When one user commented that it would be easy to find where Scaife lived, several others emphasized how problematic that was. Many users in the comment section came to Scaife’s defense, and pointed out that commenters threatening violence would only project a negative view of video game players. Scaife acknowledges, however, that he has had some positive feedback, and “as a cisgender man, I do think I’ve been spared a lot of the targeted, gender-motivated harassment that can crop up in the video game community.”Īnd judging by the discussion online, the gaming community is also divided on whether Slant Magazine’s review warrants such aggressive responses. In addition to the backlash on Twitter and the article on Slant itself, Scaife told Quartz that some people have attacked him on his personal accounts, including a threat sent to his Facebook. (Some tweeted that Slant Magazine regularly gives ratings that stray from the status quo.) But the debate around Scaife’s article isn’t necessarily about the game itself: A lot of criticism accuses him and Slant Magazine of having a political agenda and deflating the rating to increase traffic to Slant’s website. The game generated $725 million in revenue its opening weekend, the most in entertainment history, and has received mostly rave reviews. There is no doubt that RDR2, which is a game about robbing and fighting your way through the US’s old West to survive, has been wildly successful. But reactions to the piece in Slant Magazine seemed especially intense, and also reflect how controversial game reviews can be as a whole.
Some of the issues that Scaife pointed out in his review, such as clunky game controls or the glossing over of topics like race and politics, were mentioned in other publications too. As is common in online forums, the 673 comments (at time of writing) under Scaife’s article and social media posts that mention his review range from encouraging to outright menacing (“Kill yourself,” one commenter wrote).
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