Developers of Apex Legends tried on Reddit to apologize for and explain a snafu involving cosmetic items in the game’s Iron Crown event. It did not go well. At all….The thread devolved into an eye-popping series of insults and grievances — from Respawn Entertainment developers

…the Iron Crown event introduced new skins when it launched earlier this week, but players could only get them by grinding against a difficult and expensive loot box mechanism. Fans immediately pushed back, feeling that Respawn had gone too far in its monetization of the free-to-play game this time.

…It got ugly, and even uglier when fed-up Respawn developers hauled off on angry players. Many of the developers’ comments, particularly those from one by the handle dk05, have been deleted. This seems to be the one making everyone the angriest…

– Apex Legends forum furious as devs call players ‘ass-hats’ and ‘freeloaders’, Polygon.com

This morning I was reading the news when I came upon this article in Polygon.com. I had been considering going back to blogging as the result of a writing group I had joined hosted by one of the regular contributors to our podcast, The No Prisoners, No Mercy Show. As I read through the article I found myself saying aloud “NO ONE is THIS stupid.”

Let me preface this by quoting the sarcastic adage “If its on the internet it must be true.” I usually take this sort of thing with a grain, or perhaps a truckload of salt. That said I understand when you get made at a client – and make no mistake – whether anyone likes it or not the customers, in this case gamers, are the client. More than once I have wanted to rip off a few choice insults in multiple languages at irritating and insulting clients. Still, like it or not you don’t behave like this as any sort of a professional and risk finding yourself looking for work the next day, whether the feelings are justified or not.

Another thing that developers will have to get used to as the industry changes is the fact that many gamers are tired of developers, and more appropriately publishers, who try and overmonetize gamers. We have all seen the trend of publishers who sell a game for full price and then promptly open up a cash box or the now infamous loot boxes. The industry has reached the point where loot boxes have reached the attention of more than a few lawmakers, and if game publishers are unwilling to regulate themselves governments across the nation and the globe are more than happy to do it for them.

I also try and bear in mind that Respawn Entertainment is owned by Electronic Arts, winner of dubious honors such as the “Golden Poo Award”

It can’t help that Respawn Entertainment is now owned by Electronic Arts that already has a dubious reputation to start with. One word of caution by way of my grandmother, a businesswoman of many years – “be careful what you put in writing, because once it is out there you can’t take it back.” You can delete comments but once you put them on the internet they are more than likely out there forever. In the end, even if a client may actually be a “freeloader” or an “asshat” only a fool points it out and expects to stay in business, unless your name happens to be Don Rickles.

So my advice to the irate developers over at Respawn is this: suck it up buttercup. And hope it isn’t too late to apologize and mean it before the articles read the attention of the executives at EA.