The Big Picture: Words for Nerds

[orangeapples]

That is one of the things I hate about internet culture. The internet is sexist and racist. There are times when the internet feels like it has been overrun by white middle class males who feels as if everyone on the internet is a while middle class male.

People use "fag" as an insult in this day and age?
People still have the "Get back in the kitchen" mentality when they see a female doing anything?
People treat black people on the internet like they are un-educated morons? (some of them are, but that is because all races and nationalities have un-educated morons.)

I thought the internet was supposed to allow for a free exchange of ideas. To create an open forum. To encourage new ideas and new ways of thinking. To break down old barriers and push on to a new and better tomorrow and all that jazz. So why does it seem like internet culture is trapped in the 1940s United States of America? C'mon internet, you're doing it wrong.

Some people say that "it is all in good fun" as a means of justifying using homophobic sexist racist language. I'm sorry, but it isn't. You know how the picnic originated? a bunch of white people would go out with their families, set up a nice lunch and watch other white people lynch a few black men; perhaps if they were lucky they could see a hanging They did it because "it was all in good fun". Internet, do you see how saying "it was all in good fun" does not make things automatically better? Using that kind of language is hurtful and wrong and should not be encouraged.

And I think I'll just leave this here:

and of course

because batman and ponies are apparently a requirement for all posts nowadays >_> hmmm... Anyone know if there is a MLP:FIM style batman pony image on the internet? It must exist by now... It would definitely streamline the whole process...

okay

[X]Batman
[_]console wars
[X]small book 'o' text
[X]forcing a meme
[X]online elitism

hmmm...

Wii>PS3>360

alright,

[X]console wars

I think I got everything.

 

[Avistew]

Some of the best posts I've read on forums have been "books". It always saddens me that some people skip them and that a "tl;dr" would even be needed in the first place. I think it's bad when you can't pay attention to what someone is saying for more than a few minutes.

That doesn't mean bigger is always better either. Being concise and effective in your speech in a quality. But in order not to omit important things, sometimes the concise version needs to be a book. Sometimes there is more filling and uninteresting bander in a short post than in a long one.

And while I hate the "I'll just leave this here" sentence, in concept it's fine. It's just annoying that people just paste it instead of writing a post explaining it, with links as references.

 

[Mr Smith]

While listening to point #5, I couldn't help but wonder if it was an indirect comment on the middle-east conflict and the actions of certain states. However, that could just be me reading too much into things.

 

[A Weary Exile]

Definitive evidence of MovieBob's Bronydom: That's what I took away from this video.

I'm honestly surprised that there was nothing mentioned about the annoying sense of entitlement a lot of nerds/gamers have. "Oh this game only gets x8 anti-aliasing! No ansiotropic filtering or anything! I want my money back!" etc.

[small](Note: I don't really know what ansiotropic filtering is :s)[/small]

 

[Carnagath]

But you need to stop taking the internet culture so seriously. It's not meant to be taken seriously. Everything here is in good fun. Even if it can appear mean spirited to certain groups of people.

This. You're trying to equate memes and people taking the piss on the internet with real life bullying (unavoidable physical and psychological damage), but I don't see how it's relevant. Pretty much everyone uses some sort of persona on the internet. In real life, only the extremely "talented" can manage that, all the rest tend to be themselves in order to not overcomplicate an already complicated life. Anything that bothers you on the internet can go away with a simple mouse click. That's not exactly how it works with real life bullying though.

Every website or game or server that you visit has its own set of rules. Sometimes the very same person can be good in real life, good but a bit elitist on the Escapist, kind of a jackass on Reddit and a complete tosser on 4chan. If you are offended by that, you can either play along or filter them and go on with your life.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

I'm sorry, I'm going to need some clarification on just how my reviews are bullying anyone.

One of the problem with MovieBob's Big Picture show is that he provides no insight into whether it's a stream of consciousness or an integrated map of his thoughts. Either way, it comes across as though he's often missing the small picture.

