Criticism of Games

[The Man]

These are message boards and they are meant for sharing one's opinions and views. This is all very well... to an extent. The problem is that recently, I've seen a lot of so-called "criticism" that goes something like this:

A pastiche of many posts I've seen on EoFF lately
FF[number] sux hard and the main character is gay, he looks like a monkey/freak/gay/idiot/asshole/alien/physcho/lunatic/retard and he couldn't get in a girl's pants even if he tried harder than the villain tries to destroy the world. He looks super-lame when he tries to wield his sword, and it's a miracle that the world managed to get saved at all with such a moron at the helm of the heroes' party. What a faggot.

Only usually, it doesn't even come out sounding that intelligent, and that sounds pretty dumb, don't you think?

I, for one, feel that posts like that need to stop. Voicing your opinion is fine, but it should at least be done intelligently, and lately, I have seen far too much criticism that doesn't involve such intelligence. A lot of people really love some of these games, else they wouldn't be at these boards, and I know how much it hurts when people just give those games such a cold shoulder. I think something needs to be done about this.

Heck, I'd even go so far as to support a movement to declare them spam or flame-bait topics. I think all threads that start out like this one (whose original post was something like "is anyone like me and think ff9 sux and it's the worst game for psone. especially zidane, he sucks, looks gay, is so dumb, and wears gay close. i hate ff9," reportedly, and I believe it could be given to us verbatim by one of the staff) should be closed. In fact, I wouldn't mind seeing it made an offense, punishable by staff PM warning and, if the pattern continues, subsequent banning, to continually bash games in such a manner. We just don't need that kind of thing to be done.

Who's with me?

Peace
The Man

[Sefie1999AD]

I definitely agree. This flood of dismissing Final Fantasy games is going too far, as it keeps increasing in Final Fantasy VIII and -- nowadays especially -- Final Fantasy IX forums. For those who really like these games (like me), it starts to feel really bad. And the unintelligent criticism has gone really too far, not to mention repetitive. The FF-bashing is always similar, usually following the lines of calling the main character gay. If people don't like that particular Final Fantasy game, there is no point in yelling it out loud for everyone for the 100,000th time. They have nothing to gain from this kind of actions, apart from flame wars. Why don't they go find some time to play another game and post in different forums? The common sense is that people go do what is fun, not mess around in things which they hate.

I have to agree with your comment about their unintelligence. Screaming out unjustified opinions which utilizes bad grammar and dirty language is far from constructive criticism or anything which gains appreciation. Their constructive destructive criticism spam does sound pretty dumb, indeed. That kind of posts must stop. I have complained about it for the administrators and moderators for several times, and they promised to do something about, but it seems these "FF sux!!" threads are increasing all the time, despite the valiant efforts of the forum staff. The bashing has gone too extreme, and my estimation of the situation is that it won't stop without taking actions against it. Thus, I support The Man's suggestion of declaring unintelligent Final Fantasy thrashing threads "spam".

[Spuuky]

There really isn't much left to add. If someone doesn't like a game, they should just avoid the lobby it belongs in, and avoid threads that bring it up in General Squaresoft. It's totally unnecessary.

[Bahamut2000X]

I agree I hate how people don't even back up a reason for disliking anything. They just say"It sucks because it does" and that just has no real purpose as they can't give legitamet reasons as to why they dislike it. I mean I really disliked FFVIII but at least I list the reasons as to why I disliked it rather then just say "because".

[Dr Unne]

What's wrong with expressing dislike for a game? As long as people aren't insulting other people, who cares? Video game characters are make-believe. They don't mind being insulted. As far as "not having good reasons", what constitutes a "good" reason for disliking a game is entirely a matter of opinion. If someone dislikes FF7 because they think Cloud looks like a goon, that's fine. Feel free to reply and try to prove them wrong or just ignore them. I see no reason to stop people from saying bad things about the games.

