Adam Orth, a former creative director at Microsoft, said a few things he probably regrets. After Tweeting comments like, “deal with it” in regard to the Xbox One’s possible always-online functionality, a steady stream of hate was funneled in Orth’s direction. He recently went into more detail about the whole issue during a GDC panel titled, “Mob Rules: The Destructive Power of Opinion and Online Community," where he focused on the "Internet hate phenomenon."
"I was becoming the next victim of the Internet hate phenomenon. It was an absolute feeding frenzy. My public and private life was fair game," he said, via GamesIndustry International. "People began to distance themselves from me. I was dejected, ashamed, and embarrassed. I destroyed my career and feared being blacklisted by the industry. I went from income to no income."
Wishes of death and cancer were sent toward he and his son, but Orth never really believed they’d materialize into something real.
"Most developers don't even raise an eyebrow at this because this is the new normal,” he said. “As an industry we've become desensitized to this insane behavior because it's overwhelming, ubiquitous, and unstoppable. Somehow we've devolved while moving forward and there's no going back.”
Whether or not Orth was out of line during his social media tirade is open to interpretation, but the response he received afterward was undoubtedly out of line. Unfortunately, this is unlikely to be the last time we hear a story of this nature.
