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If history has taught us anything, it's that when faced with tyranny, lovers of both Liberty and Democracy will fight in their defence to the last round of ammunition, the final drop of blood. In a bombshell development, it looks like developer Arrowhead may have a revolution on its hands, as outraged Helldivers 2 players who defended the developer just days ago rise up. They demand justice (and official canonisation into in-game lore) for the undemocratically dismissed community manager, now dubbed "General" Spitz.
As is the fashion these days, a Change.org petition has sprung up overnight (thanks, RPS), which, at the time of this writing, approaches 4,500 signatures. It aims to force Arrowhead to reconsider the dismissal of a community manager known as Spitz, who has been a fixture within the community since launch. During the darkest hours of the forced PC/PSN account linking debacle earlier this week, Spitz, perhaps feeling the call of destiny, directed the community on Discord (captured on Twitter) to: "[Make] their displeasure known through reviews, refunds, etc. [It] gives us more pull in the discussions with Sony. They don't read our Discord."
Once the dust settled the next day (yesterday), Spitz told the community that this act had "Almost. Not quite" gotten them fired. Not much later, one final transmission was confirmed, as Spitz revealed they had been let go, stoically stating: "Every war comes with casualties."
According to the petition: "On 05/07/2024, at or about 11:45 PST, the Helldivers discord discovered that Community Manager Spitz had been relieved of his position, and all traces of his previously held post deleted or otherwise removed from the discord." This incident appears to have been the inciting spark to revolution, as not only do Helldivers want Spitz reinstated immediately, but they've also demanded that he be immortalised in-game for his self-sacrifice:
"We additionally request the official canonisation of GENERAL Spitz in Helldivers lore. FOR FREEDOM. FOR DEMOCRACY. FOR THE GOOD OF THE GAME AND ITS DEDICATED COMMUNITY ALIKE."
It remains to be seen where this all goes, but with Arrowhead CEO Johan Pilestedt himself praising the "willpower" of players in the Sony showdown, there does appear to be a little hypocrisy at play. "General" Spitz left us with some words to meditate on in the meantime: "I knew I was taking a risk with what I said about refunding and changing reviews; I stand by it. It was my job to represent the community; that's what I did."
Will you rally behind General Spitz? What do you think of Arrowhead and the Helldivers community's wild week? In the comments section below, remember that the world can change in a single day.
[source change.org, via rockpapershotgun.com]
Comments 61
I’m starting to think that the Helldivers community might be one I’d like to avoid.
I mean there is certainly one community manager that should be removed and that's the one that literally put someone's name on autoblock whenever it is mentioned and even accused the man of sexual assault.
Nah the dude needs to be gone. Any "Community Manager" that advocates for players to review bomb the game should be let go.
It's a shame that someone is fired, but this is Arrowhead's affair with their employees, not the customers/players.
@get2sammyb It's ridiculous how sensitive and volatile some of the elements of the Helldivers II community have become. I loved going onto the subreddit for the memes and fun when it first launched. Now I can't stand it and avoid it at all costs.
This freaking fanbase as made me drop Helldivers. They are just pathetic and annoying chuds who can’t quit crying about every little thing while unironically calling other people snowflakes
I don't know if I like or dislike this community...
Either way, their incessant cries of democracy are ruining a good joke.
tbh I was very surprised when it looked like he wouldn't be fired.
I work alongside community management teams and while I've thankfully never seen one of them fired, I know how careful they need to be. It would take a lot less than what this guy did for red flags to be raised.
@Deadlyblack I was just about to say exactly this.
This one is simply not our business. It's a shame when someone loses their job, but this is between him and Arrowhead.
Then he lost his job because he sided with the very same people who were framing AH employees as as*h*les all over reddit two months ago and told them to review bomb the game? Ironic lol.
A "You are fired" meme belongs to the situation. F that guy.
I love Helldivers but I can love it with my friends, I'm done with that reddit full of snowflakes.
Lol. The Discord is full of Arrowhead bootlickers. The general community did NOT like Spitz. Check Reddit. His support is FAR less community-wide than you make this sound.
As a high-level member of the Helldivers community, I apologize for all the embarrassing whininess.