According to MB in this show,

- referencing geek culture, even in jest, is a form of elitism we're all engaged in (Persecution Complex) - which is bullying.
- making a long, well thought out reply to something is a waste of your time.
- copy/pasting videos in lieu of context is lazy.

Problem: Most reviews here - and everywhere else - utilise this because...that's what a review is.

- Cultural references - to tie in the audience.
- Detailed explanation of the failures of the reviewed item. (To stop it being a straight number score)
- Including video clips from trailers to underline those points.

To posit MB as a bully, one only has to reference his tirade against Transformers and it's fans. (Which I may also agree with)

So he's just said "While we get paid for doing this, it's not a good thing for you or I to do"

That's the last form of geek culture, which is self-depreciation - and which I've already shown here.

Taken as the Big Picture; all of this is wrong, and personal opinion is the condemnation of another's opinion.

Taking it as a small picture; these are traits we tend to over-exaggerate. (and, like lists, over-exaggeration is one thing we always do)

 

[Lilitu]

»Console wars are stupid«

Yes, they are! So stupid! I am so tired of this »my console is better than yours«. I want to play videogames! I don't care which console I need to play them. Okay, I can't have every console and »Tales of Vesperia« is Xbox360 only, which sucks because I have only a Wii and »Tales of Symphonia 2« is for Wii only. But hey, my brother is rich, he has a PS3 and a Xbox360 and if I ask nicely, he maybe just maybe lets me play (that ungrateful little brother that I introduced to gaming!)

 

[NewGeekPhilosopher]

I hate to say it, but you're doing it wrong.

I get that this is kind of your job right now. But you need to stop taking the internet culture so seriously. It's not meant to be taken seriously. Everything here is in good fun. Even if it can appear mean spirited to certain groups of people.

I disagree with the "it's the internet, so it doesn't mean anything" philosophy. It may have been true once upon a time when only a minority of people used the internet for fun or communication, but it's become so ubiquitous that it's simply unreasonable and unfair to expect people to just put up with mean-spirited or otherwise jerkish behavior.

Not everything is "in good fun." Some people enjoy the opportunity to be spiteful, cruel, and angry - and even those who don't actually mean any harm often don't think about how their words might impact the person reading them.

This I agree with, since the first time I went on a forum for reals, I'd just read Densha Otoko (Train Man in English, the greatest internet bromance tale ever told in any language) and I was full of naive idiocy enough to believe that the internet was somehow this great promised land that could be transformed by Densha's tale of internet bromance and civility. I wasn't treated much better than if I went into a forum carrying Jehovah's Witness pamphlets instead of the URL of Densha Otoko's public domain online translation.

It was one of those things where I was dealing with far older forum users who were very "Internet 1.0" as they called themselves, and they didn't take too kindly to "n00bs" as MovieBob rightly pointed out. Needless to say, a lot of autism related macro images and threats of electroshock therapy later, I'd become some kind of hardened PTSD forum war shell shock veteran who sometimes muttered to himself quotes from Apocalypse Now less ironically than he'd like.

No other forum was ever like that first forum I visited, and like Dr. Dre once said, "Things just ain't the same for gangsters". Even 4chan has better moderation now than that first forum I went to did, and that's just SAD. Not sad because 4chan had to clean up its act just a little, but because... well... when 4chan is the bastion of internet civility compared to your Road Warrior hellscape of a forum, you got 99 Problems and a Moderator ain't one.

 

[snfonseka]

Batman is so awesome... that's all I have to say

 

[Lilani]

I hope every single moderator watched number 4 and will stop banning people for short posts.

TL;DR LCP is a stupid rule

I agree.

Moderators should really stop moderating for short posts and instead focus on pointless ones.

Sometimes, a lot more can be said with fewer words. The concise nature of a post can help communicate your point. But not on the Escapist.

I can understand the point of LCP, (sort of) in that it's supposed to keep people from filling up server space with posts that at first glance make no new points. But here's the thing--whenever they warn/suspend/ban somebody for a LCP, the post is never deleted. It's still right there, taking up server space. So the whole process of reporting and dealing with them is rendered completely pointless, wasting the moderator's time and making people resent the forums for no good reason.

