It seems that the tried and true tradition of a review on a 1000th post has been passed onto me. It seems strange really, to be here nearly a year from when I first joined actually reviewing this website when I think back to the fact I almost didn't make it past the first month, or second, or third... Hell double the fact that I've had almost no impact on this site and compared to other users a glacial posting pace I find it remarkable that I'm here just shy of a year later doing this. Fascinating really. For this review I've decided to talk about the part of the escapist I've stayed with most, the forums.
What I'd like to do is draw comparisons to other forums I've been part of. Discuss how A is better because B has this, or how community A is worse due to community B having a fire breathing monkey. The fact is, and this might scare and confuse all two of you that got this far into my post is that this is the only forum I've actually participated in. That being said, I've looked at many, scrolling through pages of information collectively gathered from nerds all over the world to dump into a single place like a public toilet when I think about it. But far to often you'll see a problem within the forums, either too many idiots will run rampant creating an aura of hate and bigotry or elitism will strike anyone down who dares disagree with the masses. The question really is, what made the escapist different? What made me take the plunge into forum life? Who the hell created the question mark? Henry Denham in case you cared.
Over my year here my opinion of what makes the escapist different has changed. At first, I think it was just the fact gamers existed here, but without the high pitched squeals, the racism and the ability to headshot me. So it was nice to interact with other people who shared my hobby, discussing the finer points of games because I had nowhere else to really let my nerd steam go. Before the escapist, if I wanted to talk about games, I really didn't have anyone to turn to, now I have you guys (sorry about that). Then, about a month in I felt anger and hatred towards the escapist, I thought I had surveyed the terrain on which I wanted to build my home and started to lay foundations. Sadly for me, I misjudged the community and paid for it, you see after modern warfare 2 came out I found a funny video and posted it saying it was information on modern warfare 3. This video was from the onion news, and the footage was one of the most clearly fake, satirical, parody skits I'd seen. Yet, many escapist members whom I had started to feel where all smart, balanced individuals started to mock me and insult me. For me, having no real place to fall back to, this was a huge set back. At this point I had honestly considered just leaving.
I'm not sure why I came back only after a small period, but for some reason I did and I felt that I was starting to understand how the escapist operates. You see to me the escapist forums are quite like chaos theory. In other forums you tend to just see only one type of person whether it be over zealous Moderators, newcomers, elitists or just dicks the escapist has them all in a constant collision. If you ask two different members of the escapist what the problem with the forum is, there is a good chance you will get different answers. The diversity within the escapist allows it to generate constant traffic as different views and perspectives are brought forward by the various groups I listed and what makes the escapist so different is each groups stubbornness to yield the high ground. There is many an elitist in the forums, yet time and time again I see someone new strike them down. The members will cry out when they feel the Mods have over stepped their mark and newcomers will be put in their place and taught to treat this forum with respect. This strange event that happens on the escapist I haven't witnessed anywhere else, and I honestly believe this is where the strength of this site lies.
Also, where Credit is most defiantly due is to the Moderators on the forum. Like I mentioned, on occasion I've felt and I'm sure most of you have that they have been too harsh on people. The fact is, most of the time they are just trying to do right by us and moreover I'm amazed we get away with complaining like we do. Take the Gamedogs season 2 announcement for example, some users were admittedly unfairly banned and within a small space of time many of us had gone into that thread and complained. I personally had sent a message off to enquire as to the reason for the banning. At the time I was angry, due to my vested interest in this forum as a refuge from the torrential shit storm that is a large portion of the internet but in retrospect I was overreacting, and I'm amazed I didn't pay a price for my bitching. The fact is, a Mod got into contact with me and told me some of the suspensions had been reversed and I realised just how much these people communicate to the forums. From what I've observed, our ability to complain about the escapist is quite an enigma, they could just ignore us or ban us but they actually communicate, explain and in some cases reverse their decisions based on when a minority of us has a good old bitching session. For that I'm grateful to the staff, and I'm also happy that as a community we are invested enough to feel the end to complain as we find the escapist worthy of complaining about. If you don't understand that, it's more than likely you aren't British.
TL
R edition: conclusion, the escapist is a hybrid and is more vibrant, alive and worth my time because of it.
