Rock, Paper, Shotgun - Top Ten Things that Made People Mad in @ 2008

LMAO, you guys are still at it. It's a little gay to get upset over 1 word that wasn't even an insult Oh well, I guess it's called for in a thread titled "Top ten things that made people mad ...."

I haven't seen too many screenshots for D3 yet, but from the way everyone is talking I'm expecting rainbows, bunnies and pissy hair stylists with lisps. I wonder do they have Big Gay Al in the game?

Top ten things that made people mad this year

1. gayness
2. People who overreact

Right. I thought I should write a list over some of my greatest disappointments of 2008.

Alone in the Dark
some day I would be interested to write an article about "what went wrong with Alone in the Dark" and it's going to be a sad tale indeed, with the recent fifth game as a gravestone. AitD is so... weird... that it have to been played to make you know how bad it is.

Far Cry 2
Great engine, a really superb sandbox system... and still so incredibly boring. This is one game in which you will find that taking yourself to your mission will take up ten times more time than actually doing the mission. After doing the same sixty times over, you need nerves of steel to keep playing.

Mass Effect
Mass Effect made me understand that the future of Biowares previous greatness is probably dead now. Storywise just great, as ever, but beneath the graphics and story you have razor thin gamemechanics, including not only a so dumbed down dialogue system that dialogue ends up pointless, but also probably the worst Inventory system I have seen up to date. Not to mention that generated content will always feel hollow, empty and repetitive.

Penumbra Chapter 3: Requiem
Take one of the greater horror experiences in years and mix it with Portal and you get Requiem. I do not even know if I can recommend the game for fans of the previous titles, it's just that far from what made the previous titles great.

Silent Hill: Homecoming
Could it be that bad? Well, SH5 is an actiongame. Both the emotion and the psychological horror that made previous titles so great is gone in the fifth title, leaving very little left.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R Clear Sky
Clear Sky borrows all the greatness from Shadows of Chernobyl but adds nothing new... and where did the story go? A waste indeed.

Star Wars: Unleashed
So much promise, and you end up with this, a generic game with bad controls that made even those who hyped the most disappointed.

xSamhainx said:

Just as long as Diablo doesnt swish out looking like Boy George or something I'll be fine w/ it. After all, I'm paying to see a dark overlord here. Otherwise, what he does in the privacy of his own infernal pit on his off time is his own business.

Click to expand...

Ever see Satan in South Park?

JemyM said:

Right. I thought I should write a list over some of my greatest disappointments of 2008.

Click to expand...

Different thread.

Essaliad is sure behaving like a gay nigger.
Carlos Mencia sends his regards

I think that the problem is that using the term 'gay' has *only* negative implications and also immediately says either 'I am 12' or 'I have the mental age of a 12 year old'. None of which casts positive light on the folks who say it. I took it as being directed at the frothing fanbois who act with the 12 year old mentality whenever they see something they don't like and express themselves as indicated ...

Exactly, Mike. If anyone actually read the article, the author is using the phrase as an example and illustration of a point, not as his own observation. It's an over-used, juvenile term of disparagement that says more about the person using it than whoever or whatever it's supposed to malign. I would say it's a lot closer to terms and phrases like bitchin and life's a bitch than racial slurs, and we all know gender slurs are just humor, right? (/slight sarcasm.)

Essaliad said:

I take it you are one of those people who think the word "nigger" ought to be used liberally. To render it meaningless, you know, and everyone should joke about it. Poor sheltered little baby.



What retardery is this? When has the word "atheist" ever been used as an insult? "Infidel" or "godless scum", maybe, but those don't even necessarily refer to atheists. Try to stay coherent.



Would I be correct in guessing that you are white, male, middle-class and heterosexual? Just a guess.

You get over yourself. I suggest keeping in touch with reality, it'll help you sound less like a naive whining child.

Click to expand...

Your ability to communicate in a reasonable fashion that would potentially peak my interest is not detectable. Consider articulating your point in a less hostile manner, but only if you care about people taking notice of what you have to say.

As such, you're on ignore to save time in the future in case I forget your name.

You do seem relatively bright, so it's unfortunate that you don't know how to behave. It could have been an interesting debate.

magerette said:

Exactly, Mike. If anyone actually read the article, the author is using the phrase as an example and illustration of a point, not as his own observation. It's an over-used, juvenile term of disparagement that says more about the person using it than whoever or whatever it's supposed to malign. I would say it's a lot closer to terms and phrases like bitchin and life's a bitch than racial slurs, and we all know gender slurs are just humor, right? (/slight sarcasm.)

Click to expand...

Gender slurs are the same thing. I personally think that while they do say something about the one using them, my point was that the reaction from the subject in question says just as much.

