I made this comparison, and got eaten up for it. For what its worth, the comparison has nothing to do with harassment of women. Looking at GG, though, Eron Gjoni took one issue ("ethics in games journalism") and hitched it to a hit piece on a girl who had spurned him. Zoe was villified, but regardless of what happened behind the scenes, the essay he wrote was intended to wreck her life and rile up a bunch of pitchfork-bearing idiots on the internet to attack her. Is ethics in games journalism important? Probably, at least insomuch as ethics in any kind of journalism is. But aren't there more worthwhile targets than a woman who made a little browser game? Why does she deserve to have her effort and personal life ruined? We know games journalism has been by and large broken for years, with publishers controlling access and journalists accepting bribes or straight up advertising new titles without critical consideration.
I think what makes me uncomfortable about all of this is that, despite Murray's cagey behavior about a minor aspect of his team's game, the language and vitriol being thrown his way for it is completely unwarranted. The response and outrage is magnitudes larger than the actual issue at hand and ignores the fact that Hello Games (hell, any developer) spends years working all hours of the day -- losing sleep, ignoring family members and social lives and their own health -- to bring gamers something that they hope to be proud of. We can have a good discourse on how much NMS is worth (in terms of money or time investment) without being shitheads about it and wanting to burn the witch.
The image of an "entitled gamer" is one that expects a product to be *exactly as they want it, and any deviation from that? Well, fuck the developer! Fuck their hard work! Forget that these interviews take place over many years and that demonstrations are works in progress and that the game development process means that promises, unfortunately, cannot always be kept. Murray will forever be branded "a liar" for *maybe* fucking up one feature of his game, despite the fact that it largely works as advertised on the tin otherwise.
And, like targeting Zoe instead of the industry as a whole, it is ignoring the fact that all kinds of developers and publishers make similar mistakes all the time. Punishing one dude, or one small team, with this level of hate, *should* make anyone uncomfortable. Be disappointed, continue to question industry practices, but get a handle on that bullshit outrage. You gain nothing, you solve nothing, from crucifying Sean Murray.