Congratulations, you are the reason I keep seeing 30 paragraph long guest articles on gender tolerance instead of gaming articles. Yes, you, m1nd, are part of the problem with your narrow-mindedness and bigotry. This seems to be your first post, and I definitely hope it is your last as well. As this comment has already been approved for some reason, I would ask that it now be wished away to the cornfield. Anthony?
(Yes, I realized it was posted two days ago. Age, however, hasn't made it any less uninformed or offensive.)
Thank you, Fahey, for the Phantom Dust shout out. I loved that game!
And...hearted.
Anyway, while I may not 100% agree with everything you say (I still feel complaining is less productive than showing yourself as an example), You've brought up the core of the problem without a "look at me" attitude (the main problem I had with Mattie's post). You are right in the fact that something needs to be done, but it is a sensitive situation.
Someone in this topic made a joke about writing more articles for Canadian latinos. I found it amusing, but Joel happened to cornfield it. Is this a serious subject? Very much so, but I find a little bit of levity can sometimes put things into perspective. By contrast, you may find the whole thing mocking and immature (not saying you do, just an example). Which one of us is right? Whose decision is it?
I hate Fred Phelps, but when you (not you personally, obviously) try to take away his freedom of speech, you start to cross into the orwellian, in my opinion. You can't constitute right and wrong by societal majorities, or else Kotaku would be filled with nothing but racial/gender slurs. There is a code of conduct, but that changes over time as well.
The other problem is what is considered offensive. I thought queer was an offensive slur, but I find many people (such as The Border House) are okay with it. On the flip side, I don't necessarily see Tranny as derogatory, but I don't use the term because I know many find it offensive. Now, there is starting to be a movement for the term cisgendered, which convolutes things even more. Obviously, context is a key part of the conversation, but even that is a bit of a judgement call.
Your LGBT activity works well in a physically social setting, but fails miserably in an internet based one. Anonymity lets people think they are invincible, and it's hard to be held accountable when you can change your name on nearly any website. From a business standpoint (and I hate to say this, because I realize it's an asshole statement, but it is unfortunately a true point), the more that Kotaku pushes down on people, the less page views they get. The flip side to this is that they are a nationally known entity and as such need to work on peoples perception of them, which is obviously bad (for so many reasons in addition to and beyond the scope of this conversation).
So, yes, I do miss Banhammer Mondays, but I worry about who would hold the hammer these days. I got my star for basically telling one of the editors to grow up and quit using Giz as his personal blog (obviously I'm oversimplifying, but that's the gist). That would likely get me banned these days. Hell, there are days and comments where I'm shocked I'm not banned. Ban people for racial/gender slurs, definitely. Just watch where you draw the line on that, I think.
(By the way, thank you for not pulling the "you aren't ______, so you don't understand" comment. It's one of the reasons I rarely discuss these issues, and I feel like it's a crutch that taints the subject unnecessarily. I am more than capable of using my own tribulations to empathize with a given issue. My problems aren't better or worse because of how I was born, they are just different. I do my best not to lump people into one category to suit my needs, and It's refreshing to see that you don't either).
Anyway, while I may not 100% agree with everything you say (I still feel complaining is less productive than showing yourself as an example), You've brought up the core of the problem without a "look at me" attitude (the main problem I had with Mattie's post). You are right in the fact that something needs to be done, but it is a sensitive situation.
Someone in this topic made a joke about writing more articles for Canadian latinos. I found it amusing, but Joel happened to cornfield it. Is this a serious subject? Very much so, but I find a little bit of levity can sometimes put things into perspective. By contrast, you may find the whole thing mocking and immature (not saying you do, just an example). Which one of us is right? Whose decision is it?
I hate Fred Phelps, but when you (not you personally, obviously) try to take away his freedom of speech, you start to cross into the orwellian, in my opinion. You can't constitute right and wrong by societal majorities, or else Kotaku would be filled with nothing but racial/gender slurs. There is a code of conduct, but that changes over time as well.
