Patience is a virtue, but gamers didn't seem to get the memo.
This morning's Nintendo Indie World was a joy, and showcased loads of good stuff coming to the Switch. Lovers of small, unique games likely walked away with something to be excited for, and marquee announcements like Among Us and Spelunky are bound to turn heads. But for all of the interesting titles revealed this morning, the one that trended the most on Twitter during the showcase didn't even show up: Hollow Knight: Silksong.
Fans of the charming 2017 Metroidvania took to Twitter to make it known that they're upset about the lack of news on the upcoming spin-off. While most fans acted like normal human beings and made goofy memes about the wait, some took to the comments to voice their displeasure. Others vented in frustration on their own accounts. Still, others flooded Team Cherry's site, forcing it to buckle under the pressure and crash.
All of this is nothing new under the sun, of course. As somebody who followed Cyberpunk 2077's tumultuous development up to release, seeing mass begs for release dates followed by anger at delays defined the build-up to that game. Tune into any Nintendo Direct or PlayStation Showcase, and you'll be treated to floods of comments begging for things that may or may not show up, then complete ire if their special game doesn't get announced. This kind of behavior runs rampant in the gaming community, to the point where publishers and developers have to sheepishly dance around and apologize for delays.
That shouldn't be the case. No developer nor publisher should ever feel the need to capitulate to these sorts of comments, let alone apologize for something taking a while - or not announcing something to begin with. Why? Because they're grown adults who are busy actually making stuff, not entitled children who have nothing better to do than tweet about video games they can't play yet.
No, really. Take a look at yourself, then ask if this is your only personality trait. Is this the only way you're capable of watching a whole stream of exciting announcements - to look for what's not there so you can complain about it on the internet? Because if so, that sounds like an absolutely miserable way to go through life - and a pretty daft one, at that. There are real things in the world worth getting upset about, yet this is where you choose to spend your energy. Honestly, you either have a pretty easy life, or there's something making you this miserable that's probably worth looking into.
Like, get some therapy or something, dude. Shit.
But even taking that aspect out of the equation, there are multiple levels of disrespect when it comes to behaving like this. To flood the comments of a stream full of devs who worked really, really hard with begs for other games is a great way to show you have zero empathy for creatives. How would you feel if you busted your ass on a game, put several years into a passion project, then got lucky enough to get featured on a big publisher's stream... only to see your reveal bogged down in a miry muck of toxic, futile demands for other games.
Wouldn't you feel like absolute trash about yourself? Well, more than you already obviously do if you pull this crap?
Not only that, but this kind of tunnel vision is especially pointless considering there's never been a better time to be gaming. 2020 has seen loads and loads of great releases, big and small, that you can play right now instead of pitching a hissyfit. To angrily ask about Metroid every single Direct and to bombard developers with comments demanding a release date is to ignore the embarrassment of riches in front of you. You asking about a game isn't going to make its development go any faster, and if anything, it makes the work life of developers about ten times more stressful. Social media managers have to read all your shitty comments, then pass them along to developers, who then have to work on their passion project with your vitriol kicking around in the back of their head.
You ever try to work a job after your boss chews you out for something stupid? Hard, right? Makes you doubt yourself a little bit? Maybe makes it a little tougher to get good work done? Imagine, then, your boss being a posse of ill-behaved babies who demand you provide constant updates on something. I'd take Bill Lundberg over that.
So next time there's a big industry event, like a press conference or a livestream, try something a little different. Instead of looking for what's not there, try to find something worth getting excited for. I promise, there's something there if you go in with open eyes and ears, and don't carry any loaded expectations with you. You'll probably find something new to obsess over, and maybe that thing is closer than the thing you actually want.
And I'll let you in on a little secret, if you read this far and didn't take to Reddit already - I used to be like you. I got pissed every single time more Persona stuff got announced over new MegaTen, and got huffy when another Direct would pass without any Bayonetta news. And honestly? I still feel a tinge of that, on the inside. But working in this industry, I realize that approximately twenty dozen new video games drop each week, and odds are, I'll probably like one of those. My backlog is also huge, and could definitely use a little more tending. Plus, I've just found other hobbies to put my attention towards, because letting myself be defined by video games is boring.
But above all? I grew up, and learned to accept that I'm not always going to get what I want right away.
Maybe you should give it a try.