A reminder that, even several years since its release, imbeciles are still acting abusively on the Internet. You may recall certain events in the story of The Last of Us: Part II sent a vocal minority of the video game community into a tiswas, and this resulted in all sorts of unacceptable abuse – even extending as far as Jocelyn Mettler, the face model of Abby.
It turns out people are still acting disgustingly, as Mettler shared a screenshot of the typical type of message she receives from so-called “fans” of the franchise. “How dare you live and continue being alive?” the foul message asks. It goes on to make even more horrific accusations and threats, and the individual even pertains to know “witchcraft”.
Criticism of the game is, of course, perfectly acceptable – but it shouldn’t need pointing out that messages like this way overstep the mark. Whatever your opinion, and no matter how much you dislike something, remember this is supposed to be entertainment – if you don’t like something, it’s pretty easy to just ignore it.
[source twitter.com]
Comments 96
People are crazy.
The witchcraft comment had me chuckling.
Put a hex on someone. I dare you.
I hate the phrase, but man, some people really need to go outside and touch the grass. Jeez.
Crazy people be crazy. Surprised it’s seemingly a young woman (just going by the language). I guess I’ve been conditioned to assume all such abuse is misogynistic in nature and made by middle aged sad cases.
Also, punctuation please!
As for me, I still haven’t much of an idea what the controversy is even about. I want to say a sexuality or gender related thing. Never played the game though.
the salt produced from this game was and still is absolutely incredible.
I remember seeing a detailed post about the calorie breakdown of the beef burrito Abby eats in the game where the poster had surmised that the protein content wouldn't enable somebody to maintain the muscular physique that she has in the game.
People need to realise its just a game
Genuinely alarmed by a) the abuse and b) the stupidity of the abuser. I understand there’s some pretty disturbed folk out there but wow. Really hope this individual is banned from Twitter for life. Still knowing witchcraft they’ll probably find a way back on to harass reasonable folk.
@LordAinsley that’s hilarious but the sad fact is I believe it. As Alan Partridge says ‘some people’.
Meh, it's the internet. I've seen worse for even more insignificant things.
Unless you want a government to control everything including what you do and say you should accept these people. And block as many of them as possible of course.
Not surprised. I recall how the dude who voiced Jar Jar Binks received threats and harassment to the point where he considered suicide.
There are a lot of crazy, ignorant, stupid, uncompassionate people out there. Gatekeeping via education and traditional forms of media used to to keep them at bay, but the internet gives everyone with access a microphone, so we have to suffer them now.
@thefourfoldroot1 Thats right mate. Only men, especially those over 30, are bad in this world.
And Santa lives on, the easter bunny is on his way, and you'll see some fairies down your garden if you're quick.
Anyhow, back to point in hand. Never be surprised as to how stupid some folks can be..its sad, very sad. But there are some real dumb s**** in this world.
As though The Last of Us is a true story. Incredibly stupid people. So you wish death on a real person because they killed a fictional person , people really need their brains checked. Need to start my 3rd playthrough, longest linear game ever played, such a masterpiece.
I didn't like the story, but why harass someone? There more important things in life.
Once this stuff eventually fades away, I honestly believe some revisionism will go on and the game will solely be remembered fondly as a truly great game.
I am already seeing some, I saw someone (quite rightly honestly) pontificate on the fact that Naughty Dog somehow managed to persuade Sony to fund what is essentially a AAA, big budget Manhunt game. Some of the most brutal content you'll see in a mainstream game!
Having just abandoned my latest attempt to replay the game, I can say with some confidence that Abbie and her actions are not the problem.
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Boy that person really...and I mean REALLY cares too much about a fictional character. It's quite embarrassing. We get it. You really didn't like what Abby did in TLOU2. Move on my guy.
@Ralizah Same thing to the poor kid (at the time) Jake Lloyd who played young Anakin. Sad that humans are so disgusting.
