Exactly sixteen years ago, I was persuaded to write a similar article for Doupě magazine, and although I had some doubts about the usefulness of such a text, it ended up being an amazingly popular article, for which I received positive feedback from readers for years. later. But today we live in a noticeably different time, and it is clear to me that the very word “advice” in the title can “turn on” some (they say “No one can give me advice, Grrr!”), as well as the content of the following paragraphs. Whereas in 2005 I discussed the importance of health, work-life balance, or the value of human happiness, now I’m older and my days are filled with somewhat less romantic and somewhat more “political” considerations or topics. Therefore, I expect that this time the reaction will not be so positive. However, I think that today’s holiday is a good opportunity for such an experiment.
1. Self-destructive toxicity
I deliberately left out the “popular” word toxicity, but you all know exactly what topic I mean. Unfortunately, sharply negative, and often openly aggressive behavior is becoming the norm not only on gaming forums or social networks, but also in modern society. Of course, the pandemic and its intensity of emotions also contributed to this, but the increase in toxicity could be traced before, on the playing field, for example, among the “fans” of various platforms. When I joined Zing in September 2019, we were still pretty consistent in trying to moderate these kinds of things in discussions. But as traffic has grown (Zing’s readership has quadrupled in the past two years), I’ve slowly come to realize that many people simply can’t or won’t politely express their opinions or disagreements. And their removal from web pages then led to a poorer discussion that lacked the diversity of opinions that is very important for a richer and more objective perception and understanding of games and the people around us. Personally, I really enjoy discussing something with someone who has a different perspective on it than I do – and I almost always come out of such a discussion enriched, with an expanded outlook.
Many people simply do not know how to politely express their opinion or disagreement.
Even before the advent of the Internet, we had similar passionate discussions of people with different opinions in person, face to face, for example, at the Brno Otak community meetings or the Final Fantasy fan community. And those were some of the best discussions I’ve ever had on the topic of games (or anime, manga, and more). We were united by a passion for the same things or topics, which we then passionately discussed from top to bottom. And although we often disagreed, the discussions were all the more interesting and mutually informative. From time to time I manage to experience the same thing on modern discussion forums or social networks, but in all honesty: there are fewer and fewer people who want to write down their opinion well and decently. And this is definitely not only Zing’s problem, I see the same thing in all Czech gaming magazines. Foreign media outlets (Gamespot) go so far as to “check” their readers’ discussion histories before posting them to Discord.
Although we disagreed, the discussions were all the more interesting and informative.
But in my first months at Zing, I refused to turn down a single reader, so if the aggressor objected to the deletion of a comment or a temporary ban on editorial email, I patiently explained that the problem was not in the opinion presented by him, but purely in the form how he presented it (vulgarly or openly aggressively attacking specific people in this discussion). And in some places a miracle really happened, the reader understood and accepted the criticism of his speech, as a result of which he returned to the discussion much more constructively. The previous three paragraphs are nothing more than an attempt to remind you that discussing our favorite topics (games) can be enjoyable, interesting, and rewarding. They should be like this. Believe me, then we will all leave them with a better mood. On the contrary, slipping into aggression and toxicity will never help you, neither on the game discussion forum, nor in real life. Only in this way do you discourage and push everyone around you until you are left alone or even worse: you fall into a bubble of equally unpleasant aggressors, where negative emotions bounce off each other like waves and gradually stifle any joy of discussion, because everyone involved will feel frustrated, humiliated, or simply useless.
Slipping into aggression and toxicity will never help you.
2. The usefulness of competition
While Sega does what Nintendo was full of platform wars in the 1990s, the current clashes between “fans” of gaming platforms are far from humor or fun (except for some hilarious memes). Especially on Twitter, these battles reach absolutely absurd proportions, where these people, for example, take a low-quality photo of the TV screen with a mobile phone in order to put a “comparison” high-resolution screenshot from a game on another platform. next to him. The same absurdity was, for example, when the first two major patches for Cyberpunk 2077 existed for a long time, but the opponents of the game persisted, pointing to the state of the game in version 1.0 on older consoles. The senselessness of such “analyses” is usually emphasized by the toxicity of the accompanying texts and comments already mentioned above. Personally, I may have misunderstood the derogatory terms “ponnies” or “xbots” at first, but after a while I started saying the same words to some “fans” of the platforms in my mind. Again, the more aggressively someone defends his opinion, the more stupid and useless he actually acts.
Especially on Twitter, these battles reach absolutely absurd proportions.
