Stereotypes of The Escapist Forums

[BonsaiK]

I don't know that we're so stereotypical and I don't see how trying to stereotype ourselves could be a good thing in any way. There are reasons for the behaviour exhibited on this forum, for instance:

* "Report and move on" isn't trolling, it's just what you should do. It's mainly mods that I see saying "report and move on" rather than members TBH.

* Anime bashing goes on because only a very small minority of gamers are genuinely interested in it and the two things are basically unrelated, yet content providers for gaming magazines, websites etc (not referring to The Escapist here, just generally) tend to exploit the perceived but incredibly tenuous "gaming/anime" connection to the hilt, bashing us over the head with anime every chance they get. This gets frustrating if you're not a fan of anime because the two things are not related any more than gaming and Art Deco are related just because Bioshock has bold fonts and parlour music in it. Anyone with an interest in gender politics in particular really seethes about it because the extremely large majority of anime is incredibly misogynist, and to have it almost associated by default with computer games tarrs gaming with the same brush...

* Nothing wrong with telling someone to use the search bar even if they are new. It's not like The Escapist is the ONLY forums that have a search facility. Being familiar with and using search facilities is simply good internet manners, no matter where you find yourself in cyberspace.

* And

Oh, so true, everyone here goes batshit crazy over the death penalty.

I'd like to think of myself, Internet Kraken, and The Infamous Scamola as some sort of de facto trinity who doesn't go psycho and draconian with that.

Plenty of other people also don't care, I assure you - they just don't make a fuss about it.

 

[dududf]

[Today's Generation

• Same demographic as the E2.0, but bigger by several orders of magnitude, with less regard for other people's opinions and even more Messianic egos who take what the rudiments the precive of the old community and call it the culture of the site. Namely Patriotic Elitism, which used to be Thankfulness for the Escapist's unique nature.
  Thread Activity: 1thrd/2hours
  Era: 2009-present
  Occurence:Very Common
  Heroes of the Generation: MaxtheReaper
  Moderators: wilsonscrazybed, Jordan Deam, Ultrajoe, Labyrinth, list][/QUOTE]
  
  QQ
  
  Please don't mix me in with them!
  
  Look at my thread count! I think it's only one and it was filled with intelligent conversation QQ
  
  Please don't mix me in with the hounds? Please?

 

[GoldenCondor]

I'm so guilty, I was part of that argument.. haha.

But he was 10! He has no right to be on The Escapist!

On legal grounds?

Actually, yes. I think on page 3 of that forum, some guy listed something the company that owns the Escapist wrote about how you must be over 13 to be on this site.
And really, his language skills were terrible. Barely anyone could understand what he wrote.

 

[A random person]

No thanks, I have to deal out some whoop-ass on the idiots who do repeat threads for MW2... God, there is so much, and it's all over the screen! (That could sound so wrong out of context, its' so awesome.)

A worthy cause, we'll send a mech if you wish. Please make general specifications when requesting it, otherwise we will most likely send an unsuitable mech.

Spoiler: Also, we can provide heavy-duty orbital support.

For the record, the music isn't from the show.

 

[Custard_Angel]

A stereotype for the Escapist?

It's pretty much 4chan with moderation and less porn.

 

[A random person]

* Anime bashing goes on because only a very small minority of gamers are genuinely interested in it and the two things are basically unrelated, yet content providers for gaming magazines, websites etc (not referring to The Escapist here, just generally) tend to exploit the perceived but incredibly tenuous "gaming/anime" connection to the hilt, bashing us over the head with anime every chance they get. This gets frustrating if you're not a fan of anime because the two things are not related any more than gaming and Art Deco are related just because Bioshock has bold fonts and parlour music in it. Anyone with an interest in gender politics in particular really seethes about it because the extremely large majority of anime is incredibly misogynist, and to have it almost associated by default with computer games tarrs gaming with the same brush...

I have to ask about that misogynist thing. I know that Japan has more traditional gender roles compared to the western world, but I've never noticed anime in general being especially misogynist. Then again, I don't consider some fanservice or cute tics to be much worse than what western works do with sex appeal.

As for the connection, my theory is that anime and some games (mostly JRPG's and a good bit of beat 'em ups) share certain qualities, attracting anime fans and getting gaming media to make the connection. That, or Pokemon. At the very least that was my introduction to anime.

