The Last of Us 2 Staff Is Getting Harassed by Angry, Stupid Fans

The Last of Us 2 has been decisive – enough so that even myself, a guy who hasn’t even played it, has opinions about it as a fan of the first game. Some criticisms – like the plot holes, the focus on relentless pessimism, and the casual disregard of Ellie as a character – are more valid than others – like how some people don’t like that there are gay and trans characters, and that one of the main characters, Abby, has big muscles. But even bad opinions are fine if they’re articulated clearly and respectfully, but unfortunately, since gamers are trash, they’re not.
 
This has led to Abby’s voice actress, Laura Bailey, actually tweeting out some of the awful things people have sent to her for the crime of… proving a voice to a widely disliked muscular female character. And while “female in the industry getting death threats from idiot fans” might technically be old news, it’s not a good sign when we feel almost normalized to the idea of professionals getting attacked so personally for their work.
 
In response to this, the game’s director and probably bad person Neil Druckmann showcased via Twitter some of the other awful stuff people have sent to him for his role in creating a game that includes a female main character and not strictly straight stuff.
 

“You can love or hate the game and share your thoughts about it. Unfortunately too many of the messages I've been getting are vile, hateful, & violent.”

 
Now, I don’t like Neil Druckmann or the Last of Us 2, but regardless of how I feel about either, I sympathize for the man and the studio for some of the awful stuff people are sending their way. You always hope that people will rise above their worst instincts, and frankly, what’s most tiring is how unsurprising their routine failure to do that actually is.
 
But hey, if nothing else, it validates The Last of Us 2's rather bleak view of humanity.