Black Ops 2 developer threatened over weapon changes

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 design director David Vonderhaar is receiving death threats over the game's latest update, which tweaks the firing rate of several weapons in multiplayer mode, according to a post from Activision's Dan Amrich on One of Swords.

The title update's patch notes state three weapons have been tweaked slightly — the damage for the AN-94 assault rifle has been reduced and two other snipers have had their rate of fire slowed. The alterations were made to better balance the game, but according to Amrich and tweets from Vonderhaar, players have reacted violently.

Amrich explained weapons are changed and balanced over time well after a game's launch, and that the violent reaction to these changes is a detriment to the entire gaming community.

"Vahn often gets told he should die in a fire or kill himself or is a horrible person," he continued. "If anybody thinks for a second that this is okay, it is not. But if the loudest voices in the Call of Duty 'community' act like an angry mob instead, guess how the entire world views Call of Duty? Now consider that these Internet Tough Guy rants and demands are not unique to COD, but exist everywhere, in many gaming communities. This is why the world often does not take gaming seriously; this is why gamers are assumed to be immature, whiny assholes. Because the immature, whiny assholes are louder."

Amrich stated this behavior is uncalled for, and that if players find problems with the game there are more constructive ways to approach developers.

"When you make a mistake — because you do, we all do — or someone finds something wrong with something that you created, whether it be a meal or driving instructions or even a blog post, how would you prefer to find out that there is an issue?" he wrote. "Would you like someone to just say 'hey, I noticed this and I think it's not quite right; are you seeing what I see?' Or would you react better to having someone scream in your face that since your mother didn't have an abortion, you should commit suicide instead?

"If you enjoy your games, have a little respect for the people who make them — and stop threatening them with bodily harm every time they do their job."