And the frustrating reality is that for Jocelyn Mettler this will probably get worse as more people get exposed to TLoU2 for the first time.
So @wiiware you were pulled out of wherever corner you were hiding because you saw a chance to reiterate how you hate this game's writing, you've been MIA haha.
Imagine harassing someone over a game... let alone a 2 or 3 year old game you're not even playing. Smh
This guy seems like he isn't getting any.
I have never heard a valid criticism of TLOU Part 2. Not one. Would love to see TLOU Part 3 with a story that focuses on Abby & Lev.
@Type_Trubbish You haven't been listening, then. Look over in comments under the "TLoU" TV show ratings article from the 7th of Febuary. There's an interesting (but civil) exchange about the shortcomings of the writing in the game.
All of these clowns deserve a good beating. 👊
Joel killed Abbeys father. What was Abbey meant to do once they met, make him a sandwich and a cup of tea. Didn't like the Abbey character much myself either cause of zero back story for her or hardly any proper character building before what she did but I certainly understand her motive. Gets even worse when you consider the Abbey actor has nothing to do with the script
Social media exacerbates and even celebrates hate and anger. The more insane, the more clicks, comments and general responses people give. It's made people psychotic and has truly ruined millions of people's psychological well being.
If it were up to me, I'd destroy every social media server in the world and render any code unusable and ineffective attempting to create a new one.
Perhaps then people could regain sanity.
Pathetic loser. It genuinely apalls me that people have nothing better to do than hide behind an anonymous username on twitter and spread hate. Very sad. The harm these creatures can do is immeasurable. Probably making up for some inadequacy in their personal life. It would be great if idiots like this could be named and shamed. The world was so much better in so many ways before social media evolved into the form it's been allowed to morph into over the years
@Clankylad Abby was great. I didnt like her at first, but the way ND wrote the story made her genuinely likeable and easy to empathise with by the end. I really enjoyed her character. I can understand why some may disagree, but i reckon she was a success.
Her actor was brilliant too. The little details on her face, like the high rise section when she is walking on a girder and has to show her emotions to demonstrate she is scared of heights was brilliant.
ND are masters of their craft.
Completely forgot about spoilers. Delete my previous comment if you wish to although it has been 3 years ago. Don't know how to put the spoiler thing on it
How hard would it be to arrest this person? Really, someone threatens you, your children, disturb you life and somehow that's fine and "this person is just and idiot". We actually should reconsider how we treat and react to this kind of behavior.
@Wheatly maybe. But time does do funny things. I remember when Bioshock 2 came out and everyone ***** on it. Boring, derivative etc.
Then years later suddenly, people were like "actually, its good"
And publicizing their behavior on social media just reinforces it by making them famous (in their own mind). Report to the site and block them.
To be fair, you should be careful calling this guy out, since he knows witchcraft n all.
I’m just playing through TLOU 2 now for the first time and I don’t really have any issues with where they’re taking the story. It seems like a natural progression for that game world, especially considering how violent and factional it is. That said, I can understand some people not liking what they did, but to lose all sense of reality and forget it’s just a game …….. WOW. People like that are truly under the control of the devil as clearly evidenced by the blind hate in their hearts.
Some people just shouldn't be interacting with the human race at all, this is just ridiculous, it's only a video game and who cares what happened to Joel because he's not real. You can enjoy the stories and characters and get emotionally invested but as soon as you turn the game off it doesn't matter. Just leave the real people alone, whether they wrote it, were the face actor or whatever else
Oh and Joel deserved it anyway 😘
Those Joel defenders, eh? They need to get a grip!
This was a productive article, got to laugh at a massive clown and also learned a new word (tiswas), thanks.
Its one thing harassing Druckman and ND but Laura and this girl had nothing to do with what Abby done and her actions they just played a part and done what they were told to do. Jesus christ incels are so f**king pathetic.
