Not long after that, a tweet by a developer from Bungie went viral, creating a ruckus. Dylan “dmg04” Gafner, the community manager at Bungie, shared about his recent gaming session and declared Ghost of Yōtei as his personal Game of the Year with no ifs and buts. He was loud and clear. No doubt about that. In fact, he even paid tribute to the voice actress Erika Ishii and the game’s mother studio Sucker Punch Productions, noting that he “cannot commend them enough” for the fun.
You would perhaps think that this is a comparatively usual gaming opinion right? Sharing the enjoyment of a game and exchanging ideas. But, the replies were incredibly unpredictable and went completely off the rails in ways nobody could have envisioned.
At first, the issue of Destiny was brought up by many people right away. For instance, StaiterD2 commented, “this says more about the state of destiny then anything, lmao,” to which… okay fair point? If one of the Bungie employees is calling another studio’s game the best just for him while the company’s own game is facing… let’s say, rough times… that surely will garner some negative attention.
To the contrary, it turned out to be even more bizarre. A few of the replies took to political attacks, some labeling Erika Ishii an “antifa terrorist” and “domestic terrorist,” while Sucker Punch was branded as being “woke.” A user named ChrisB15685 simply commented “Sure support the antifa terrorist don’t think thats a wise choice” and BoyLazlo called it “woke slop.” Which… that’s one perspective I guess? People are really dragging political weights into a conversation that is not only about a game they haven’t played but also practically non-existent.
Then there was the comparison game that started too. Whatawaste6969 was the first to come up with the statement Ghost of Yōtei “has nothing on Expedition 33 though” and was depreciating Yōtei as “a simple revenge story” while lavishing praise on the art, narrative, music, and gameplay evolution of Expedition 33. Then, ScoobyDoo88888 supported him, saying the “Now I see why destiny’s failing. You think that game is better than expedition 33?”
But what’s really interesting is that amid the chaos, there were some genuine gamers who were having real conversations. JooFiish was there defending their liking of Destiny’s current state, asserting that they “enjoyed the campaign and had fun acquiring the new weapons and exotics” and were awaiting Festival of the Lost. And they weren’t the only ones – romepr joined in saying “So good. I’m always sidetracked tho😂” which shows that real people are indeed playing and enjoying Ghost of Yōtei.
The entire thread turned out to be like a strange microcosm of modern gaming discussions where you have:
– individuals seizing every opportunity to mock the current state of Destiny
– the absurdities of the political culture war being dragged into totally unrelated conversations
– authentic gamers attempting to have normal discussions about the games they prefer
– and everybody just talking past each other
What is surprising is that dmgo4’s initial tweet was merely… a person saying he liked a game? That’s all. No drama, no hot takes, just “hey I played this and it’s my personal GOTY.” But in the existing gaming landscape, even the most basic positive opinions turn into battlegrounds for all the grievances that people have kept bottled up inside.
In the meantime, Sucker Punch is most likely just sitting back and watching the whole thing while thinking “uh… thanks for playing our game?” Not to mention, Erika Ishii, who voiced a character in the game, is being pulled into political debates that she may not have wanted to be associated with in the first place.
This whole incident raises a question concerning the current state of online gaming discourse. Are we unable to let people enjoy video games without framing the whole thing as a big political statement or as a chance to rant about completely unrelated topics? Apparently, the answer is no.
Nevertheless, Ghost of Yōtei is claimed to be performing wonders with the players who really, you know, play it. And the fact that a Bungie developer called it his personal GOTY is undoubtedly a significant endorsement, regardless of what the Twitter mob thinks about it. It seems that the game is doing something right since it has already succeeded in attracting that level of enthusiasm from someone who works in the industry and also plays games for a living.
But the comments… wow! They were something quite different. Just a complete mess of people projecting their personal issues onto what should have been a simple “hey this game is good” post. Gaming PlayStation still takes the crown when it comes to converting good vibes into a total disaster.
