To Hell With Comments

[Imp_Emissary]

I enjoyed your second comment as well, by the way. Just keep in mind that it is just a rant.

I know it's a rant. But I personally think it's a very selfish, self centered, stupid rant where he doesn't even really acknowledge that perhaps his stuff may be deemed by others to be a waste of digital ink and he should shut up.

That's the vibe I get from his article.

<.< Yahtzee is being a bit "nihilistic" in this article.

Though, I think he does know that. He did say in it; "And I know you can turn the comments off in 3D World, but if I'd done that I wouldn't have been able to complain about them."

That said, it still was a bit mean spirited.

Although I still had fun with it. I can understand why others wouldn't.

 

[Thanatos2k]

I do hope that Yahtzee realized that what he wrote basically says "All comments are stupid...except for mine."

 

[Covarr]

Eh, comments can be useful. Constructive feedback is a very good thing, and even relevant questions are appropriate for a comments section. The fact that most comments suck isn't an inherent problem with comments, but an inherent problem with people.

For an example of Miiverse done correctly, look at Super Metroid.

P.S. Thanks

 

[teamcharlie]

Wow. Congrats on being so important that you don't have to listen to your fans anymore, Yahtzee. You must get sweet cell phone reception in that ivory tower of yours.

 

[Kingjackl]

Jesus Christ, how are old are you again Yahtzee? I reckon someone just needs to drink their milk and have a lie down.

I can't judge the comments on Super Mario World because I haven't played it and don't know how potentially distracting/intrusive they are, but it sounds to me like you're having a big ***** about nothing. Youtube comments are dumb? Yeah they certainly can be, but if you don't like them then why are you looking at them in the first place? I'm looking at one in the other tab right now, you can't even see the damn comments unless you scroll down, there's a split second delay before they actually start loading and there's enough space on the other side of the screen where the suggested videos are that you can avert your eyes if it would really kill you not to do otherwise.

Also, I like that you're arrogant enough to decry Internet comments when they are realistically your only means of receiving any form of criticism for your own work. Unless there's some paid, professional Zero Punctuation reviewer giving weekly criticism of each new episode, how are you supposed to know what you did wrong and what you did right without looking at online comments? Just because you've decided you're flawless and above reproach, doesn't mean everyone is, and plenty of Internet contributors can benefit from user comments. Just look at the Jimquisition; imagine if Jim Sterling hadn't originally listened to the people on the Escapist and used that feedback to make the show better. It wouldn't have been as successful as it is now, I can tell you that.

It's the same for games as well; yeah, Ubisoft aren't going to seriously evaluate every rating for every Assassin's Creed IV mission, but even the Metacritic-style five star/one star rating split can work as a binary way of telling what missions people liked and disliked. If the ratings are helpful, then they can use them to make future games and DLC better. If they're not, they'll just not put user ratings in the game, and you get to live a slightly happier oh-so-miserable Brisbane inner-city-trendy existence.

 

[immortalfrieza]

Isn't Yahtzee basically just part of the comment section that is Vidogamez Jurnalizm?

Exactly. It's unbelievably hypocritical of Yahtzee to put down comments when his JOB is for all intents and purposes to comment on video games.

Besides, it's easy enough to simply ignore the idiots and trolls and only focus on the worthwhile comments instead. I have seen plenty of comments on Youtube, the Escapist, or wherever that are just as good or even better than the video or article that it's commenting on, and for that reason alone I consider comments worth it.

 

[SweetShark]

Guys, don't get so seriously with Yantzee opinion.
Like he said in an old comment/post, he use a lot of comedy and irony to make things more interesting.
He hate comments, but it doesn't mean we are all twats.

 

[Yopaz]

Another EP where Yahtzee shows us that side of himself that proves that the hyperbole he uses to put down his own audience is, in reality, exactly how he feels. No, people, he's not just saying those things because he's trying to be entertaining, he really DOES think 99% of us are shit. He thinks it of me and he thinks it of you. Yes, YOU, whoever-is-reading-this-at-the-time, don't think your on his special not-shit-list, because you are, along with the rest of us. It's times like this I really feel misgivings about watching his stuff. He's entertaining and often informative, but by God, he can also be bitter and hateful.

So there's no reason to believe that he's generalizing and knows that he is? We should take this at face value that he loathes each and every one of us? I have to say I have been having a similar rant built up in me for a long time. I have this habit to downvote comments on Youtube simply being quotes from the video or bad jokes based on stuff from the video. More annoying is the ones who are deliberately making comments in the hope that they will get upvotes. We don't care about your hatred of justin Bieber and the fact that the dislike bar is as long as his dick (one I see repeatedly).

Does this article come across as excessively bitter? Well yes it does, but I can see where he's coming from. Maybe he hates all of us, maybe he's exaggerating I don't know.

 

[Redd the Sock]

I consider it an insult that material created by trained people with experience and qualifications and talent is forced to share space on my computer screen with the musings of uninvolved people with no qualifications bar a keyboard and bottomless twattiness.