It happens all the time sadly and it’s ALWAYS unacceptable. The voice actors involved in Hogwarts Legacy have had to deal with online abuse and harassment recently too but nobody wants to call out the people giving them abuse.
Social media is a toxic place. I am so glad I left it behind.
Just scrapped my account on Twitter when i read this stuff I know I did the right thing.
@WallyWest Its just as bad you should not be harassing anyone. Get over yourself, it's a game if you don't agree don't buy the product that's more then enough.
That's just so over the top, like a Mortal Kombat fatality. Can't take it seriously.
I can only hope and dream this message was supposed to be a bad twisted joke that was in poor taste and not properly communicated. That it was all "ironically".
As if it wasn't, world really is a scary place.
We all love The Last of Us, but it's just A GAME. We don't live because of it. If someone disliked some creative choices, just move on!!
Definition of stupidity that person is living
We need to put things in perspective, there will always be stupid people.
One person sent a stupid message, we don't have to amplify it by making tweets and articles about it.
Just because one person does something insane doesn't mean we have to pretend it's an epidemic.
And this is coming from someone who loves Abby.
@ItsBritneyB_tch aswell as JKR herself who's gets tonnes of abhorrent abuse online which ps hasn't condemned despite condemning her & possibly adding towards the hate she receives
Playing the vengeance murder simulator right now. Enjoying it so far.
I'm embarrassed that came out of someone with a one piece avatar
@Would_you_kindly
Good point. She actually gets harassment by people who actually turn up at where she lives & much worse by ironically people who "care" about misogyny.
Harassment is when someone continually contact's you, I wouldn't call a one off message on a public forum "harassment". I also don't understand why they give these people the time of day, out of all the messages these people get this is the commet they focus on. I mean who cares what someone you've never met think's, it's the internet.
@banacheck yeah Im not trying to downplay that this particular case of harassment isn't bad I just think push square should've mentioned it in JKR case since they decided to bash her they could've atleast mentioned the harassment wasnt good like in this article
“Gamers and “fans” will be the reason many talented people decide to leave or not get into this industry to work. It’s this type of actions that need to stop before it’s the sole reason quality of talent leaves this industry behind. Forget the COD deal being so big it will kill off PS, or PS games kill off the Xbox, or Nintendo fails to catch lighting in a bottle again with underpowered hardware. It will be people not wanting to work in a known abusive work environment.
@Green-Bandit I agree with this opinion.
@extragood Thank you so much, it’s sad to even have to have these conversations but here we are. Let’s not forget that websites that bait the fanboys against each other are to blame also. Websites have such reach and do an awful job at times to pit the different brands fan’s into a rage and it just carries so far.
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@Would_you_kindly Maybe she shouldn’t have attacked trans people with her grotesque distortions of feminism first. She started this.
Casting her as the victim is cringeworthy.
Her statements are not only objectively wrong but also damaging to the most vulnerable members of society who have hurt exactly no one. But please, continue defending a bigot.
I miss the good old days, when in more civil times people would express their discontent with game developers by sending them nudes. What have we come to that we're now harassing face models on Twitter? What happened to the class the internet used to have?
@ItsBritneyB_tch This didn’t happen. You’re literally making up stories to make excuses for the slimy worms who attack women and the Queer community on a daily basis. The toxic vitriol always comes from conservative bigots who want to subjugate and denigrate vulnerable groups for simply existing.
@thefourfoldroot1 lol the controversy isn't even about any of the usual Internet social issues, is just the story, the character she plays does a bad thing to a well loved character and then players have to play as her for half the game. People hate the character that has her face and are mad at the devs making them play a character they hate.
So naturally the face model is to blame. Also Sir Anthony Hopkins is a monster. We all know he's a cannibal. 🙄
All that ain’t even called for. People need to get a life.
Gamers are among the worst people on the planet.
How people like him/her aren't arrested and shamed publicly for others to know they can't treat people that way is beyond me.
