Bungie takes a Destiny 2 troll to court. The newly coined PlayStation studio filed a lawsuit last Friday accusing one of the bootlegger players of cheating and massively harassing its developers. The complaint comes when the toxic elements of Destiny’s fan base have made Bungie clearer about his decision-making and future plans in the popular live service game.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. Western District Court in Washington, and the latest in a series of recent lawsuits by the firm, names Luca Leone as the sole defendant and accuses him of routinely violating the agreement. Destiny 2 Limited Software License (LSLA) licensee 2, including those possibly from stolen accounts. Leone also threatened Bungie’s community manager.
“#NewProfilePic” tweeted the inkcel account on May 18 next to an image of the Destiny 2 community manager employee badge dmg04 (Bungie tracked the account to Leone via an email address shared with the one he used to order goods). “I just realized I’m going to move to a place that’s 30 minutes from dmg,” Leone wrote in a follow-up tweet. And then in a third: “he is not sure.
Screenshot: Twitter / Kotaku
Then, on July 4, a Twitter user asked if anyone in the Seattle area was available to commit a house fire within the next 72 hours. Leone responded by volunteering. “If it’s Bungie’s headquarters, you’ll get a discount,” he wrote. On July 5, Leone tweeted for Bungie to “keep [its] closed doors. “
Leone did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but began deleting previous tweets.
While the study is asking the court for $ 150,000 ($ 208,230) in compensation, it is also asking the court to prevent Leone from “harassing, harassing or otherwise engaging in unwanted or unsolicited contacts with Bungie, its employees or Destiny 2 players. ”It’s unclear how the case will unfold, but it’s already highlighting the ongoing discussions about how people who play Destiny 2 interact with the people who do.
The success that defines the Destiny 2 genre has made it the envy of others in the gaming industry, but it has also created a very unique relationship with the player base. A seasonal model encourages fans to periodically check for new content and updates, and Bungie posts a blog post each week that updates the community about recent changes and future plans. Sometimes the collaboration between players and developers is very vibrant. At other times, it can be incredibly harsh, as loud voices face especially polarizing design decisions.
@Bungie game developers make decisions based on the overall health of the game. It is the job of game designers to weigh the needs of many over the wishes of a few. Of course, constructive feedback is part of this process, but we don’t support abuse.
– Tom Farnsworth (@tomfromtheweb) June 3, 2022
And from time to time it can be downright toxic. That’s what happened in late May when sandbox design manager Kevin Yanes wrote on Twitter that Titan’s favorite exotic armor, fans, Twilight Garrison would never repeat its role. of the first game of Destiny 2. “The Titans will never get the air to dodge my man, it’s part of the wizard’s identity,” he replied to one player. “I’m sorry, but I want to start this band.”
The comment became a lightning rod for the vitriol and Yanes was forced to temporarily close his account. Those from Bungie and the community gathered around Yanes to denounce the behavior. “It’s the job of a game designer to weigh the needs of many over the wishes of a few,” wrote senior design manager Tom Farnsworth. “Of course, constructive feedback is part of this process, but we don’t support abuse.”
As Forbes ’Paul Tassi points out, Yanes was one of the many“ chatted ”Bungie developers willing to talk about the game on social media. Now Yanes is retweeting exclusively posts on non-gaming topics and, anecdotally, it looks like others from Bungie have also retired. The dmg04 community manager said this over the weekend.
Cases of harassment against our developers have made it harder for us to communicate with the community at large. It has affected more studies than just ours.
I hope more people can oppose this behavior in any community, whether related to games or others.
– dmg04 (@ A_dmg04) July 17, 2022
One player tweeted that Destiny 2’s PVP modes, for a long time a painful point for the game and also believed to be the source of some of its most toxic players, would thrive if Bungie included weekly chats on the subject at your blog posts. “I’m not saying I don’t want updates,” the Twitch Falloutplays streamer replied. “But we’ve bitten the hand that feeds us too hard, too often.”
Dmg04 community manager agreed. “I dream of a day when video game developers (from any studio) can talk openly about their work without being harassed,” he wrote in a response to Falloutplay’s comment. “Cases of harassment against our developers have made it harder for us to communicate with the community at large. It has affected more studies than just ours.”
While many games deal with toxicity issues, few remain as vocal with their communities as Bungie has historically done. This was part of what made it most notable in recent seasons when the studio tried to minimize signs of new revelations in The Witch Queen and “Season of the Haunted” before they were finally made live in the game.
“Can we fuck up the idea that Bungie no longer communicates enough from orbit?” One player wrote. “They could be like 90% of other developers and never communicate outside of the patch notes.”
And as dmg04 and others have pointed out, fan harassment is not exclusive to Bungie. Last year, the developers of Naught Dog were attacked after some players took care of elements of The Last Of Us Part II revealed in the pre-release leaks. More recently, Sony Santa Monica developers were threatened by God of War: Ragnarök did not yet have an official release date in late June (he received one a week later). 2022 also marks the 10th anniversary of Mass Effect 3 and the accumulated abuse of its creators during the finale.
“Many in the comments say they do not tolerate harassment,” dmg04 wrote over the weekend. “I hope they also oppose it when they find out that friends or family are getting involved.”