#literally nothing ever released in destiny deserves to have comments bad enough to end up affecting employees

[thefirstknife]

New article with more details (from Jason Schreier who first broke the story). If you can't see it, I'll copy the whole text under read more.

About 100 employees were laid off in total (8%) and one of the main reasons listed is "underperformance," "sharp drop in popularity" and "poor reception of Lightfall."

So you know when for the last year and a half content creators have been shitting and pissing on the game as a full-time job and the amount of negativity and ragebait content became the only thing to make content about for them? Well they certainly won't take the blame, but I will let it be known. These people either don't understand the influence they have or they do and they're doing it on purpose, and I don't know which of these two options is worse, but I am 100% confident that their campaign of rage and hate contributed to this.

You don't base your entire community around constantly hating everything about the only game you play (despite clearly not enjoying it anymore) and somehow avoid galvanising thousands and thousands of people into perceiving the game negatively. Imagine being employees who have barely worked there for 2 years and the only community reception they've seen is 24/7 hate train for their work and then they get fired because of "poor reception" and "drop in popularity." How can they not take that personally? I am absolutely devastated for these people who delievered a banger product and who were met with an unrelenting barrage of toxic gamer children which ended up having more sway over their boss than them.

Which brings me to the next bit and that's FUCK THE CEO. He is now my mortal enemy #1. I am projecting psychic blasts directly into his brain. What an absolute spineless coward who is more willing to bow down to fucking gamers than to protect his own employees. This is absolutely rage inducing because this has happened before. From the article from 2021 about the toxic culture at Bungie:

Reading this shit from the new article absolutely fucking sent me into blind rage because I immediately remembered this. Another instance of employees suffering because of comments on reddit. And because of toxic players. And proof that leadership is not protecting employees and is instead siding with players.

Match made in heaven. Asshole gamer content creators and asshole CEOs, all of whom sit at home on piles of money made from someone else's labour. I hope they all explode. None of the people that worked on this game deserve this.

Another article with an infuriating comment from the CEO:

In an internal town hall meeting addressing a Monday round of layoffs that impacted multiple departments, Bungie CEO Pete Parsons allegedly told remaining employees that the company had kept “the right people” to continue work on Destiny 2.

"Kept the right people." Really. Veteran composers weren't the right people? Die!

Bloomberg article in full:

Bungie’s decision to cut an estimated 100 jobs from its staff of about 1,200 followed dire management warnings earlier this month of a sharp drop in the popularity of its flagship video game Destiny 2. Just two weeks ago, executives at the Sony-owned game developer told employees that revenue was running 45% below projections for the year, according to people who attended the meeting. Chief Executive Officer Pete Parsons pinned the big miss on weak player retention for Destiny 2, which has faced a poor reception since the release of its latest expansion, Lightfall. The next expansion, The Final Shape, was getting good — not great feedback — and management told those present that they planned to push back the release to June 2024 from February, according the people, who asked not to be identified because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly. The additional time would give developers a chance to improve the product. In the meantime, Parsons told staff Bungie would be cutting costs, such as for travel, as well as implementing salary and hiring freezes, the people said. Everyone would have to work together to weather the storm, he said, leaving employees feeling determined to do whatever was needed to get revenue back up. But on Monday morning the news got worse: Dozens of staffers woke up to mysterious 15-minute meetings that had been placed on their calendars, which they soon learned were part of a mass layoff. Bungie laid off around 8% of its employees, according to documentation reviewed by Bloomberg. Bungie didn’t respond to requests for comment. Employees who were let go will receive at least three months of severance and three months of Bungie-paid COBRA health insurance, although other benefits, such as expense reimbursements, ended Monday, sending some staff racing to submit their receipts. Laid-off staffers will also receive prorated bonuses, although those who were on a vesting schedule following Sony Group Corp.’s acquisition of Bungie in January 2022 will lose any shares that weren’t vested as of next month. The layoffs are part of a larger money-saving initiative at Sony’s PlayStation unit, which has also cut employees at studios such as Naughty Dog, Media Molecule and its San Mateo office. TD Cowen analyst Doug Creutz wrote in a report Monday that “events over the last few days lead us to believe that PlayStation is undergoing a restructuring.” PlayStation president Jim Ryan announced last month that he plans to resign. Many of the layoffs at Bungie affected the company’s support departments, such as community management and publishing. Remaining Bungie staff were informed that some of those areas will be outsourced moving forward.