The flaw in the formula is how much internet content is done by people that only had the barriers to entry of "figure out how to sign up for a blog" or "figured out how to turn on a webcam and post to youtube." Twats are becoming professionals far enough to forget they aren't trained comics with journalism degrees on the wall just because someone finds them entertaining enough to pay for.

 

[Covarr]

<tweet t="https://twitter.com/YahtzeeCroshaw/status/418139086591766528" align=right>
Challenge accepted.

The only merit by which commenting on this column makes a person look foolish is if one confuses opinion for fact and takes everything in your column as gospel. Disagreeing with you makes us look petulant, sure (I can see I'm being just a tad petulant even as I type this up), but not foolish.

P.S. Thanks

 

[Madmanonfire]

There is a specific gripe here; comments intruding into vidogames. The point is backed up by examples of shitty comments systems.

The thing here is 3D World is not a good example to back his argument, despite being his main example. The default setting is off and after a couple of levels, the game asks you once if you want Miiverse posts at the end of each level. If you say no, the game never asks you again. It's a win-win situation for gamers: people who like seeing Miiverse posts can simply choose yes and see people try to use stamps stupidly creatively with the occasional helpful post of a hard to find star/stamp, and people who don't want to see comments can simply choose no and be on their merry way. The comment system isn't very intrusive at all.

 

[Remus]

I'd comment on the commentary in regards to the comments section but then my comments would be misconstrued as furthering Yahtzee's commentary......crap.
CAPTCHA: Thumbs Up. Ahh Captcha, you always have the perfect answer for any occasion.

 

[Mike Fang]

So there's no reason to believe that he's generalizing and knows that he is? We should take this at face value that he loathes each and every one of us? I have to say I have been having a similar rant built up in me for a long time. I have this habit to downvote comments on Youtube simply being quotes from the video or bad jokes based on stuff from the video. More annoying is the ones who are deliberately making comments in the hope that they will get upvotes. We don't care about your hatred of justin Bieber and the fact that the dislike bar is as long as his dick (one I see repeatedly).

Does this article come across as excessively bitter? Well yes it does, but I can see where he's coming from. Maybe he hates all of us, maybe he's exaggerating I don't know.

I'm not saying his frustration is completely baseless; there are plenty of reasons to dislike the majority of comments made on videos and message boards; too many of them are thoughtless and just people making noise for the sake of hearing (or seeing, to be more accurate) themselves talk. But that isn't a good reason to say nobody should have the right or ability to express themselves publicly online. Oh but I'm sure he (and other people, possibly yourself) would say "oh he's not saying that, he's just saying they shouldn't be able to express themselves on the same level as 'professionals'." Well a) I frankly think an attitude like that would be arrogant and a sign of hubris, b) If a comments section post isn't far removed enough from the 'professional' level of being published/broadcast/posted by a professional game review company, I don't know what is and c) even if someone found a way to prove it wasn't far enough removed, how far do we take the CENSORSHIP of personal opinion, 'cause that's damn well what this is. Shall we say unless you're a professional with credentials, you can't post it online? Can't write it in a newspaper? Can't talk about it on tv or the radio? Hell, let's say you can't talk about it out loud in public within earshot of another person.

I don't like the "all or nothing" philosophy, but in this case, it's necessary. Sometimes you have to take the bad with the good because the only other option is to start turning rights into privileges. Yes, it means having to put up with drooling shitheads who spew pointless drivel in a pathetic appeal for attention, but such is the price that must be paid to give those with actual intelligence the same means to express themselves. And there is a silver lining on the cloud; in the end all the jack asses who act and talk like jack asses manage to accomplish is to make people think: "Wow, that person is a stupid jack ass."

 

[Pebkio]

Well of course comment sections are for the sole benefit of people commenting. Did you ever think the concept was going to have any other pupose that to stroke some egos. When I directly address someone in my post... don't, for even one second, believe I actually think that person is going to read my post. I posted it so that I could write out what I'm thinking.

And MAYBE someone might come along and respond to me, and then holy hell I might respond back if I haven't overheated with rage.

Before the internet, only a select few could do this in a newspaper but the super special secret is that THOSE FEW were NO BETTER than ANYONE ELSE. Hell, without the internet... someone would sell their opinion to a newspaper and then that newspaper would get no less than six billion letters expressing dissent or approval. At least the internet allows us to address ourselves and the original opinion-haver (like, say, Yahtzee) can just ignore the happy circle jerking.

...I like you, Yahtzee, you're a quality funnyman. But what could possibly make you think that your opinion is more valid than anyone else's?

 

[Carnagath]

This website has an interesting rule: You're not allowed to insult the content creators. If you do, you get warned/banned. If the content creators insult you however, as is the case here, your only real option is to shut the fuck up and stop watching. You know what? I'm cool with that. It's a nice system. If you find that someone is being too much of a ****, you really should stop watching/reading their stuff. You have the option of doing just that.

Luckily, Nintendo offers this option as well, by making it possible to turn the comments off, as Yahtzee mentioned. But he didn't do that, because he just wants to ***** about a non issue and waste... people's...fucking...time. Which he did. Successfully. So, overall, this is a great article that achieves its goal with ease.