The other problem is what is considered offensive. I thought queer was an offensive slur, but I find many people (such as The Border House) are okay with it. On the flip side, I don't necessarily see Tranny as derogatory, but I don't use the term because I know many find it offensive. Now, there is starting to be a movement for the term cisgendered, which convolutes things even more. Obviously, context is a key part of the conversation, but even that is a bit of a judgement call.
Your LGBT activity works well in a physically social setting, but fails miserably in an internet based one. Anonymity lets people think they are invincible, and it's hard to be held accountable when you can change your name on nearly any website. From a business standpoint (and I hate to say this, because I realize it's an asshole statement, but it is unfortunately a true point), the more that Kotaku pushes down on people, the less page views they get. The flip side to this is that they are a nationally known entity and as such need to work on peoples perception of them, which is obviously bad (for so many reasons in addition to and beyond the scope of this conversation).
So, yes, I do miss Banhammer Mondays, but I worry about who would hold the hammer these days. I got my star for basically telling one of the editors to grow up and quit using Giz as his personal blog (obviously I'm oversimplifying, but that's the gist). That would likely get me banned these days. Hell, there are days and comments where I'm shocked I'm not banned. Ban people for racial/gender slurs, definitely. Just watch where you draw the line on that, I think.
(By the way, thank you for not pulling the "you aren't ______, so you don't understand" comment. It's one of the reasons I rarely discuss these issues, and I feel like it's a crutch that taints the subject unnecessarily. I am more than capable of using my own tribulations to empathize with a given issue. My problems aren't better or worse because of how I was born, they are just different. I do my best not to lump people into one category to suit my needs, and It's refreshing to see that you don't either).
But thats what seems to be missing here...with all due respect, I don't that you're ________, because it doesn't matter on Kotaku, the gaming site. I'm not gay, but I've been called a f**. I'm not black, but I've been called a n*****. I'm not defending their right to say it, but I'm not wasting everybody elses time by complaining about it. Everybody gets shit on. You don't have to take it, but you aren't making a difference by compaining.
Earlier, I suggested to Mattie that she educate people. I didn't mean that she should try to cleverly outwit them (a decently easy feat, as you friend Big Tony has already mentioned). What I did mean was that there was no reason for her to put herself up as a target because it's not helping her or her community. When you meet someone of a specific race/gender/culture and they annoy you, whatever the reason may be, it gives them a negative view on that specific race/gender/culture (assuming that they have not been around them that much).
I'm not saying she (or you) are wrong. I am saying this is a gaming site. There are tons of blacks, latinos, asians and others that come to this website and I would never know which ones were and weren't unless they told me. I wouldn't judge them if I did because it would be foolish to assume anything about anyone based on how they were born. That said, I can't see where it would make a signifigant difference in almost any of these articles.
I actually did check out The Border house a little, specifically the comments about Kotaku regarding this post. Almost every single one was complaining about Joel putting an editors note in there and how offensive it was. The one before that Mattie was complaining about Kotaku's lack of equal opportunity. Joel replied to many of the comments criticizing him and was quickly dismissed. When I was reading io9 (gawkers sci fi blog) regularly, I got tired of reading how anti-christian they were, so I stopped going. I felt no reason to draw attention to myself or bash them on another site.
I'm not saying go away. I'm saying not everything can cater to everyone. I don't go to ign for news because I feel the writers are childish and pandering. I'm sure there are some that have ign as their trusted news site. A quick run to the border house told me that I won't be going there because I want to read about gaming on my gaming blog, not social issues. I'm glad mattie enjoys it there, but I wouldn't go on there and complain about how it discriminates me and I doubt they would be gracious enough to print my article if I did.
This was, as usual with my posts, way longer than I intended and not all directed at you. I replied to your comment not to criticize or even argue, but because I feel you are trying to swim up river, so to speak. My advice is to talk gaming on the gaming site and bond with people for our common interests. If you find any of this offensive, that is your perogative, but was not my intention. I hope you can enjoy Kotaku for the (usually) well-written articles and the the many commenters that do have something smart to say.
