Overreaction - A Rant

[Sabre]

I was looking about the internet when I came across some 3 year old news. This was the so called "outrage" over a comic book cover which had female superheroes tied up with tenticles coming from below. The cover did mildly resemble hentai (that's japanese animated porn) but beyond that, harmless.

However, ignoring the fact the cover was drawn by a female artist, geeks who weren't giggling went a bit bananas claiming equal rights and all that stuff. To me some of this seemed to be what comedian Jack Dee would call "A blowjob boo" where men pretend to be appauled at something for the sake of their sex lives. This happens in game reviews alot, but that's going off topic. The fact this story is 3 years old proves it's not a recent development, but rather one I've noticed since I moved away from the culture.

You see, a little while ago I seperated myself from the computer games comunity. The reason was the rise of sansationalism. Reviews were little more then pappering to the fans or trying to ride a wave of controversy in order to get site views. The games news became more about social and political issues rather then the games and there creators. A perfect example is the game Shadow Complex. After the game came out, it turned out the guy who wrote the book the game was tied in to was homophobic. What followed was an embarrassing 'campaign' trying to get people to boycot the game desipite the fact that most people already had it and, because it was a digital downloaded game, they couldn't return the game, not that they would because the game was good. It also ment the message of "whoever buys the game is a homophobic nazi funding the killing of gays" quickly got swept under the mat.

Since my departure, I get most of news through word of mouth or occationally stumbling on things. As a result, almost all the news that reaches my ears is of the stupidly over the top hype or the stupidly over the top reaction to something. So people overreact to overblown stories which get's the websites mores views. What's really sad though is that it's alot of wasted effort. Was the games or gay rights movment effected by shadow complex in the long term? No. Resident Evil 5 and racism? No. Mass Effect corrupting our youth? No.

My point is that people overreact because they are told to, and for what? A website meets it's views quota and shun certain people or products for a week. Other then that, it's just a waste of energy. Just like this rant then.

[Fox-Shot]

This is so true.  It almost seems that ignorance is a good thing these days so you don't hear all this crap.

[Kursed]

yeah I've pretty much become a Outcast in gamersociaty I don't like the things other gamers like I prefure to play the game for fun not to cuss someone out or something crappy like that.

[Guest Julius Quasar]

....I don't like the things other gamers like I prefure to play the game for fun not to cuss someone out or something crappy like that.

same here...good for you, Kursed