Former Sea of Thieves Community Manager Offers Support For Outriders Team

Outriders has had a bit of a rocky launch, and it has gotten a significant amount of backlash […]

April 4, 2021, 10:18pm

Outriders has had a bit of a rocky launch, and it has gotten a significant amount of backlash online as a result. Unfortunately, gamers are often inconsiderate to community managers, which is something that Daley “Kong” Johnson is all too familiar with. Johnson took to Twitter to share her experiences working as a community manager at Rare during the launch of Sea of Thieves. During that time, she saw a lot of abuse hurled at staffers online as a result of that game’s own launch issues. According to Johnson, it got so bad that Rare brought in a psychologist for group therapy sessions, as a result.

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Johnson’s Tweet about the launch of Sea of Thieves can be found embedded below.

The replies give me.major flashbacks to when I launched Sea of Thieves with a team of CMs at Rare.

The abuse we got was so damaging that Rare hired in a psychologist to give us group therapy.

Seriously. Disgusted by people. You cause real harm. https://t.co/wbx1hECMPf
— Daley Kong (@Daley_Kong) April 4, 2021

In follow-up Tweets, Johnson goes on to describe how bad it can get for developers and community managers, as many gamers will follow them to their personal accounts and continue to harass them long after they have logged off for the day. It’s an unfortunate situation, and one that happens quite a bit in the industry. The internet has provided players with an excellent tool to engage directly with the people that make games, but many take this for granted and forget that these are real people.

The issues that plagued Sea of Thieves at launch have since been ironed out, and the game continues to see strong support. While some gamers might have forgotten the game’s launch issues, it’s clear that Johnson has not. Gamers should keep in mind the lasting impact that their words and action can have on the people that make video games. Launch issues for any online game can be frustrating but players need to keep it in perspective: at the end of the day, these are just video games, and the issues that surround titles like Outriders will eventually get fixed. It’s okay to be frustrated, but it’s not okay to take it out on anyone.

Have you checked out Outriders yet? What do you think of the game so far? Let us know in the comments or share your thoughts directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp to talk all things gaming!