To Hell With Comments

[Aardvaarkman]

The comments on the Escapist are relegated to a separate section of dedicated discussion (a forum if you will) and as such do not intrude as much on the media. 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.

I completely agree. Unfortunately, you know it is never gong to go away, because it is now legally mandatory that all websites must link to and promote Facebook. Almighty Facebook, ruler of us all!

 

[Aardvaarkman]

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.

And yet, it wasn't long ago that Yahtzee would have been considered an unqualified punk outsider, who doesn't deserve to have a mouthpiece. Remember when the "professional journalists" mocked the idea of blogging? And now blogging has eaten their lunch, and the blogers are taken more seriously than the traditional journalists.

This is really the icing on the irony cake - that Yahtzee has so easily slipped into the same arrogance that the old media did, when they pish-poshed the idea that the internet could threaten their status.

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.

Wait, what? You don't have a face or a name? What the hell happened to you? Was there a freak explosion that burnt your face off and left you with amnesia or something?

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.

That really doesn't seem to be the way it works. Once people get famous, they tend to not give a shit about what people think of them or say about them, because they always have enough fans around that it doesn't matter. Less-established people are much more likely to be careful about their words, in my experience.

 

[Mocmocman]

What worries me more than comments, is that they're being disabled on major youtube channels. While I understand that the biggest reason is scamming and bad links, some channels like Nerdcubed prefer not to have them at all and are just sick of of them.

I will not pretend to tell these creators that they should have them enabled or that it will even do any good, but it's a short term solution at best. Without feedback, they're closing off a vital source that will inevitably change the content, for better or worse, the latter which the creator should be able to forsee and avoid.

Nerd^3 uses a Subreddit for his comments, so he still sees the feedback to his videos.

OT: I don't know about this article. It seems odd, when earlier in the year Yahtzee went and changed a joke in his video due in no small part to comments on the video. I think that he is making a rather blanket statement to a specific problem, and to be honest comments are often quite annoying to see when you don't need them.

 

[AngryPuppy]

I find it very funny that someone who relies on an Audience to value his "comments", complaining about comments. Mayhaps someones in the wrong profession?

 

[Aardvaarkman]

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.

Listen to his Youtube series called "Let's Drown Out..." where it's basically just him and a friend chatting for a couple of hours. It becomes pretty clear that he really is just like that in real life, it's not an act:

http://fullyramblomatic-yahtzee.blogspot.com.au

And yeah, the irony is intense, because it's essentially him just making comments on whatever he wants to comment on, with no editorial or quality control, no repercussions, etc. I think the problem is that he's just so used to having a soapbox, and having the whole world listen to his comments, that he doesn't have any need for a comments section, as he can easily broadcast his own thoughts to the whole world.

The rest of us don't have that luxury, and it's not a question of competence or qualifications - it's just that the rest of us do not have such a mouthpiece because we have other jobs.

 

[Lyvric]

1) Isn't he a person who is trained to comment on things
2) Comments, themselves, are in 'comment sections' for a reason
3) They can be disabled and/or turned off as he directly states but then chooses not to
4) Reviews, comments and conversations can be useful for reviewing product and/or building a portfolio (I've followed comment links to many online artists)
5) Nobody cares and everybody knows that already. Ironically it's why comments can be so open.
6) You don't care, but some people who watch/read comments, but don't comment all the time, may find this article rude. Please don't upper twat your lower twats

 

[Andy of Comix Inc]

As we all know, discouraging discourse because the majority of people are idiots is exactly how to make the world a better place.

Y'know. Like in politics. Let's make it so no-one gets a vote, perhaps, because most people make the wrong vote. Right? And criticism! Let's go onto Youtube, for example, and launch copyright strikes on every single video critiquing a movie, game, book, or person. Because most of them are going to be wrong! So we should just, you know, get rid of everything. I mean the slim possibility that someone is actually going to be calm and intelligent isn't worth taking a chance on, as we all know.

Great idea Yahtzee! I think I'll enjoy this new internet.

 

[2xDouble]

Well, I think [COMMENT DELETED]

EDIT: No. You know what? f it. Enjoy your day, Mr. Croshaw.

 

[Sotanaht]

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.

Can somebody link me to this plugin? Preferably in PM? I'm using chrome btw, though a firefox version wouldn't be entirely useless.

 

[Deadcyde]

What the hell kind of rant is this?

This basically says fuck comments because mine is clearly superior. Have you ever thought that there are other journalists out there who think your own articles are nothing but paid trash content on a website? And what is stopping the unwashed commenter pleebs from simply posting their own stuff on their own blogs.


If find it funny that you have people hating Anita for say- blocking comments on Youtube on her videos, yet here we are all more or less agreeing with you that we should admonish comments because you don't deem them worthy. This is especially true in the journalism business where feedback is pretty damn important.

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.

You then proceed to complain even more about the stupid comments feature in SM3DW. If it really bothered you that much, just turn it off.

