Sometimes, explaining or trying to help can backfire, as someone who claims to be a former GameStop employee now knows all too well.
In a Reddit thread from Oct. 12, after trying to explain why a Nintendo Switch game came packed in a disc envelope, u/AwkwardlyDead received death threats.
After a picture emerged on the r/gaming subreddit where a user showed off their newly bought game that came in an envelope inside a case, many Redditors joked about the GameStop service, while some theorized why this happened.
AwkwardlyDead claims to be a former GameStop employee and explained that this is a standard procedure when a new game is sold out at one of the stores; the last box put on display normally has its cartridge put back in, but they’re stored in envelopes for safe keeping. They should be taken out of the envelope, but in this instance, it looks like someone got lazy and just left it in there.
Continuing this Reddit thread, we can find users who have since deleted their comments, threatening AwkwardlyDead over the company’s practices, which they have no power over and couldn’t change.
The thread has since been locked by the moderators of r/gaming, likely due to the death threats. What’s wild is that AwkwardlyDead isn’t even a GameStop employee. Even if they were, sending death threats wouldn’t achieve anything.
Some users theorized that these death threats are coming from “memestock cultists from superstonk” who believe AwkwardlyDead “is conspiring against their precious Gamestop to FUD.” It’s troubling that people who still want GameStop stock to rise are willing to send death threats over anecdotes from former employees.