Halo Subreddit Temporarily Locked Down Due To Toxicity From Players And Devs
The entire Halo subreddit has been temporarily shut down due to aggressive behavior and toxicity from both the Halo Infinite community and the game’s developers. The matter has apparently gotten so out of hand that the moderators felt the need to put everyone on a timeout and advised them to “take the weekend off.”
“The amount of toxicity on the sub from both sides has made it impossible for people to have civil discussions, which is what the mod team strives for regardless of opinion,” the moderators wrote. “Some users on the sub have even been responsible for doxxing and death threats.”
“We're temporarily putting the sub on lockdown so people can hopefully settle down a bit and we can hit the reset button before launch. At the end of the day, this is a video game and this level of vitriol is unwarranted. Take the weekend off, we're reopening on Monday,” they added.
If you'll remember, Halo games are now being developed by 343 Industries after the franchise was handed over to them when Bungie partnered with Activision. The new developer proceeded to make changes to the game that fans and veterans of the old game aren’t happy about.
The spark that lit the fire was Halo Infinite’s apparent lack of game modes, the transition from having weapon drops to a loadout system, and the addition of sprinting. Loadouts and sprinting are a staple feature for most multiplayer shooters but the community would rather the developers have stuck to how it had always been done.
As is the norm today, players voiced their complaints on the Halo subreddit, which led to a full-blown flame war. According to Eurogamer, “Someone criticising the game doesn't mean you get to say they're an ‘entitled crybaby manchild,’” and “Someone saying they're fine with the game or to give it some time doesn't mean you can call them a ‘bootlicking dicksucker,’” are just some of the comments that the moderators have had to deal with.
343 Industries’ Community Director Brian “Ske7ch” Jarrard also wrote a rather lengthy post to address the issue. You can check out his full post here but here are a few excerpts to get you started:
“I can’t reply to every person yelling at me/343 here so want to just share a few final things to take or leave as you see fit. When we have some updates to share I’ll be back.
First, I’m going to stress again that I 100% understand and generally agree with the frustrations most are expressing even if I don’t agree with the attacks and ways in which some choose to express those feelings. Call me a shill, liar, corp speak, etc. as you want, but I’ve never lied to this community and never will. And I’m not saying myself [and] 343 are a ‘victim’ in any way – that’s yet another narrative some folks here have chosen to apply. It’s my job to come in here, listen, [frankly] take it on the chin, and despite personally being very put off by the way in which many are expressing themselves, still ensure that we are advocating for players internally. We do that regardless of it being positive or negative and always will.
[. . .] I don't personally agree we ‘owe’ folks a detailed dissertation on ‘what 343 has been doing the last 6 years’ or ‘who ever thought this was a good idea’, etc.. We have had people working their asses off for years to try and deliver the best Halo game they can amidst very challenging circumstances. But, I will try to at least provide some context for those who are interested.
[. . .] It's just not quite as trivial as ‘pushing a button.’ And at the scale and complexity of this game - any and every change could have monumental impact in a negative way without extensive testing. Triaging these feedback issues and finding ‘what CAN we do now’ is what the team is already doing and will continue doing. Everything has to be tested. Everything has downstream dependencies and knock on effects. And, we’re 4 days from a global launch with holidays right after.
[. . .] For what it’s worth, we’re going to do what we can as soon as we can. If things today do not meet your expectations then I'm sorry you've been disappointed. I’m confident this game will continue to get better and better and all of these issues are fixable. I also realize that some players are just going to not play anymore - maybe they come back, maybe they don’t. I also know - and want to be very up front and honest - that the pace at which bigger changes are brought to bear will absolutely not be as fast as many want. We have some problems, for sure, but I’m really proud of the foundation the team was able to deliver.
Everyone's entitled to their opinion. It’s your prerogative to play or not play. I’d rather have people who are so passionate they're yelling at us than nobody caring at all. But I just ask that people please take a breath here, understand there are human beings behind this who put years of their lives into just trying to make the best experiences they can, and do not rush to judge or assume you've got it all figured out.
And with that, I fully expect to be blasted from here out, but hopefully for some, this post helps provide a bit more context. Have a great weekend everyone.”
Halo Infinite has been in open beta since November 15th and will officially be launching on PC and Xbox consoles on December 8th. The Halo subreddit is still on lockdown as of this writing.