#destiny 2 #bungie #long post #and like i don't care what's anyone's opinion on lightfall. it doesn't matter #the expansion is fine. there's some bad shit in there as there is in every expansion #literally nothing on this earth was so bad to deserve the amount of vitriol that lightfall got #it was purely motivated by hate and rage from people who have clearly lost their interest in the game a long time ago #no one else normal enough would respond even to a weaker expansion this way. and lightfall wasn't even weaker #literally nothing ever released in destiny deserves to have comments bad enough to end up affecting employees #there's been some bad expansions/dlcs/seasons. whatever. none of them were like... gollum level. not even close #people genuinely treated lightfall like it personally killed their dog. it was insane. the reaction to it was insane. #it stemmed from people who should have stopped playing a long time ago and stopped being content creators for one game #i can't even properly explain just how long and tireless the ragebait content campaign for destiny has been #opening youtube and seeing 10 videos in a row of just complaining and bitching #opening twitter and seeing thousands upon thousands of posts and comments dedicated solely to hating the game #imagine being an employee trying to maintain some communication with the community #hippy was relentlessly bullied by people I've seen suddenly lamenting that she was fired. you caused this #they will never accept even a miniscule portion of the blame for this ofc. they will just keep claiming they don't have that influence #but they do. it's been proven years ago. in the same way #community comments DO reach devs and community comments DO influence what happens to them and the game #'the event is bad' 'meta is bad' 'pvp is bad' 'raid is bad' 'story is bad' stop playing. no longer asking. #it's a video game. if you hate it stop playing. you don't have to justify it to hundreds of thousands of people and take them with you #especially when it leads to employees taking the fall #so to all content creators who are appalled and baffled after spending 2 years hating the game: you did this. #and to the ceo even more: explode into dust and be forgotten

[tatakatte]

obviously, this episode was rough. Mad Queen Dany, the assassination of Jaime Lannister, the unsatisfactory death of Cersei Lannister, the improbable survival of Arya, Jon Snow being completely ineffectual (oh wait), the incredible adept player of The Game Varys caught in traitorous acts. All of it - what the fuck.

Now, i’m here for mad queen dany. I agree that there has been foreshadowing for it. we’re constantly told nearly all Targaryens go mad, and Dany’s father and brother were both mad. The vision in the House of the Undying shows a throne littered with ashes. Dany herself has burned many people, and the past few episodes she’s been growing increasingly angry and frustrated with her circumstances.

But the main question you have to consider is this: why?

Game of Thrones isn’t a documentary. It isn’t about real life or real life consequences or what not. It is a story, a plotted piece of fiction that must adhere to the rules set therein. Everyone freaked out over Ned Stark dying in season one, but it established the first, and most important, rule of GoT: the Game for the Throne is the only game that matters, and playing it poorly or abstaining leads to death.

It’s why I didn’t have a problem with the Night King storyline ending in episode 3. The supernatural stuff is only there to SUPPORT the Game. It’s there to complicate the political machinations of the characters. The Night King sets up a variety of things: Cersei as unreasonable & not caring about common folk; Dany being in the North & getting allies; the dragons as vulnerable; Arya fulfilling her prophecy (legitimizing prophecies);

They set up Cersei as the big bad. Good. She’s survived everything, Aerys and Robert and Joffery and the Tyrells. Cersei has survived not because of any supernatural means (other than The Mountain), but through her skill with The Game. She’s the big bad because she is winning at the only game that matters.

