If you mean do people posting "have you seen Titanfall" all day long is 'interesting', than of course no. I even made a sarcastic thread about that, actually, since it is a little ridiculous. But I think I just interpret and value the negativity a lot differently than some folk. Yes, I would say without a doubt the anger and criticisms of Microsoft have entered into 'excessive' territory. The problem I have is this idea that because it's excessive that the criticisms themselves don't hold the same exact amount of merit.
It doesn't bother me that it is excessive for the moment because I know the wave of resentment is temporary and directly tied to ongoing transgressions. When Microsoft ends these mistakes and starts on the road to having that trust relationship with gamers again, it will still take many months, if not years, before it full recovers. I would only suggest that this "excessive" anger is a natural and expected result of what occurred, and that Nintendo and Sony must face it in turn when slip ups occur.
I would also suggest one of the reasons it seems so overwhelming right now is that GAF has never been bigger than it is at this very moment. Specifically, huge hordes of GAFers had their accounts activated this year, and it takes a while for the mods to work through who has merits as a poster and who doesn't. As a result, the average post quality always declines for a few months after major waves of posters before rising back to the norm.
Additionally, because GAF is bigger than ever before, there is an even more predominant "echo chamber" effect wherein popular opinions form a sort of horde wherein poster after poster jumps on similar posts and overwhelm an individual, and it may appear like it's "ganging up on someone" when it's really just a numbers game... so many posters, so many people wanting to comment, so many having similar thoughts... lots of repeated ground covered.
I don't think the gaming community was ever united as strongly as when we were against the anti-consumer XBO measures, so the echo chamber was naturally louder than ever before. That said, since I feel it was earned and deserved criticism and I am of the belief everyone deserves to have their say, no matter how repetitious, it has yet to bother me.
What does bother me is ->
● A campaign of misinformation (Microsoft is at it this time; Sony was at it in 2006)
● Posters who act like they don't understand where the excessive criticism is coming from
● Posters who act like the criticism itself is overall somehow unfair
● Posters who act like the criticism is part of some great SonyGAF or HiveMind Conspiracy.
● Fucking with Consumers, a group I am obviously a part of.
These are important underlying issues, because it often leads to a great amount of disrespect shown to those with legitimate positions because some 'fans' may be frustrated with hearing the same complaints over and over.
The important thing to remember is to take a break if it is getting to you, maybe try your hand at other topics of conversation, and then return when you gather your thoughts and feel you have something to contribute. If you think the conversation is repetitive, you only add to prolonging it by engaging in whining theatrics. Would you not say this is fair?
I would indeed, only I don't think it's really "getting to me" in that sense. I actually love getting into heated debates, even when the other person is clearly biased -- perhaps in the hopes that somebody else will read it and be convinced to my side..
It's really important we as a community try to engage commentary that may be part of 'minority' views. It is important we fairly evaluate claims made by individual posters and thoughts they have. So many official topics around the gaming communities on the internet become circle jerk topics where individuals within the threads attack any negative perspective like packs of roaming hyenas. And then there are other times when we see someone getting beat up a bit and then we all pile on, which can understandably get overwhelming. That's not always fair either (although I don't have sympathy when that happens to someone who is obviously trolling).
I think people get hypersensitive when it's sooo hard to get a good conversation about a MS product going. It's so much of a relief when I can finally find a thread that isn't full of drivel. I remember one Xbox One thread where one guy in particular kept a thread going until all the negativity was gone and we were finally able to really discuss it. It happened recently in the Forza 5 thread about all the on-going announcements. Finally, people in that thread have been able to discuss the game in peace without a lot of nonsensical off-topic comments that simply derail discussion. Eventually, people get tired of this and like i said, hypersensitive, and just want to kill any negativity so that they can have a decent conversation.
