As a purely anecdotal example (Since only the publishers would actually know), i point you to Mass Effect 3 cutting out a major story arc and important character to flog preorders.

Your system misses the publisher's point: Giving each retailer an exclusive little bit of paraphanalia, that they can wave around to compete with all the other retailers. Also, don't give them ideas. Whenever a publisher releases pre-order DLC more substantial than speed pants (indeed like a 'bonus' mission), it's…

Disagree times two to this. Buying used games is a murky issue, one that i've not had much experience with seeing as i'm a PC gamer, but it is our absolute right as consumers to do what we want with a game we bought. If we want to give it to a friend or sell it on, devs and publishers have no right to stop us, best…

Let's just make a differentiation between pre-ordering, and buying on/for release day here. And to answer your question: A) You might be really, really excited to see the next chapter in a series you love, or B) It might be a multiplayer focused game whose servers are ghost towns come a year from release.

Don't feed us the old "Companies are here to make money"-line. Having profit as a goal does not excuse, nor indeed rationalise, treating your consumer base with absolute moustache twirling contempt.

All of these corporate apologists can bloody stuff it. In a world where sales of games are rapidly moving towards being largely digital, retailers should not be given these kinds of concessions. Pre-orders are a cynical attempt to con the consumer in a world where information about a game's quality is easily and…

As a longtime TF2 fan who no longer plays, i can level one critique at the game: The post-game support has suffered from Kitchen Sink Syndrome. The game original tight focus and clear art style has become so diluted by hats and hats and weapons and weapons and MORE HATS, that fixing the game's growing pile of…

Another, far less glamorous area of game development, where community volunteers are quite common, is localization. I've worked for over three years as a community translator for Valve, through their Steam Translation Server, earned me some symbolic rewards as well. The interesting thing here is that the games have…

The way "Gamergate" has twisted and turned really quite saddens me. In this colossal mess of bile and hatred, there are quite a few worthwhile discussions about ethics, journalism, inclusion and the gaming demographic to be had, but most of it has been completely submerged in an ocean of vile name calling, death…

And what about all the similar comments that you can't see because they're deleted? I'm sorry, but what you're doing is collecting biased anecdotes, not data.

It's definitely a maturation process, but let's not put a piedestal here. It's been a long way from the initial appearance of Pixar and Dreamworks, in a time where superhero movies were routinely mishandled, to today. We can't expect the significantly newe games industry to be much quicker on the move, givent hat it's…

We're running in to an imperical problem here. I am ready to agree with you, if, and only if, i see evidence that hate speech directed towards men is less likely to be punished than hate speech toward women. I've never seen it, and as such i have no reason (yet) to believe it.

Games journalism ethics are at the centre of the discussion that gave rise to all the vitriol. You're right that the subject doesn't matter in relation to the hate speech, but it is quite important in the whole picture.

I disagree with you on the empirical question. I can't think of a single blog or journalist that justifies hate speech coming from one side more than another. Can you come up with examples of this claim?

I absolutely agree with you, that fanatical feminists who shout hate speech whenever someone disagrees with them, are just as despicable as any other group which shouts hate speech when disagreed with. I really just do not see how a discussion of hate speech in the gaming community ties back to your perceived problem…

Ah yes, now i see what you're getting at. That the stereotype of the gamer as a young man, usually overweight, with bad skin and no social skills is dead. That i agree with, and i think just one further reason we should continue to diversify who games are for. (It is also, slightly off-topic, another reason, why big…

Yeah, that explains Angry Joe, but what about the topic of the discussion: Hate speech?

What, so you believe that because the gaming community, a group of individuals, is not equally focused on all issues of importance, means every single one is a spineless worm? I remember there being plenty of indignant fury around Gerstmanngate, but because this, to your perception, seems "bigger", suddenly our…

And +1 to you for making the argument.

Ignoring leads to repetition, i feel. The offender needs to see the error of their ways, whether through being called out on it, a stern talking to from an authority, a punishment from the community, or in the worst case, police action. Threatening other people is a crime, after all, and for good reason.