Again, sorry for the huge wall of text.
Earlier, I suggested to Mattie that she educate people. I didn't mean that she should try to cleverly outwit them (a decently easy feat, as you friend Big Tony has already mentioned). What I did mean was that there was no reason for her to put herself up as a target because it's not helping her or her community. When you meet someone of a specific race/gender/culture and they annoy you, whatever the reason may be, it gives them a negative view on that specific race/gender/culture (assuming that they have not been around them that much).
I'm not saying she (or you) are wrong. I am saying this is a gaming site. There are tons of blacks, latinos, asians and others that come to this website and I would never know which ones were and weren't unless they told me. I wouldn't judge them if I did because it would be foolish to assume anything about anyone based on how they were born. That said, I can't see where it would make a signifigant difference in almost any of these articles.
I actually did check out The Border house a little, specifically the comments about Kotaku regarding this post. Almost every single one was complaining about Joel putting an editors note in there and how offensive it was. The one before that Mattie was complaining about Kotaku's lack of equal opportunity. Joel replied to many of the comments criticizing him and was quickly dismissed. When I was reading io9 (gawkers sci fi blog) regularly, I got tired of reading how anti-christian they were, so I stopped going. I felt no reason to draw attention to myself or bash them on another site.
I'm not saying go away. I'm saying not everything can cater to everyone. I don't go to ign for news because I feel the writers are childish and pandering. I'm sure there are some that have ign as their trusted news site. A quick run to the border house told me that I won't be going there because I want to read about gaming on my gaming blog, not social issues. I'm glad mattie enjoys it there, but I wouldn't go on there and complain about how it discriminates me and I doubt they would be gracious enough to print my article if I did.
This was, as usual with my posts, way longer than I intended and not all directed at you. I replied to your comment not to criticize or even argue, but because I feel you are trying to swim up river, so to speak. My advice is to talk gaming on the gaming site and bond with people for our common interests. If you find any of this offensive, that is your perogative, but was not my intention. I hope you can enjoy Kotaku for the (usually) well-written articles and the the many commenters that do have something smart to say.
Again, sorry for the huge wall of text.
As others have stated, you are disguising a maturity issue with a gender issue. While gender does occasionally come up on the gawker boards, people usually go onto Kotaku to talk about games. The only time I have even mentioned my race or gender was on a Gizmodo column about the whitewashing of The Last Airbender. I don't need to state that I am a white male (yes, I am, sorry if that puts me in an evil majority, but I didn't choose my parents) to talk about how badass Skyrim is. My views on Halo come from me being a gamer, not from my gender. While I could see that a transgendered person might be offended that there are about zero games with a transgendered main character, I don't think it's worth attacking Kotaku about.
Yes, there are assholes on Kotaku, more and more each day. It's one of the reasons I have become more of a lurker than a commenter. That said, I've had my share of being told that I don't know what I'm talking about and that I'm an asshole and blah blah blah. Hell, I was once told that I played a game on xbox live so bad that I should "sell my console back to the store because I'm a F****t." Most of us have gotten some comment like that or worse. I've never really been racially or genderly called out for it (except the aforementioned thing on Gizmodo), but I don't advertise my information on here. Who I am rarely has much to do with what games I enjoy playing.
I'm not going to tell you that you aren't going to get crap for being transgendered. You are, just about everywhere that isn't catered to sites that aren't transgendered. It's the way of life. People have negative opinions on me because I'm white and like rap (the old stuff, death row, wu tang, not the more recent stuff). I shrug it off. There's hate in the world and no matter how well you write an article (and this one is pretty well written), it doesn't change the fact that some people are going to dislike you for who you are. Educating the stupid goes much further than complaining about the site.
If you are really going to ignore this site because you are attacked, that is your loss. The majority of us have been persecuted for something throughout our lives (at least those of us old enough to game before it was seen as socially acceptable). I've been picked on and pushed around by almost every race (and gender) at some point in my life. There's bad people out there and you have to develop a tough skin, because humanity isn't great. If you police the site to the point where everything has to be approved by all societal boundaries, you lose some of the conversation. I know many of us stay here because of the comments (the less troll-based ones). If I were to say something that offended somebody, it would not make my point necessarily invalid.
