Destiny 2 developer opens up about harassment

Kevin Yanes reveals the reason why game developers don’t engage with fans.

Destiny 2. Picture: Bungie

A developer at Bungie has opened up about the harassment video game developers receive from community members. According to them, it’s the reason why developers don’t tend to interact with the audience.

In a post on Twitter, Senior Community Manager Dmg04 posted the following tweet about dreaming of “a day where video game developers (from any studio) can openly discuss their work without being harassed.” This is in reference to an earlier incident where players sent death threats over a fictional weapon not coming to Destiny 2, a game so popular that lawsuits regarding cheating have been filed worldwide..

I dream of a day where videogame developers (from any studio) can openly discuss their work without being harassed.

Many in the comments say they do not condone harassment. I hope they also stand against it when they find that friends or family are engaging in it.

— dmg04 (@A_dmg04) July 17, 2022

“Cases of harassment against our developers have actively made it harder for us to communicate with the broader community. It has impacted more studios than just ours.” he goes on to say, in regards to potential player-developer chat channels requested by players.

Destiny 2 players have often requested open fireside chats with the developers regarding the player-versus-player game modes of Destiny 2. Players feel that their thoughts regarding PVP have been ignored, or that additional updates to PVP have long been delayed. Many feel that a constant communication path would help their voices get heard. However, it’s hard to square the idea of allowing players additional access to developer channels if members of the community continues to send literal death threats.

Kevin Yanes, a Destiny 2 developer who has since deleted their tweets, confirmed on Twitter that a fan-favourite item, the Twilight Garrison from Destiny 1, will not be coming to Destiny 2 as it used to be. “Titans will never get air dodge back … It’s part of the Warlock identity.” Yanes posted, referring to the different classes available in the game.

This enraged a handful of players, leading to harassment and death threats being posted across multiple social media platforms. The developer in question has since refused to engage with players further regarding the game, even deleting their job titles from their Twitter bio.

This story of some bad apples spoiling the lot does do a disservice to the broader Destiny 2 community, however. An overwhelming outpouring of support for the development team has come forth from the community on Reddit and various other social media websites. A community is more than its outliers, and the wave of players demanding other players “do better” will only help the community solidify over time, but the issue isn’t just localised within one or two communities — it’s an industry-wide problem.

Written by Junior Miyai on behalf of GLHF.