Not all cases call for an immediate negative response. It's what I meant by people being uptight in many cases - but that's because I propose that what some take as a personal insult, can be taken as lighthearted jest by others. There's no objective meaning that everyone is following, which is why it's illogical and quite unreasonable to assume you know exactly what was meant unless you dig deeper.

Agreed, D'artagnan. There's no doubt the plague of political correctness has taken a toll on society's collective sense of humor. Also, of course, sometimes people don't see the impact a casual unmeaning remark can have on someone else who doesn't share their POV.

skavenhorde said:

LMAO, you guys are still at it. It's a little gay to get upset over 1 word that wasn't even an insult Oh well, I guess it's called for in a thread titled "Top ten things that made people mad ...."

Click to expand...

Oh. Oh, I see, RPGWatch is striving toward the ideal of RPGCodex! Man, people should've given me that memo, so I can go around calling people fornicators of their mothers.

magerette said:

Agreed, D'artagnan. There's no doubt the plague of political correctness has taken a toll on society's collective sense of humor. Also, of course, sometimes people don't see the impact a casual unmeaning remark can have on someone else who doesn't share their POV.

Click to expand...

While I've already acknowledged that the writers of this article were using the word in irony, people who go the opposite of "the PC police" are just as irritating. Trivializing the problem will not make it go away, and "reclaiming" the words only works if you're part of the minority in question--that's why no one will blink twice when a black person were to use "nigger" in a joking context, for example. When you happen to be part of the dominating majority and you keep insist on solving the problem by an "oh, let's just joke about it," it tends to be your privilege showing. Hence the white, middle-class heterosexual male guess. You don't speak for homosexuals or people of color, thanks.

magerette said:

Agreed, D'artagnan. There's no doubt the plague of political correctness has taken a toll on society's collective sense of humor. Also, of course, sometimes people don't see the impact a casual unmeaning remark can have on someone else who doesn't share their POV.

Click to expand...

I agree that it's a two-way street. But I do like to tease, and I see no reason why gender, race, or sexual orientaton couldn't be brought up as a friendly way of pointing out idiosyncrasies. It's not like women are the same as men, or homosexuals are identical to heteroesexuals. Cultural and racial differences are equally present, and I would love for us to celebrate all these differences, even if it means joking about it.

I find that people generally react very positively when I kid around with them about their race or sexuality, because they know there's no harm intended - though I do encounter some scepticism until people understand where I'm coming from. It's a healthy and natural aspect of humanity to be different, and I wish most people weren't so afraid to speak up.

I think the problem this discussion--and indeed, the article, kind of points up in a back-handed way is the one we all face when trying to get humor or the inclusive rather than exclusive kidding you're driving at across on the internets just using short bursts of the written word and a flying emoticon. It's very hard sometimes to duplicate the body language and facial expressions that show the humor is with you not at you.

Essaliad said:

I take it you are one of those people who think the word "nigger" ought to be used liberally. To render it meaningless, you know, and everyone should joke about it. Poor sheltered little baby.

Click to expand...

I recently read about a study about people with relatively dark skin and their plce in U.S. society.

In that quote, the student making that study was told by one of them, that they actually call themselves "nigger", because they use it as some kind of word to describe their own social group.

This was quite astonishing to myself, that a group would include a word that's actually *normally* used as an offense against them, as their own word to describe themselves as a social group.

Of course, this was a relatively limited group, as far as I understood it, and they considered themselves to be so-to-say the bottom of all social groups. As far as i understood it.

I'm still astonished.

Essaliad said:

Would I be correct in guessing that you are white, male, middle-class and heterosexual? Just a guess.

Click to expand...

This is just too short-sighted.

You can define a group over thousands of more "markers" than just the socuial class, the race, and the sexual orientation.

There are groups that use *different* "markers" than tht which are even more weird. Collectors of any kind, for example. I've seen people collect *weird* things with the label "Star Wars" on it, for example.

Alrik Fassbauer said:

I recently read about a study about people with relatively dark skin and their plce in U.S. society.

In that quote, the student making that study was told by one of them, that they actually call themselves "nigger", because they use it as some kind of word to describe their own social group.

This was quite astonishing to myself, that a group would include a word that's actually *normally* used as an offense against them, as their own word to describe themselves as a social group.

Click to expand...

That is what I meant when I said:

Trivializing the problem will not make it go away, and "reclaiming" the words only works if you're part of the minority in question--that's why no one will blink twice when a black person were to use "nigger" in a joking context, for example.

Click to expand...

A member of the minority using it, and a member of the majority using it, are two completely different things. Of course, while some people do this to "reclaim" the word and leech it of power, others still do so because to them this word is the worst of insults: they've assimilated the majority's connotations of the word "nigger," and in the same stroke developed an attitude of self-hate. It happens. This is why it's possible to have female misogynists. ("Gosh, I hate girls, girls are so stupid and only think about fashion and boys, how brainless! But I'm different, I'm one of the boys!")