Honestly, the Outrage Culture has worn out any empathy I had for things like this. It's outrage after outrage after outrage, driving people to apathy.
Maybe it's time to stop reading forums and chaff like this, and just play the game instead.
Is this the community manager who's racist?
Is this the man who... wrecked the buffet at the Harrow club this morning?
It's hilarious that some gamers are armchair judging those that successfully rallied to enact backlash which served to incite change. you act like footsoldiers for a corporation above all else. It's frankly just sad.
We see you cheer corporate exclusivity gating along with profits shared in earnings calls like mindless zombies, and yet attack hundreds of thousands of gamers in nearly 150 countries losing the ability to play a game over corporate red tape.
Wtf is wrong with you people. Hate to break it to you, but it's not using a forum like reviews as intended to share thoughts on a game that is the problem. It's you and your mindless allegiance to a brand above all else that condones continued degradation of the medium.
It continues to appear that in reality, Sony bootlickers are some of the most toxic people in gaming.
@RBMango It’s such a shame how these noisy individuals can ruin the fun for everyone.
I mean he had it coming even if he had the players interest in mind. Telling the community to review bomb a game from the company you work for is not playing with fire its jumping into the volcano itself.
I bet a good percentage of the Helldivers community call at least 7 people “snowflake” daily. I’m often reminded why I prefer single player games over all.
I find it odd that this site is trying to get engagement off of “should X have fired someone.”
This is why I never get involved in fandoms of any kind and just enjoy them on my own or with my friends. Don’t people get tired of always being outraged about stuff online?
This was a very necessary firing and they need to do more. These people have infiltrated the industry to persuade us anti consumer policies as the "way to go" people like spitz were openly accepting and promoting sonys BS though one could argue spitz was the least egregious of the many who deserve to be fired and if not worse some jail time accountability for their false claims
@get2sammyb For a game about democracy they sure sound like fascists lmao
@get2sammyb definitely steer clear of the helldivers subreddit. It's full of the most toxic people you can imagine.
The overall community in the game is great. But the vocal people online are taking it way too far. They are by far the most entitled/toxic group of people I've ever seen for a gaming community. And that's saying something...
I'm constantly amazed at how entitled and whiny parts of the gaming community have become over every little thing. First it was the rather light censoring in Stellar Blade (which didn't really affect the game at all. Thankfully the metacritic user score is still 9.3) and now it's this - a guy got fired for enciting the sabotage of the company he works for. I mean even he knew he was taking a risk. The PSN account reversal was a good cause to fight for, even if it also had it's whiners, but this is just getting rediculous. People need to stop letting small things (that sometimes don't even concern them) ruin their enjoyment of games.
@get2sammyb Says a dude whose job, in part, is making their opinion as widely known as can be to try and push a needle within a broader community.
If you're complaining about people being noisy, you may be in the wrong profession.
@get2sammyb Media kept supporting them and Arrowhead keeps egging them on... well now they run the community and not the other way around. Arrowhead can enjoy the toxicity they created and fostered.
Also, Sony if you read this... The PC community is only going to get worse and more toxic as devs and pubs keep acquiescing to their demands.
@IOI technically, the source material that the original start war troopers is based on is actually promoting fascism
@RBMango Same here. Their reddit page used to be really fun, now it's 98% complaints about one thing or another, even complaints about complaints. It's no longer an enjoyable component of the HD2 community which is a damn shame as that's part of what's fueled it's popularity.
The bipolarity of their fanatacism is over the top and a real turnoff. Thankfully the game and online playerbase is still awesome (despite what some of the posts would have you eblieve)
@optic_efun11 I’ve completely abandoned the Star Wars fandom because of stuff like this. In fact, Star Wars fandom is what put me off all fandoms.
They fans confused the movies. From starship troopers, went to idiocracy.
No.
The guy said it himself; for what he did right under his employer's nose, he had it coming. Whether you agree with what he did or not, actions like that have consequences and you don't just get to carry on from what must have been a major breach of contract. If not several.
And the increasingly obnoxious, ego-inflated vocal minority in the HD2 community is definitely getting old. I'll stick to avoiding the cesspits of Reddit, Discord and the Steam forums - the normal folk who simply play the game are much more tolerable (380mm Barrages notwithstanding).
