I wonder if some of the grumps have to do with "survivor's guilt". You're still here while hundreds of people have come and gone. And a lot of people you used to know have left or gotten banned.
Now you're the oldsters gazing across your lawns at the pups playing in the street. You've been there and done that, seen it all...and sound like you're getting a little crotchety in your advancing years. From the sounds of some of the things you've said Daystar I got the impression you were feistier in days gone by.
Do you folks find the User Groups more comfortable because they present you with a controlled environment of familiar faces?
What is the likelihood for gamers to remain gamers and hang out at a site like this for years on end? As far as games go I spend more time playing mighty Hidden Object games so I'm not exactly one to jump into the Console War debates. And my PC won't play most simple PC games (I think the optics drive is going out) and I've lost money on The Witcher and The Force Unleashed because in the 1st case it keeps asking for "Administrative approval" or something so I've never gotten past the "do you wanna play"/set up screen and in the 2nd my graphics capabilities are so poor the game plays at super slow speed.
I feel the forums have changed a lot on here. Especially since late 2011. I used to frequent this site all the time, post a lot and generally spend a good deal of time here.
Nowadays I can't stand a majority of this sites users and their attitude towards things.
Well since this topic has been partially hi-jacked, I'll state my view on the hi-jacked topic: It does seem like there has been an influx of hostility on this site but I have a super duper secret that will help you not care...come here.....come closer.......closer.......OK, now you're in my personal space so back up a bit:
Stop responding to them. Now I'm sure a few innocents get caught up in this but anytime I feel that someone is being hugely dis-respectful, I either stop responding to them or I respond with a "I'm willing to debate this but if you don't treat this like a civil conversation, I'm done" type of thing. You will either get someone who says "I'm sorry; I didn't realize I was acting like an ass-clown" and get yourself a new debate or they will show their true colors when they call you a ninja fag. It's a win win!
Alright, back to the ACTUAL topic at hand
Ever since joining The Publisher's Club, I've found that interacting with the same core group of people each day has really made this site much better for me. I've been here for quite a while but my post count spiked and my enjoyment of the site spiked by having some fun in that private spot. There are also no real ass-hats in there because...well...you're paying to be there and so there are no dip-shits who just create an account to be an ass.
As to real life, life has gotten much better too! I got hired on permanently at my job at US Bank and I don't hate my life working there like so many other jobs! I am now in the baby stages of finding a place to purchase. Everything's going Tippy2k2 (well...except for lack of boobies. There are no boobies in my life but we can work on that Who wants to be my wing man!?
You got that right mate, I love this place, but most threads usually bring hostility, hope it blows over soon...at least before the fires ignite with March Mayhem.
I don't know, to be honest, for as long as I've been on this site and even before I made an account, people have complained about how different everything was six months ago. Maybe I just don't notice.
Or maybe this is just the usual sort of thing that goes on. People always like to wax nostalgic about the past. Now, in our ADHD generation, with our brains fried by TV and video games and the intertubes, we can only reliably go back about six months.
We're not doing March Mayhem because it's a ton of work and you folks didn't seem to enjoy it all that much. Pretty simple, really. If we come up with a fresh way to do it that we think you'll enjoy, we'll absolutely bring it back, but until then, we'd rather give you guys engaging content that you'll find exciting.
But on the plus side, everyone who's posted in this thread appear to be cool guys so yay for the cool guys thread.
If I'm cool. Which I'm probably not. <_<
I'd say it's a pretty safe bet that in most cases where people feel something has somehow changed but they can't put their finger on it it's really themselves that have changed.
It's the same with the 'ism' threads. Most people you see complaining about those you'll find engaging in them at some point during their post history. They were involved, they had their discussions, they had their say and they feel the topic's closed for them. They're now looking for new and interesting subjects to discuss but because there's a constant influx of new people who haven't yet discussed these topics the same ones basically keep popping up again and again, just with new people discussing them.
The forums have remained mostly the same. It's just individual posters who've changed and are no longer interested in the topics they used to be interested in. And for someone who's lost interest in a topic a spirited debate is pretty much the same as hate-filled arguing.
Since I'm not one of the "old gang" (an arbitrary group of people defined by them joining on March 29th 2009 or before), so I can't really make comment on the state of the forum.
Despite what people may say about it changing for the worse, I've always found it a lot better than any other forum out there.
WELCOME TO THE ESCAPIST I HOPE YOU ENJOY YOUR STAY!!!!!!!
[sub]don't go into the basement[/sub]
Anywho HOW DARE YOU BRING UP THE TRUTH YOU SIMPLETON ANYONE WHO POINTS OUT OUR OBVIOUS HATE WILL BE HATED T_T.
I've only been here since June, and the only change that I see back from when I lurked (Zeel time) is that the forums are slowly getting more hostile. I guess it's because we're all tired of bile and prefer something fresh.
...To combat this problem, I suggest giving out a warning everytime someone creates a sexism/gender politics/inflammatory/etc thread. It is a legit idea...
I was a lurker when Furburt and company were still here. I think Sassafras had something around 15k posts then. It was a fun place here back then, even with Furburt (I think it was him) calling Steve Pitts, who was the Editor-in-Chief back then...
"Piss-Pots" (Please don't warn or suspend me; just recounting events, that's all! I harbor no ill-will toward the moderators or staff at The Escapist)
...the place still had a general "good time, happy place" feel to it. I mean, yeah, we've had complete mental cases come and go...
Zeel and LilithSlave, I hope their wedding goes well (just kidding)
...but we've never had a massive amount of negativity, until recently. I believe people in the gaming community are fed up with events that have happened over the past year or so, things like the Mass Effect 3 ending controversy, Aliens: Colonial Marines, The WarZ debacle and so forth, have really begun to have an impact amongst the community. Add on the overdone sensationalism (which I'm guilty of, I admit), the general lack of "agreeing-to-disagreeing" and the feeling of the decline of gaming, and you have a nice brew of negative emotion powerful enough to charge forklift batteries.
The site itself has changed a few times, but it wasn't anything I couldn't adapt to. And speaking of changing, perhaps gamers are just waiting for developers/publishers of all stripes to start changing for the better; though if that's the case, I think we might be in for a bit of a wait.
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