Those are facts.

You could dispute them, but you would be wrong.

Also, have a great new year.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

So if I comment on this, I'm missing the point? I don't think so. The rant itself is full of missed points.

<tweet t="https://twitter.com/YahtzeeCroshaw/status/418139086591766528" align=right>
Challenge accepted.

The only merit by which commenting on this column makes a person look foolish is if one confuses opinion for fact and takes everything in your column as gospel. Disagreeing with you makes us look petulant, sure (I can see I'm being just a tad petulant even as I type this up), but not foolish.

P.S. Thanks

Exactly. Just because some depressed manchild thinks he's being clever, doesn't make it so. It's a pretty immature rant.

 

[Yopaz]

So there's no reason to believe that he's generalizing and knows that he is? We should take this at face value that he loathes each and every one of us? I have to say I have been having a similar rant built up in me for a long time. I have this habit to downvote comments on Youtube simply being quotes from the video or bad jokes based on stuff from the video. More annoying is the ones who are deliberately making comments in the hope that they will get upvotes. We don't care about your hatred of justin Bieber and the fact that the dislike bar is as long as his dick (one I see repeatedly).

Does this article come across as excessively bitter? Well yes it does, but I can see where he's coming from. Maybe he hates all of us, maybe he's exaggerating I don't know.

I'm not saying his frustration is completely baseless; there are plenty of reasons to dislike the majority of comments made on videos and message boards; too many of them are thoughtless and just people making noise for the sake of hearing (or seeing, to be more accurate) themselves talk. But that isn't a good reason to say nobody should have the right or ability to express themselves publicly online. Oh but I'm sure he (and other people, possibly yourself) would say "oh he's not saying that, he's just saying they shouldn't be able to express themselves on the same level as 'professionals'." Well a) I frankly think an attitude like that would be arrogant and a sign of hubris, b) If a comments section post isn't far removed enough from the 'professional' level of being published/broadcast/posted by a professional game review company, I don't know what is and c) even if someone found a way to prove it wasn't far enough removed, how far do we take the CENSORSHIP of personal opinion, 'cause that's damn well what this is. Shall we say unless you're a professional with credentials, you can't post it online? Can't write it in a newspaper? Can't talk about it on tv or the radio? Hell, let's say you can't talk about it out loud in public within earshot of another person.

I don't like the "all or nothing" philosophy, but in this case, it's necessary. Sometimes you have to take the bad with the good because the only other option is to start turning rights into privileges. Yes, it means having to put up with drooling shitheads who spew pointless drivel in a pathetic appeal for attention, but such is the price that must be paid to give those with actual intelligence the same means to express themselves. And there is a silver lining on the cloud; in the end all the jack asses who act and talk like jack asses manage to accomplish is to make people think: "Wow, that person is a stupid jack ass."

I am in complete agreement with everything you said. You shouldn't dismiss EVERYONE just because a good deal of comments are stupid. It would be arrogant to do so and he does come off as VERY self centred in this article.

I don't consider your comment stupid and I would in fact say that you make a very valid point when you discuss censorship. There are plenty of reasons why comments are good and lots of comments are good. I just don't think you should take everything he says at face value. It's a rant and he generalises a lot, he even made a point of saying that he enabled comments for the sake of having something to complain about in Super Mario 3D World. He does come across as a bitter, self centred person who hates all of us in this article, but I disagree with your opinion that we should take it at face value. It's clearly something he feels strongly enough to voice it in this article, but your statement that this is about 99% of all of us isn't all that different from claiming that we're all twats surrounded by bigger twats.

 

[Mike Fang]

I am in complete agreement with everything you said. You shouldn't dismiss EVERYONE just because a good deal of comments are stupid. It would be arrogant to do so and he does come off as VERY self centred in this article.

I don't consider your comment stupid and I would in fact say that you make a very valid point when you discuss censorship. There are plenty of reasons why comments are good and lots of comments are good. I just don't think you should take everything he says at face value. It's a rant and he generalises a lot, he even made a point of saying that he enabled comments for the sake of having something to complain about in Super Mario 3D World. He does come across as a bitter, self centred person who hates all of us in this article, but I disagree with your opinion that we should take it at face value. It's clearly something he feels strongly enough to voice it in this article, but your statement that this is about 99% of all of us isn't all that different from claiming that we're all twats surrounded by bigger twats.

Well that's nice of you to say. And yes, in this one article he does sound like he's generalizing and going on just this one article, you certainly have a valid point as well, that this one article isn't enough to say Yahtzee's always like this and means every word of what he's saying here about every person out there.

The thing is, I'm not going by just this one article. I'm also looking at a number of his previous works, both EP and ZP, where he's displayed an embittered, cynical, and sullenly hateful attitude. Granted, sometimes he's played it for laughs, but the consistency of it makes me seriously question how much is honestly for laughs and how much is just him being honestly venomous because that's his customary outlook on life and people in general.