Cersei as the big bad sets up a lot of problems. What will Jaime do? Will the North go fight for Dany in the south? Can a mad Targaryen overthrow the ‘rightful’ Lannister? If legitimacy matters so much, will Jon have to take over? There’s actually very little hard evidence that Jon is Aegon Targaryen (but that’s a whole different thing)

I don’t even have much of a problem with episode 4. The aftermath of the battle is fairly... predictable. Everyone relaxes, celebrates; characters that haven’t seen each other in years meet up to reflect on how they’ve changed. And they have all CHANGED. I shouldn’t forgive writing gaffes, but even Sansa saying she survived Ramsey et al because of her strength is confirmation that characters Change and Stay Changed. 

Here’s where the first problem started in re Dany. They show the Northerners fawning over Jon and how amazing he is. They highlight the great thing he’s done, all things Dany has done, usually to a greater degree. You see her growing frustrated. The writers are trying to establish Unreasonable Mad Dany, and doing it poorly.

Jon Snow has repeatedly shown that he is a poor leader, doesn’t think things through, trusts the wrong people, and is generally unaware of everything going on around him. Jon Snow Fails at The Game. This is why he was killed.

Jon Snow will most likely end up on the throne, even though - maybe especially because - he doesn’t want it. He has the ‘best claim’ and is a male, so he should be on the throne. But because of the established main rule, Jon should not be king and he will fail because he doesn’t understand The Game.

The writers try to set up that Dany will abstain from rampant death if she has good advisers. But ultimately, Dany can do whatever she wants (Stannis didn’t listen to Davos, arguably the most practical character), and she always chooses to save people. The people she’s burned to death are slavers or oppressors. She goes against her advisers often to protect people, even at her own detriment. Dany wants to HELP people; she has ALWAYS shown mercy if possible.She’s made bad decisions and suffered and LEARNED from those mistakes. She has Changed.

So.

Dany, through an unreasonable amount of awfulness, has maintained herself. She’s been betrayed over and over and lost people over and over and she still comes out strong. She does not mindlessly murder and she even chained up her dragons rather than see them hurt innocent people. Missandei’s death hurt her, of course it did, but don’t act like either it nor the (frankly, unrealistic & poorly done) death of Rhaegal would make her lose her damn mind. Why would Dany wait for the bells to signal a surrender before attacking King’s Landing? She wouldn’t. Her actions beforehand were necessary and brutally efficient.

What purpose does this serve the story? If Dany has gone through all these things, gone through literal fire, what is the point of her becoming just like her ancestors? We bring her to the precipice, we show her the means to become exactly like all those before her, and the POINT of WRITING - the POINT of her going through everything - is that she is not a victim to destiny. She can - she should- chose to be different. It makes narrative sense. Otherwise, there is NO POINT. The writing takes the easy way out, and her character is meaningless.

It is so fucking boring to setup the Mad Targaryens, the devolution of their dragons, the men being evil & awful, the Silver Princes all dying, the elimination of the entire family except this ONE GIRL, and then have her act like the rest of them. To have her fall into her expected outcome. Why? WHY give her these obstacles and expectations and then NEVER have her overcome? THAT’S THE POINT. THAT’S WHY YOU’RE WRITING THIS. To CHANGE the STATUS QUO.

Dany would never burn innocents like that. She would destroy the Red Keep without someone to stop her, yes, but she would not ruthlessly and callously murder everyone.