I know this isn't a typical review; it's more a collection of random thoughts put forward for reading by you, I think I was doing this just because it seems to be this tradition thats built up. I shall do a true review of something or other sometime and have been meaning to for a long while. Thanks for reading.
What I'd like to do is draw comparisons to other forums I've been part of. Discuss how A is better because B has this, or how community A is worse due to community B having a fire breathing monkey. The fact is, and this might scare and confuse all two of you that got this far into my post is that this is the only forum I've actually participated in. That being said, I've looked at many, scrolling through pages of information collectively gathered from nerds all over the world to dump into a single place like a public toilet when I think about it. But far to often you'll see a problem within the forums, either too many idiots will run rampant creating an aura of hate and bigotry or elitism will strike anyone down who dares disagree with the masses. The question really is, what made the escapist different? What made me take the plunge into forum life? Who the hell created the question mark? Henry Denham in case you cared.
Over my year here my opinion of what makes the escapist different has changed. At first, I think it was just the fact gamers existed here, but without the high pitched squeals, the racism and the ability to headshot me. So it was nice to interact with other people who shared my hobby, discussing the finer points of games because I had nowhere else to really let my nerd steam go. Before the escapist, if I wanted to talk about games, I really didn't have anyone to turn to, now I have you guys (sorry about that). Then, about a month in I felt anger and hatred towards the escapist, I thought I had surveyed the terrain on which I wanted to build my home and started to lay foundations. Sadly for me, I misjudged the community and paid for it, you see after modern warfare 2 came out I found a funny video and posted it saying it was information on modern warfare 3. This video was from the onion news, and the footage was one of the most clearly fake, satirical, parody skits I'd seen. Yet, many escapist members whom I had started to feel where all smart, balanced individuals started to mock me and insult me. For me, having no real place to fall back to, this was a huge set back. At this point I had honestly considered just leaving.
I'm not sure why I came back only after a small period, but for some reason I did and I felt that I was starting to understand how the escapist operates. You see to me the escapist forums are quite like chaos theory. In other forums you tend to just see only one type of person whether it be over zealous Moderators, newcomers, elitists or just dicks the escapist has them all in a constant collision. If you ask two different members of the escapist what the problem with the forum is, there is a good chance you will get different answers. The diversity within the escapist allows it to generate constant traffic as different views and perspectives are brought forward by the various groups I listed and what makes the escapist so different is each groups stubbornness to yield the high ground. There is many an elitist in the forums, yet time and time again I see someone new strike them down. The members will cry out when they feel the Mods have over stepped their mark and newcomers will be put in their place and taught to treat this forum with respect. This strange event that happens on the escapist I haven't witnessed anywhere else, and I honestly believe this is where the strength of this site lies.
Also, where Credit is most defiantly due is to the Moderators on the forum. Like I mentioned, on occasion I've felt and I'm sure most of you have that they have been too harsh on people. The fact is, most of the time they are just trying to do right by us and moreover I'm amazed we get away with complaining like we do. Take the Gamedogs season 2 announcement for example, some users were admittedly unfairly banned and within a small space of time many of us had gone into that thread and complained. I personally had sent a message off to enquire as to the reason for the banning. At the time I was angry, due to my vested interest in this forum as a refuge from the torrential shit storm that is a large portion of the internet but in retrospect I was overreacting, and I'm amazed I didn't pay a price for my bitching. The fact is, a Mod got into contact with me and told me some of the suspensions had been reversed and I realised just how much these people communicate to the forums. From what I've observed, our ability to complain about the escapist is quite an enigma, they could just ignore us or ban us but they actually communicate, explain and in some cases reverse their decisions based on when a minority of us has a good old bitching session. For that I'm grateful to the staff, and I'm also happy that as a community we are invested enough to feel the end to complain as we find the escapist worthy of complaining about. If you don't understand that, it's more than likely you aren't British.
TL
R edition: conclusion, the escapist is a hybrid and is more vibrant, alive and worth my time because of it. I know this isn't a typical review; it's more a collection of random thoughts put forward for reading by you, I think I was doing this just because it seems to be this tradition thats built up. I shall do a true review of something or other sometime and have been meaning to for a long while. Thanks for reading.