 

[LogicNProportion]

Fun episode, no news to anyone, however, I'd like to point out something.

As a self-appointed connoisseur or the internet and meme-culture, the tag-line "I'll just leave this here..." is NOT usually used for debate.

More times than not, it's used to post something disturbing/nonsensical/etc for no other reason than to watch the world burn.

Other than that, I agree on Batman, though I like to stick to the gun of "If given a week to prepare, Batman can beat anything." as it's a good foundation rule in arguing super hero combat. As is, Deadpool wins, because when it comes down to it, who says he's no the writer of his opposition due to 4th wall breaks?

 

[General Vagueness]

I'm pretty sure all the racism etc. in these settings isn't because nerds feel victimized or justified or like they have the moral high ground, it's because there are trolls, and -isms tend to get people really mad (which in case you forgot is the main goal of trolls, and in fact pretty much the only goal of trolls). Some of the support of group divisions and derision of people not in one's own group may have similar reasons behind it, for example Bob's low view of Halo fans (IIRC). The thing about noobs in particular I think also isn't a matter of victimization or even self-esteem 90% of the time, it's just people who are immature being immature, and some time ago gaming stopped being just nerds (if it was even that exclusive in the first place, arcades became popular and profitable largely on the support of regular people and consoles came about because people wanted the same thing at home).
also, I'll just leave this here:
Andrew Colunga · Top Commenter · Pomona Senior High
I like when he lengthily explained the victimized nerd thing then followed it with "To put that in simpler terms..." after having not a minute previous disapproved of people typing a lot then summarizing their points after a "TL;DR."

 

[CrazyGirl17]

Thanks for saying all this Bob, I agree with at least some of your points:

-Batman: Look, I'm a Batman fan too, but when everybody fawns about how great he is, then we have a problem.

-Console Wars: Thank you for saying how dumb it is, really, I don't understand the appeal.

-Nerd Supremacy (For a lack of a better term): Frankly, I find people who claim to be better than other people for one reason or another to be stupid and leave it at that.

 

[TimeLord]

I agree.

Moderators should really stop moderating for short posts and instead focus on pointless ones.

Sometimes, a lot more can be said with fewer words. The concise nature of a post can help communicate your point. But not on the Escapist.

That is the rule anyway, a low content post doesn't nessesarily mean a short one. Just one that adds nothing to the thread at all. A 5 word sentance can add discussion to a thread but not come under the "low content post" rule.

However, if you post something small and then add a "I'm adding this so this doesn't count as low content" sentence to your post, you can still be wrathed for it.

Confirmed by friendly neighbourhood moderator [user]Caliostro[/user]

 

[Vanguard_Ex]

Ah, isn't hypocrisy fun?

How so?
I'm not challenging you or anything, I'm just curious as to where the hypocrisy comes in.

 

[LostintheWick]

It looks like people don't like mirrors, Bob. You've stirred the nest.

 

[BlueInkAlchemist]

I'm sorry, I'm going to need some clarification on just how my reviews are bullying anyone.

One of the problem with MovieBob's Big Picture show is that he provides no insight into whether it's a stream of consciousness or an integrated map of his thoughts. Either way, it comes across as though he's often missing the small picture.

According to MB in this show,

- referencing geek culture, even in jest, is a form of elitism we're all engaged in (Persecution Complex) - which is bullying.
- making a long, well thought out reply to something is a waste of your time.
- copy/pasting videos in lieu of context is lazy.

Problem: Most reviews here - and everywhere else - utilise this because...that's what a review is.

- Cultural references - to tie in the audience.
- Detailed explanation of the failures of the reviewed item. (To stop it being a straight number score)
- Including video clips from trailers to underline those points.

To posit MB as a bully, one only has to reference his tirade against Transformers and it's fans. (Which I may also agree with)

So he's just said "While we get paid for doing this, it's not a good thing for you or I to do"

That's the last form of geek culture, which is self-depreciation - and which I've already shown here.

