10 DUMBEST Video Game Controversies That Went Too Far

2. Portal 2's Adoption Jokes Offend One Man

Spider-man 2018 puddlegate
Valve

Portal 2 is a fantastic title that all gamers should play, but because some people will find a way to complain about absolutely anything, even a near-perfect game like this found itself mired in the most unusual of controversies.

See, while playing through the game with his adopted daughter, Neal Stapel was taken aback by a particular line spouted by the robot Wheatley - a line that poked fun at the protagonist for having no parents.

Anyone who's played the Portal games will know that they're stuffed with dark humour that isn't meant to be taken seriously, but even so, Stapel took the ridiculous step of contacting a local news station, who subsequently ran a story on the matter.

The internet responded by calling this "the dumbest video game controversy yet", and though Stapel did admit that not everyone would find the line offensive, the fact that the news report shows his daughter happily playing the game demonstrates how much of a non-issue this whole thing was.

Contributor
Contributor

Danny has been with WhatCulture for almost nine years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. He has been writing and video editing for 10+ years, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers and uploading them to YouTube (they're admittedly a bit rusty by today's standards). If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order or to tell you about the making of 1988's Remembrance of the Daleks, Danny is the person to ask.