It’s super easy to be a fan of a game, play it a lot, and not interact with the fanbase online. Guaranteed you will enjoy the game longer as all fan bases absolutely suck.
That chronically online community is starting to become a pain in the ass. And it will get worse in the future.
So glad I got the plat a while back so I can leave this game alone. Fanbase was cool a month ago, now its just excel sheets of weapon stats. Lol.
@crossbit
I love the 380MM barrage. You just have to be smart on how and where you use it. The 15% spread reduction ship module is both funny and effective.
Inevitable. Why could no one see this coming? Porting console games to PC will never work long term. The so called 'PC master race' will never accept console gamers as equal. PC gamers have always had a bad attitude in gaming, hence why the major console makers are hesitant to turn on cross play for everything.
PC gamers just want all the games and have no real community themselves, it's very transient. Whereas on console I'd argue the community is very much what makes gaming on a particular console enjoyable.
I also believe some players actually think they're real Helldivers. Just waiting for the day we start seeing freaks in capes wandering the streets.
As for the community manager. Yep should stay fired imo. I'm sure he had no problem accepting pay checks every month. Any reasonable business would fire them.
I love the game..play it almost every day at the moment. I never get involved with the community as I just don't like some of these gamers. I have my friends that I team up with on a very regular basis and they are great guys to helldive with. I have experienced plenty of toxic gobshites on hd2 but a 500kg bomb to the noggin usually shuts the ***** up..gets me kicked too but I'll take one for democracy. We play for a laugh but take it seriously too. If anybody wants to join us for helldives add me (tags in the profile.) Biting the hand that feeds is never a great idea as this guy found out. Got to give him props for standing his ground though no matter how much you think he's wrong.
Yes, I support a man who supports his community's best interests. Although, not signing up for PSN is the smallest hill imaginable that you can die on (which he did).
Geez, I don't know if a man that incites his community for such a small thing, that might help the developer keep a clean game without consequences for ingame bullying, deserves his job!?
I am still convinced that people were upset to sign up for PSN because of stubbornness... "PC master race and all that jazz".
Am I mistaken?
I'm getting really tired of this game's fanbase 😑
Love this game but some real weirdos on here from day 1. Not surprised it's mostly from PC players
Spitz was one of the most hated Devs out there. He couldn't keep his mouth shut so that got him fired. That's not how HR should be done.
Which one was it that called players "toddlers" after the recent nerfs?
You shouldn't be a Community Manager if you can't deal with complaints professionally, no matter how unfair those complaints are.
@KundaliniRising333 This guy is fantastic in a company blasting his colleagues i would keep someone like that in the team that great for morale.
Saying its awsome to review bomb your own company the places where you colleagues get their paychecks from.
This is already a massive stain om this game for me i waa goinf totrt it out eventually ill skip it PC master race and group of people to avoid.
Didnt see you so passionately fight for the work abuse that went on at Ubisoft probably because its not some that is a issie for you.
@KundaliniRising333 https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/eat-well/food-types/salt-in-your-diet/
He greatly overstepped the bounds in what he did and it’s perfectly understandable that he was fired from his job. This isn’t a democracy as it’s his employers paying his wages. Are those signing the petition happy to pay his wages instead, as well as bear the cost of any further bad actions, if he gets his job back as they ask?
Helldivers 2 has an Al Murray: Pub Landlord problem. That is, if you satirise fascism you attract fascists who don’t understand satire and are starved of other content aimed in their direction.
The community they’ve garnered, and it seems to be the PC community in particular, can’t tell the difference between a community goal against fictional automatons and the mass bullying and harassment of real human beings.
The problem with Spitz, and several of the other CMs to be fair, was a complete lack of professionalism throughout the controversial period. They fanned the flames instead of putting out fires, the exact opposite of what they should have been doing.
To be honest several of the others should be let go as well for mocking fans, and therefore inflaming the situation further, but Spitz got the boot because they advocated action against the game itself (review bombing) which was totally unacceptable and understandably so.