 

[Saskwach]

Old Community

• Males and females of many ages and nationalities that were genuinely on a forum to have a nice chat about whatever, or video games.
  Thread Activity: 1 page (25 Threads) per fortnight (2 weeks) approx.
  Era: Before Spring 2008. Roughly around the time the User Review section was made.
  Occurence: Endangered. Most have left due to disinterest, influx of new users, or have been Banned by the un-notifying changing standard of the moderators to suit the ever-expanding community.And not the other way around. METVS EST PLENA TYRANNIS
  Heroes of the Generation: Ultrajoe, Purplerain, Copter400, Gigantor.
  Moderators: Joe, Jordan Deam

Escapist 2.0 Users

• Males, Females, Europe and Oceania. Most users are male between 14 and 19 from United States, Canada, Great Britain or Australia. With this generation, heed for others opinions begins to wane and the urge to convey opinions with the hopes of people giving you attention explodes with the creation of the Forum Games and RP section. The Advent of the Ego comes upon the Winter Season with the creation of badges thereabouts.
  Thread Activity: 4 threads per day (25/6 days) approx.
  Era: After Spring 2008. Before the creation of Badges.
  Occurence: Rare, for similar reasons of the Old Community, yet not as rare due to there simply being more of them.
  Heroes of the Generation: Hey Joe, FishfoodCarl, NewClassic, Root_of_All_Evil, conqueror Kenny, The Sorrow, The Iron Ninja, Spartan Banana, Spinwhiz, Saskwach, Khell_Sennet, Former President Darth Mobius, Danzorz, Possibly Myself.
  Moderators: Jordan Deam, wilsonscrazybed, Nilcypher

Some of the names you've placed are really in the wrong time periods. For instance:

My account began in November 2007, so while I technically gained prominence in that second generation, I like to believe I was a child of the first (and loved all the stories the old fogies told about the first, which I was but a whippersnapper for). I was also privately part of the blue 10% JimmyBassati highlighted before it became cool (PurpleNinja's popularity had me worried on that score, though no offence is intended to him). So you could say that I was old beyond my months.
What's more, I really liked not being anywhere near the smartest guy in the thread. It was actually exciting to think that someone might cut apart my argument at any time*, and led to carefully constructed posts. Since the beginning of Web 2.0 there's only been a few with the nous and interest to take me to task, and I believe that's what led to my worst rage attacks after a poorly thought-out post of mine. In other words, without the challenge I've become lazy and touchy.
Having said that, I've just posted entirely about myself, and have done this before. I also matched that second generation's age and demographic bracket perfectly during the time of its hegemony. So there's no way I can pretend to not fit in there too. (Working on downsizing my ego, I swear!)

(To balance out the raging ego attack and lay claim to membership of the golden era, check out my last post: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.147505?page=2#3397443
And my first: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.50872#348935 )**

I would also disagree that Purple Rain fits into the first generation, but his activities before he became famous are mostly unknown to me, so whatever. But for the most part it's good analysis.

As the site has progressed, it's become clear that a little elitism wasn't a bad thing. It's what made this forum different to all the other gaming forums you can go to if you really want to talk about your favourite hair colour. It was nice to talk about games on a level above how crappy/awesome Halo is, and it was nice to head to off-topic to actually learn something about politics or science or history. There was still lowbrow threads, but it wasn't your whole reason for being. Nowadays, if you pine at all for the days when >1/3 of posters had the same sort of outlook you're an elitist (and worthy of contempt). If that's so, I'm proudly an elitist (and worthy of contempt).

*And I didn't piss and moan about elitism when I got owned, thankyouverymuch.

**Holy lawn ornament, Batman! My first post ever was in response to a Labyrinth thread! I thought she was the newbie round these parts!

 

[Clashero]

After some time on the Escapist, I've noticed a few repeating themes in threads. Let's talk about what typical scenarios in the forums we've seen on the Escapist.

One example would be the "So terrible, people start looking at the persons profile" thread. Occasionally, someone makes a pointless thread with terrible grammar and features of inadequacy that simply blow your mind. Almost immediately, the subject changes to the quality of the post, and soon after you begin to see references to their profile. Example [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.147471]

I'm so guilty, I was part of that argument.. haha.

But he was 10! He has no right to be on The Escapist!

I was part of it too!

