Dear Mr. Sessler: An Open Letter From 'The Internet'

I'm not the type of person that could adequately structure a blog post as a letter, despite what the title would say. I'm simply not too good at coming up with fitting titles.

I read your Guest Editorial on Kotaku today ( http://kotaku.com/memories-... and I thought that I would try to explain some things to you from my own personal perspective, as well as throw in some of the perspectives that I've heard in relation to opinion about you.

For the purposes of this piece, I'm going to focus specifically on the section in which you state "The internet hates me" because I feel that that's where the biggest issue lies.

I would first like to state very clearly that even if I have disagreed (oftentimes heavily) with something you have said, anyone that puts in so much time and effort into something, especially video games given the stigma it's had for such a long time, is deserving of respect. I respect that you felt such passion for video games that you could dedicate such a significant portion of your life to it and thank you for giving many the hope that they could do the same.

I'd also like to take the time to say, emphatically and categorically, that any person or persons who have threatened physical or sexual harm to you or your wife respectfully are worse than scum, do not represent the gaming community at large, and I personally wouldn't blame you for wanting to fight them on the side of the street. In all likelihood I'd want to join you because those are the kinds of people that give all of us a bad
name.

All that being said, allow me to focus on what you've said in the section I have chosen to focus on and explain the position of many members of the internet who DON'T threaten death and rape, yet still had a beef with you.

"I said some things about resolution and how it's not as important as people are making it out to be."

When I read this immediately after seeing "the internet hates me", the first thing that came to my mind is "Adam is either oblivious, or purposely ignoring what people have a problem with."

Saying "resolution doesn't matter" on its own wouldn't cause the kind of rancor you're talking about. This is just the most recent example of a problem centered around you and even has its own specific reason for flaring up.

I'll get into the build up of how this came to be so focused on you in a minute, but for this specific instance I'm going to explain to you why you received so much "hate", for lack of a better word.

It isn't that you just said "resolution doesn't matter", it's that you said this after having said each new console had better be able to produce games at the standard for high definition gameplay. Allow me to remind you of something you said at SGC 2013.

https://www.youtube.com/wat...

While you remain true to the ideals you've held regarding original content, you also stated that 1080p/60FPS needs to be the standard for next gen consoles. But then a game like Ryse comes out at 900p and you suddenly make the claim that resolution doesn't matter. Now, I'm not going to get into the conspiracy that you did this simply because you wanted to make the Xbox One and one of its launch titles look good. I'll let the fanboys fight that out with their own examples of why you are biased or not. What I am going to say is that what I just posted is why you drew so much ire to you.

We, the gaming community that have watched you for your whole career, expected you to be consistent. We expected that you'd understand that you held a position of great influence and respect and that you'd have a better grasp on the understanding that your voice carries weight and you should be careful of what you say. We expected a maturity from you and what we got was flip flopping statements. This wasn't the beginning though.

I want to take you back to God of War Ascension. Have you watched your own review on the game? You spend a lot of it mostly praising the game, not too much but not overly bashing it either. For most of the review, it would be easy for anyone to think that you had a favourable opinion of the game, but it looks like we were wrong. Although only devoting a small portion of the review to this segment, you nonetheless attacked a development studio, and an entire fanbase, over the name of a trophy. A name which, I might add, you lashed out against after having entirely missed the point of its name. You ignored its context and instead lashed out.

Remember how I said your voice carries weight? Well you sparked the easily irritated Social Justice Warriors and Feminists of the Internet and pointed them all at Sony and Sony Santa Monica Studios. You know all that hate you experienced over Resolutiongate? Well you pointed that straight at the two I just mentioned. That hate was so bad that it forced SSM to change the name of a trophy. You lashed out at something insignificant. You acted immaturely. You took offense for something you CAN'T take offense of because you don't know what it's like to be called a "ho" and you pointed the barrel of the Social Justice shotgun at people who didn't deserve the hate they received.

All. Over. A. Trophy.

The examples don't end there. In your personal life you attacked gamers en masse. You said the gaming community were worse than the kind of people who buy WMDs. You said that anyone who pursues men's rights, or even advocates for them, are part of the problem and insulted them. Your decidedly pro-feminist stance has caused you to say things that you should, as a middle aged man with life experience, immediately know will anger people.

Why is it surprising to you then that you drew so much anger and hatred toward you?

You could argue that everything you say is opinion, and you'd be right. But like I said earlier, your position DIDN'T afford you the luxury of being free of the consequences for what your opinion was and how you expressed it.

I could get into the inconsistency of your reviews and how you would slam some games for being guilty of some stuff and yet give other games guilty of the same thing a complete pass, or how you would score certain games based on "fun" even if so much of it was bad, but those examples would be more about why people started to stop taking your reviews seriously more than anything else.

Being in the spotlight isn't easy no matter why you're in it. Unlike most who think otherwise, I know that being a game reviewer isn't just popping in a game and then giving your opinion on it; at least not how you were reviewing games anyway. There's a lot more work that goes into it, and I can appreciate the stress, and the strain, it would put on you or anyone in your position. I can also understand what 16 years of doing this could end up doing to your perspective, but I'm sorry to say that that's not an excuse.

You and your colleagues have all made statements about the state of gaming journalism, yet you and your colleagues are all guilty of similar crimes that plague gaming journalism.

Regardless of what you may think, just because games are art doesn't mean they aren't also a business. Games aren't social commentary unless they are designed to be, and you should know that better than most. Yet you, like so many others, are quick to stir up controversy. Rather than be a neutral party, you place your allegiance with groups just as guilty of the kind of hate you would place on "the internet" and are proud of doing so.

All of this, plus so much more, has built up over time and came to the head known as Resolutiongate. That was the straw that broke your camel's back, but it never had to get that far.

So to you Mr. Sessler I wish luck. I won't wish you ill will for having an opinion, but I will suggest that you remember that there is a responsibility that comes with having a voice that carries more weight to it than the average person. You forgot what that responsibility was, or you simply stopped caring. Either way, it takes two to tango so you're not completely absolved of any wrong doing.

When you make yourself appear to be above the audience, you risk them wanting your downfall.

May your future be one of peace, and happiness.

Sincerely Yours

'The Internet'