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Mortal Kombat Producer Leaves Social Media Due to Death Threats

Mortal Kombat Producer Leaves Social Media Due to Death Threats

Veteran Mortal Kombat producer Shaun Himmerick is quitting Twitter and walking away from social media in general after “fans” of Mortal Kombat have sent him several violent and disturbing threats against his family.  These threats of rape and violence are absurdly enough in response to the character roster in Mortal Kombat X .  Several people have threatened violence against his family if he doesn’t add their favorite character to the roster. How screwed up is that?

Himmerick made it clear that it wasn’t the excited fans that forced him away from social media. He has absolutely no problem with people dogging him for hints about who’s going to be included on the roster or for asking about what new features are going to be included Mortal Kombat X . That’s hype, and is something that he totally understands. He also has passion and love for the project, and if he were in the fans’ situation he would probably do the exact same thing.

He also made it clear that he didn’t particularly mind when people threatened him over stupid things like about the upcoming character roster. But bringing his family into it was one step too far. He said “You wanna fight me for any reason? I’m probably willing to go, verbally or physically. I can hold my own. But threats on my ladies? No.”

He has since changed his Twitter handle to “come on people” and has decided to cease posting on Twitter altogether.

The reactions to this move by Mortal Kombat fans have been split. Some believe that he’s taking this too seriously, and that any threat of violence or rape over the Internet is never meant to be taken as real, but rather just people venting off steam. Others believe that this sort of behavior is unacceptable, either on the internet or off.  If you wouldn’t walk up to a stranger on the street and say “I’m going to rape your wife,” then you probably shouldn’t Tweet a stranger on the internet saying the same thing.

Mortal Kombat Producer Leaves Social Media Due to Death Threats

Overall I think this shows that the Internet is becoming a less safe place for people of all types, even if you’re not involved in political discussions. Himmerick made no statements in the social justice realm, he just chose whatever roster he thought was best for a game he was creating.  If that alone is enough to solicit threats of violence and rape against his family, then we here in the gaming community have some serious problems we have to work out.

What do you think? Do you think that Himmerick is blowing this out of proportion? Or do you think that this is an actual problem that the gaming industry and community is struggling with? What would you do to reduce the number of threats that game developers and even gaming fans receive on a pretty much daily basis? Let us know what you think in the comments.

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