Most know Hideo Kojima’s ability to weave grand narratives—sometimes arguably too grand—but many are likely to have overlooked his capability to dish out scathing critiques of media in the most tactically stealthy discrete ways. Should the online populace take note?

Have you been to the Internet lately? It has become a rather toxic place, especially in the gaming scene, for some reason. People don’t know, or don’t care to share their opinions in a way that’s more constructive than offensive. I have the makings of a varsity e-athlete, so I don’t mind it for the most part, but I much prefer when even mean acts are performed with an unexpected level of elegance.

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Hideo Kojima has nailed a beautiful new form of negative criticism, one that might’ve flown under the radar of most. That’s right. Kojima is one of the coldest critics online, but chances are you’ve never seen him talking negatively about anything. If that’s the case, it’s because you need the cipher for this riddle.

If you follow Kojima’s Twitter activity, chances are you’ve read him praising movies in ways so bizarre you’ll truly believe he tweeted while his mind was still recovering from getting blown by the experience.

Then, there are tweets where he’s supposedly merely letting audiences know that he saw a movie in the theater.

But those are never just that. That’s actually Kojima’s way of saying he didn’t find anything to like about the thing. He doesn’t need to say anything else. That’s how powerful that tweet is coming from the guy. Fans know the code, so whenever an infamous stinker makes its way to Japan, they collectively wait for Kojima’s famous “saw” tweet to celebrate the important confirmation.

We’ve had a wise saying that goes, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all” for a very long time. Hideo Kojima was seemingly just the first Internet user to get something out of it, but he might not have been the last.

Because, as pointed out by Bluesky user VoidBurger, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, another man known for sparing no praise for things he likes, seems to have applied Kojima’s approach to sharing news about a meeting he had with a prominent US figure.

Are we looking at a new day for Internet communications? Who’ll be following the trend next?