I realize I'm rambling and that you may not even read this, but it is an attempt at help. I can't know exactly what you go through on a daily basis. I do know what it's like to be criticized for things you have little control over (gender, race, income, where you were raised, even who you associate with can all be things that yo can be terrorized for). The decisions you have made(or how you were born, I'm not really going to argue one way or another) are going to piss off somebody. I can empathize with you, because we've all been there. The problem is, you will never change things by attacking your attackers or attempting to be a martyr for your cause.
Again, sorry for the length.
Yes, there are assholes on Kotaku, more and more each day. It's one of the reasons I have become more of a lurker than a commenter. That said, I've had my share of being told that I don't know what I'm talking about and that I'm an asshole and blah blah blah. Hell, I was once told that I played a game on xbox live so bad that I should "sell my console back to the store because I'm a F****t." Most of us have gotten some comment like that or worse. I've never really been racially or genderly called out for it (except the aforementioned thing on Gizmodo), but I don't advertise my information on here. Who I am rarely has much to do with what games I enjoy playing.
I'm not going to tell you that you aren't going to get crap for being transgendered. You are, just about everywhere that isn't catered to sites that aren't transgendered. It's the way of life. People have negative opinions on me because I'm white and like rap (the old stuff, death row, wu tang, not the more recent stuff). I shrug it off. There's hate in the world and no matter how well you write an article (and this one is pretty well written), it doesn't change the fact that some people are going to dislike you for who you are. Educating the stupid goes much further than complaining about the site.
If you are really going to ignore this site because you are attacked, that is your loss. The majority of us have been persecuted for something throughout our lives (at least those of us old enough to game before it was seen as socially acceptable). I've been picked on and pushed around by almost every race (and gender) at some point in my life. There's bad people out there and you have to develop a tough skin, because humanity isn't great. If you police the site to the point where everything has to be approved by all societal boundaries, you lose some of the conversation. I know many of us stay here because of the comments (the less troll-based ones). If I were to say something that offended somebody, it would not make my point necessarily invalid.
I realize I'm rambling and that you may not even read this, but it is an attempt at help. I can't know exactly what you go through on a daily basis. I do know what it's like to be criticized for things you have little control over (gender, race, income, where you were raised, even who you associate with can all be things that yo can be terrorized for). The decisions you have made(or how you were born, I'm not really going to argue one way or another) are going to piss off somebody. I can empathize with you, because we've all been there. The problem is, you will never change things by attacking your attackers or attempting to be a martyr for your cause.
Again, sorry for the length.
I like to use Evernote for my journal needs. It may not be as fancy, but it works for me. As a matter of fact, I like to use Evernote for pretty much everything, now that I think about it. It's damn useful.
Thanks! That made my day!
Actually, back in the day, the star (while still a bit of a caste system) was a way for people to promote new readers and get familliar with people that took more time to think out their posts. While some people didn't deserve stars (and at some point others did), it was mostly balanced. Since the reboot (and slightly before, honestly), stars were given out like candy and devalued to crap. When I first got my star, I was pretty proud of it and tried to use it as a community sponsor type of thing. I felt it was my responsibility to feed less trolls and write more important-like. I don't even know these days.
To be fair, Gawker is (somewhat) de-starring when necessary and sometimes people, star or not, have a right to go off. I actually got my star (I think I still have a star, don't really notice anymore) off of a post I thought I was going to get banned for, so there you go. My complaint is that it's not so easy to read people's comments when I actually don't want to see them. I'm not always logged in, so I have to do 2-3 clicks to get it just like I like it (or log in, obviously). I feel the featured thing comes off as elitist, and is more likely to be a dumb joke than a well thought out comment (in my opinion).
