Developer Dennis Dyack of Silicon Knights opened up about the butthurt he's received from gaming forums, namely NeoGAF on last week's 1UP Yours podcast.
"I went through all of this for two reasons.... If you're going to look at the NeoGAF forum as a non-profit organization, if it does not reform itself, it's eventually going to crumble. There's going to be a point where they step over the line where someone's going to shut them down. That would be a loss for everyone.... The question I have to ask the moderators of GAF: Are you going to follow your own rules? With people making GIFs of myself that are, I would say, attacking me.... Why haven't 180 people been banned now? If I wanted to move in and shut that place down, do I have grounds under their own forum policy?"
Eh, probably not. Forums like NeoGAF are so popular because they provide the unhinged, unmoderated commentary that you simply won't find anywhere else. No one expects it to be 100% factual or unbiased. Trying to fight the subculture is so futile.
Basically, Dyack went on NeoGAF and challenged the forum to speak out against his game. When they did, he was all, "Jokes on you guys, this was all an experiment for the upcoming 1UP podcast." Right. It's clear Dennis has put a lot of thought into his position, making an argument for stricter forum moderation. Ultimately, he furthers the stereotype of game developer as prima donna, and comes off as another old guy (remind you of Jack Thompson?) who doesn't understand the internet.