All the assumptions that this is a male. shakes head People from all walks of life can be *****.
@TheArt I'm not hiding though, I'm always here. It seems my comment already deleted, so only positive talk can be allowed on this game huh..
Despite journalist still simping for this game, the writing of this game still suck though 😂
@wiiware Really? Or you just stopped commenting...Tlou2 is more than just story man, it's an outstanding game overall.
How can ppl not tell the difference between real life and fiction?
Oh wait, i just remembered the Bible. Guess it's been a thing forever...
One person writes an idiotic message. Wow. Big deal.
You think if she did get messages like this all day every day you wouldn't know about it?
This is being amplified WAY out of proportion. People have no sense of perspective.
Look at all the blanket statements above about gamers being awful. You're all gamers too! Are you all awful?
This happens in other areas of life too, it's a human flaw to generalize from the specific.
I like Abby more than Ellie. How many people can say that? Lol not many I imagine.
Media (and personal brands) like to sensationalize ANYTHING and employ intense hyperbole so it that will bring more clicks or polish their credentials amongst their peers.
This is silly.
Where is the ‘second coming’ ? Because every time I read beyond stupid comments like this one I lose a little more hope for the future of humanity.
Although I do believe Abby deserves and should die but in GAME!
@DarkestHour the worst comes out of the human psyche when there is no one filtering what other people do.. There are numerous studies on this, we are just HORRIBLE when we think no one is watching.. The internet was supposed to bring us all together, yet it has actually divided us, and made us turn into living trolls. Pandora's box is already open, there is no way we are going back to civility....
People like this are weird.
I played TLoU Part II didn’t like and moved on, not once did it enter my brain to harass anyone involved.
I'm actually shocked still at the outcry.
Joel was a bad man. He didn't really need to kill any of the doctors but he did.
Abby in reality has all the right to do what she did.
Just as they did to the army guy who shot Sarah. Or anyone else Joel's probably killed before we meet him.
Abby actually just took revenge and in a world like that, why would she take a moral stand. Joel wouldn't
@Bez87 I agree regarding Abby. How can anybody legitimately be mad at her? The world they live in is close to anarchy. Her father was murdered and from all indication he wasn't a bad man.
What would you do if that was you? Why would you not avenge your father? Everyone would.
@GreatAuk We are a Niche group. It's not about amplifying but this exact thing is happening everywhere, have you forgot what happens when a game gets delayed? or the numerous times directors and writers begged gamers to stop harassing employees and their families? Go back and read how many times did Cory Barlog plead gamers to stop with the death threats and harassment to staff
@Bez87 it's very open ended, as it's supposed to be I guess. There's plenty of things that make you side with Joel in the original, most notably the fireflies awful handling of the situation when Joel and Ellie reach them.
Though yes, Joel's killing of the scientists was quite forced. You can't progress without doing it (or at least one of them apparantly). I guess they had the sequel planned all along.
@MakersMark it's the actions of a few, the vast majority of people behave perfectly normally even when they know noone is watching. At least I strongly believe that.
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The person in question here shoud be in a psichiatric hospital at least, if not behind bars.
Only stands to prove once again the lack of legislation and severe sanctions when it comes to online harassments and especially death threats.
Today anyone can post anything on social media without any fear of repercutions.
What's the worst that can happen to them?
At best their account is banned?
In which case they simply make another, because guess what : it's free! No personal identification requirements, just an e-mail address and a password...
https://www.sportskeeda.com/amp/esports/news-i-ve-received-many-death-threats-twitch-vtuber-silvervale-breaks-recounting-harassment-playing-hogwarts-legacy-stream
Yet no site wants to cover this and call out the abundant harassment from people simply playing it...strange. Push Square care to comment why TLOU harassment is relevent and Hogwart's isn't?
I don't think this is any different than people killing and persecuting one another in the name of fictional gods.
@Shinnok789 if they really did impose severe punishment for online harassment you'd have the left in jail just from the harassment and death threats sent to JK Rowling.