DArtagnan said:

I agree that it's a two-way street. But I do like to tease, and I see no reason why gender, race, or sexual orientaton couldn't be brought up as a friendly way of pointing out idiosyncrasies. It's not like women are the same as men, or homosexuals are identical to heteroesexuals. Cultural and racial differences are equally present, and I would love for us to celebrate all these differences, even if it means joking about it.

Click to expand...

Wow. I know this person is ignoring me, but seriously, what? This is genuinely telling. What, precisely, is different between homosexuals and heterosexuals apart from their sexual preferences? And thinking that using ethnic/sexual slurs even in jokes is a way to "celebrate differences" is absolutely repulsive. This whole trivializing ignores indoctrination, religious beliefs (yes, those play a part), and so on. All things that can't be willed away by singing "Whyyy can't we get aloong, let's call everyone gay niggers and let no one be offended!"

This just gets funnier and funnier!

Essaliad said:

While I've already acknowledged that the writers of this article were using the word in irony, people who go the opposite of "the PC police" are just as irritating. Trivializing the problem will not make it go away, and "reclaiming" the words only works if you're part of the minority in question--that's why no one will blink twice when a black person were to use "nigger" in a joking context, for example. When you happen to be part of the dominating majority and you keep insist on solving the problem by an "oh, let's just joke about it," it tends to be your privilege showing. Hence the white, middle-class heterosexual male guess. You don't speak for homosexuals or people of color, thanks.

Click to expand...

You have a point, but actually, trivializing and ridiculing a false attitude can be a very effective form of increasing people's awareness, and also of de-powering it. Gallows or black humor is a case in point--no, evil doesn't go away, death isn't intrinsically funny, but something in the human beast finds solace in making fun of that which it fears and thus coming to terms with it. I would say for the 14 year olds who originated the slang use of 'gay' as an epithet, that fear of being seen as different in any way from one's peers is a powerful factor.

Joking about your sexuality, your personal traits, etc, is part of accepting yourself. As you say, it's not menacing when one does it oneself, only when one isn't sure of the sympathy of the other making the joke. If someone whom you trust jokes about your sexuality, or some other personal trait, it's as funny as if you did it yourself if the intent is not hurtful.

My bombastic theory on it, anyway.

Guys think for one second, please. You are arguing, dissecting, analyzing and overeacting to the word "GAYNESS" at first and now it has snowballed into whatever this is. Last time I checked it was a silly word. That's it, just silly. You can go up to someone and say "Too much gayness" and what the hell does that mean? Well it means the person saying it is a child.

I hate to pop Ess's bubble of racism, but I'm sorry it just isn't racist at all to say that. There is a certain style associated with being gay. Sorry, we're not all equel, most gay people have a hell of a lot more style than most of us and especially me.

Ehh forget this, I give up. Essalaid if you think this has become Codex your nuts, I was laughing at you. Your reactions are a priceless example of the Angry Internet Man. You brought racism, gay bashing, African-Americans, and just about every other example you could think of to a word that is meant for people with 12 year old personalities. So go ahead be outraged. Be the best Angry Internet Man you can be. But have fun without me, this just isn't funny anymore. It's a little sad.

Movie:
Talladega Nights
Quote:
The rooms startin to spin... cause of all the gayness. Wow... Dennit hired a gay French guy as your teammate!
Funny, yes.
Hateful and mean, No.

magerette said:

You have a point, but actually, trivializing and ridiculing a false attitude can be a very effective form of increasing people's awareness, and also of de-powering it. Gallows or black humor is a case in point--no, evil doesn't go away, death isn't intrinsically funny, but something in the human beast finds solace in making fun of that which it fears and thus coming to terms with it. I would say for the 14 year olds who originated the slang use of 'gay' as an epithet, that fear of being seen as different in any way from one's peers is a powerful factor.

Click to expand...

See, I don't think the things being advocated in this thread ("call everyone GAY NIGGERS, it's so edgy and SO FUNNY HAR HAR") ridicule or depower these terms. If anything, they reaffirm them. Gallows humor is different. Death happens to everybody, after all.

skavenhorde said:

I hate to pop Ess's bubble of racism, but I'm sorry it just isn't racist at all to say that. There is a certain style associated with being gay. Sorry, we're not all equel, most gay people have a hell of a lot more style than most of us and especially me.

Click to expand...

Bubble of racism? Are you speaking Martian? Do you think homosexual people are a separate race? That's... special.

But have fun without me, this just isn't funny anymore. It's a little sad.

Click to expand...

That's all right. I find the way you take pride in things nobody should take pride in is simply tragic. Maybe one day you'll grow out of it?

JDR13 said:

Different thread.

Click to expand...

Indeed. I was kinda in a hurry and didn't check well what the thread was about.