Many online publications have turned to AI to churn out cheap, quick content. It seems audiences aren’t too happy with this though, as subreddits have begun tricking these AIs with a new meme that first popped up in the World of Warcraft sub and has now entered the Destiny 2 one. Welcome to the world of Glorbo.
What is the Glorbo meme and why are subreddits using it?
Glorbo is nothing. It’s made-up fiction that tricksy Redditors are using to dupe sites that use AI to scrape subreddits for stories. As Redditor AdamG3691 explains, it all started when an r/WoW user noticed an AI was scraping the sub to make articles. Redditors then simply made lots of posts about Glorbo—an overpowered gun or boss, an annoying character, an event, anything, really—and then waited for the AI sites to start posting articles on it. They then name and shame and revel in their prank.
It’s a genius piece of anti-AI guerilla warfare that’s showing just how irreplaceable real writers, and real Reddit communities, are.
It’s a move that not only humiliates sites that use AI for content in this way but shows all video game news sites just how valuable Reddit and its communities are to us. Reddit is where we go to find out what people are talking about, what they care about, and what’s upsetting them or making them happy. You can’t put a price on how useful it is, but with Glorbo posts filling up the subs, they’re becoming harder to use.
A real person like me can spot these fake stories a mile away; an AI can’t. But I still have to sift through them to get to the real news, or the amazing lore discoveries, or the fantastic builds being shared.
Well, today, this is the real news. Destiny 2‘s community has joined WoW‘s to help put a spanner in the works for AI articles. As Redditor LazyMarine78 wrote, “This gives me hope for when skynet does try to kill us all they will be to [sic] stupid to do it.”
Intentional or not, it’s a wonderful moment of solidarity between writers who find their jobs threatened by bosses who want the infinite labor of AI, and readers who want to be treated with respect and not have their time wasted with inaccurate, nonsense-filled drivel.
Despite what many seem to think, it’s clear gaming communities do not want to read articles made by AI that just regurgitate what’s put in front of them. The beauty of a good boss guide is knowing the person who wrote it had the same struggles you did and managed to overcome them, just like you will. That connection is where the value lies.
