so not even mods could ever hope to save it let along most modders don't even bother with it and instead are still sticking with Skyrim and Fallout.

I won't be worried about Elder Scrolls VI at all or Fallout 5 because they'll have that deep and amazing lore that it always have with immersion and advance A.I, and lots of unscripted events to make the world feel fun, interesting, and alive. The only way they might screw themselves over is if they decided to use randomly generated landmass like Shitfield which I'm 99% sure they won't as it should remain handcratfed just like their pervious few Fallout and Elder Scroll games.

 

[PauloRoberto]

My God, Bethesda is already looking for excuses ?!

 

[Loomy]

Well yeah. That's the world we live in.

 

[CrustyBritches]

Would make more sense that they are crazy and sending those messages to themselves.

 

[Laptop1991]

Is this the new excuse, if you don't like the games we make which we no longer make for you gamers and criticize it, your harassing us and sending us death threats, they could easily provide proof of this if it's genuine.

 

[Spukc]

Never go full retard

 

[Nostalgic Nightmare]

If you’re still gonna reuse that game engine just forget releasing it at all.

 

[Saber]

The game didn't even start being properly developed and they are already going full victimhood?

 

[xrnzaaas]

The Elder Scrolls 6 review - Bethesda's return to form

oh sorry, posted too soon

 

[Clear]

Once again truly egregiously awful and (at the least, borderline) criminal behaviour and people just being dumb/dicks in their criticism is being unhelpfully conflated.

Reality check, people are allowed to mock you online, and/or make endless (and often retarded) video-essays about your work and you get to suck it up.
Its not fun, but objectively speaking its not at all the same as receiving threats or being personally targeted for harassment.

What I find disingenuous about this is the insinuation that everyone who works on project -which in AAA is hundreds of people- is going to get victimized by the lunatic fringe, because this is obviously not going to be the case.

If you aren't taking collective responsibility VOLUNTARILY, like by making statements on social media, then you are effectively anonymous. I find it hard to believe that everyone who worked QA, or as an artist, or even a programmer on a big title is going to be blamed personally by trolls!

Essentially meaning that if you aren't a high level employee, or are part of self-selected target group, its not really a releveat concern. And if you are in one of those groups, you should know the situation you are in, and take action to remediate it- like by making your social media accounts private while the controversy blows over.

Sorry, but even for someone like myself who is a former dev and has way more than the usual level of sympathy/understanding for how brutal criticism can feel, this is just not the right attitude to take. Adopting the sack-cloth and ashes of victimhood is not helpful.

 

[Bernardougf]

Its this the earliest demage control ever ?

 

[BbMajor7th]

The fact that he mentions hour-long YT critiques alongside harassment is bizarre. Does he feel both are unjust?

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

Nice, they are fearful.

 

[YeulEmeralda]

Cyber bullying isn't real just walk away from the screen.

 

[adamsapple]

(at the least, borderline) criminal behaviour

 

[Hollywood Hitman]

I've yet to see one receipt of a death threat to any dev from any game, well maybe concord... I did say they all need sent to the sun

 

[justiceiro]

Ok, but if you single out fallout 76 means that the worse the game is, worse the reaction it gets. So make sure game is good to minimize harassment.

 

[Kacho]

This is some beta ass shit. Shut the fuck up and make sure your $70 video game is good, dumbass.

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

Fuck off, soyboy.

 

[FF:Enhanced_Reality]

All I'm going to say is, if they're still using that shitty engine of theirs, it'll be buggy as fuck and a mess at launch. I'm used to it now so I don't hate. Being a great game would help though.

 

[Clear]

If someone is making threats of actual violence against you, that's over the line.
Not claiming that has happened, although given the number of mentalists out there I'd be surprised if it doesn't happen, just pointing out the difference between people saying stuff that offends and thing that give rise to reasonable concern for your wellbeing and/or security.

e.g. SWATting and calling somebody rude names are very different things.