Anyway, according to this:

Old Community

• Males and females of many ages and nationalities that were genuinely on a forum to have a nice chat about whatever, or video games.
  Thread Activity: 1 page (25 Threads) per fortnight (2 weeks) approx.
  Era: Before Spring 2008. Roughly around the time the User Review section was made.
  Occurence: Endangered. Most have left due to disinterest, influx of new users, or have been Banned by the un-notifying changing standard of the moderators to suit the ever-expanding community.And not the other way around. METVS EST PLENA TYRANNIS
  Heroes of the Generation: Ultrajoe, Purplerain, Copter400, Gigantor.
  Moderators: Joe, Jordan Deam

Escapist 2.0 Users

• Males, Females, Europe and Oceania. Most users are male between 14 and 19 from United States, Canada, Great Britain or Australia. With this generation, heed for others opinions begins to wane and the urge to convey opinions with the hopes of people giving you attention explodes with the creation of the Forum Games and RP section. The Advent of the Ego comes upon the Winter Season with the creation of badges thereabouts.
  Thread Activity: 4 threads per day (25/6 days) approx.
  Era: After Spring 2008. Before the creation of Badges.
  Occurence: Rare, for similar reasons of the Old Community, yet not as rare due to there simply being more of them.
  Heroes of the Generation: Hey Joe, FishfoodCarl, NewClassic, Root_of_All_Evil, conqueror Kenny, The Sorrow, The Iron Ninja, Spartan Banana, Spinwhiz, Saskwach, Khell_Sennet, Former President Darth Mobius, Danzorz, Possibly Myself.
  Moderators: Jordan Deam, wilsonscrazybed, Nilcypher

Today's Generation

• Same demographic as the E2.0, but bigger by several orders of magnitude, with less regard for other people's opinions and even more Messianic egos who take what the rudiments the precive of the old community and call it the culture of the site. Namely Patriotic Elitism, which used to be Thankfulness for the Escapist's unique nature.
  Thread Activity: 1thrd/2hours
  Era: 2009-present
  Occurence:Very Common
  Heroes of the Generation: MaxtheReaper
  Moderators: wilsonscrazybed, Jordan Deam, Ultrajoe, Labyrinth, Nilcypher

Trolls

• You know what they are and how to deal with them. Unfortunately people think it's necessary to all have their own clever quips on their fate, and not to Report.
  Thread Activity: Various
  Occurence: Very Rare
  Heroes: It is against the Forum Rules to list Banned Trolls.

The Fallen

• These are users who appear at the same time of the Escapist 2.0 and are regular users, who were quite normal until the advent of the modern era whereupon they went out in a flare of Trollish glory.
  Thread Activity: Various
  Era: Incumbent
  Occurence: Less than 10 in the History of the Escapist.
  Heroes: Taxi Driver, IvoryAgent

I'd be part of the new generation, since when I joined badges already existed, but I behave as if I were an older member.
I'll be blunt and clichéd and blame Zero Punctuation, Unskippable, March Mayhem and similar things for bringing about a huge flux of new members, most of whom have complete disregard for opinions that aren't theirs, make inane threads, and never, ever read the rules.

 

[BonsaiK]

* Anime bashing goes on because only a very small minority of gamers are genuinely interested in it and the two things are basically unrelated, yet content providers for gaming magazines, websites etc (not referring to The Escapist here, just generally) tend to exploit the perceived but incredibly tenuous "gaming/anime" connection to the hilt, bashing us over the head with anime every chance they get. This gets frustrating if you're not a fan of anime because the two things are not related any more than gaming and Art Deco are related just because Bioshock has bold fonts and parlour music in it. Anyone with an interest in gender politics in particular really seethes about it because the extremely large majority of anime is incredibly misogynist, and to have it almost associated by default with computer games tarrs gaming with the same brush...

I have to ask about that misogynist thing. I know that Japan has more traditional gender roles compared to the western world, but I've never noticed anime in general being especially misogynist. Then again, I don't consider some fanservice or cute tics to be much worse than what western works do with sex appeal.

As for the connection, my theory is that anime and some games (mostly JRPG's and a good bit of beat 'em ups) share certain qualities, attracting anime fans and getting gaming media to make the connection. That, or Pokemon. At the very least that was my introduction to anime.