Varys was an expert at The Game. That’s why he survived so many kings/queens, that’s why no one killed him, that’s why he was the Master of Whispers. Varys, unlike nearly everyone else, cared solely for the people and all he did was to protect innocents. The show constantly has him protecting children, arguably the most innocent, and giving them purpose. Varys has survived 8 seasons of actively working against bad rulers because he is so good at maneuvering around people, at keeping his actions secret. Declaring his intentions to Jon Snow - the stupidest fucking person in Westeros - is wildly amateur and NOT typical of Varys. Varys would identify the Jon Snow problem INSTANTLY especially because of how trusting & open Jon is. For Varys to expose himself unnecessarily - poor writing. Varys would’ve sent those notes out a long-ass time ago, and he would’ve pegged Tyrion as untrustworthy long ago as well. He has no reason to confide in either Tyrion or Jon, and to show him doing so was wrong. His death is extremely unfortunate, because he could’ve shown Dany how to play The Game better than anyone.

Cersei - this is her ending? She is the big bad and she.... dies in the tombs below King’s Landing with rocks falling on her? I love that she got emotional - and Lena Hedley deserves all the awards - but she’s always been strong enough to get shit done. She watches Dany burn down King’s Landing, sees the whole Keep fall apart and then just... surrenders? Really?? What the FUCK. I know they never mentioned the valonqar prophecy on the show, but it can’t meant nothing. GRRM wouldn’t put it in there if it would never amount to anything. I’m seeing comments that Jaime had his arms around Cersei and... that counts? Fuck you. Prophecies are already confirmed to be Valid, and the valonqar prophecy has to count for something.

Shoutout to Arya for going blind, getting lost in Braavos, nearly dying, learning the difficult art of Changing Faces, and then.... never doing anything with it. Excellent. Every time I saw a character I was like “Its Arya! She’s that dude! She’s that lady! She’s Jaime! She’s Euron!” and she was NEVER ANY of these people.

And lastly, I - Jaime - how. Jaime Lannister has one of the best characters arcs of any character - ever. He is utterly despicable when we first meet him. He is smug, arrogant, beautiful, undermining his king, and screwing his sister, whom he’s had three children with. He throws a child out a window to protect his incestuous relationship with his sister the queen. He’s a terrible guy. He’s blase, and it makes him obnoxious.

And then we learn about him. We learn about him through his relationship with Brienne. Jaime loses the best part of himself (so he thinks) because he’s trying to protect Brienne. He helps her play The Game as much as they can while they’re prisoners of the Bloody Mummers and the Boltons. He feels safe enough with her to confess what actually happened with Aerys, and why killing the Mad King was his greatest act. When he’s released, he goes back to rescue Brienne by jumping into a pit with a bear. He tells her he’s “dreamed” of her. Later, he takes the Valyrian steel sword his father gave him, gives it to her and names it Oathkeeper. He enables her to keep her quest. He places his honor in her and when he acts, its with her on his mind. Even when he’s with Cersei, he’s noticeably changed from before. He - and as a testament to Nikolaj CW - constantly seems disapproving or doubtful, you can see his trust in Cersei waning. He’s hurt, because he cannot acknowledge his children even as they’re dying, and he sees Cersei growing more ruthless with power. When the danger of the Night King is shown to be real, he believes (like an idiot) that Cersei will aid the North. He’s especially motivated by seeing Brienne again, as she seems to remind him of how he’s Changed. When Cersei refuses to send her armies North, Jaime confronts her. And the utter betrayal when she tells the Mountain to kill him cements the end of his relationship with her. He goes North to help defend mankind, in opposition to his sister.

And at Winterfell, Jaime is ridiculous. This is the most obvious sign of his Change. He is visibly, painfully, in love with Brienne. Every time he sees her, he lights up. He leaps to his feet whenever she’s around. He cannot stop staring at her if she’s in the room. There might as well be cartoon hearts circling above his head. The scene where he knights Brienne is the most romantic, emotional, charged scenes in the entire series. They fight against the dead constantly at each other’s sides and save each other again and again. Once the battle is over, they are still together and eventually consummate their relationship.

They continue this relationship over a decent period of time. We don’t know exactly, but it’s long enough that Sansa notices, that Jaime “officially” decides to stay in Winterfell when everyone else heads south. Cersei sends Bronn down to kill Jaime and Tyrion, confirming to Jaime that Cersei no longer cares for him, and would rather see him dead.

