We’re all chomping at the bit to get our intrepidly geeking hands on Infinite.
It has been such a long wait since the last instalment, which left many wanting, and as such has many eager to see if positive evolution has occurred.
But by the same token, that has also cast more doubt than ever before on what might come next.
As a result, I feel like many fans are more reactionary than ever to something that comes out about the game.
I would just like to perhaps cast a bit more caution to any news that doesn’t come directly from the Halo team, and that we as fans, even doubtful ones, should cast aversions toward any non-Microsoft source.
Take the reaction to the last bit of news for example about the crunch issues within 343i.
When the original video was a recently former 343i artist describing his time working on Infinite in Mandarin. I do not speak the language, but I have it on good authority, and the man himself in a more recent English speaking response, that not only were his words taken out of context, but also mistranslated to an extent.
In his case, he was anxiously afraid that the negative and inaccurate press would put him in a negative light with his friends and former co-workers at 343i and potentially ruin any future job opportunities with other game companies.
Gripping on that mistranslated and contextually twisted sentence, the online would-be journalists ran with it and within a day there were dozens of negative articles expanding upon a falsehood.
Obviously, that’s an issue that pervades all of society for just about everything… But I can’t address all of that here.
I would just like to respectfully request that fans who would be reactionary to negative over positive to cool their guns and take a step back at such negative news before letting it get to you and think; Where is this coming from? What is the original source? Will my getting up on arms about this potentially offend any devs/artists/creatives who have worked hard for six years on this?
That last part might sound snowflakey… I hate how thin-skinned much of society has become toward the topic of offence, but in this case, I think it’s warranted.
How do we know if there are a dozen artists in 343, or more, or less… Who see fans reacting negatively to fake (or real) bad press, and that could very well put them in a slump.
I have zero doubt that they are working very hard at their job, whether it turns out to be fruitful or fruitless.
So having expanded on my thoughts, I would just again request on the behalf of the individuals working at 343i to cool your guns before getting up in arms. There are real people working on this, and those real people could have personal and emotional, and thusly professionally negative, responses to how the fanbase can react.
I just felt the need to share this and show my appreciation and respect to all of the hard-working artists, coders, animators and all other creatively applied individuals working on this project.