It was upsetting because she tried to turn it into a sexist issue, but in reality the only thing remotely sexist about it was that people called her a bitch instead of calling her a dick.
It was upsetting because she tried to turn it into a sexist issue, but in reality the only thing remotely sexist about it was that people called her a bitch instead of calling her a dick.
You'd have hated it. I know how much you dislike all of the controversial stuff.
Yes, It forces me to argue and be angsty, very much against my natural inclinations.
=P
=P
Birdie? Is this the definitive threadtitle or are you gonna change it some more? ;P
edit: I forgot for a sec why I came in here in the first place.
I said it before and i'm gonna say it again, if your career goal is to be a journalist than gaming journalism is the furthest you can possibly be given the current state of it. The amount of biased / lazy / opinionated dreck floating around on glorified blogs is getting out of hand.
edit: I forgot for a sec why I came in here in the first place.
I said it before and i'm gonna say it again, if your career goal is to be a journalist than gaming journalism is the furthest you can possibly be given the current state of it. The amount of biased / lazy / opinionated dreck floating around on glorified blogs is getting out of hand.
I don't know. Do you find it annoying?
I would love to see a ranking system for gaming blogs. Maybe I should start a blog on it
Nah I find it amusing to be honest
I would love to see a ranking system for gaming blogs. Maybe I should start a blog on it
The irony on making a blogpost about gaming blogs is not lost on me
Not to derail this thread, but on the topic of customers (us) eating crap from developers, there's also the opposite, I feel. I fight over this issue on MMO-Champion almost constantly, whether it be on the WoW, Diablo 3 or SW:TOR forums there, or even some other game.
What I mean is that it seems - and I'm only saying this is what it looks like to me - like there are more and more people out there, who feel more and more entitled to getting better and better "stuff" for cheaper and cheaper. The whole notion of being in awe of something, being grateful that we get to play games to begin with, has all but disappeared. Regardless of what the game is, people always seem to be disappointed. Even those who want not to be, end up being, on some level. "It was great, but..." It's like there's always a "but" somewhere.
There's no appreciation for how hard game it is to actually create something awesome. No. There's just the expectation of perfection, and when the game isn't perfect, isn't great enough, people are disappointed and say they're entitled to something better. Then, if you mix in a monthly subscription, micro payments, expansions which actually cost money instead of being free DLC, and so on, the end result is that "we" should get everything right now for free and it better be damn perfect or "we" will string you (the developer) up.
This also comes down to another argument I just had over on those other forums, which is that it's pointless to point fingers at companies as a whole. They consists of singular people, some of whom are grade A a-holes, some of whom are completely and utterly useless, but also some who are hard-working honest people doing their very best, and some who are just geniuses in their own right. So, some of those a-holes may be the people who decide on the pricing of the product, and they may be behind the feeling of the company being a bunch of bloodsuckers, and some of those a-holes may be the people who put out awful PR, and who piss off the gamers via Twitter, Facebook, forums, but there are also great people in those companies, great people who want nothing more than to bring us, the gamers, an awesome product.
In any case, the past couple decades have been such a leap in technology that it is completely unprecedented. Yes, there have been technological breakthroughs before, such as steam, electricity, and others, and they're most likely even more influential if we were to be talking about the human species as a whole, but as far as entertainment technology, and more specifically gaming goes, we who are in our 30s are the ones who lived through it's greatest change. I believe that most of us who played on a C64 at one point can appreciate where we are now in PC (and console) gaming technology, and we don't necessarily expect something ridiculous out of every product. However, if you were born let's say a decade, decade and a half later, and all you know is the awesome level at which gaming was already during the early and mid 2000s, you most likely won't appreciate the change at all. You're used to wirelessness, 50 inch flat screens, miniature computers (cell phones) in your pocket, mind-blowing gaming technology, and so on, and you're expecting it all to be the norm, and be advancing as fast as it has so far. But that's not necessarily true, and even if it was, if there's no appreciation of where we are then you'll never be satisfied, ever, regardless of what you're given.
So yeah, while the companies, be it their PR or their developers, do sometimes treat the average gamer as a drooling mouthbreather, you have to remember that the gamers on average treat developers like shit. All the time. And then throw on top of all that these "journalists", who are more often than not nothing but random people with a keyboard. They have to cater to these whiny brats that are gamers today, and those whiny brats wont appreciate them writing sensible articles about how good something was. They'll have to write sensationalist bullshit to get clicks.
I don't know about you people but I continue to be blown away by games. I don't care if they get like 5/10 in some magazine. Some aspects of the games still make my jaw drop. Sure, there's often a feeling of disappointment when the game as a whole isn't very good, but I for one can still appreciate the good bits, and even enjoy the game even if it's not perfect.
Coming back to the age issue, I do have to admit it's not necessarily all about age; I've got a friend who's nearing 40, and he can whine and bitch about games just as much as the next guy. I don't take my generalization about age and appreciation back completely, simply because experience does affect appreciation, the less you have of the former, the less you may of the latter. Still, it's not all about age.
