Exploring the Reverse Review Bombing Phenomenon: The Hogwarts Legacy Case

With the proliferation of the Internet and social platforms, we have witnessed the birth and spontaneous spread of online groups formed by users connected by common interests or passions (such as gaming, reading, etc.). While belonging to a particular group can trigger a positive mechanism in terms of sociability and identity reinforcement, it can also lead to members becoming rigidly attached to the same opinions and the emergence of shared visions (Howard & Magee, 2013). The term for this phenomenon is echo chambers and refers to the tendency of users to prefer content that most closely aligns with their beliefs (Jamieson & Cappella, 2008). Social networks thus become echo chambers where individualism and radicalism are prevalent (O'Hara & Stevens, 2015). Digital contexts, which are the result of complex social dynamics, thus become structures that can collapse due to phenomena such as manipulation of public opinion, online bullying, etc. (Huberman, 2010). Our work focuses on the "digital collapse" phenomenon caused by one or more events that generate public outrage and criticism on social media, which is called "shitstorm" (Sutherland, Coddington, Sellnow, 2016). This occurs mainly through posts, comments, or tweets that spread quickly on a social network to express disapproval. This phenomenon, comparable to boycotting, can have significant consequences for the individuals or organizations involved. One of the shapes of shitstorms is review bombing, a form of online protest in which a large number of users post negative reviews to influence the reputation of the offending object (Çiflikli, 2020). However, this phenomenon can have unexpected consequences: while it can be an effective way of expressing dissent, it can also harm the reputation of users who support the boycott by triggering reactions from the fan base felt under attack in the media and ultimately polarizing public opinion, which often has opposite effects (Hogg, Vliek, Child & Walker, 2020). Our investigation is based on an exploration of these social dynamics and it focuses on one of the most recent attempts at a shitstorm in the gaming world. It was used by some LGBTQ+ communities some days before the Hogwarts Legacy official release date, as the author of the Harry Potter books, J.K. Rowling, had previously made some transphobic remarks. Due to a lot of Twitter posts inciting gamers to boycott the game by posting negative reviews, a shitstorm was created. To investigate the phenomenon, after a content analysis of the tweets that triggered the shitstorm, the review platform Metacritic.com was selected, from which the reviews of Hogwarts Legacy were extracted on all the platforms where it was published. Through content analysis and sentiment analysis, the most emerging themes were explored. The result of this campaign was, paradoxically, a reverse review bombing made of positive reviews, which probably had a positive effect on the game's visibility.