Death Threats Target Crypto Gaming Founder
This is a segment from The Drop newsletter. To read full editions, subscribe.
Luke Barwikowski, founder of the pixelated MMORPG Pixels on Ronin, has revealed that he’s received repeated death threats against himself and his family because of his role in the crypto gaming industry.
“I don’t think people understand the amount of death threats Web3 founders get — it’s kind of crazy,” he wrote. “I have thick skin & good opsec though.”
OpSec, or operations security, is a term that refers to one’s security process that prevents sensitive info from getting into the wrong hands.
“It’s not just me,” Barwikowski added, suggesting other crypto founders face similar threats.
In a message, he told Blockworks that many of the threats come from actors he believes are “botters,” or people who break the rules by deploying bots to exploit the Pixels game for financial gain. When the team finds and restricts the bot accounts, those botters can become angry, resulting in death threats directed at the team.
The threats have reportedly come through direct messages and replies on X, Discord, Telegram and email, Barwikowski said.
When it comes to death threats online, the Pixels founder suspects they’re all too common. “I would bet most Web3 game founders have had them,” he added.
Skarly, the pseudonymous founder of the game Onchain Heroes, responded: “fr, im [sic] terrified to dox.”
Karel Vuong, co-founder of the gaming-focused EVM blockchain Treasure, told me he’s also been subjected to “ample” death threats as well as other threats of violence.
Unfortunately, harassment in the gaming industry is a broader problem.
A 2023 Game Developers Conference survey found that 40% of developers who responded said they had received some type of harassment from players.