There is justified negativity (which MS certainly deserves and has been getting from posters like you and others) and then there is unjustified negativity, which GAF seems to be full of right now. With the metric ton of this unjustified negativity (I'm talking about a bunch of things, including the amount of people who complain about the One, and yet never would have bought it, even without Kinect), it's understandable that people get reactive. SenjutsuSage is usually a decent poster, but the stuff he was posting that you called him out for was partially a result of this. I'm pretty sure he's just fed up, and probably can't think clearly -- because I know he most certainly can make good points under normal circumstances. Lately he seems...different. I think he would benefit by taking a break.
And speaking of trolling, people need to learn what that means
Used so indiscriminately around the internet.
YES! So much this. I don't even think people know what it means. I was actually going to make a thread about this in the OT. Trolling has almost become a byword for...well anything. I especially hate it when people use it when some simply does not agree with them. It's ridiculous.
The thing I don't understand is how -precisely- you're labeling the discussions. You say it is "making fun of" the company. A lot of people are bitingly sarcastic at this point, bitterly skeptical of all claims made by Microsoft. This is true. What does not seem to be true is the categorization that a majority of these discussions or the tone of these discussions is an attempt to 'make fun of' Microsoft, or earlier in 2006 Sony.
It was late when I posted that. Making fun of really wasn't the best phrase. I think you sort of got what I was saying, though.
These are consumers exercising the most important power they have: their voice. With it, they stopped a giant from trampling all over their consumer rights. With it, they slowed Sony's arrogance and forced them to consider our needs until they have become a consumer-friendly dream this go around. Now, they give us so much value with things like PS+ that $600 seems like a distant nightmare.
In the end, even if a fairly large percentage of the conversations have turned into simple reductionist ribbing, I would take that percentage if it meant keeping the overall pressure hard on these companies. And when we start measuring our steps because we don't want to offend fanboys or giant soulless conglomerations and companies, we begin to arbitrarily limit our power. It's impossible to moderate the tone of a community of millions of gamers across the internet. It is better to let the anger naturally flow where it may than caring at a few hurt feelings over video games imo
I agree. You can't stop it. I just wish that there could be some threads where positive discussion could be left in peace. If I'm excited for Kinect, please allow me to excitedly speak about the myriad of things that having Kinect could engender. Allow me to talk about it without literally 20 pages of "lol Kinect" (constant, anyway. It'll still continue for as long as the thread is alive). I just wish we could have a little more of that.
I actually don't discourage all this negativity completely. Sony would not have changed without it, and MS will not either. It's actually a good and natural thing. It serves and important function. But does it have to make people lose their minds and be hostile to other people who may not possess the same views as them? The logical falicies, name-calling, repeating ad infinitum of overused phrases (like "persecution complex" and "troll" etc. which nobody seems to know the meanings of anyway), are unacceptable, and
I feel like this general consensus has allowed a good many people to say "Oh MS effed up" as an excuse for this vitriol. Again, this kind of conduct is inexcusable in any case
The reason some people act like there is some huge Sony conspiricy is because so many people allow their negetivity against MS to be an excuse for inappropriate posting behavior. There's enough of them on GAF who are much more vocal, that it really seems like a majority/conspircy at times.
IDK, it just kind of drives me from the Playstation community. To me, Xbox fanboys have always seemed rather stupid to me. Playstation fanboys, on the other hand, have always seemed more hostile. Does that make sense? I don't mind the Xbox community because its negative aspects don't quite accost me the same way. Don't get me wrong, I'm excited for the PS4 and games like the Order and Killzone, but the PS community makes me go "hmm, I'm not really sure I want to be that way. I don't really want to be seen as a Sony fan because of all the implications that go with that." Besides, I'm really a fan of neither. I'm a PC guy.
I just think some of the memes and gifs need to stop, as well. They're pointless, and unfunny. M0dus has done a good job of articulating what's wrong with a lot of people's anti-MS posts of late. Go read his post history. He's a poster a lot of people could model. I don't know if he's an MS fan or not, but it doesn't matter. His criticisms are proper and level-headed.
EDIT: yes, Amir0x, I can compete with you for long posts as well.