Also very important to note, since this article failed to do so, that the vast majority of the complainers in the initial PSN account controversy hated the CMs for their behavior during the controversy. Spitz was initially mocking players before flipping to their side when he saw how the wind was blowing. Those that paid attention don't see that as particularly admirable. The ones now fighting for Spitz's reinstatement are a small splinter of the group unhappy with PSN signups. If you could somehow put it up to a vote of those who review bombed the game I'd strongly suspect Spitz stays unemployed.
I mean what do gamers expect? You can have a “revolution “ but no company is gonna pay for it. Oh it’s bad now because it’s something they like? Either way I hope those that lost a job find another one but honestly if you don’t want to represent a company don’t work for them or make your own business.
JFC, Helldivers community have more ***** drama than the TBS Saturday night line-up.
@EfYI As I understand it, despite intending account linking from the outset (publisher requirement), they accepted purchases from all countries on Steam - including the 121 in which PSN is unavailable. When linking was introduced in a patch, they where effectively barred from playing the game they had purchased.
@8bitOG believe me bro, before February the Helldivers subreddit was a place of love lol. A small but nice community. Now is filled with cry boys, ipad kids and cod players.
@Weez
Yeah, that is the real issue, you're right.
Did they give them money back? Can people just use another country's storefront? Or will it somehow geolock!?
@AhmadSumadi same! can't voice an opinion of any kind without without being immediately jumped by angry fans and just seeing the toxic side of people just gets really old when they have to constantly complain about every little thing they don't like.
Honestly I don't think I can faithfully side with anyone in this argument.
Was Spitz unprofessional to a degree that warranted not being associated with Arrowhead? Yes. But id like to believe he had the goodwill of at least a large part of the community at heart. I've made decisions at work that weren't the best for my company in terms of what they would like but ultimately kept client retention where it needed to be because the system itself was broken in places. I think that's at least partially the case with the avenues we are provided to give meaningful feedback to those with the power to make a difference in games. Sony were not listening whatsoever and that was clear until it became something even Arrowhead began to push back.
I think anyone blindly saying Sony needs to ignore the PC players are also wrong, despite having a fair-ish case. Can PC players be spoiled brats? Yes. But they also made the difference in an issue, that whilst on the surface seemed small to console players, was a lot bigger for the wider community who WERE actually affected by it.
In situations like this we often resort back to blind tribalism or we bend the knee. We shouldn't do either of those things. We should push back. In the right ways though, and understand the problems of those that we may not necessarily have ourselves.
The fact this is as big as it is, is in part thanks to Spitz and the PC community who made their voices loud. Do I agree with the way it was handled generally? No. But someone did need to speak out. And they did.
Take a step back, all. Stop casting blame and villainising. Maybe put your eyes towards why these things happened and question where the source of the problems lie. It boils down to one simple thing - WE ALL NEED a better way to communicate with the people in power. And if they don't take those qualms seriously they don't deserve our time. It's unfair on the devs in either scenario. And had we not allowed this dismissive behaviour to fester, we wouldn't be here. It starts from the top.
Whether you like it or not, with Helldivers, you are all a community. Act like it.
@The_Wailing_Doom I love throwing the 380mm 120mm, airburst and cluster bomb in level 1 flag missions for Shi and giggles. Just watching it wreck havoc is crazy
@EfYI Not sure, don't really follow the game.
Refunds are usually an automated process, and will be declined if you have more than 2 hours playtime. Do it enough times and it gets flagged for manual review. Whether or not it will be approved, I'm not sure.
Most people are actually wondering why it took so long. Spitz has a history of spouting misinformation and attacking people. He also deleted the original official Helldivers discord server in a rage, because someone upset him. Good riddance.
Removed - trolling/baiting
@RBMango I’ve unfortunately lost my love for several games after meeting their “communities”. Rocket League is a great example. I wish I never visited that sub
Some funny comments in this thread about how Helldivers 2 community is this or that and the dudes commenting are basing this off of 4-5K people screaming (a mere droplet in an ocean compared to a MILLION dudes and dudettes on that discord). Awesome job lads in the comments, great virtue signaling. Bravo.
@dark_knightmare2 Much as I don’t really want to condone their behaviour they only really got like this because of Sonys ***** attempt to force PSN integration into the game at the expense of PC players and getting it delisted in certain countries.
I mean the games not even a year old yet and already people are complaining it’s fanbase has gotten too abrasive.
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