Likewise, if you really hated the Gampad for Pikmin, then use the blasted Wii mote instead of complaining about how annoying it is when you had the option to use an alternative the entire time you played the game for review.

"He hates unfunny hecklers?"
"His self loathing must be starting to manifest!"
"DOHOHOOHOHOHOHOHO"

these two combined made my day. It's an internet community. Comment sections are forums. You're basically saying shut up people who say things i don't like.

Well tough. Suck it up yahtzee. Everyone has as much right to express, however stupidily, their opinions as much as you do. If you're even half the person you claim to be, you have the mental fortitude to pick through the flotsam and jetsam like the rest of us. Really, anyone would think you were having a hissy fit.

On the upside, well trolled for being paid to do that.

 

[GundamSentinel]

Spoiler

"He hates unfunny hecklers?"
"His self loathing must be starting to manifest!"
"DOHOHOOHOHOHOHOHO"

Okay, that made me laugh.

Yahtzee basically saying "I'm right, because I get paid for it." is utter nonsense. There's was just one good point made there: that people shouldn't get other people's opinions forced on them by a service or game or whatever. That's just damn obnoxious.

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

I wonder if Yahtzee had a bad day? Maybe he got some negative reviews for his game and book and is unhappy about it

The rating thing in AC4 was fine, it wasnt forced on you and you had no obligation to do it. But with people moaning about "another AC game" maybe these people should use the rating system so the next AC game is structured around gameplay you want. Plus its easier to get real time feedback about the levels after you have played them, because you can make a decision based on your emotion after just playing it. A lot easier and useful than asking people to fill in a questionnaire online a month later. But when you think about it, they could have made you unable to continue until you did rate the level? lol

 

[NSGrendel]

*Response to egregious hypocrisy censored by self*

 

[ThunderCavalier]

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.

I think he's stated numerous times that he's a bit of a pessimist and that he's better off believing everything is shit rather than everything is great because he'll either be justified or pleasantly surprised in the end.

While, at times, I do agree with his viewpoints, and I do take interest in his various indie projects and other works (though I have yet to read Mogworld or Jam), I can't say I'm too big a fan of his demeanor. I mean, when he's using it to its full comedic potential in ZP, it can get good, and I mean REALLY GOOD, but when it's raw and untempered like this rant... it's just a window to his mind, and it's a rather depressing one.

I'll still love Yahtzee regardless, even if the feeling is far from mutual.

 

[Alma Mare]

The salt on display when people are reminded that no one actually gives a shit about the crap they post in the comments sections... delicious.

Now, since, as usually, escapists are missing the point like champs...

If I am a painter and I expose my painting in a gallery...

-I am free to read or the articles the local critics decide on their own time and media to make about it;
-I am free to engage in conversations with people who want to give me their opinions, at my discretion, pacing and leisure.
-I am free to read any written feedback that is sent my way if and when I should decide to do so.
-I AM NOT expected to deliver my painting in a 10m-wide passe-partout in order to allow everyone that feels like so to go on and scribble their rambling right next to my work without my consent or any regard on how adequate said rambling is.

Can you spot the difference?

 

[Snotnarok]

The whole argument is moot when the comments section is something you can read or ignore by choice...
The comments section is no different than a group of friends, or strangers leaving a theater talking about their favorite parts of a movie, or in Yahtzees case a comedy club. EVERYONE talks about what they saw because they're excited and showing that is something humans do.
Even an anti-social mongoloid, I understand this, yes there's the experience you have in the theater but no on is in there repeating things stated as it's going. It's not the same.

Regardless of intelligence, age, excitement people like talking about crap, tech, shows or whatever, they're gonna do it, ya don't want to be apart of it? Then just don't read the bloody comments section. It's not about being a part of the show or as important as the entertainers, it's expressing enjoyment of the medium.

 

[TheKrigeron]

What?!
You could say the exact same thing about Reviews, those fucking uninformed leeches that think hey can "Analyse" a game jus because they have a Camera and a mic (or Cynicism and the ability to doodle things), fuck em' right in their smug ass!
This Article is stupid.

 

[Kingjackl]

The worst part about this column is that Yahtzee himself has already seen for himself the value of user commentary and feedback. He did that when he released the beta of his new game, and specifically asked for feedback from anyone who played it. People commented and he used the information to make changes, fix bugs and add new features. But when other game publishers do it, he throws the written equivalent of a childish tantrum and puts it up on a website that makes heavy use of user comments. The level of hypocrisy and thick-headedness is astounding.

Also, that thing he put up on Twitter saying something like "oh, it's a commentary on comments, so you can't comment without looking foolish"? Yeah, if that's not an admission of failure, then I don't know what is. However foolish the commenters on this thread are, I don't see how they could possibly be more foolish than the one who wrote the article to begin with.

 

[Breywood]

Kingjackl, I find your foolish comment to be especially foolish.

I appreciate his commentary, but there are definitely times I'll disagree with him. You've done well to point out how this isn't his best work.