Teknoman said:
Honestly gaming side disputes are no more serious than what people get into OT side. Either side can be great towards one another or incredibly vitriolic depending on the subject mater.
that's deceptive.
disputes "exist" in their current form on this forum because of the gaming side. kids, like me, raised on video game journalism are taught that everything is either the best thing ever created or the most disgusting piece of shit ever flushed down the toilet.
console wars, review scores, game sales.. whatever you want to blame it on, people on this forum want to declare something either the best or the worst, and they want it backed up by empirical evidence. you said something was good? au contraire, good sir, i argue that it is in fact a piece of garbage!
some people value their time greatly. whether it applies to actual time they've spent with a video game or their personal biases towards a certain corporation or studio, people here are more than eager to argue that their opinion of something is right instead of valuable. this kind of mindset is backed up by others, which creates two and only two camps in the minds of boarders: for or against.
i really hate to recall the whole debacle, but Dyack was probably right. groupthink exists, and it persuades. it's so much easier to subscribe to something than it is to actually think something that's original. this is where "trolling" comes into play here -- and, don't get me wrong, as it does at many other websites on the internet -- it becomes a place where it's extremely easy to predict what will go against the grain; what will cause the most raucous.
and yet, debate is glorified. this idea that one idea is the correct idea, reinforced by ideas or "defense forces", fuels some kind of omnipresent metacommentary. um, hey, i don't know if you saw the thread, but that stupid thing you just said is banned. because you people took it too far; because you people wore it too thin; because you people are already dead!
i just truly hate binary opposition. whether it's political or whatever.. everywhere i look i see people immediately divided by an initial reaction. oh, this person said this, they're an idiot. oh, this person likes this, they must be stupid. oh, this place values groupthink over individuality, i'm gonna make a long post about it on a video game message board.
and that's just it, i'm not classifying anyone here specifically. i'm just pointing out things i've noticed on both sides of this forum that i've frequented for more than a few years. more than ever i've been just trying to add something that couldn't be posted by a robot who's posted here for years. mob mentality and the bystander effect are similar in their persuasive nature.. peer pressure is normal. but if you take the time to think about things rather than buy into a knee jerk reaction to any topic, including a video game, you might find yourself forming an actual thought.