"The internet has been an amazing place for fandoms. Fanboys and fangirls can celebrate their love of a game, connect with other fans, and even reach out to creators. We now have the ability for greater levels of participation, but can this power turn ugly? Some fans spew anger and hatred when disappointed with a videogame, often directing their ire at the creators themselves. Is there a danger with this sort of behavior?"

Are angry fanboys hurting the gaming industry? Well... yeah, absolutely. In fact we did an entire episode of The Cheerful Ghost Roundtable about "The Internet Hate Factory."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-IwC9j1U8g

So watch Game/Show, then watch the roundtable and go forth and never rage again.

Travis   Admin wrote on 02/14/2014 at 03:29am

Yes.

I think it's that simple.

I haven't watched the video yet, but I think I can answer already.

The internet is amazing but people use it to complain quite a bit and it's a sea of negativity. That's to be expected and people should complain when there are problems that need complaining about, but overall it isn't as constructive as it should be. Anonymity adds a buffer that people can hide behind to criticize and be jerks without it being attached to themselves. I've been making an effort recently to distance myself from "panickedthumb" and use my real name where possible/feasible/safe so that I don't say anything on the internet that I wouldn't want attached to my real name for that very reason, actually.

jdodson   Admin   Post Author wrote on 02/14/2014 at 10:56pm

I think that's a really good idea. "jdodson" isn't hard to parse out to my real name, but I like using it because its my unix/linux username and I kind of like associating with that level of nerd.

Azurephile   Super Member wrote on 02/15/2014 at 07:26am

Why did I read it as "Are Angry Birds Fans Hurting Gaming?" LOL! Still, he has a great point and I can't help but to agree with him. I can't recall the name of the developer that was mentioned in this video and in one of your roundtable videos, but it is sad that angry gamers can get a developer so upset. Is this also why Flappy Birds was removed from app stores today? That developer said that he couldn't "take it anymore," though I'm not sure what specifically he was referring to.

I totally agree with Travis, the Internet provides anonymity and people do tend to complain a lot and it is most definitely "a sea of negativity." Just look at your Facebook newsfeed, especially whenever something "controversial" is posted. Even though anonymity doesn't exist as much there, people will still comment negatively on a post you made instead of just ignoring it and scrolling through the rest of their newsfeed.

I also agree with Travis about distancing himself from his online alias, although that's not something I've put any thought into. At first (during the BBS years), I went by "Cobain" (yes, an obvious reference). I then later changed my alias a bit over the years to various ones, one that last a long time was some version of "Cupid De Locke" (The Smashing Pumpkins song) like QpiDeLocke. However, now I use "GregoPeck" as I've been called "Gregory Peck" or "Peck" for short and at college, I was nicknamed "Grego."

That's cool about yours, Jon. Mine is similar too as I sometimes use gawoodruff (adding my middle initial after the first to differentiate from my Dad who is also named "Greg").

jdodson   Admin   Post Author wrote on 02/15/2014 at 02:28pm

As far as I am concerned, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness is the best album of all time.

Dates me some I suppose :D

Travis   Admin wrote on 02/15/2014 at 02:36pm

Ah, Mellon Collie. Such a damn good album. I wouldn't call it the best of all time, but it's by far my favorite SP album. That's mostly because I don't care for their other work much, but I could listen to Mellon Collie on repeat for days. If Billy Corgan's voice were different, I would probably agree that it's the best album ever, honestly. I've just never cared for it.

Azurephile   Super Member wrote on 02/16/2014 at 02:21am

Yes, MCIS was fantastic! What else I loved is that the released all the singles in a box set, which contained more songs (some very good covers, in fact, like "You're All I've Got Tonight"). It probably is my favorite album by them, although Gish and Siamese Dream are right up there with it. I listened to their latest one a few times and liked it.

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