For what feels like the umpteenth time this year, a high-profile video game developer has urged respect as criticism has gone too far. Bryan Intihar, the creative director of Marvel’s Spider-Man, has called for more kindness in the title’s community, after receiving threating messages due to the recasting of Peter Parker’s face model in the release’s upcoming PlayStation 5 remaster.
His message, in full, is embedded below:
And here’s a comparison between the two different Peter Parker face models, in case you missed the news:
This isn’t the first time a major PlayStation exclusive has come in for extreme criticism, as The Last of Us: Part II was at the epicentre of a storm earlier this year, with Naughty Dog vice president Neil Druckmann receiving the brunt of the backlash. So bad was the abuse that the Californian developer was forced to release a statement.
It’s yet another unfortunate reminder of how toxic online discourse tends to be in 2020, with relatively minor creative decisions attracting disproportionate degrees of ire. Constructive criticism is a good thing, and we all have the right to express our opinion – but personal insults, attacks, and threats are never okay!