Writing an accurate summary of the incredibly rampant, epidemic-level misogyny in Anime is far beyond the scope of this thread (and probably would require its own entire forum to cover off in a manner that the topic truly warrants) but it's something that permeates almost all anime at every level. It's not just about "cute tics" and "fanservice", it goes much, much deeper than that. It certainly goes a hell of a lot deeper than misogyny in Western horror films, and THAT is saying a lot. It's university thesis material and since I'm not being graded for this, all I can suggest is that you do some internet searches and pay really careful attention to the female characters next time you watch an anime. What you will discover, is that with maybe only a small handful of exceptions in the entire genre, there are actually no female characters in anime. Think about that statement carefully and watch your next anime with that in the back of your mind.

Just because some computer games use anime graphics doesn't really mean that there is a connection between games and anime. This is the mistake that gaming magazines make time and time again - "oh gamers liked street fighter, FF7 and pokemon, so let's give then a free anime episode on the cover of our new magazine, they'll all love that" - how about NO. Using that logic they might as well throw at us a free art-deco lantern because we liked Bioshock - hey, at least that would be useful.

 

[BonsaiK]

snip

I cannot overstress enough how incredibly damaging to the Escapist community making a list such as this is. Putting people up on a pedestal like this is bound to create tension and flames, it's like singling people out. It really shouldn't be done.

 

[jboking]

There's a massive amount of elitism here. Specifically about 4chan and other websites that aren't the Escapist. Is that a stereotype?

also, elitism.

Also, I agree with the elitism.

Elitism

I think the full list has appeared enough times on this page.

So, going off of this I'm going to have to say that the most common stereotype is the use of the word elitism without a proper understand of the word. Elitism insists that you believe there should be a particular governing body that rules over everyone else. People who insist you spell correctly, use proper grammar and use the search bar are doing so because it is in the rules. This is like calling a law abiding citizen an elitist. As for the 4chan comment, I will be first to admit that I am a bit prejudice towards 4chan comments escaping any of the chan's, but I'll admit I go there from time to time for a quick laugh. The uncensored comments often times lead to small social truths as well. However, I notice there is a time and place for those kind of comments. The place is 4chan.

Thank you to Anarchemitis for providing a rather insightful account of the Escapists history.

 

[Anarchemitis]

Please don't mix me in with them!

Look at my thread count! I think it's only one and it was filled with intelligent conversation QQ

Please don't mix me in with the hounds? Please?

It would be very aresholish if I were someone who would think that a Generalization is an all inclusive empirical definition. Therefore obviously there are people who don't fit the mould.

Some of the names you've placed are really in the wrong time periods.

That's not the point. It's more general than precise, and don't be so modest. You kicked ass in the Presidential campaign. Sure, you lost but you did a lot better than I would've.

I cannot overstress enough how incredibly damaging to the Escapist community making a list such as this is. Putting people up on a pedestal like this is bound to create tension and flames, it's like singling people out. It really shouldn't be done.

It's a generalization on the decay of quality of posts over time.

Upon reflection maybe I should've omitted dates and names.

 

[minoes]

I'll be blunt and clichéd and blame Zero Punctuation, Unskippable, [B/]March Mayhem[/B] and similar things for bringing about a huge flux of new members, most of whom have complete disregard for opinions that aren't theirs, make inane threads, and never, ever read the rules.

The Turbine fans were pretty nice, too bad all of them left as soon as March Mayhem ended.

 

[Saskwach]

I was also privately part of the blue 10% JimmyBassati highlighted before it became cool

Two things about this.
1.) Yay, I was mentioned!
2.) We're to the point where most people worship a fool who acts like an internet bad ass. I don't know about you, but I'm tired of this bull shit. I remember when Ultrajoe was basically the King of the forums, and people were actually glad. This site has basically become a high-school, where "HxC" idiots run wild. I believe we should make a timeline of the Escapist, figure out were we started to go wrong, figure out what caused it to go wrong, and then fix it.

