To Hell With Comments

[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.

 

[marurder]

Isn't the post a glorified comment that is essentially paid for to generate traffic?

 

[FieryTrainwreck]

The worst part about the internet is the removal of most obstacles/barriers for publishing. Yes, previous obstacles and barriers were sometimes corrupt or faulty, and they managed to hold back a few innovative/creative types we would have enjoyed, but I greatly prefer a flawed filter to none at all. Now everyone on the planet self-publishes practically everything, and 95% of it is fucking retarded.

I guess I'm saying we've gained a few new voices that might have been stymied back in the day, but those fresh, intelligent producers are pretty well drown out by the vast surrounding oceans of mediocrity and idiocy.

...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?

The notion that all opinions are equally valid might be the root of some of the world's greatest ongoing problems. Maybe it's just a far-reaching unconscious conspiracy on the part of those who are attractive and/or wealthy to undermine those pillars of influence that rely on intelligence, reasoning, and merit.

 

[JimB]

I don't play such games online, so I have to ask all the people declaring this thread to be ironic, how similar is the comment system in Super Mario World 3D Wii U (or whatever the Christing thing is actually named) to a discussion forum like this one? Is it possible for users to have a meaningful conversation through the comment section, such as by quoting one another or replying directly to one another?

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

Everyone is entitled to rant, to vent. I don't believe Yahtzee is an exception, and thus his rant is also valid. I don't know if he actually was specifically targeting Escapist commenters (though some of them I'd heartily agree don't contribute anything but wastes of digital ink) but rather how some sites and now games more or less toss comments up in your face when you don't want them, or don't care enough about them. I've always found the Escapist comments section (aside from the stupid ass Facebook comments) to be just off the street so-to-speak so you actively have to look for them. Thus balance is achieved without having to read the crap some users spew.
Myself included.
That being said, I agree with most of it, some of it I haven't experienced and the rest somehow I ignored til he brought it up.

 

[Yopaz]

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.

Even if he's consistent in this kind of behaviour that doesn't really mean much. I've followed his work for a long time and I'm not really able to make out much about what's real and what's an act. What I do know is that his internet personality is very different from his normal personality. He has complained so much about Nintendo churning out the same worn out franchises again and again yet he has praised both Super Mario Galaxy 1 and 2, there's even an Extra Punctuation dedicated to defending the Super Mario franchise in terms of innovation. He has complained about Super Mario Galaxy 2 being a lazy sequel and praising its level design. Its easy to say he's contradicting himself just to argue with whoever dares to comment and to troll with those who have the gall to comment, but it might be simply exaggerations and focus.

I'm not saying I know him or that you're wrong saying he's a bitter person who hates us all, but if you were to read this article again you might see that he is targeting a very specific kind of comments. Maybe he's ignoring the better ones, maybe he's ignoring the good due to some kind of superiority complex. As I said I don't know and it would be silly to claim I know him just because I've been reading his stuff since before he came to The Escapist. However the fact that he is known for comedy books, videos and articles should be a hint that not everything he says is to be taken seriously.

My biggest issue with him is that people tend to take him too seriously. PC master race was an ironic statement that PC gamers accepted unironically which recently flared up again when he got a new gaming PC. It often sounds like he's a bit full of himself and I agree that I don't like those articles and videos which demonstrates this.

Do you honestly think we should take he says at face value? Does Jim Sterling really want us all to thank god for him? Did Stephen Lynch really have a desperate wish for his grandpa to die? Does Brian Regan really not know the plural of box or how to spell cat? Comedians aren't known for being consistently serious, but they often do have a consistent persona.

 

[Dragonbums]

Your entire article basically says- My words are more important than yours because I get paid to do it. Yours means nothing therefore I don't want to see it.

Thing is though, that view is basically correct. Journalism and criticism in general require a fair amount of qualification in order for it to have any weight or value.

What Yahtzee has to say automatically has more weight than any opinion of yours or mine simply because he has both a face and a name. By having both of those things he is made to be accountable for things that says, and he develops a backlog of opinions that qualify all his future opinions. So he has reason to avoid saying things that are tremendously biased or false, and we have a sizable backlog of information to go back to that might help us interpret his opinion and weight it appropriately in context to his preferences vs ours.

