To those of you who haven?t seen any of Bob?s other work I suggest you look up his Game Overthinker videos and watch them all. He makes some excellent and well researched points, so what are the hot topics? From all the really good videos Bob has made, you also get a sense of the following running ?gut? opinions beyond his analysis:
?FPS is the worse thing to happen to the game industry [since the 1980?s game crash]?
?Play Station was only a lucky fluke? [and has no business having a console?and frankly neither does Microsoft]
Anyone that enjoys Halo, COD, Sports Games, etc. (or more appropriately anyone on X-Box Live or considers themselves a ?hardcore gamer?) is probably a jock ?douchebag?, is about as smart as a piece of toast, is a Xeno-or Homophobe, and has no redeeming qualities.
Is this being just opinionated, as Bob claims? Yes.
Is it okay? Sure, freedom of speech is fine, even it is kind of jarring and unrefined (though personally I pine for the days when freedom of speech was a little more refined and civil).
Is it Polarizing? Well, it is Bob.
Is fair to say that these opinions should warrant no response? Um No?we?ll get to that later.
Of course as a fan, I can take Bob with a grain of salt. I realize many of his points are not only serious and cynical, but are also imbued with dark satire. It is often great stuff.
But as fan of Bob, I also own a PS3, like Halo, enjoy Online Multiplayer and MMOs, love fighting games, own a couple of sports game, and still love old school console classics and scrollers.
So by that estimation I?m a Douchebag Loser Jock Fanboy?
Thanks a lot Bob
Certainly The Big Picture is clearly a different animal than the Game Overthinker, but what surprises me is Bob himself seems surprised about reactions to some of his more polarizing arguments have generated. Really Bob?
A polarizing opinion tends to generate an opposing polarizing opinion of a greater value, which of course feeds back into the first opinion, and so on; each cycle becoming more polarized.
Bob, you fed into the beast willingly, only to turn around and blame the beast for biting too hard?only to feed again. And you are not alone, we?ve all done it. Welcome to the internet.
Hell welcome to post post modern media, where balance opinions are often forgotten and pushed aside for talking points (though I think Extra Credit has done a great job bringing back a nice middle ground thats been missing for like 20 years; talking about a subject from multiple angles is not a sign a weakness, but forethought and realization not everything is ying an yang, but often a mix of both).
Fans will defend Bob, saying that his opinions are justified and well informed, and indeed truthful. And yes we can declare ourselves Fanboys, Fangirls....Fanpeople...oay poltical correctness another day! when did fanboy become a dirty term?
His opponents may say that Bob (with this video) is trying to passively assert that his opinion is the truth, and should not questioned and taken on faith; and in the context (or out of context as the case maybe) of some of his past opinions, you are not only wrong but immoral if you disagree with Bob.
A pessimist may just see Bob as a self proclaimed media/political demagogues using this medium as way to garner sympathy from a new audience while deflecting attention away from his past (and perhaps future) transgressions. All the while trying to hide the fact he is no better than the enemy he hates.
Time well tell; but we must all be aware if you feed the beast, expect to be bite.