The idea that it hurts when someone insults a game you like is kind of silly to me, but maybe I'm wrong. I love FF1 more than most people like their favorite games probably, but if someone started making fun of it I couldn't care less. It's just a GAME.

Using profanity though, that's against the rules. We ought not allow that. Or insulting other board members. That's wrong. Insulting a game though? Who cares?

Quote by someone (I can't remember who), "We can't ban people for being idiots". That'd be unfair.

[Bahamut2000X]

We arn't saying that it's wrong for them to say they dislike the game. What we are saying is that they shouldn't just post they hate it with out giving any legitimate reasons like The Man said.

FF[number] sux hard and the main character is gay, he looks like a monkey/freak/gay/idiot/asshole/alien/physcho/lunatic/retard and he couldn't get in a girl's pants even if he tried harder than the villain tries to destroy the world. He looks super-lame when he tries to wield his sword, and it's a miracle that the world managed to get saved at all with such a moron at the helm of the heroes' party. What a faggot.

That is what we are again't. All they are doing is posting pointless spam without backing up what they are saying. What is in the quote is their only reason to back up their post.

[Dr Unne]

"I love FF1! Who's with me!"

Those threads are allowed. Encouraged, I bet.

"What's your favorite FF? Mine's FF1."

So are those threads. No reasoning there at all. "What's your favorite FF" threads pop up once every couple weeks in every game forum here.

[The Man]

Those aren't negative. That's the difference.

Peace
The Man

[Dr Unne]

We can't ban everyone who's negative. I'm negative myself. Should I be banned because I hate Black Belts in FF1 and constantly make fun of them? Often quoting my #1 favorite reason, "They smell funny"? Talking about how they get beaten up by dirty socks and squirrels? All of which I've posted repeatedly. I don't think those sorts of things are ban-worthy or even warn-worthy. They're opinions, that's all.

[The Man]

Yes, but continual negativity is never good. People don't come to the fora to see their favourite game continually get bashed. If they continually see their favourite game get bashed, then either they'll stop going to the fora or they'll stop being happy. Neither of those options is good.

I don't think that banning is necessarily a good option for people like that, but on the other hand, it's not good to let them continue making comments like "the main character of FF9 is gay." Those suck, and I think that people who utter such statements should be taken aside by one of the staffers and talked to.

On the other hand, Brian, you're hardly negative all the time; in fact, you're positive just as much as negative, if not more, in my experience. I always look forward to reading your posts, which is more than I can say for those who utter such statements as the aforementioned FFIX comment.

Peace
The Man

[Garland]

I think its an issue of wording. Saying "I don't like black belts because they smell funny" or "A black belt would lose in a fight to a dirty sock" is mild, and generally humorous. None of said quotes have ever sparked a hostile response. Criticism without evidence doesn't have to be offensive. If the tone of the post is confrontational, that could be a problem - like the example post of The Man and Bahamut. It's clearly intended to spark flaming. I don't think all oppinion posts, positive or negative, should be labelled as spam. They can be just as pointful as any other post. And of course, like any other post, they aren't allowed to be blatantly offensive anyway.

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

Originally posted by Dr Unne
"We can't ban people for being idiots". That'd be unfair.

I ban people for being idiots, and that includes the profane people who express their opinions in such a stupid manner that inspired this thread. Yes, what's "stupid" and what isn't are completely subjective matters, but I'm a member of the staff and I sometimes have to make judgments like that. And perhaps unsurprisingly, I'm not going to take it seriously when someone tries to stick up for //~*DaRkNeSs_BlOoD_cHiLd*\\\'s right to go on about how very, very "gay" Zidane's pants are. Sorry.

[Dr Unne]

We can't ban people JUST for being idiots. Banning them for being a jerk though, that's OK. There's a difference, right?

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

Of course. Idiots are just dumb, but jerks are loud and dumb.

[Dr Unne]

Yeah, we ban people for being loud, not for being dumb. Beind dumb is OK. Some of us can't help it. Just because we make dumb statements without backing them up with anything doesn't mean we ought to be banned.