Earlier in the thread you mentioned that comments can be good because they can call the author out on a falsehood or bias, but the problem is that is you are choosing to question an author with a face, a name, and potentially something to lose based on the opinion of a person with no face, no name, and nothing to lose. Yes its good to question and confirm information for yourself, but you should be doing that with or without the input of some random who may or may not have any clue about what they're saying.

Hell take our own comments as an example, yours and mine. From the second half of your post I can see pretty clearly that you like Nint quite a bit, so I'm not really going to give much weight to your opinion on that particular company. Likewise when you read my comment you have to question the validity of the conclusions I'm drawing because I'm some faceless jackass with zero attachment to this account or place. I could be talking out of my ass for no reason better than "I'm bored" and you would never know.

I'm not really going to dispute that what your saying doesn't make sense. It's just that ranting that comments should be obliterated because one or the other deems them unworthy is total ass.

What I say may have no value to you due to affiliation, but perhaps it may to someone else.

There are plenty of comments that I don't agree with. That doesn't mean I'm going to go out of my way to say "the only thing that matters on the internet are paid people to make comments on the internet". It just feels highly self centered, and egotistical. Especially when implied that his own stuff actually has weight in this industry at all.

I like Jim's stuff for instance. I tend to agree on most of what he says. But I'm not going to believe for a second that what he says will have that much of a sway in the grand scheme of things. Or whether his opinions matter outside of Destructoid and Escapist. To places like IGN, he's a fucking nobody.

 

[themilo504]

This was true until those fucking Facebook comments were enabled. It undermines the accounts and community system. They were a horrible idea and they need to go.

This place is infected with facebook? really? I didn't think Escapist could stoop that low, I really didn't, and now I feel betrayed! Then again... I suppose it doesn't actually affect me since I have a plugin in my browser which forcibly removes all social media plugins from all websites, which is why I didn't know this place had succumbed.

Facebook comments on videos and articles have been around here for a while. Like, possibly since I joined or even earlier.

When it comes to videos I think that comments are great for feedback and I find It funny that a reviewer can?t see that.

The thing is, take a gander at the comments sections of most of the reviews. Any review, really, but particularly good ones are "controversial" ones like Tito's Dragon Age II/Grand Theft Auto V or Yahtzee's Super Smash Bros. Brawl, or Jim Sterling's Vanquish/The Witcher 2.

Normal reviews become filled with comments to the effect of "I agree/disagree" and occasionally get expounded upon with "And here's why". On a good day, it pretty much ends with that, maybe a bit of light-hearted joking between members.

"Controversial" reviews get blasted down with so much useless bile of "HOW COULD YOU NOT LIKE [Game]!?!?!?! RABBLERABBLERABBLE!" (or of course, "HOW COULD YOU LIKE [Game]?!!?!? RABBLERABBLERABBLE!!!") that it becomes pointless to even read them, because all you're going to see is that and the inevitable arguing between those people and the people who think the reviewer is correct and/or think they should all just calm down.

They're just echo chambers for users, and very rarely contain anything constructive for the person who created the content in question. A notable exception to this is our very own Jim Sterling, if we all recall the beginning of The Jimquisition on this website. But even then, he had to sift through hundreds of angry comments saying "Who is this arrogant fat fuck?!!?!" (many even being worded that harshly) to find the actual constructive responses because that's the reaction people immediately jumped to upon seeing something they didn't like.

Yes but that?s the fault of the commenters, even if you disable comments people are still going to find ways to be a jerk.

 

[Dark Knifer]

snip

Pretty much this. Comments by default are less valid as their skill set is not known but the authors skill set is. It's the difference between content and comments. Not that I mind comments though, hell I'm posting here but yeah, they can be kinda crap but an inevitable feature and most people will say comments are usually shit.

 

[Vale]

"To hell with the reviews. This time I give myself five stars."

Reminds me of Beautiful Escape alright.
YAHTZEE IS A SERIEAL KILLER not really no.

I would tend to agree, but that would mean voicing my opinion and OH BOY. SUCH DISCUSSION now I'm even doing the memes just kill me already.

I think I made myself pretty fucking clear.