No Man's Sky Subreddit Shut Down Before Being Reopened

The No Man's Sky community on Reddit was shut down before being reopened after some deliberation and convening by the moderators and administrators. There's a lot of drama involved with the situation that has the community up in arms.

According to Gamespot, the No Man's Sky subreddit was shut down due to all the negativity surrounding the game. The posts were wiped clean and the moderation team was removed. Temporary moderators stepped in recently after it went down for a few hours to reopen the sub and attempt to get things back up and running. The moderators have basically stated that they want people to participate in good faith and to practically forget about the situation involving the sub being shut down.

Originally, one of the moderators, going by the handle of ROugeWOlf, stated that the sub was purged because of all the negativity, writing...

If the majority were being civil then why punish them for the actions of a minority? If, however, a consistent group of people who play and engage with the game are frustrated with it and have a lot of invectives aimed at the game, then isn't that something to be discussed? Either way, if an ample size of the community have strong negative opinions about the game, then is the sub only designed to promote No Man's Sky in a positive way? Seems like something of an extended advertising arm if that's the case.

Of course, if they're upfront about the sub being nothing more than an advertising hub for No Man's Sky then it's all good, but according to Gamespot the sub has no official affiliation with Hello Games nor any official ties to the game itself.

It's strange that moderators would take it upon themselves to completely censor the community from discussing No Man's Sky in a negative manner when the community is obviously displeased with the game. If you can't talk about No Man's Sky negatively on the No Man's Sky subreddit then where can you talk about it?

One poster, going by the handle of Listening_Heads, makes a very salient point that the sub needs to stay open for people invested in wanting to stay informed about the game, love it or hate, writing...

The thread where they talk about reopening the No Man's Sky sub is filled with lots of comments of varying opinions and plenty of deleted posts, as the moderators are exercising a zero tolerance policy on criticisms aimed at the previous mod staff. There are a lot of users posting comments similar to Listening_Heads, insofar that they don't want the sub to become a censorious promotional hub for No Man's Sky, but they also understand why the moderators don't want the sub to also become a community centered around hate.

Ultimately, controversial games that leave the community disgruntled and frustrated are going to draw out some of the worst in people, and Hello Games taking a silent approach to the matter isn't entirely helping. Some gamers became proactive and filed complaints with the Advertising Standards Agency in the United Kingdom, and the ASA responded by launching a full investigation into both Steam and Hello Games over the advertisement and promotion of No Man's Sky, so it's not like the complaints are without merit.