Hey, so now that we've reached that sweet spot where the Sword & Shield controversies are mostly blown over though still fresh in our minds, I have to ask — is getting flooded with replies on Twitter "harassment"? Like, I get and totally agree that some people on that side of the discussion took things way too far and it's not necessary to drudge that all up again, but I was seeing replies to Masuda's tweets unrelated to Pokémon (as well as tweets related to Pokémon both by employees and promotional accounts) referred to as one of those things where the criticism can't be taken seriously because it's gone too far, and even that it's harassment. I am, with complete sincerity, asking someone to explain to me why that was and continues to be framed in that way. I must be out of step with something because it seems almost like an accepted fact.
To be clear, I'm not including blatant personal attacks. Anyone throwing insults or worse around deserves to be criticized for that behaviour, of course. But I truly fail to see how a large swath of people reaching out to Masuda or official accounts via social media to express disappointment in their work somehow constitutes harassment. Like, that's what social media is for. Interacting with the public is the only reason to have a public social media account. Again, I'm not defending people who take things to an extreme. But even hypothetically, some variation of, "Pokémon is shit now! Bring back the cut Pokémon or we boycott! #dexit" falls outside of the realm of harassment to me. Is it a pleasant interaction? Of course not. And I would assume the amount of these messages contributes to the perception of them as harassment, but then I can't reconcile that with the notion that they will be dismissed outright merely on the basis of the disrespectful nature of the criticism or the channel through which it is delivered. Surely a media conglomerate as large as TPCi operates in a colder, more capital-driven fashion than such a move would imply.
I should also mention that I absolutely understand that the criticisms are rooted in upper management decisions, and developers and other employees without sway in that process could very well be (and likely are) demoralized by that negativity, which directly undermines such a movement. And that sucks for everyone! But harassment? We've all heard the stories of bad actors doing bad things in the midst of the controversy, and those absolutely constitute harassment (and slander and libel.) But somebody getting ratio'd? That's harassment?
Maybe I'm just picking at things said when emotions were running high, or a rhetorical dramatization... Maybe it is categorically harassment and I'm dead wrong! I don't know. Which is why I've gotta ask. And I realize now that I probably missed the boat for this discussion, because it's neutered without actual posts to point to, but the absolute chaos in the pre-release threads meant there was little room for my glorified tangent (and the thought of trudging through them for evidence gives me a migraine, not to mention the inevitable argument that would follow.) Can anyone humour me and sort me out on this one? Completely sincere here. This has been a consistent element of Sword & Shield discussion on ERA that I've been waiting to ask about for too long.
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