When mainstream media, or people not within the gaming culture, take a look at how gamers discuss things online; a clear sense of bewilderment and possibly disgust is a common opinion. Regardless of age or position in life, we gamers tend to speak colourfully about gaming at the best of times. Whether that be because of the idea of internet anonymity, attention seeking (or trolling for the lulz), or in retaliation to the aforementioned reasons and more, the only people who can understand why gamers talk the way we do is other gamers.
I submit the idea that none of us here or on any other gaming site that currently exists are terrible people who just go on attacking opinions and insulting people in real life. Rather, I believe we are all here not only due to a shared interest, but because we have the capability of venting frustrations to those of a like mind and that many, if not most of us, do likely express ourselves in improper ways relative to the issues or situations.
Whether you'd admit it or not, everyone here is a fanboy on some level. Being a fanboy isn't a bad thing, it is simply a higher degree of passion for something than an ordinary fan. Everything said or done on gaming websites is no different than the things said or done at sporting events, in forum discussions for other interests online, or in any non-official interaction amongst like-minded peers.
Personally speaking, I speak my mind and I do so uncensored for the most part. I encourage people to speak their mind in an uncensored fashion as well, even when we don't share the same opinion. So long as we are not mercilessly attacking each other with the most awful language possible and make threats against each other, then being honest and yet brash in the way we speak to each other shouldn't be a big deal. It's akin to trash talking essentially.
I personally don't believe that anyone here really takes what anyone else here says personally unless it is of the aforementioned merciless attacks or threat variety. We all know that people are free to like and buy what they want, and they will do so regardless of what anyone says on the internet, but that doesn't stop us from having an opinion about something and expressing it.
Gamers as a group are a lot more vocal, a lot more passionate than many not familiar with the medium are used to seeing for something that is, comparatively, such a young medium of entertainment. I believe that this is an asset though, not a liability. We should be free to be honest, we should be free to be expressive, and so long as we aren't bullying anyone or making threats against anyone then we should be free to speak as we choose even if it involves trash talking, gamer-centric language that doesn't exist in the Oxford Dictionary.
Unfortunately the nanny-state approach permeates everything and people with vindictive personalities, or people who choose to easily be offended by anything will do their damndest to silence people and rules and regulations for such censorship exist everywhere. One can definitely see the benefit of restricting comments that are malicious as no one should have to put up with things like racism or threats in comments. That's understandable. However censoring people for paltry trash talk phrases like SDF (Sony Defense Force), or Nintendrone, or Xbot? That's micromanagement at best but I digress.
Here's the real meat of the issue. Gaming discussions online are literally no different than sports discussions, car discussions, hell even tv show discussions. I'm 100% certain that everyone here has been to a non-gaming site that discusses some other passion and has seen the exact same kind of language being used only with different adjectives appropriate to the subject. It's just the way things are when it comes to hobbies.
I'm also 100% certain that despite my own altercations with individuals on this site, I could have a gaming session with any one of you and have an absolute blast of a time. We'd trash talk each other, play the game, and just generally be completely different in that situation than we are here. That's one thing about gamers that I feel is unique in the world of hobbies. We may talk trash online, but when we're gaming together it's all about the game and having a good time and anything else doesn't matter.
I know for a fact that plenty of you would destroy me in any FPS game, but I also know that you wouldn't begrudge me a match so that we could just enjoy gaming the way it was meant to. At the end of the day, that's what we all do and that's how we all are. Just gamers looking for something to play and someone to play it with no matter what it is we just said here on N4G or IGN or anywhere else.
So call me whatever you want in the comments, say whatever you like however you want to say it. I encourage it because you're just doing what we all do here. Speaking our minds, being honest at least in the sense of expression, and being literally no different than anyone else in the world discussing something they love. But if you and I ever have the chance to game together, I know we'll have fun no matter who wins or loses and no matter what console (or PC) it's on.
Game on.
With the end of the Big Spring Sale and the lead-up to Easter, Amazon has axed the price of this stunning, high-performance Alienware display.
XDefiant will feature three new weapons per season! Dev confirms lobbies won't disband after matches and explains how it'll work.
Legacy of Castlevania is a new feature set coming to V Rising at the game's full 1.0 launch in May, 2024, with both free and paid options.
I've had my beef with you a few times on the comments section but when it comes down to it, I would be more than happy to play a game with you.....so I can SHOOT YOU IN THE FRIGGIN FACE! Nah, not really (but yes really).
I don't really take things to heart but there are times when you just want to reach out of someone's monitor and smack them.
However, reality really sets in when you actually meet someone in real life after you have spent a long time arguing with them online. Case in point, I used to argue with the user Abzdine on this very site all the time. I honestly couldn't stand his comments and we'd have our spats on the front pages all the time. Then we ended up PM'ing each other and actually finally met up at Gamescom in Germany and he turned out to be a really really nice guy. I consider him like an older brother now and have immense respect for him. Now, I just think, what a shame it would have been if I carried on 'e-hating' this guy because of silly (and it really is silly if you think about it) arguments we have online.
It's just the nature of it all I supposed. Anonymity, whilst having some advantages, also enables enmity to grow.
If the usual members all met up on here, I would bet that we would all get a long. I'm sure we would have a right laugh and I'd get a long with everyone (don't know about vice versa). Well except for Silent Negotiator...there's something about him that makes me wanna strangle him. I blame the picture of Red and the way he types. But I'm sure we'd get along IRL.....maybe....
'Plumbers are red'
... this has been a terrible year for Luigi.
You should never take thing's serious on the internet, as cheesy and corny as it sound's never judge a book by it's cover.. Now septic I was once like you argument after argument with someone, met up and look now turn's out we had a lot in common, now I am new here to this website, turn's out it has what I am looking for. But I hope we can all get along and keep this gaming community strong.
NO! I still hate all of you.
But in all honesty, I still think about our argument that led you to ignoring me. I didn't believe that a Dark Souls MMO was possible, the essence of that game is so locked up in tight reflexes and the animation priority, I still think the latency would kill it. Your example was Dynasty Warriors Online, which I didn't agree with but what got to me the most, was when you told me I need to play more games. I don't have enough time in the day to play anymore! My backlog stretches back, and back, and back.
But you're alright Dragonknight, I'd rather argue with you than some others here.
I would take what DragonKnight has to say with a grain of salt. This person will start PM'ing you if he disagrees with what you have to say and runs out of bubbles. I had to block this person because he continually PM'd me months ago over something I said and they ran out of bubbles. This person is rude and just doesnt know when to give up