 

[Rush2112]

Well they think starfield is ‘great’ so it’s hard to take them seriously on anything else. These idiots actually think fallout 76 was a good game. They are morons, utterly devoid of intelligence.

If Todd Howard took a shit in a plate they would eat it all up then lick their fingers clean. Then they would come to this board and create a thread on how his shit tasted so good.

 

[ResilientBanana]

The majority of comments in this thread already is exactly what he's talking about. He's 100% accurate.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

preemptively playing the victim card is almost a 100% guarantee that it’s going to suck. This is so pathetic.

I bet the gaming media have their “chuds are attacking game developers” articles all ready to go.

 

[Hero of Spielberg]

Having a read through this thread, he's got nothing to worry about.

 

[RayHell]

Death threats is just few of the deceived fans acting stupid. The issue I have with Bethesda is that in recent failure they always evaluate those games as great game. And Todd keep fooling people with his lies.

 

[StereoVsn]

Aka - “Our next game is probably going to be . Let’s prepare the excuses beforehand.”

 

[CGNoire]

This almost confirms that there probably removing race options, including "body types", and probably getting rid of Redguards to avoid offences....and yes the gaming press have been given the heads up and are probably preparing articles as we speak.

 

[RafterXL]

Bullshit. If the ES6 is great you won't hear peep. This sounds like someone who is preparing for a terrible launch or who knows they are adding shit to the game that people will hate. When developers start the pity party preemptively you know something fishy is going on.

 

[{insert code here}]

Crazy that these people equate criticism to harassment now. They need to get off the Internet, take a vacation, and spend some time outdoors. This is crazy.

 

[ReyBrujo]

That's the audience you get when you program games and why I wouldn't touch game programming with a 10' pole.

 

[DanielG165]

He’s not wrong; 50% of the comments in this very thread prove it.

 

[Sooner]

"Death threat" has come to mean, "some anonymous person online hurt my feelings. I need attention and sympathy, please".

 

[Dr.Morris79]

It's quite amazing just how much forewarning these companies give these days to me for saving money

Pretty damn amazing when you think about it. Cheers Beth.

I mean, I thought it'd be utter dog shit after Starfield but cheers for the heads up

 

[AJUMP23]

Everyone gets harassed in the social media environment.

 

[Topher]

His name is Purkeypile?

 

[Puscifer]

Cyber bullying? Bruh just turn off your computer and walk away lol

This will always make me laugh.

FYI: death threats are never cool, ever, you can get your point across about a mediocre product or whatever that doesn't involve the death of someone: get help if you do that shit

 

[Kacho]

there's gonna be these hour-long YouTube videos

Not hour long YouTube videos

 

[Griffon]

 

[Matsuchezz]

Gamepass Effect, turd after turd after turd!! Xbox users are used to turds, so they are expecting another turd, Xbox Game Studios Excel at it. Bring the next steamy pile of shit to gamepass. It's free!!

 

[DownLikeBCPowder]

This almost confirms that there probably removing race options, including "body types", and probably getting rid of Redguards to avoid offences....and yes the gaming press have been given the heads up and are probably preparing articles as we speak.

There's just no way they'll go that far. The game is literally about these races.

 

[LRKD]

There will always be a few bad apples. It's just a part of the world we live in today, too many people on the streets that should be in a psych ward. as for hour long yt videos, there will always be rage bait as well.

I think it's simple though if Bethesda actually releases a good game, they won't see this shit. the rage bait will be drowned out, and the very few real pyschos will be blocked quickly. Also sidenote I'm surprised at how comparatively tame Starfields reception seemed to be for how terrible of a game it was. Honestly seemed far more offensive to me that F76 was. F76 always had the benefit of being a side game, and the excuse of being done by a B team. It had the benefit of being multiplayer, which meant even if it was bad, you could still have a somewhat decent time messing around with your friends in it. Starfield on the other hand is a mainline Bethesda game, done by the A team, taking years of time away from Fallout and ES games being made.