Well... That's my 2¢.
I don't think it's an age thing. Age may have an impact on WHY people have certain opinions, but the opinions themselves seem to cut across all ages.
Starting with
Yes, there may be an older gamer viewpoint that thinks of games as a partnership between developer and player, and that we should cut the developer some slack, but there's also an older gamer viewpoint that notices that many games are produced by big corporations, and expects them to be held to the same standards as any other big corporation, and be held to account if the product they deliver isn't fit for purpose. (That particular group of older gamers includes me).
And there's a younger gamer viewpoint that's based on a sense of entitlement - if I want something, I have the right to have it, but there's also a younger gamer viewpoint that says that if you buy a game and it doesn't work, tough shit - it's your own fault for pre-ordering.
And I'm pretty sure that these viewpoints aren't actually restricted to certain age groups anyway.
And as far as gaming sites are concerned, I guess you just have to go with who you trust, which means that you either recognise that a site is as biased as hell and take that into consideration, or you only follow the ones that echo your own views.
Starting with
Yes, there may be an older gamer viewpoint that thinks of games as a partnership between developer and player, and that we should cut the developer some slack, but there's also an older gamer viewpoint that notices that many games are produced by big corporations, and expects them to be held to the same standards as any other big corporation, and be held to account if the product they deliver isn't fit for purpose. (That particular group of older gamers includes me).
And there's a younger gamer viewpoint that's based on a sense of entitlement - if I want something, I have the right to have it, but there's also a younger gamer viewpoint that says that if you buy a game and it doesn't work, tough shit - it's your own fault for pre-ordering.
And I'm pretty sure that these viewpoints aren't actually restricted to certain age groups anyway.
And as far as gaming sites are concerned, I guess you just have to go with who you trust, which means that you either recognise that a site is as biased as hell and take that into consideration, or you only follow the ones that echo your own views.
I tried to defuse the age argument at the end of my post because I knew it would obfuscate what I was actually saying, and it seems I was right. I shouldn't have made age a point in my post.
My main point was that having been a very active gamer online for at least the past decade and a half now (two decades soon?), following several different forums and being the kind of idiot who reads comments on blogs and news articles, I can't help but feel like it's gotten worse and worse as far as peoples' expectations and feelings of entitlement go.
The amount of poison and bile online towards gaming companies and developers is just unimaginable. It doesn't seem to matter what the developers do or when they do it, eventually everyone seems to turn against them. Well, that's how it feels, because of the vocal minority being so damn loud, and the majority not caring enough to say anything. Defending the developers and trying to be reasonable, which is what I unfortunately tend to do quite often, gets you labeled as a fanboi instantly.
Some smaller games have started out with people in the community acting like actual civilized people, but even those usually devolve into a group of apes shrieking and banging their chests.
There's this mentality that if a company does anything wrong, ever, it's a deathly sin, everyone there deserves to be laid off on the spot, and the company needs to be driven into the ground. And the people posting these kinds of posts are the calm ones. The crazier ones are asking for the addresses to the companies' offices.
All I could attribute the major change towards this culture of "meh" as I like to think of it, was the generational shift. It might have nothing to do with that, though, hence why I shouldn't have mentioned age. But it's too late now. Anyways, I just hope this community doesn't take a nose dive into the shit pool like so many others have. I hope we can all stay civil and be glad this project even exists.
My main point was that having been a very active gamer online for at least the past decade and a half now (two decades soon?), following several different forums and being the kind of idiot who reads comments on blogs and news articles, I can't help but feel like it's gotten worse and worse as far as peoples' expectations and feelings of entitlement go.
The amount of poison and bile online towards gaming companies and developers is just unimaginable. It doesn't seem to matter what the developers do or when they do it, eventually everyone seems to turn against them. Well, that's how it feels, because of the vocal minority being so damn loud, and the majority not caring enough to say anything. Defending the developers and trying to be reasonable, which is what I unfortunately tend to do quite often, gets you labeled as a fanboi instantly.
Some smaller games have started out with people in the community acting like actual civilized people, but even those usually devolve into a group of apes shrieking and banging their chests.
There's this mentality that if a company does anything wrong, ever, it's a deathly sin, everyone there deserves to be laid off on the spot, and the company needs to be driven into the ground. And the people posting these kinds of posts are the calm ones. The crazier ones are asking for the addresses to the companies' offices.
All I could attribute the major change towards this culture of "meh" as I like to think of it, was the generational shift. It might have nothing to do with that, though, hence why I shouldn't have mentioned age. But it's too late now. Anyways, I just hope this community doesn't take a nose dive into the shit pool like so many others have. I hope we can all stay civil and be glad this project even exists.
No, my emotional response was a sad sigh, with a smattering of "No, there's no Human Right Not To Be Offended. Deal with it." on Part 2.