How important is the blogger's opinion to you, the reader?
If I blogged about broccoli, how I love it, and how I think its a great vegetable I'm sure the mass of people reading my blog wouldn't post comments about how crazy I am or that eating a vegetable that looked like a small tree was just horrific or maybe I should be shot for singling out how one vegetable is better than all the others. Maybe I haven't given other vegetables enough time or consideration.
But why not? I mean, there has to be someone out there who has a definite opinion on broccoli and whether its better than another vegetable. Should it be hyped over others or just harvested and burned on sight?
Well, probably not. Because I'm pretty sure there are not many Broccoli or even anti Broccoli Fanboiz out there, wasting all their time scanning blogs, looking to put someones personal experience about broccoli under great scrutiny only to call them crazy for not liking cabbage. But there are a lot of MMO fanboiz out there that do just that. Specifically Warhammer Fanboiz.
Recently, several MMO bloggers have been sharing their own personal experiences from last weekend's WAR preview, me included. They have been honest with their feelings and experiences only to be trashed by posters and fanboi bloggers. I'm sure that it hurts when a trusted blogger, someone you read daily doesn't like the game your excited about, but does that mean there is recourse to call them crazy for posting about their own gaming experience just because they contradict your own?
A blogger can be a trusted ally sure, but when they don't see things your way, is it ok to trash them or flame them for not seeing a game the way you did? Is that a good way for others to see your side of the experience by talking bad about someone elses? Just because they don't see it the same way as you, does that mean its ok to call them crazy?
NO! How the blogger experienced the game had nothing to do with you, the reader. It was them not liking the game, nothing else. It's not like the blog was written to attacked you personally, they didn't throw red paint on your door, they didn't run over your foot or call your mother bad names, so why take offense if they didn't like the game you like? I can't fathom the insanity of this situation.
So they didn't do the same things you did in the game, so they didn't experience the scenarios the way you did, so they didn't play the world RvR or didn't understand the PQ system. So What? Why attack them? They didn't attack you? They expressed their personal experiences and thoughts about an in animate object, an MMO game in their personal web diary or as we all refer to them, a blog.
If there is so much hostility out there over something as inane as a video game, why even blog? When all your going to get is grief and misunderstanding from your readers, who should, as fellow gamers, be able to empathize with your gaming experiences, why even try?
To blog or not to blog? That truly is the question.
I think your perceptions are colored by your interests. While there might not be a broccoli blog out there, fanboyism and irrational vitriol are rampant on the web, well beyond the scope of MMOs. But since you're interested in, and blog about, MMOs, that's where you see it most.
ReplyDeleteI work for a consumer electronics publication and website, and you should've seen the *hate* being spewed back and forth between adherents of blu-ray and hd-dvd during the format war.
I don't disagree with your message, only with your aim, which I think is too narrow. Your message applies well beyond the realm of MMO bloggers.
The internet is, generally speaking, a vile place to spend time. Which is why finding a community of decent folk is such a rare treat.
Don't let the haters get you down. Just nuke their comments, if they're on your blog. It is, after all, YOUR blog, not a national newspaper. You don't need to listen to irrational commenters if you don't want to.
Oh, I'm sure my scope is pretty narrow and I have not doubt there are tons of Fanboiz covering all kinds of things, I've even seen the Sony love/hate relationship with people. I have a friend that hates SoE, but still plays Planetside because its something he can do with his 9yr that's fun.
ReplyDeleteWhat bothers me is that people are showing so much hatred towards others over a game that isn't even out yet.
Sure, people hate WoW but its been on the market for 5 yrs now, plenty of time to have an informed opinion about a game and to argue it among others, which I have been known to do, not that I'm a fan boy of WoW, but I do like the game.
People are posting about their first impressions and even they understand that they've only seen less than 1% of the game. They want to let people know what that they've seen the game, it did this for me, be it good or bad. They have just as much right to do that as people that love the little bit that they have seen, but you don't see them getting trashed by people that didn't like it.
I just don't get it. Why so much trouble over a game that isn't out yet?
First, I want to stress again that I'm in complete agreement with you.
ReplyDeleteAnd I don't agree with the behavior any more than you do.
But I did take Brent to task over the Virgin Worlds post, and I'll tell you why I did it. And I'm not saying I was right in doing it...
1) In general, I think its unfair to slag a game that by definition isn't finished. Citing specific aspects of the game that you didn't care for is one thing and seems reasonable, but saying a game isn't fun, or sucks, based on, like you said, 1% of the game, just seems horribly unfair to the designers who've devoted so much time and energy to the game. There's a huge difference between "I didn't like X because of Y" and "This game sucks."
2) Once a person has made an investment, be it emotional or fiscal, in a product, they generally will want that product to do well. A product that does well is much more likely to be supported and improved upon by the developing company. In the case of MMOs, we've seen them fail. Every MMO that failed had players that loved the game and wanted more people to play it. So I think there's a natural tendency to want to promote good news about a game we're invested in, and trivialize bad news about it.
These reasons don't justify meanness or personal attacks. But I think this is the root of a lot of fanboyism. And there are a lot of people on the internet that seem to lack any kind of humanity or compassion for others, at least when they're online, and they express their fanboyism in cruel and unreasonable ways.
That's my take on it anyway, and of course this is just my theory based on no facts other than my gut...I could be totally wrong. I mean, I do know that there are people that just get enjoyment out of upsetting other people, and some of the comments you see might be from that type as well.
Thanks, by the way, for the post and the conversation.
If there were a broccoli blog out there, Mort would be its Brent. He doesn't like broccoli one bit.
ReplyDeleteI agree with all of you. I am filled with brotherly love. All platonic, I assure you.
I'd say more but I've typed too much already today. :D
Oh, and one more thing. I give you the Broccoli blog:
ReplyDeletehttp://vegbox.net/blog/
@Pete - I didn't mean to make it seem like we didn't agree. I get caught up sometimes in being the messenger that I forget that I've already spoken the message. lol
ReplyDeleteHow can someone even make a judgment about a game while only seeing a small percentage of it? This is an issue I've thought about, but won't express here.
My overall belief is that games shouldn't be reviewed till they are on the store shelves ready to be purchased by greedy little gamers.
Now in the case of Brent VS the world. He was voicing his opinion and that's fair. People should have tried to convince him that he might not have all the facts, or might need some more play time to fully understand the game or its mechanics. But I mean, people just had a fit. They slammed him up and down the internet. That was just uncalled for. He didn't say he wanted to scrape monkey cages out with the WARHAMMER Game, he just said he found it not fun. Can we just be ok with that?
If he found it unfun, how can anyone calling him the ripe end of a donkey going to make him change his mind? How can berating him all over the internet, going to get him back in a second time to give the game a shot? It won't. That is all I am trying to say.
Warhammer fans are rabid. Well all Fanboiz are, but they aren't going to win over people by beating them in the head with a club. That worked in cave man times, but in the day of you tube and blogging, it just won't cut it now.
I'm just saying that the time of Reckoning will be upon everyone, and they will be sorry they missed out on all the destruction.