Disappointment with the GB Community Interaction.

This one of the first online communities I've chosen to be a part of, and so far I have been a little disappointed with the community interaction. This isn't to say that I haven't seen some positive interactions here, but most of what I've read in the forums is negativity. Usually people respond to forum posts with what they think is a "clever" "funny" remark. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the first reply to this topic is one of that sort. I have seen some really thoughtful and fun forum posts ruined by the first few commentors. It is very interesting that it is largely the same negative users I see posting time and time again on forums all over Giant Bomb. Anyway, I thought I write this up to express my disappointment with aspects of this community. I have a feeling that many of the users who feel the same as I will not reply because they simply don't participate in the discussion anymore. I would have to say that I don't blame them...I will probably be one of them.

I hear ya man.. Lot of assholes and strange people on here.. Lots of good people too though.

If you don't like it then don't come here. Simple as that.
 
That said, I agree. There are a lot of dicks on these forums, despite the "don't be a dick" rule.

I've seen some questionable things.

I'd like some examples, as I really haven't seen this to be a prevalent issue. There are definitely people who do their best to be jerks or overly snarky, but generally I think responses are good.

Also, I think you'd be surprised how much worse it gets on more popular gaming websites.

Cool

I've also seen good topics ruined in the beginning. By people who put "Clever" remarks:

I think you're taking things a little too seriously. The sarcastic snakiness is mostly for laughs. When it boils down to it, the duders here are pretty cool.

That's life for ya, one fucking disappointment after the other.

Call those mothereffers out. Let's shine a spotlight here, get our hands dirty. I haven't seen anything of the sort but I only check out maybe 10% of forum threads on here.

At first I thought you were disappointed with the community interaction between the Giant Bomb staff and the Community, and stuff like that could change. 
You can't change a community though, it will never happen. Every gaming website community is awesome in the beginning and then it turns to utter shit like the rest of them, sadly.

Yeah, there are definitely some people who throw in a snarky and sarcastic attempt at a joke, and then leave. They never add anything to the discussion, and if they disagree with someone their reasons tend to be along the lines of "Fuck you, you don't know anything."

I just have to assume that they get off to their post count. It's sad stuff, bro.

Well dude it is an online gaming site used by thousands of people. Not to be dick towards gamers (i sort of am a gamer too...) but lots of people in this particular click tend to be self important egotistical tards who think they are a lot smarter than they actually are. Hence all the "clever" comments. Just stick with it and do your thing. You will eventually find people on the site you consider good posters, get involved in some specific game forums maybe, or even start following some of the blogs maybe make your own. There is a decent community here but you do have to sort of find your own slice of it before it pays off.

Come over to NeoGAF, we ban fools that do that.

im old get the fuck off my video game lawn. Especially console noobs and there crap dumb down first person shooters with that slow ass analog stick crap.

I see nothing wrong with this community. It's great compared to a lot that I've been a part of.

Go join other communities and then lets us know how we are. I left IGN because of all the assholes.

@AssInAss said:

Come over to NeoGAF, we ban fools that do that.

Nice avatar.

Also, I lurk GAF a lot, and you guys have more than your share of assholes.

@Cubical said:

im old get the fuck off my video game lawn. Especially console noobs and there crap dumb down first person shooters with that slow ass analog stick crap.

Most games let you change the stick sensitivity if I'm not mistaken. Here I found a picture showing that it's set to 4 and that's actually classed as (High) even though the meter isn't even at half-way. So I'm guessing it can be pretty fast at high sensitivity. I don't know because I don't play FPS games on console either, but I just wanted to make you aware of it.

I think you need some perspective. Go browse around the internet for a while and see how absolutely atrocious some communities are. It's not like this site has the best community or anything but I'll take harmless/stupid jokes over malicious trolling any day. Shit like, "lul you mad nerd? virgin mongloid mad nurd lulz kthnx cy@". That shit is so fucking played out and tired but people still vomit it out onto their keyboards everyday as if they were the first ones to do so. Giant bomb has real discussions and when people don't agree with each other, they articulate why instead of acting like a bi-polar 12 year old with tourettes.

I feel like this isn't really a problem with the Giant Bomb community more so than it is the Internet in general. (I mean look at 4chan, or Reddit, or YouTube comments -- it's inevitable that large communities suffer from people hiding behind practically anonymous identities to be assholes)

People will troll and people will be smartasses, but if we stoop down to their level or throw up our arms in indignant resignation and stop posting than I guess we can say goodbye to insightful discussion over the Internet.

I really enjoy the community, and communities over the Internet in general, so I think it'd just be better if we didn't let this kinda thing get the best of us and continue to keep discussions as thoughtful as possible without letting trolling or related crap get the best of us.

@CaLe said:

@Cubical said:

im old get the fuck off my video game lawn. Especially console noobs and there crap dumb down first person shooters with that slow ass analog stick crap.

Most games let you change the stick sensitivity if I'm not mistaken. Here I found a picture showing that it's set to 4 and that's actually classed as (High) even though the meter isn't even at half-way. So I'm guessing it can be pretty fast at high sensitivity. I don't know because I don't play FPS games on console either, but I just wanted to make you aware of it.

