Issue #235 | May 7, 2024
Good afternoon, folks! Today, my timeline is flooded by Kendrick/Drake diss track reactions. Kendrick seems to be winning the creator camp, with one FaZe creator saying the rapper lifted copyright claims from all his reaction videos. (Though no confirmation yet from Kendrick on if that story is true and applies to all creators, or just the ones in the FaZe gaming clan.)
Kendrick seemingly recognizes the power of harnessing the two most vocal groups on the internet: celebrity stans and angry gamers. Arguably, gamers are one of the online groups with the most unbridled anger. They frequently find ways to funnel their gamer rage into collective actions, boycotts, and protests — sometimes intentionally, sometimes unintentionally.
This week, journalist Steven Asarch reports on how creators in the “Helldivers 2” fandom stumbled into collective action, driving hundreds of thousands of bad reviews and resulting in the company backtracking a controversial policy change.
Love gamer rage or hate it, it’s always impressive when someone can channel their anger into something productive. It certainly beats giving up and using AI (ahem, Drake.)
– Grace Stanley, Deputy Editor