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[ghst]

incase you hadn't noticed, the assassin's creed revelations OT went up today:
not safe for those prone to carpal tunnel in their mousewheel finger

look at that monstrosity. i thought OTs were supposed to be things of utility, with the original post serving as a concise primer, laying out all the useful and essential information for anyone with a wayward moment to click on them; not masturbatory odes to the greatness of every last mitigating detail of a game.

when i click on an OT i'll want to find release/pricing details, a spattering of reviews and footage, and perhaps a tastefully concise blurb or bullet list highlighting some of the major innovations/selling points of the title. what i don't want is some catch all media dump which reads like the OP found a folder some PR rep left on a train and decided to type it all up verbatim, leaving any useful information marooned in a sea of extended universe fluff.

moreover, this kind of yawning fanboy rubbing material only serves to set up a sycophantic worship tone for the rest of the thread, stifling rational debate. how dare anyone criticize a king in his own palace?

here's how it should be done, courtesy of stump. level headed, concise and actually useful:

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=351801
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=449987

i did also enjoy the couple of times that OTs have been granted "roast" privileges, neutralizing the usual worshipful narrative of most OTs. but with fanthing tensions as taut as they are, i foresee many faded usernames should that ever become the standard.

 

[ShockingAlberto]

In fairness, it's probably just as copy-paste as the game itself, so at least it's thematically appropriate.

 

[Plinko]

ghst
thanks for the laugh
(Today, 11:57 AM)
Reply | Quote

.

 

[sixteen-bit]

Both those links point to the same thread

 

[xxracerxx]

In fairness, it's probably just as copy-paste as the game itself, so at least it's thematically appropriate.

Bada dum!

 

[MedIC86]

Okay i love a good OP, but that assa creed is kinda sick if you ask me :lol

 

[Crumpet Trumpet]

I agree, but only because I feel sorry for the OPs for putting so much work into it. It's not like anyone really reads it past the first couple days the OT is up.

 

[Grecco]

I agree with these sentiments, they have gotten out of hand. Quasi viralesque threads with regurgitated information, most of the posts are just repeats of other posts.


Do people really like these threads? When you open up its page after page of GREAT OP GREAT POST but i doubt most of them actually read it.

 

[BattleMonkey]

I don't understand the problem. Everyone always loads up the OP of a topic? I see a OP like once or twice and never again.

 

[Emitan]

Holy shit at that Assassin's Creed OT. It's so long it's worthless.

 

[Divvy]

Haha oh man, that asscreed OT is ridiculous. Wow, I hope someone got paid for that.

 

[Parallax Scroll]

Yeah, bigass OT's are stupid. It's especially bad when most of the text is presented in image form.

 

[Zenith]

I concur. I like the style of the OPs - custom banners, info boxes, etc - but they go on for way too long. Less is more. Leave out the filler.

 

[Gattsu25]

I have to say that I agree. I miss useful OTs that don't use the games press junket as a primary source.

 

[SmokyDave]

I wondered if that OT would provoke a thread like this.

I happen to agree with you. It's nice for the super-fans to be able to show their dedication but I'm not sure how 'fitting' it is to have these epic PR fluff pieces for topics. I certainly avoid official threads because of it. The first three pages consisting of posts that just say "Great OP!" doesn't help either.

 

[Timber]

kind of a weird thing to have strong opinions about

 

[Mechazawa]

In fairness, it's probably just as copy-paste as the game itself, so at least it's thematically appropriate.

Daaaaaaamn girl.

 

[Emitan]

Yeah, bigass OT's are stupid. It's especially bad when most of the text is presented in image form.

Text in images is the worst part. It's like they're trying to hide information. Ctrl+F? What's that?

 

[Deadly Cyclone]

I don't see the issue. Don't open page 1 if you don't want to see it.

It has a ton of useful info for the game, which an OT is supposed to have.

 

[ScOULaris]

Wow. That AssCreed |OT| OP is really taking it too far. It's nice to have an in-depth OP for official threads, but that is just an over-designed clusterfuck of PR-style info. I agree with you, ghst. It's becoming a dick measuring contest at this point.

 

[iNvid02]

go here and use the links to go to whatever post you want

or go here and read about it yourself

 

[epmode]

Agreed a thousand times. Christ.

 

[balladofwindfishes]

I'm on my lighting fast Internet at school and that AssCreed OT took a good 10 seconds to load

wow... I don't even want to know how long it would take to load at home.

 

[Infamous Chris]

.

You should stop posting. TC is making a valid point.

 

[Dabanton]

The last few big game threads have the air of crass oneupmanship.

 

[Detox]

I agree, I propose a one-post limit on OT's meaning that only the relevant information will be posted and it will ensure the poster is as succinct as possible without all the fluff.

 

[LiquidMetal14]

Good points on both sides. It's also fair to note that these kinds of threads aren't that frequent either. And you have to at least acknowledge the work involved. Yea, the annoying part is loading all the pics. If it was more text then that would be nice. If it's a game I'm anticipating I will read all the facts and such so it's no bother.

So it's definitely a double edged sword.