I think he was kidding.

EDIT: I hope he was kidding. I just saw "console noobs and there crap dumb down," etc. and assumed as much.

EDIT 2: Not trying to be a dick; legitimately unsure whether this guy's kidding or not.

This one of the first online communities I've chosen to be a part of

@CaLe said:

@Cubical said:

im old get the fuck off my video game lawn. Especially console noobs and there crap dumb down first person shooters with that slow ass analog stick crap.

Most games let you change the stick sensitivity if I'm not mistaken. Here I found a picture showing that it's set to 4 and that's actually classed as (High) even though the meter isn't even at half-way. So I'm guessing it can be pretty fast at high sensitivity. I don't know because I don't play FPS games on console either, but I just wanted to make you aware of it.

I think he was kidding.

Its becoming a real problem yeah.
 
Some veteran members are feeling a little too welcome here and I hope things change again for the better.
I feel little need to interact as much as I used to, people are either dumb as fuck, closeminded or so set on being a joker that no discussion is possible.

Most of those posts are people who are joking around. Sure, some people succeed and completely derailing discussion, but many threads are ruined by the OP. And, as others have stated, this community is no where near as bad as many of the other gaming websites. If a few "clever" remarks get you that upset, you should probably stay away from forums altogether.

The community here is still better than a lot of other places out there. Is it the best? Of course not, there's always someone trying to be funny and more often than not, failing at it.

Makes you sometimes wish the internet test Will Smith/Norm Chan/Gary Whitta talked about was real eh?

@OfficeBat:

I know what you mean, but I must say I haven't experienced this a lot here. I've been in a few online communities, and I consider this my favourite one. If you want to see a real cynical, wise-ass kind of unfriendly community, go to the forums at deviantART. Lots of internet drama all over this place.

I experienced Giant Bomb as a real nice and friendly community (although or even because it consists mainly of men :D). I had some really nice conversations, deep discussion and interesting arguments here. Wouldn't want to miss it :]

@ZeForgotten said:

@Zenogiasu said:

@CaLe said:

@Cubical said:

im old get the fuck off my video game lawn. Especially console noobs and there crap dumb down first person shooters with that slow ass analog stick crap.

Most games let you change the stick sensitivity if I'm not mistaken. Here I found a picture showing that it's set to 4 and that's actually classed as (High) even though the meter isn't even at half-way. So I'm guessing it can be pretty fast at high sensitivity. I don't know because I don't play FPS games on console either, but I just wanted to make you aware of it.

I think he was kidding.

Eh, no.. no he's not. Trust me

Oh... I see. Welp, I don't quite know what to say, then.

@Zenogiasu said:

@CaLe said:

@Cubical said:

im old get the fuck off my video game lawn. Especially console noobs and there crap dumb down first person shooters with that slow ass analog stick crap.

Most games let you change the stick sensitivity if I'm not mistaken. Here I found a picture showing that it's set to 4 and that's actually classed as (High) even though the meter isn't even at half-way. So I'm guessing it can be pretty fast at high sensitivity. I don't know because I don't play FPS games on console either, but I just wanted to make you aware of it.

I think he was kidding.

EDIT: I hope he was kidding. I just saw "console noobs and there crap dumb down," etc. and assumed as much.

EDIT 2: Not trying to be a dick; legitimately unsure whether this guy's kidding or not.

He's been talking crap about console players at every opportunity. It's like he doesn't remember when games didn't even use the mouse, like Doom. He probably doesn't even remember the days when the only input devices for computers were only keyboards.

these are people who take videogames seriously. people who take the fun-but-meaningless nonsense that constitutes the medium and try to find and a sense of accomplishment in their game playing. people who actually envy the "pro gamers" who play games eight hours a day to be able to win tournaments of absolutely no significance. people who keep playing a game for achievements long after the gameplay is no longer entertaining.

it should be no surprise that positive social interaction would only confuse and annoy most of them

@ajamafalous said:

@OfficeBat said:

This one of the first online communities I've chosen to be a part of

Well, there's your problem. If you think GB is bad you might as well never use any forum ever.

Really, this place is heaven compared to a lot of other online gaming communities.

@OfficeBat Welcome to the internet. Typically people are assholes because of anonymity. No surprise there. However, if you're telling me that you're going to quit having any conversation at all because of the threads here that get buried in people making funny little quips without adding anything to it, you're not helping. Don't complain about how there's no decent conversation and then say you won't have anything to do with it.

As for the people that make those little quips for the sake of cheap laughs, those assholes have also made some good conversation depending on the subject. I wouldn't waste the time hunting for it though, not because it isn't interesting, but because you shouldn't have to hunt for it if you just look for the stuff you're interested in yourself.

Unfortunately that's just a symptom of internet communities in general, doesn't really matter where you go. Once you reach a community of this size, it's difficult to regulate all the actions of the community, especially when it's over things relatively minor, like slightly snarky/sarcastic comments. I tend to lurk forums a lot for the most part because of it, and while GB's hardly a paragon of internet community virtue, it's loads better than a lot of other forums I lurk. In my opinion anyways.

