So I was reading TIG yesterday about an interview with Braid-creator Jonathan Blow. It seemed like a pretty good read, and I had nothing better to do, so I read some of the comments. It didn’t take long to see that TIG is full of anonymous children who think TIG is their playground to whine about everything that might seem like a good thing to whine about. I couldn’t resist chiming in a few times myself. Nothing I said, however, was as good as this response:
Amen Edmund, amen.
Now, what good are blogs if I can’t use it to unjustly force my opinion upon those who might read this (all 8 people)? I have noticed this more and more over my years on the Internet. It has truly become a place where people can get away with being pretty despicable human beings.
Anonymity is one of the greatest and worst things about the Internet. I still remember the first time I tried to PK someone in Ultima Online. Talk about a rush. To be able to do something you know you wouldn’t normally do in real life (via roleplay albeit), and somehow know that you will not get into trouble (like you might in real life) does give you that same adrenaline rush. This same chemical rush is something we get each time, but with less a degree. So, in order to get the same rush the next time, you have to take it a little farther. It’s really a classic case of addiction, only the “substance” is produced within. Similar things happen when playing games with repeatable content, like WoW. You play, get a rush, and then have to play more to get that same rush again.
I can only assume that these immature louts feel a similar exhilaration when anonymously bashing someone’s viewpoint. It must feel great to seem so smart while nobody knows the truth, that you are a child (whether truly or only in mental or emotional faculties is something unbeknownst to all except the person in question).
I truly respect anyone who puts their real name in a comment, because I know that means that they have the stones to make the same argument in real life. The amount of respect even goes higher when that person actually links to their own site/blog. I do it myself because I stand by every word I say, and I do that to add a little validity to it. Not that I know more or hold my opinion in higher regard, but at least you know I’m that same A-hole in real life as the one you are reading. It’s one thing to use a pseudonym and make a valid point, and its entirely something else to be yourself, rather than hide behind a guise.
What I really love is the “I don’t have to make games to be able to bash on them” argument. That is a gloriously dung-ridden justification. The analogy of “you don’t have to be a cook to comment on food” is the one that was being used last night in the comments. I mean, that is about as weak as it gets. I’m fairly certain (understatement) that you probably should be a cook when you comment about how wrong someone’s technique is, or that their cooking sucks. You can say you don’t like the food, but you can’t comment on the cooking unless you know something about cooking. You can say you didn’t like the flavor because ______. That’s just fine. It helps. But if you were going for constructive criticism, try a different approach, like one in which you don’t hide, for starters. Please spare us the space on a message board, especially if you are going to do it anonymously. It couldn’t get any smaller than that. Sure, everyone is entitiled to their own opinion, and if yours is so great, start a blog and get some readers. It all comes down to jealousy. If I’m going to bash anonymously, I’m jealous of whomever I’m bashing, period. End of story.
Read the responses to Edmund’s video here.
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