I do agree that the roast like OT's are good for a laugh. I don't find it as funny as the fake BF3 thread though. That was a case where I thought the OT should have been up a week before launch and it was late. I understand the impatience and joke nature of the BF3 joke OT in that case. It's a slippery slope.

 

[Jb]

There are dozens of video game websites that will provide you with exactly what you need.

OTs are a way to celebrate an eagerly anticipated game as well as to get comprehensive and well put together information on said game.
Seriously, get over it.

 

[[Nintex]]

I'd say OP's should be limited to 2 posts. That Assassins Creed thread is crazy, when you print it, it probably ends up having more pages than the manual that comes with the game.

 

[Derrick01]

i did also enjoy the couple of times that OTs have been granted "roast" privileges, neutralizing the usual worshipful narrative of most OTs. but with fanthing tensions as taut as they are, i foresee many faded usernames should that ever become the standard.

Speaking of that I can't wait for whoever does ME3's OT. I hope it's Evilore so we can get another thread on DA2's level.

 

[SolarPowered]

Text in images is the worst part. It's like they're trying to hide information. Ctrl+F? What's that?

This right here. The assassin's creed thread was full of that haha. I don't remember the MGS4 thread, but I don't think there was so much text in images even though it was the most epic huge thread I've ever seen...

 

[Emitan]

I don't see the issue. Don't open page 1 if you don't want to see it.

It has a ton of useful info for the game, which an OT is supposed to have.

The problem isn't that it doesn't have useful info. The problem is you have to manually search through a bunch of posts the size of a small novel in order to find what you're looking for. There's no way to use your browser's search function.

 

[WillyFive]

It has a ton of useful info for the game, which an OT is supposed to have.

Yes, but the info should be accessible.

 

[jaundicejuice]

Where's the upvote/like?

 

[fernoca]

In fairness, it's probably just as copy-paste as the game itself, so at least it's thematically appropriate.

Nah, for Mortal Kombat I wrote nearly everything myself. (as "sad" as it may sound to some)

And nope we don't get paid for it, we don't receive free games, promo materials or anything... we do it because we like the games.

But hey, lesson learned since then. OTs of mine has been smaller and will be smaller.

 

[ShockingAlberto]

I don't see the issue. Don't open page 1 if you don't want to see it.

It has a ton of useful info for the game, which an OT is supposed to have.

At this rate, eventually page 1 will just be the OT.

Then when it spills over on to page 2, we'll have to start skipping that!

 

[Osiris]

Agreed, I also hate the current fad of rendering all the text on an OT as an image, it's enough for to actually start avoiding OT's altogether now.

 

[abq]

MGS4 OT was awesome. Only part I actually paid attention to was the release date, though.

 

[DaBuddaDa]

I have been outspoken about this very subject in the past. The information dump/PR promo OTs is one of the more obnoxious trends here, useful to nobody and only exist to stroke the OP's ego.

That Assassin's Creed one is absolutely horrible. It's like you scanned a PR flyer from GameStop and posted it.

 

[Skilletor]

There are dozens of video game websites that will provide you exactly what you need.

OTs are a way to celebrate an eagerly anticipated game as well as to get comprehensive and well put together information on said game.
Seriously, get over it.

OTs for me a a place to discuss an eagerly anticpated game. PR info like that doesn't foster discussion. That thread is full of people going NICE OT for 100 posts. Nobody is even talking about the information provided in the massive multi-post OT.

 

[jcm]

If someone wants to put the effort in, where exactly is the harm?

 

[sixteen-bit]

Speaking of that I can't wait for whoever does ME3's OT. I hope it's Evilore so we can get another thread on DA2's level.

That would be incredible.

 

[Ledsen]

That AssCreedRev thread is one of the most horrendous things I've ever seen. Holy shit.

I fully agree with you, these PR cut/paste threads filled with huge images are destroying the OT:s with their ridiculous fan wanking. I hate them so much

 

[Truant]

I never read the OP in official threads.

 

[obonicus]

Huge, possibly excessive OTs are a part of these boards by this point. They're not a new thing, and the admins have even granted people tags based on OTs that could be deemed excessive.

 

[XANDER CAGE]

I agree that OTs are getting a bit crazy, but it's sort of mean to call out some guy's specific thread and effectively accuse him of being a shill.

 

[ghostmind]

Disagree.

If someone wants to dedicate that much of their time to creating a fancy OP, then what is the harm in letting them indulge? Is it a crime to be excited by anything these days?

Nobody is putting a gun to your head to read the OP of these topics.

Compared to some of the shit that is found on GAF these days, I would think that a fancy OP would be a minor offendor at most.

 

[we.are.the.armada]

Brevity is the soul of wit

 

[SolarPowered]

There are dozens of video game websites that will provide you with exactly what you need.

OTs are a way to celebrate an eagerly anticipated game as well as to get comprehensive and well put together information on said game.
Seriously, get over it.

Sooooo.... the OT is supposed to "get comprehensive and well put together information on said game", but when it gets out of control we should visit another videogame website?

ummm

 

[Ikuu]

Totally agree, it's especially annoying when the OP gets updated with new info (patch notes etc) and you need to load up the entire thing again.