At the same time, competition is clearly healthy and beneficial for everyone. The more expensive and narrative games PlayStation Studios releases, the more Xbox will try to catch and encourage similarly strong titles. The more profitable and popular the Game Pass subscription, the more Sony will try to offer an equally profitable model. The more distinctive and enjoyable Nintendo’s focus on pure gameplay or the enjoyment of their games, the more the entire gaming world will understand why their games are among the most popular and best-selling. The more complex and “customizable” PC games become in terms of content and technology, the more genre diversity and player user freedom will change. And we all carry mobile phones in our pockets, if you haven’t found a great game just for you, then you haven’t searched enough. As someone who has loved games all his life and therefore plays almost everything, on almost all platforms, nothing makes me happier than when a originally exclusive blockbuster on one platform looks at “competing” systems. Why? Simply because it gives more people the opportunity to discover the qualities of a given game, which, among other things, will also support its profits and increase the chances of more such games appearing. It also allowed me to have a good time with Horizon and share my experience with my hardcore PC gamer friends who otherwise would never have opened it.
When one platform’s exclusive blockbuster looks at “competing” systems.
And when I get into the topic of the usefulness of competition between Czech gaming magazines, I think we can easily agree here that it’s great to have a choice and be able to read different opinions about individual games from different authors. Personally, I have a lot of respect for all Czech game journalists, because while this is a very pleasant job (unless you have a devastatingly short embargo around your neck), it is almost never well paid anywhere, and also recently it has become increasingly more and more criticized. which is slightly frustrating. At the same time, we – journalists – are the same players as you, initially, with the only difference that we have gone our way to the pages of magazines. But no one is stopping you from doing the same. When I joined Zing, I was looking for ways to excel, and I’m glad some of them have been helpful to colleagues in competing newsrooms. For example, for writing the hottest articles in the form of “constantly adding details”, some of them initially laughed at me or criticized him for being unprofessional, but today they are already doing the same. Some of the richer people also considered it stupid to publish articles on weekends, but gradually realized that, ignoring this trend, they voluntarily sent us their weekend readers. In short, competition is healthy, represents the most effective motivation for the improvement of all “competitors”, and it is obvious that the public, readers and customers benefit most from balanced competition. So you don’t want a competing platform or magazine to crash and your favorite stop working better.
Have a choice, read different opinions on individual games from different authors.
3. We have a great hobby
The tendency to swear at one’s own tastes and claim that “games aren’t what they used to be” is spreading among gamers. Reading some of the comments or listening to some of the outpourings, one can easily get the impression that the games go from ten to five and that the corporation is stifling all originality in favor of setting hodgepodges and absurd monetization strategies. Unfortunately, this is very effectively supported by some Youtube bloggers who have long since discovered the sad truth that a negative caption or video preview is several times more effective at capturing attention than a positive one. I’m not saying some of these things aren’t true – EA or Activision, for example, clearly deserve a lot of criticism in recent years. However, in the meantime, we’ve been given Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, It Takes Two, or Warzone. While some lament that 2021 has been frankly a weak year for gaming (it’s true we didn’t have a single decimal point review on Zing this year), I’ve actually been pleasantly surprised many times throughout the year. small and big games, from Loop Hero to Returnal and beyond Inscryption. The truth is that with modern development tools, crowdfunding services and digital platforms, we are getting more and more diverse gaming experiences, while at the top of the food chain, companies like Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo are investing more and more in constantly creating art. and technical marvels.
We are getting an increasingly diverse range of gaming experiences.
As a reviewer, I’m lucky that it’s my job to constantly sample the best of the game’s menu every month, but even so, I’m sometimes overwhelmed by the frustration that some players are spreading around. But no one is forcing you to buy and play broken and unfinished shooters. If you already have a toothy Far Cry template, it is clear that the sixth part is not for you. So don’t waste your time on these things and give the works a chance, more honest or creative: the choice is getting bigger, whether it’s Hell Let Loose or Hades. It’s also entirely possible that you’re just old and won’t get used to some new things so easily. Then there’s nothing wrong with returning to your favorite classics and playing Doom or your favorite part of Zelda. Personally, I try to maintain my own overview of events and opinions across the entire gaming spectrum, so I deliberately bite through even the most poisonous outpourings of Youtube. But I regularly go for the necessary and very pleasant “cleansing” with frankly positive and pleasant players, such as Kyle Bosman or Hannah. Take the links to them as my Christmas present to you.
Source :Indian TV