It's probably not fixable, and being a largely hands-off government kinda guy I'd oppose the attempt (at least if done from a position of power).
If the Escapist cried out for a solution and I was its only hope, my suggestion would be that those who liked the early days should simply post in a friendly way on topics that interest them. If you want to talk about the representation of Stalinism in WW2 video games, post a thread. If there's a thread on WW2 videogames juicy with tangent potential, cut free the juice of "Stalinism in WW2 games" and drink deeply that potent brew! I've done this a few times and though it hasn't worked much, I'm sure that success lies just around the corner.
Failing that, the Featured Articles and News sections are where it's at. Limited by topics but interesting. And try to remember that The Escapist was never really the Garden of Eden, though some still whisper in huddled circles of the marvels of The First Age. If you click that link to my first post you'll see a thread with just as many 1/2 sentence posts as any you'll find today. What made The Escapist special (and I determinedly believe still does) was that lowbrow and highbrow were shamelessly mixed together into one draught. The portions might have swayed more to lowbrow lately, but it was always there and that was cool too.

 

[Saskwach]

Some of the names you've placed are really in the wrong time periods.

That's not the point. It's more general than precise, and don't be so modest. You kicked ass in the Presidential campaign. Sure, you lost but you did a lot better than I would've.

Considering how little effort I put in, I'm just glad I was an entertaining sideshow!

 

[BonsaiK]

Upon reflection maybe I should've omitted dates and names.

Well, yeah. As it stands, your post is basically insinuating (although not deliberately, I'm sure) that everyone who isn't named in your list is someone who is not contributing to the quality of the place and is therefore partially responsible for its decline. Which isn't really fair, especially on the people who don't make very showy, obvious posts and therefore wouldn't necessarily get noticed enough to be in a list, but might make the occasional very intelligent contribution. You're also effectively putting up yourself as the arbiter of who is and isn't a "worthwhile contributor", and there are also implied value judgements with being on one part of the list as opposed to another. I'm sure none of this is deliberate on your part and you had the best of intention - but naming names of other users who you think are good, bad or indifferent is extremely dangerous territory. It's the sort of thing that moderators might discuss in a private part of the fourm perhaps but I don't think a public discussion of this type of thing can really help anyone.

 

[A random person]

* Anime bashing goes on because only a very small minority of gamers are genuinely interested in it and the two things are basically unrelated, yet content providers for gaming magazines, websites etc (not referring to The Escapist here, just generally) tend to exploit the perceived but incredibly tenuous "gaming/anime" connection to the hilt, bashing us over the head with anime every chance they get. This gets frustrating if you're not a fan of anime because the two things are not related any more than gaming and Art Deco are related just because Bioshock has bold fonts and parlour music in it. Anyone with an interest in gender politics in particular really seethes about it because the extremely large majority of anime is incredibly misogynist, and to have it almost associated by default with computer games tarrs gaming with the same brush...

I have to ask about that misogynist thing. I know that Japan has more traditional gender roles compared to the western world, but I've never noticed anime in general being especially misogynist. Then again, I don't consider some fanservice or cute tics to be much worse than what western works do with sex appeal.

As for the connection, my theory is that anime and some games (mostly JRPG's and a good bit of beat 'em ups) share certain qualities, attracting anime fans and getting gaming media to make the connection. That, or Pokemon. At the very least that was my introduction to anime.

Writing an accurate summary of the incredibly rampant, epidemic-level misogyny in Anime is far beyond the scope of this thread (and probably would require its own entire forum to cover off in a manner that the topic truly warrants) but it's something that permeates almost all anime at every level. It's not just about "cute tics" and "fanservice", it goes much, much deeper than that. It certainly goes a hell of a lot deeper than misogyny in Western horror films, and THAT is saying a lot. It's university thesis material and since I'm not being graded for this, all I can suggest is that you do some internet searches and pay really careful attention to the female characters next time you watch an anime. What you will discover, is that with maybe only a small handful of exceptions in the entire genre, there are actually no female characters in anime. Think about that statement carefully and watch your next anime with that in the back of your mind.

Just because some computer games use anime graphics doesn't really mean that there is a connection between games and anime. This is the mistake that gaming magazines make time and time again - "oh gamers liked street fighter, FF7 and pokemon, so let's give then a free anime episode on the cover of our new magazine, they'll all love that" - how about NO. Using that logic they might as well throw at us a free art-deco lantern because we liked Bioshock - hey, at least that would be useful.

No female characters in anime? How the hell does that work? Are you saying they're almost all cut-outs or something like that? I'm sorry, I just found that statement incredibly baffling and most likely pretentious. Hell, the whole rampant misogyny thing doesn't make more sense than a lot of attempts at seeing things that aren't there.

As for the connection, just to clarify, I wasn't saying I believe it, I was just randomly theorizing.