Cancer just the beginning for Spec Ops: The Line

Here’s how the internet works. Someone writes an article. A popular aggregate then plucks an incendiary quote from the article. At which point guys like me blog about the incendiary quote in lieu of reading or actually discussing the article.

But in this case, I’m not even going to get that far. In this case, I’m done with the whole affair after seeing a single word. It all started when Polygon sat down with the developers of Spec Ops: The Line for a long talk about all sorts of things. Then VG247 latched onto the term “cancerous growth”, which lead designer Cory Davis used to describe Spec Ops’ multiplayer, developed by a separate studio. He was frustrated with what he felt was a waste of resources for a game he designed primarily as a single-player experience.

But Davis wasn’t content with “cancerous growth”. He further noted, “The multiplayer game’s tone is entirely different, the game mechanics were raped to make it happen, and it was a waste of money.”

No, Mr. Davis, the game mechanics weren’t raped. Compromised, botched, bungled, fumbled, or even fucked up. But they were not raped. That word means something else. Now go sit in the corner with Missouri’s Republican Representative until you learn to talk like an adult.