I think there is a theme moving through the states and social media that really needs to be addressed. After reading an opinion article post on Polygon by Morgan Jaffit I want to dive into greater detail something I touch on from time to time.(I understand this is from Australia but it's topical) What is happening in the spectrum of an online debate is a negative selection bias. This is covered pretty well in the Ezra Klein podcast where they were talking about the alt-right. In the gaming community, we are seeing it in the form of one group calling everyone toxic while there is another side screaming back calling that side snowflakes. When you really look at it, neither side has any point.
With every new debate online you will get passionate people from both sides scouring the forums, hashtags, and the subreddit looking for the vilest and disgusting views of their opponents. You will see really stupid remarks screen capped on Twitter to receive an astronomically more amount of likes than the original comment, that most of the times weren't even liked at all. What is going on is a selection bias of the vilest for the purpose of easily discarding "the opposition" as a whole. It is used to try and grab the attention of the majority of us who are middle of the road and turn us using emotional porn. It's intellectually dishonest.
In the Polygon article, they even address that this ratio is a vocal .01% of the population yet they fail to see their own short sight. This population is so insignificant and yet it's used to wag a finger at a mass amount of people as a whole. The finger-wagging eventually hits someone who might have just been rejected on Tinder, told by their Mom they can't get the new game, or just realized they suck at life and it burns the little fuse they have left. They go on to the internet and explode and the cycle continues leaving the rest of us sitting under a spitting contest of which has become a daily annoyance.
Total Biscuit, Jim Sterling, and Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw don't make these people. They are critics. They do their work because they have a passion for what they talk about. They aren't there to assassinate peoples live but to protect consumers from what they see as bad practices or poorly made products. The very best part of each of these gentlemen is they are expressing an opinion and one that you have every right to ignore. Even the opinion I am laying out now is there to be ignored.
Facebook has a block button. Twitter has a block button. Reddit has subfilters and block. This doesn't mean you should block out the world but feel free to take that .01% and give them all the attention they deserve, none. By screen capping their idiocy, by liking the screen cap of their idiocy, or responding in kind nothing is being gained but time is quite certainly wasted. It is a lesson I have learned myself as part of an evergrowing crowd who are understanding the same. The vision of a toxic world is one that is being self-made and self-manifested.
Gaming culture is not toxic. Toxic people are toxic. They just happen to share a hobby we enjoy but that doesn't mean we have to pay attention to them. We need to stop focusing on a few bad actors because when a real issue comes up they will dominate the narrative and all hope for a positive change become lost. Think back to last year. Can people be more nice? Of course, but let's not create demons for the sake of being right or for the need of a monster. There is enough shit out there, let's not make more and for your own health just learn to ignore.
With every new debate online you will get passionate people from both sides scouring the forums, hashtags, and the subreddit looking for the vilest and disgusting views of their opponents. You will see really stupid remarks screen capped on Twitter to receive an astronomically more amount of likes than the original comment, that most of the times weren't even liked at all. What is going on is a selection bias of the vilest for the purpose of easily discarding "the opposition" as a whole. It is used to try and grab the attention of the majority of us who are middle of the road and turn us using emotional porn. It's intellectually dishonest.
In the Polygon article, they even address that this ratio is a vocal .01% of the population yet they fail to see their own short sight. This population is so insignificant and yet it's used to wag a finger at a mass amount of people as a whole. The finger-wagging eventually hits someone who might have just been rejected on Tinder, told by their Mom they can't get the new game, or just realized they suck at life and it burns the little fuse they have left. They go on to the internet and explode and the cycle continues leaving the rest of us sitting under a spitting contest of which has become a daily annoyance.
Total Biscuit, Jim Sterling, and Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw don't make these people. They are critics. They do their work because they have a passion for what they talk about. They aren't there to assassinate peoples live but to protect consumers from what they see as bad practices or poorly made products. The very best part of each of these gentlemen is they are expressing an opinion and one that you have every right to ignore. Even the opinion I am laying out now is there to be ignored.
Facebook has a block button. Twitter has a block button. Reddit has subfilters and block. This doesn't mean you should block out the world but feel free to take that .01% and give them all the attention they deserve, none. By screen capping their idiocy, by liking the screen cap of their idiocy, or responding in kind nothing is being gained but time is quite certainly wasted. It is a lesson I have learned myself as part of an evergrowing crowd who are understanding the same. The vision of a toxic world is one that is being self-made and self-manifested.
Gaming culture is not toxic. Toxic people are toxic. They just happen to share a hobby we enjoy but that doesn't mean we have to pay attention to them. We need to stop focusing on a few bad actors because when a real issue comes up they will dominate the narrative and all hope for a positive change become lost. Think back to last year. Can people be more nice? Of course, but let's not create demons for the sake of being right or for the need of a monster. There is enough shit out there, let's not make more and for your own health just learn to ignore.
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