Toxic Rust Fans Made Death Threats Against Developers
Facepunch wanted to repay fans for their support by holding a get-together in a relaxed atmosphere. Their plans were thwarted by disturbing news.
From the very beginning Rust for some reason seemed to attract the toxic cream of the gaming community like a magnet. Cheaters, hackers, frustrated people venting their aggression on other players and developers - they have always been present in this world. This time, however, they went too far. Everyone felt the consequences.
Creators cave in under pressure from toxic players
Rust is a sandbox survival game that has continued to be popular since its release in early access in 2013. The developers' attention to the project, which continues to receive monthly updates, has steadily kept the old and attracted the new players.
Members of Facepunch have so far not allowed hostile fans to affect their game's development and desire to integrate with players.
On the occasion of this year's Game Developers Conference the developers wanted to organize an informal, almost private meeting in a coffee shop, to present their plans.
To the surprise of the community, the so-called meetup was suddenly canceled. What was the reason? Concern for the lives of studio employees.
Developers' daily challenges
In view of the surprising turn of events, PC Gamer asked members of Facepunch for an explanation. Rust producer Alistair McFarlane responded that:
- staff members dealing with the community face threats on a daily basis;
- individuals from the "chater community" make every effort to attack individual staff members;
- staff members and their families have had to "change personal information" due to doxxing (i.e., making personal information public), which "often takes a toll on their mental health."
- the location of the canceled event was made public, and after "threats of assassination," the studio decided that it would pose too great a security risk and cause too much anxiety for the staff;
- the threats are very disturbing and the studio plans to take them seriously.
Despite the rather trivial reasons (according to McFarlane, most of them are explained by dissatisfaction with the changes being made to the game), the developers did not want to take any chances and canceled the meeting.
Internet reactions to the studio's warning
After the announcement of the decision to cancel the meeting in a San Francisco coffee shop, most commenters showed great patience and support.
The saddest thing, however, is the fact that after years of the game's operation, the behavior of potentially dangerous fans surprises no one. "This is Rust", "The game's most toxic fan community strikes again", are the comments appearing on Reddit or Twitter, in surprizing numbers.
Even more desensitization has been shown by people who outright admit that the safety of the developers does not matter to them and take advantage of the situation to try to force them to remove the controversial recoil.
There is a reason why the Rust fan community became notorious for being one of the most toxic in the world. This is the first time the game's developers have reacted in such a decisive way to the dangerous behavior of its members. Do you think this is the beginning of a crackdown on toxic players?