Taken as the Big Picture; all of this is wrong, and personal opinion is the condemnation of another's opinion.

Taking it as a small picture; these are traits we tend to over-exaggerate. (and, like lists, over-exaggeration is one thing we always do)

The problem with this is the generalization of the term "bullying." The way MB presented his argument, it could be extrapolated that positing any form of opinion, especially when one is being paid to do so, could constitute bullying. To me, there's a huge difference that I'd like to try and illustrate as best I can.

In one post, Susan says that Skyrim is an excellent game that you should invest time and money in. People disagree, and she asks on what grounds to try and understand their argument.

In another, SexyBro69 says anybody who plays Skyrim instead of Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 is a massive ****** and ruining gaming. People disagree, and SexyBro responds by telling them they're either not allowed to tell him he's wrong because that's bullying, or lumps them in with the 'faggots' who play Skyrim instead of MW3.

I really hope I don't have to spell this out for you. There's a huge difference between putting forth and defending an opinion (and, remember, that's all a review really is) and making every effort to beat the minds of others into submission. The former is being professional, or at the very least mature and responsible. The latter is bullying.

I don't see Susan calling people names for having opinions. She is not saying people are wrong for enjoying what they enjoy. She is not, by any definition of which I'm aware, a bully.

Not everything is "in good fun." Some people enjoy the opportunity to be spiteful, cruel, and angry - and even those who don't actually mean any harm often don't think about how their words might impact the person reading them/

All a bully cares about is being right, feeling superior, getting that smug satisfaction from silencing an opponent by any means necessary, be it intimidation or shame or sheer volume. If someone is, in their opinion, wrong on the Internet, nothing matters more than showing the world how wrong they are, or failing that, how much they like having sex with the same gender. Again, I don't see any professional reviewer who puts their opinion onto the Internet behaving in this manner. Not even Yahtzee, or Confused Matthew, or the guys from Red Letter Media constitute as bullies. They stand by their opinions and are willing to discuss them even if they think the person disagreeing with them has no grounds and is a complete ignoramus. I've been amused by the opinionated reviews of these people, I've been enlightened, I've even been offended from time to time. But never intimidated, never bullied, never disgusted.

The behavior MB discusses can be and often is disgusting. The behavior of reviewers like Susan rarely, if ever, is.

 

[Susan Arendt]

I'm sorry, I'm going to need some clarification on just how my reviews are bullying anyone.

One of the problem with MovieBob's Big Picture show is that he provides no insight into whether it's a stream of consciousness or an integrated map of his thoughts. Either way, it comes across as though he's often missing the small picture.

According to MB in this show,

- referencing geek culture, even in jest, is a form of elitism we're all engaged in (Persecution Complex) - which is bullying.
- making a long, well thought out reply to something is a waste of your time.
- copy/pasting videos in lieu of context is lazy.

Problem: Most reviews here - and everywhere else - utilise this because...that's what a review is.

- Cultural references - to tie in the audience.
- Detailed explanation of the failures of the reviewed item. (To stop it being a straight number score)
- Including video clips from trailers to underline those points.

To posit MB as a bully, one only has to reference his tirade against Transformers and it's fans. (Which I may also agree with)

So he's just said "While we get paid for doing this, it's not a good thing for you or I to do"

That's the last form of geek culture, which is self-depreciation - and which I've already shown here.

Taken as the Big Picture; all of this is wrong, and personal opinion is the condemnation of another's opinion.

Taking it as a small picture; these are traits we tend to over-exaggerate. (and, like lists, over-exaggeration is one thing we always do)

I don't understand what you're saying, and don't believe you've answered my original question. This, to me, doesn't answer why you believe that "90%" of the reviews on The Escapist are bullying anyone. Pointing out why something doesn't work is not bullying. Telling someone the different ways a game may disappoint them is not bullying. We're presenting information so that the reader can decide for themselves if they want to try the game or not.