UPDATE
Are you happy to hear about this resolution? What other methods need to be done to stop harassment in the gaming community? Let us know below!
ORIGINAL STORY
Plenty of things about the gaming community are to be praised. Those who play video games often know how to have a lot of fun and love to play games with their friends. They are a driven bunch, as many love to 100% complete titles or do speed runs faster than anybody. Many are inspired by video games and go on to create their own titles! But, the dark side of the gaming industry is well known too. It’s not just the developers/publishers we’re talking about here. It’s the fans, too, as Bungie knows via Destiny 2, as they have just won a big lawsuit involved with the game.
Specifically, a player of Destiny 2 decided to go after one of the community managers from Bungie. When we say they “went after them,” we mean that in the literal and physical sense. Here’s an excerpt from the court filing that Reddit posted:
“First, he obtained the personal home address and phone numbers of the victim and his immediate family member. Second, he sent racist, abusive verbal and text messages to both victims. In these messages, Comer repeatedly referenced “[n- word] killing.”
Oh, but he didn’t stop there. He then tricked a pizza delivery service to come and drop off pizzas after banging loudly on the door. Why? Because the guy said that the manager was “wearing headphones” and thus needed to hear the delivery person arrive. After the scary incident, the harasser would text, “Enjoy your pizza.”
So yeah, there’s a lot here that’s not ok. That’s why Bungie took action and took this person to court, and as noted on Twitter, they won the 400K case:
As many have noted, this is an important victory as this is now precedent for what happens if anyone in the gaming community tries to harass someone from a game developer.
Plus, this wasn’t just harassment. This was basically a hate crime, and that makes it even more appalling. The fact that this person was able to get the community manager’s home address and number and do various things because of that is chilling. Not to mention, even though the case is won, that manager still has to deal with the emotional damage that person did to him. That’s not cool in the slightest.
So let this be a lesson to you. If you have a problem with a developer, it can be “okay” to voice your feelings as long as you keep it civil. But don’t take it any farther than that, or you’ll be paying the bill.
