Ron Gilbert Depressed by Hate on Return to Monkey Island
Ron Gilbert, the creator of the first two installments of the Monkey Island series, as well as the upcoming Return to Monkey Island, could no longer stand the hate that was appearing on his blog, and decided not to share any more content from the game.
- Ron Gilbert, father of the Monkey Island series, is fed up with the hate aimed at the visual style of the upcoming Return to Monkey Island;
- As a result, he decided to stop publishing any information about the game and disabled comments on his blog;
- The artist's side was supported by, among others, actor Dominic Armato (the game's Guybrush Threepwood) and co-creator of The Curse of Monkey Island, Jonathan Ackley.
It is possible that until the release of Return to Monkey Island - which is due in the second half of 2022 - we won't see any new footage from the game. In any case, Ron Gilbert, the creator and father of the series does not intend to talk more about this point-and-click adventure game.
Contributing to this was the "fan hate" that the author was said to be experiencing on social media, especially on his blog in connection with the visual style of the upcoming installment of the series.
"I'm shutting down comments. People are just being mean and I'm having to delete personal attack comments. It's an amazing game and everyone on the team is very proud of it. Play it or don't play it but don't ruin it for everyone else. I won't be posting anymore about the game on my blog. The joy of sharing has been driven from me," wrote Ron Gilbert.
Artists in Ron Gilbert's defense
Previously, the developer had limited himself only to statements that he was saddened by the fact that the community did not like the visual style of Return to Monkey Island, which - for context - does not resemble the "pixel-art" known from the older games. After the recent presentation of a fresh gameplay trailer, the straw hate apparently broke the camel's back.
Ron Gilbert's side was taken by, among others. Dominic Armato - the actor who lends his voice to the protagonist of Monkey Island, Guybrush Threepwood. By the way he assured in a series of tweets that the new graphic style of Monkey Island is very much to his liking.
"Bang up job, everybody," wrote actor on Twitter. "I've seen a lot of passionate but polite/polite-adjacent discussion going on, but the comments on Ron's blog were a total shitshow."
Words of support for the father of the Monkey Island series were also conveyed by Jonathan Ackley - co-creator of The Curse of Monkey Island, who was also citicized in the past for changing the visual style of the series. That was in 1997, however, so the scale of the problem must have been much smaller.
Being criticized for changing the art style in a Monkey Island sequel is a time-honored tradition. Trust me. I should know," wrote Jonathan Ackley.
Tradition or not, one thing is certain - the author of the game should not face such a harsh reaction from people who call themselves fans. Let's hope that at least after the release of Return to Monkey Island - if not sooner - Ron Gilbert will be able receive more constructive criticism and/or praise. As a reminder, let me add that the game is scheduled to be released on PC and Switch.
