By mentioning 'TF2' and '360' in the same post, you get the shite mercilessly beaten out of you.
Stereotypes of The Escapist Forums
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Ah, forgot about this.George144 said:
Yes this is also true, threads like this one [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.145830], lead me to believe that the average escapist poster is a killer, ninja and/or commando, when people here essentially turn murder into a joke, "oh I could kill four people without breaking a sweat or making a sound", and the "how many bullets could you take" thread, it's just stupid.
But I would say misanthropy is the true epidemic.
"Oh I'm such a loner, I'm so smart because society is stupid, I hate all those sheep who blindly follow the mainstream", and other assorted bullshit is what the average misanthrope will post. So many people so this is an intelligent and civil site, but I've only ever seen one person whose posts embody that with any regularity: Inverse_skies.Russ Pitts said:
Agreed, there is legitimate self-regulation of content and there is post boosting 'me-too'-ism. Only one is trolling.Machines Are Us said:
Too bad no one properly discusses game mechanics, thinking that story and character are the most important ingredients.
Probably because they can (aspire to) write, but have no idea how to program.
:-(
Probably because they can (aspire to) write, but have no idea how to program.
:-(
Well, I can't think of any stereotypes that havn't already been raised, however I do agree with a number of the issues raised.
Can't we do something about some of this. Make more intelligent threads for example?
Can't we do something about some of this. Make more intelligent threads for example?
I heartily encourage doing that. However, making said threads is more difficult than people think. It takes me about half an hour or more to let the idea for a thread gestate and then get typed up. Often more, if I'm doing research for example. Other people may come up with stuff quicker but that's their ability rather than mine.FelixFox. said:
Hmmm, not necessarily. I've come up with one already. The problem is that they may be overrun by the more common Escapist threads, or that there may not be enough people interested.Labyrinth said:
He killed someone once? I just like him because he's seems to be pretty intelligent, humorous, and was the first poster I recognized on Escapist.JimmyBassatti said:
The Escapist has many stereotypes, this forum has shown that and because of these I find the Escapist to be one of the best places on the Internet. Now, one thing I've noticed is that in this thread very few people have brought up some good stereotypes, everyone is too busy hanging around in the negative. You all care too much about MaxTheReaper and elitism and the increasing traffic that you don't look back on the good aspects. The things that make you stay here, the things that make you keep coming back.
I think that for everyone the good things on the Escapist is different. For me, it's seeing some familiar faces. There are very few forums in which I can see great people who I've semi-known (kind of) for a year and nearly ten months, every single day. Whenever I want I can go and catch up with people in the IRC or drop them a PM. Sure, there are people who have left or just don't bother posting. IronNinja is one of those people, quite a few such as TheNecroSwanson have been banned and sure, that sucks, but these things happen but what are you going to do? Eventually you have to open up and accept newer people as friends, otherwise you're just going to be lonely. I think that's what most people are trying to don the forums. When they find their feet, they go and try to make friends. Some go hang out with MaxTheReaper, some go to the RP and Games forum. They find people who they want to spend time with, people who's posts and messages they want to read. The Escapist has a stereotype, in my opinion anyway, that here you can find some swell buddies to spend online time with. Very few other forums that I have frequented have this stereotype, if not none. While they have a PM feature and a chat room of their own, they just plain don't have the personalities that you want to come back to see again. Maybe I'm just deluded, maybe I have a warped perspective because of how long I've stayed here? Maybe. Still, I'm pretty sure that the good things on the Escapist far outweigh the bad. While the Escapist may have some poor aspects I find that there are plenty which still make this forum one of the best.
Also: Bubble Communities.
I think that for everyone the good things on the Escapist is different. For me, it's seeing some familiar faces. There are very few forums in which I can see great people who I've semi-known (kind of) for a year and nearly ten months, every single day. Whenever I want I can go and catch up with people in the IRC or drop them a PM. Sure, there are people who have left or just don't bother posting. IronNinja is one of those people, quite a few such as TheNecroSwanson have been banned and sure, that sucks, but these things happen but what are you going to do? Eventually you have to open up and accept newer people as friends, otherwise you're just going to be lonely. I think that's what most people are trying to don the forums. When they find their feet, they go and try to make friends. Some go hang out with MaxTheReaper, some go to the RP and Games forum. They find people who they want to spend time with, people who's posts and messages they want to read. The Escapist has a stereotype, in my opinion anyway, that here you can find some swell buddies to spend online time with. Very few other forums that I have frequented have this stereotype, if not none. While they have a PM feature and a chat room of their own, they just plain don't have the personalities that you want to come back to see again. Maybe I'm just deluded, maybe I have a warped perspective because of how long I've stayed here? Maybe. Still, I'm pretty sure that the good things on the Escapist far outweigh the bad. While the Escapist may have some poor aspects I find that there are plenty which still make this forum one of the best.
Also: Bubble Communities.
