BioWare veteran faces backlash after calling out gamers for being 'cruel'

BioWare veteran Mark Darrah has called out gamers for being "cruel" if they are excited about layoffs at development studios, which has sparked quite a rebuttal by some members of the community.

Darrah, a BioWare veteran and consultant on the recent Dragon Age: Veilguard, which was renowned as an industry flop, posted the video "Your $70 Doesn't Buy You Cruelty," where he explains that gamers should have some more empathy for the humans working at development studios as gamers aren't aware of the logistics behind the choices made that result in aspects of the game the gamers don't enjoy.

Moreover, Darrah says that gamers shouldn't be directing their complaints to any studio employee who isn't top leadership, as top leadership is paid to bear the responsibility of being a lightning rod for community feedback. The BioWare veteran is now facing immense pushback from gamers who pointed out Darrah doesn't specify or define "cruelty," with one of the only examples being given by Darrah being a gamer getting angry at a voice actor because they didn't like the way an in-game character delivered a line.

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Commenters on the video immediately called Darrah out for not mentioning any of the times developers have been "cruel" to gamers, insinuating Darrah is biased with his call for protection against studios but won't do the same for gamers.

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Personal take - Darrah made a critical mistake with this video; he didn't provide a clear definition of what classifies as cruelty. As for the studio layoffs celebrated by gamers, this is no different from any creative-based sub-industry. When the creators of the product continuously release products that aren't well received, the market reacts by saying that the creators aren't needed anymore.

Every major creative-based industry endures this burden. Perhaps a prime example of that is the current situation of the once-reigning Marvel Cinematic Universe, which has tumbled down the ranks of where it once was, with many fans of the adored franchise now calling for a new direction due to the recent poorly released products. The same goes for music and even my own industry.

Using Darrah's example of cruelty (gamers attacking a voice actor because a line wasn't delivered to a gamer's satisfaction), anyone who is reasonable would understand this is purely unjustified, but unfortunately, this is the nature of the internet, and when engaging in the public domain with inherently subjective creative endeavors there's a non-zero chance of a creation being criticized unjustifiably.

Despite Darrah having some reasonable points about directing criticisms to those in charge/the studio and not the "little guy," among other great points (I encourage you to watch the entirety of Darrah's video linked above), I believe Darrah's call for gamers to have more empathy will end up having the opposite effect. Unfortunately, people who write "cruel" comments to game developers aren't likely to stop because a developer asks them to. In fact, the developer asking them to stop has shown the comments have successfully made a chink in the armor - further fueling the motivation to leave more cruel comments due to their impact now being validated.