Tldr--Stars used to be more meaningful and I apparently don't like writing on topic
PS I'm tired, so if I come off weird in any of what I wrote, just file it under that
Edit: disregard previous edit
To be fair, Gawker is (somewhat) de-starring when necessary and sometimes people, star or not, have a right to go off. I actually got my star (I think I still have a star, don't really notice anymore) off of a post I thought I was going to get banned for, so there you go. My complaint is that it's not so easy to read people's comments when I actually don't want to see them. I'm not always logged in, so I have to do 2-3 clicks to get it just like I like it (or log in, obviously). I feel the featured thing comes off as elitist, and is more likely to be a dumb joke than a well thought out comment (in my opinion).
Tldr--Stars used to be more meaningful and I apparently don't like writing on topic
PS I'm tired, so if I come off weird in any of what I wrote, just file it under that
Edit: disregard previous edit
Eh, I see what you mean, but I think it's intentions are good. I know a few people who have become more active due to foursquare. They will get a notification that a friend is somewhere drinking and join them. While a mass text would do the same thing, most people aren't going to mass text their friends every time they go somewhere. They will unlock a shiny button, though.
Don't get me wrong, I agree it has some pretty hefty safety issues, I just feel it meant well.
@Sam Biddle: People will do more shit if it is fun. A few people have mentioned this already, but nike+ leaderboards encourage activity the same way more people stick to dancing or weight lifting than dieting. If a goal is enjoyable, then it is concievable. There is really nothing wrong with that, assuming it isn't taken too far (which I will admit Badgeville seems to be doing).
Don't get me wrong, I agree it has some pretty hefty safety issues, I just feel it meant well.
@Sam Biddle: People will do more shit if it is fun. A few people have mentioned this already, but nike+ leaderboards encourage activity the same way more people stick to dancing or weight lifting than dieting. If a goal is enjoyable, then it is concievable. There is really nothing wrong with that, assuming it isn't taken too far (which I will admit Badgeville seems to be doing).
So, it's supported by Windows, Mac OS, iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad OS, 360, Wii and Playstation 3(also some tvs defaultly, windows media center, and other assorted junk). It's not supported on Linux, Android, Blackberry, and I imagine most or all dumb phones (the dumb phones is about as much of an argument as saying your typewriter should have Netflix). As far as media devices, I think nearly every device is pretty accurate. I guess this falls under freedom has a price...
Is there a link missing or something? I googled this and it didn't seem racist. #offensive
Not to get in the middle of things, but I thought QMurphys comment was harmless...what's the deal?
I actually agree with this. As a gamefly user, many of the games I play are used, but if I like a game enough, I'll definitely pony up the cash to buy it new. I don't see it as a ripoff at all.
EDIT: Also, I'd much rather have this than some crazy DRM thing, which I am still afraid companies are going to try to do to the 360 discs.
EDIT: Also, I'd much rather have this than some crazy DRM thing, which I am still afraid companies are going to try to do to the 360 discs.
Reminds me of when I used to put my NES cartridges in the toaster...they usually worked fine until I started buttering them.
It was my first thought (and it's true), but it's too damn easy!
These are all very good points...I have nothing else to add
So with the new redesign, I come onto Gawker site A so that I can click a link to Gawker site B for the information because somebody got Gizmodo confused with Twitter...awesome. Thanks for wasting my time. Let me save some of yours.
#cornfield
#cornfield
Also, the awesome Amy Okuda of The Guild fame, right?
Bah...we're living in a day and age where every game has youtube videos and walkthroughs. Super Guide doing it for you is more or less the same thing. I don't know if I would personally use it, but I don't enjoy platformers, so it's a bit of a moot point. If you guys think its a badge of pride to spend 2 hours doing one boss, good for you. Personally, I have better things to do. This isn't multiplayer, it's a single player only thing and Stephen gets no tangible benefits that impede your gaming. A challenge is good when you want one, but sometimes it's more about fun.
@Jaden: Oh, and one more clarification...it seems like this got moved to Gawker media...it was on Kotaku when I wrote it. Sorry if that confuses anybody