I have no idea how to respond to this thread. There are a healthy number of people who can clearly see the divides on it. For lack of a better term, generational gaps run pretty rampant on the boards. Older members generally participate less in the comparatively huge storm of threads, and are lesser known. The older members also seem to miss the older speeds of the site, and while not intentionally, almost begrudge the user size for what it has done to the speed of the forums.
Despite that, I'm almost ready to say this is one of the worst threads I've seen in a long time. With no offense intended to the original poster, I can't help but feel like this thread will have a higher likelihood of stereotyping Escapists than a thread on any other topic. Instead of a community building exercise, or barring that, a discussion that everyone can get involved in passively. Instead, we have such wonderful quotes as:
Perhaps I'm being too "Team Building Exercise, yay!" about this whole thing, but any thread that encourages or promotes stereotyping just strikes me as a bit tasteless (although I believe this particular thread was done unintentionally so). If there's any "stereotype" on the Escapist forums that I dislike, it's the sidewalk priests. Atop soapboxes, they (and we) speak on the end of days, or claim moral highground against other members, their respective stereotypes, and always talk about the end of days. I dislike it for what it makes us do, now because it's who we are. Everyone has moods that rise and fall, but it's moods like these that make me hate people for no reason other than their labels. Thankfully, this goes away eventually.
Some days, I fall into that stereotype, others I don't. If anything, I'm going to give a very healthy amount of props to an IRC-regular named Headspace, who manages to participate without getting into the "politics" of the forums and community at large. Even though he's not always in the trench of things, he still participates with a sizable part of the community.
Despite that, I'm almost ready to say this is one of the worst threads I've seen in a long time. With no offense intended to the original poster, I can't help but feel like this thread will have a higher likelihood of stereotyping Escapists than a thread on any other topic. Instead of a community building exercise, or barring that, a discussion that everyone can get involved in passively. Instead, we have such wonderful quotes as:
implodingMan said:
dududf said:
Groups on the Escapist are naturally forming into groups, and large groups of people in non-internet social situations will do. This thread doesn't seek to do anything with the groups other than label them and point them out. It means that people will be labeled as racist, elitism, nazi-esque, or whatever other adjective the general populous cares to affix to the general populous. All it does is build a divide.IronDuke said:
Perhaps I'm being too "Team Building Exercise, yay!" about this whole thing, but any thread that encourages or promotes stereotyping just strikes me as a bit tasteless (although I believe this particular thread was done unintentionally so). If there's any "stereotype" on the Escapist forums that I dislike, it's the sidewalk priests. Atop soapboxes, they (and we) speak on the end of days, or claim moral highground against other members, their respective stereotypes, and always talk about the end of days. I dislike it for what it makes us do, now because it's who we are. Everyone has moods that rise and fall, but it's moods like these that make me hate people for no reason other than their labels. Thankfully, this goes away eventually.
Some days, I fall into that stereotype, others I don't. If anything, I'm going to give a very healthy amount of props to an IRC-regular named Headspace, who manages to participate without getting into the "politics" of the forums and community at large. Even though he's not always in the trench of things, he still participates with a sizable part of the community.
There are generational gaps, clique gaps, and forum gaps. I believe the last is the hardest to bridge because it means that an inclusive thread in say Off Topic just won't get seen by much of the forum population because they don't read those sections or pay attention to them.NewClassic said:
This is where I like IRC. It's got a clique, but it's endlessly open to new people who wander in. The dickheads find their way out. Incidentally that is an open invitation. Anyone is welcome to drop by. Find instructions and the like here [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/chat].
Everyone points out that there is rampant elitism in the forums. But what are the elitists being elite about? Grammar? Point of view? Everything in general?
If it's everything, I argue that it's not right to call it 'elitism' because most people are like that. They tend to be conservative about the status quo, especially when it comes to their beliefs. Never, if not rarely, will you find in a forum someone going
But alas, another trend I see is that a post past page 2 will get ignored unless it's replying to another post. This is probably one of them.
If it's everything, I argue that it's not right to call it 'elitism' because most people are like that. They tend to be conservative about the status quo, especially when it comes to their beliefs. Never, if not rarely, will you find in a forum someone going
This trend is ubiquitous, I say, so it really isn't elitism when its ever-occuring. It's just the human condition because most people can't adapt to new realities when someone points out they're wrong at X, as a defense mechanism, especially with their ego at stake.Non-existent person said:
But alas, another trend I see is that a post past page 2 will get ignored unless it's replying to another post. This is probably one of them.
Ho boy. Game mechanics are most of the headache of any game. I've done a couple of little freeware RPGs using RPG Maker (you know, the thing that practically does all the work for you?) and RPG Maker XP (you know, the thing that does all the work WRONG and you have to learn how to use Ruby to make it right again?), and game mechanics are the most underrated thing anyone has ever given me criticism on. Shame, really, since they took me at least three times longer than writing a story or designing a character did.Uncompetative said:
F**king Ruby...