The scene at the end of episode 7 seemed - to me - to be the culmination of where Jaime has come. He is obviously in love with Brienne. When he hears that Cersei is winning in King’s Landing, he knows that he can get close to her, that he can turn the tide of the battle. He may, in fact, be the only one. Being with Brienne - who represents pure honor - has reminded him that he can do good, and in order to do so, he has to leave. He reminds Brienne of all the terrible things he’s done in an effort to prevent her following him, as she would most definitely do. In fact, I half-expected her to pop up and kill Euron or Cersei this episode.

In episode 8, it’s like we we’re back with season 1 Jaime. He will sacrifice anything to be with Cersei. He fights Euron in the stupidest fight ever (Jaime can defeat endless amounts of dead, but one cocky asshole gets him???), and seems near death. He finds Cersei, and does not strangle her, but tries to lead her out. They die crushed by the collapsing Keep. Jaime says that the two of them are the only thing that matters.

Like. Why? What is the point? Writing fiction has to have a point, it has to lead somewhere, it has to form some sort of logic that makes sense. Jaime has Changed. People are arguing that Jaime is always selfish and does what he wants and has never betrayed Cersei. I don’t know where that’s coming from.

Let’s look at Jaime’s greatest act. He calls it that. He watched Aerys rape Rhaella and burn the Starks alive and seen the atrocities committed by the Mountain and has had to stand by the whole time. It made him sick. But when Aerys threatened everyone,  when he said he would burn the entirety of King’s Landing, all those innocent people, Jaime couldn’t stand by any longer. He broke those oaths - ones he’s struggled to keep since he was seventeen (a baby!)- and 20 yr old Jaime kills Aerys. He lives with the insulting epithet Kingslayer, the ridicule, the besmirching of his honor, all because he knows he did the right thing. He saved thousands of people. He didn’t do all this to save himself, to save Cersei or his father. He killed Aerys because it was the right thing to do, because allowing Aerys to kill all those people would be too far in these ‘oaths’ he took.

But when Tyrion speaks with Jaime, Jaime flippantly says that he doesn’t care much for the innocent people anyway??? The thing he has lived with pressing on him his entire life was to save innocent people. He never tried to change this view of him, never tried to clear his name. The act was enough.

We’re supposed to believe that he doesn’t believe that anymore? That he abandoned Cersei, rode up North to certain death, acted like a completely lovesick fool with Brienne, and in the end, nothing changed. Why would he tell Sansa he’d stay up North, if he wanted to go back to Cersei? Why would he maintain a relationship with Brienne over several days/weeks (at least!), if he was still in love with Cersei?? Why would the impetus for returning to Cersei be because she was winning??? Everything about Jaime’s evolution has been the realization that Cersei wants power, she will do everything she can to acquire/maintain it, and that he is disposable to her. Even the baby is a tool. When she asks the Mountain to kill him, it solidifies his realization. Note how when Bronn comes at Cersei’s orders, Jaime doesn’t even seem particularly surprised or upset. He knows this is who Cersei is now.

The episode ended with Arya, the fucking Faceless Man who not used a Face in several seasons, finding a horse in the middle of a fucking fire-ridden graveyard. A pale horse. Like the one death rides. So. I guess she’s - coming for Dany. Or whatever.

I am so fucking disappointed. I hate everything they’ve done, and unless this is some cheap-ass vision Bran had and tells everyone about so they can fix it all, I will not accept this as canon. Which is insane, but I’m there.

#game of thrones #got spoilers #jaime lannister #daenerys targaryen #arya stark #the bells #fuck this episode #fuck this shit #i hated all of this #character assassination #completely undermines eight seasons of development #the worst ending #let it all be fake #i will deal with it #even if its cheap #i'm okay with that at this point