Garry's Incident
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''Day One: Garry's Incident'' is a PC survival game developed and published by Wild Games Studio in Mascouche, Québec, Canada and released on 25 September 2013. The game received primarily negative reviews from critics, including TotalBiscuit, who published his review on
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; Wild Games Studio then had the video taken down using the site's automated copyright complaints system. In response, TotalBiscuit uploaded a response/follow-up video claiming that the copyright complaint was part of a deliberate attempt to censor online criticisms. After receiving negative attention for their copyright complaint, the game's developers apologized and withdrew the complaint. The developers were also accused of
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online reviews on
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.


Plot

The protagonist in ''Day One: Garry's Incident'' is Garry Friedman, a middle-aged British pilot, whose wife and daughter have recently been killed in an accident. Depressed by the death of his family members, Garry begins drinking heavily and accepting dangerous assignments. While he is transporting cargo for a research facility in
Yellowstone National Park Yellowstone National Park is an American national park located in the western United States, largely in the northwest corner of Wyoming and extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U.S. Congress with the Yellowston ...
,
Yellowstone Caldera The Yellowstone Caldera, sometimes referred to as the Yellowstone Supervolcano, is a volcanic caldera and supervolcano in Yellowstone National Park in the Western United States. The caldera and most of the park are located in the northwest corn ...
erupts, causing him to lose control of the plane. An artifact in the cargo causes him to be transported to the
Amazon Rainforest The Amazon rainforest, Amazon jungle or ; es, Selva amazónica, , or usually ; french: Forêt amazonienne; nl, Amazoneregenwoud. In English, the names are sometimes capitalized further, as Amazon Rainforest, Amazon Forest, or Amazon Jungle. ...
, where he discovers an ancient civilization and struggles to survive.


Gameplay

Gameplay mostly consists of fighting various enemies, mostly indigenous human tribes, throughout a jungle environment, using a variety of artefacts, melee weapons, and firearms. A rudimentary eating and drinking system is also present.


Reception


Controversy

On 1 October 2013 John Bain, a video game critic known online as TotalBiscuit, The Cynical Brit, published a critical review of ''Day One: Garry's Incident'' on
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, saying that the game was "horrendous". The game's developer, Wild Games Studio, alleged that Bain had violated its copyrights. The company argued that Bain should not have been able to earn advertising revenue from a video based largely on gameplay footage from their copyrighted work. They filed a copyright infringement complaint through YouTube and the video was removed through its automated takedown system. This led to allegations that the company was abusing YouTube's copyright system in a deliberate attempt to censor online criticisms.
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users and professional reviewers pointed out that nearly all online video game reviews are funded by advertising and feature game content. Critics also noted that no other online reviews of the game were given similar notices. It was also pointed out that many Steam users had similar criticisms towards the game's quality. Bain later published a response video, which reached two million viewers within three days, where he alleged Wild Games Studio was abusing copyright laws to censor his criticisms. He also alleged the company manipulated their
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campaign to make it seem that it had more support than it did by having the CEO of the company pledge $10,000 upfront, and having others pledge high amounts and withdraw them later. According to
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, the incident was an example of the
Streisand effect Attempts to hide, remove, or censor information often have the unintended consequence of increasing awareness of that information via the Internet. This is called the Streisand effect. It is named after American singer and actress Barbra Streis ...
, whereby attempts to censor criticism only draws more attention to it. In response to objections to its tactics in online communities, Wild Games Studio apologized and withdrew their copyright complaint. Wild Games Studio was also accused of
astroturfing Astroturfing is the practice of masking the sponsors of a message or organization (e.g., political, advertising, religious or public relations) to make it appear as though it originates from and is supported by grassroots participants. It is a p ...
; posting fake reviews on
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
to increase the game's average review rating. Critics noted that a large number of recently created accounts gave the game positive reviews without posting anything else on the site. The studio denied being involved and suggested it may have been one of a number of players that contacted them offering to "help" with negative online reviews.


References

{{reflist, 30em


External links


The original review by Bain

Bain's response video
2013 video games Windows games Windows-only games Survival video games Video game controversies First-person adventure games Video games developed in Canada Unreal Engine games Single-player video games