@TheArt I agree the gameplay is good, still prefer the first one though because it's a proper horror game, not action-horror like the second one.
Giving people like that attention is giving them what they desire.
@GreatAuk Exactly, today's online environment is a two way street when it comes to harassment, there is no side to blame so much as just crazy people with mental issues.
I fully clicked on this article expecting some over-blown modern-day sensitivity that would lead me to eye rolling, but have to say after reading that, this isn't just verbal abuse it's full on criminal threats of violence. It should definitely be reported. No way should you even respond to that and immediately contact law enforcement.
I agree on everything in this article except this "if you don’t like something, it’s pretty easy to just ignore it"
saying that criticism of the game is ofcourse perfectly acceptable , and then saying if you don't like it just ignore it, is just weird and wrong .. it's like saying if you like a game and you wanna go online to say good things about it, mmm you shouldn't , it's easier to just ignore it !!
i think it should be pretty easy as well to say my honest opinion about the game respectfully rather than just ignoring the whole thing.
and my opinion is as much as i liked TLOU 1, i hate TLOU 2 and everything about it. i'm not talking about the people who made the game (that's another story) i'm just talking about the game itself, i hate it and i hate everything it stands for.
i think that was pretty easy.
@Toypop Twitch drama is something PushSquare NEVER touches, because that's its own brand of vile material. These articles about harassment and such are almost exclusively about industry workers, not so much influencers and streamers.
It's not because its Hogwarts Legacy, its because this site knows better than to deal with Twitch's brand of lunacy. As far as review-bombing, the game has a 9.0 user score on Metacritic for the PS5 edition, what are you on about?
@Uncharted2007 I agree completely. Additionally, this site is also profiting off of such “news.” I miss when game sites focused on actual game news and didn’t highlight people’s abhorrent conduct for profit.
Idiots on the internet is exactly where this article should have ended.
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@bLiNdSiDe82 That's why I have been largely losing interest in gaming sites. Gone are the days when they were properly focused on what matters, now they run social politics clickbait/outrage articles.
@TheNomadLad I think that hits a good point on the type of selective outrage this article is focused on. It's like they're outraged when people leave 0/10's just because, but they never make a peep about people leaving 10/10's just because. They are outraged when people are mean and nasty towards one game, but they don't make a peep about people being nasty towards another game.
It's like I will admit that bad behavior is bad behavior and it's something that can present issues, but you can't be selective in your outrage and expect everyone to take you seriously.
@JayJ i can not agree more.
@JayJ I agree 100%. Gaming websites should just leave their bias at the door and cover gaming news, nobody really gives a ***** if some voice actor is being harassed, it's not like we're surprised toxic fanboys exist, they have since the NES vs Genesis console wars. This is why YouTubers are replacing gaming websites at an alarming rate.
@Toypop Besides the fact that I can't find the article in question, Kara Lynne was also, once again, an industry worker as the community manager of a game company - not just a twitch streamer. As I've said, they do cover industry workers.
As for "review bombing," the only notable site I've seen give it an undeserved low score is Wired. Even the ones that gave it 5's-6's have agreeable reasons for them. If the reviewer was not specifically a HP fan, it seems they often gave the game a lower score because nostalgia couldn't carry it for them. You can find the scores disagreeable with what you'd give it, but I'd hardly call 1 bad review "review bombing by unethical gaming sites" - especially when the main offender can barely be called a gaming site.
@Toypop You say all this but haven't provided even a shred of evidence, and then try to apply incentives and motives on me. You claim rampant review bombing when a single "major" publication has posted an actually bad review. Harassment is out there on Twitter and twitch, but once again since when is this site on twitch drama when it doesn't involve people working in the games industry?
If there was any legitimacy to what you've said, you have such remarkably poor communication skills that you're not able to verbalize it. Just keep claiming conspiracy as you have then.
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