Mass Effect Andromeda PS4 PlayStation 4 1

The Internet has an unfortunate habit of taking a joke too far, and that's exactly what's happened with Mass Effect: Andromeda's goofy animations. The title's weird expressions – which have tired faster than a certain crew member's face – have been ridiculed for several days now, but the backlash has tipped over into something a little darker over the past 24 hours.

Allie Rose-Marie Leost, who worked for EA's motion capture department in Vancouver, has been the subject of a tidal wave of threatening messages from aggrieved fans, many not-so-subtlety blaming her for the state of the sequel's awkward faces. Such was the scale of the attack at its peak that it prompted BioWare to post the following response:

The crux of the story is that an Internet witch hunt targeted Leost after it was assumed she was the lead animator on the game following the discovery of some posts on her social media accounts. Of course, as is the case so often with these stories, the information turned out to be false – but not before a throng of so-called "fans" embarrassed themselves by sending accusatory messages.

We're not sure what it is about BioWare games that brings out the worst in people, but we can't wait for the review embargo to lift tomorrow so that we can talk about more than those stupid faces. And even if the game does end up sucking, do we really need to attack individuals who may or may not have been involved with its production? Games like Mass Effect: Andromeda are made by hundreds upon hundreds of people these days. You can't blame one person if something goes wrong – and even if you could, it's still no excuse to be mean.

Grow up.

[source kotaku.com, via polygon.com]