I'm one of those people, like you, who doesn't really participate in this community any more. It's sort of shifted from friendly people looking to have a laugh and make good points into a lot of super self-serious and literal-minded unsocial people who can't interpret any forms of sarcasm or irony and will instantly bite your dick off the moment you speak. It's kinda paralleled the attitude of the staff, I think. When the site started and in its first couple years the crew were really energized (quite literally when they did drink taste tests) and there to have a good time. I find that aspect diminished and now they're mostly pretty bummed about most of the things they do. I thought the addition of Patrick didn't help that much as he's too quick to deconstruct everything into their parts and criticize a lot of things, I think Vinny, Dave and Drew conflicts with this because they're very relaxed, fun and they seem to fall on the positive side of most things while the others seem a bit more jaded the last couple years. I think the community mirrors this, too.

I don't really like most of the people here and they don't like me. I don't mind. I got other things to do.

@Levio said:

these are people who take videogames seriously. people who take the fun-but-meaningless nonsense that constitutes the medium and try to find and a sense of accomplishment in their game playing. people who actually envy the "pro gamers" who play games eight hours a day to be able to win tournaments of absolutely no significance. people who keep playing a game for achievements long after the gameplay is no longer entertaining.

it should be no surprise that positive social interaction would only confuse and annoy most of them

Well that's a bit silly, don't you think? I was lucky enough to attend PAX last year, which is quite literally a massive group of nerds flocking together to play games. It was one of the warmest and most welcoming communities you could imagine. Serious gamers can have positive social interactions.

I don't think the people are the problem, it's just the anonymity the Internet provides. Though I complained earlier, I have to admit that GiantBomb is pretty damn good as far as online gaming communities go. The bar is pretty low, sure, but at least we're above it.

I've always felt Something Awful's system worked really well. By charging you a small amount to create an account, they're basically ransoming your $10 against your good behavior. Do that, set up some simple rules, and have mods who are empowered to enforce them. As a result, SA has many really good communities, as well as a few forums where people can go ahead and be animals if they really want to. It's kind of ironic really, that the behavior that Goons are known for in games isn't tolerated for the most part on the forums, and it's actually pretty intelligent and civilized.

It depends on the topic, if its some guy poring his heart out I try my best to be sensitive, and show my support. Although that doesnt mean I wont share my opinion. But most of the times I will comment with a snark comment, not in a jerky way, but for instance in the Persona Arena - Share your Gamertag/Slink thread, I made a comment, but I fully intend to share my info if I get it.

@TaliciaDragonsong said:

people are either dumb as fuck, closeminded or so set on being a joker that no discussion is possible.

No offence, but that sounds a bit stuck-up :-/

I also think it's not true, while I'm not in this community for as long as you probably are, I made 90% positive experiences here. I even consider some of the arguments I had here positive, because most people actually can articulate their opinion. I also have the impression the GB forums are a lot more civilized than other communities out there :)

@AssInAss said:

Thanks! GAF does have assholes, but if they insult any user directly, that's a no-go. Pretty strict about that.

That's strange, because, to me, it seems that the condescending "lol junior" comments are aplenty over there.

I'd like some examples, as I really haven't seen this to be a prevalent issue. There are definitely people who do their best to be jerks or overly snarky, but generally I think responses are good.

Also, I think you'd be surprised how much worse it gets on more popular gaming websites.

@OfficeBat: I've had a quite a few positive interactions with different community members and a small handful of run-ins with negative members, so overall it's been a good experience. I have little experience with popular gaming forums too, so don't let it deter you from interacting in the threads that appeal to you or keep you from starting your own!

Everybody is different. Just because someone comments on something in a jokey manner doesn't mean they're bad people.  Just ignore the comments you don't like if it bothers you when people are different. 
 
It's the jerks who reply to you just to get you mad that you have to worry about. They are here too, but for most part I laugh at their replys and then ignore it and move on. It's really not that big of a deal.

I have to kinda agree with the OP a little bit. I don't really mind the snark and sarcasm, but what really grinds my gears are those people who post in threads just to tell everyone that they don't care about the subject of the thread, ergo it's not important enough to discuss. I really don't understand why people feel the need to do that. If you're not interested in a particular subject, don't post in the thread and shit on everyone who wants to discuss it.

I hate to be "that guy" but this IS the Internet, man. There's going to be no shortage of cocks no matter where you go. That being said, as someone who's been here since the beginning I do agree that the average amount of jerks has risen, but as the community gets bigger its to be expected.

I think anyone saying how bad this community is is really only looking at the bad parts of it. Yeah, there's a handful of users who make completely useless comments 90% of the time that everyone either entirely ignores or responds to with something along the lines of "don't be a dick", 5% of the time they're being assholes but with some attempt at contributing to the discussion, but even they sometimes have something meaningful to contribute. While that's annoying, I think for the most part the community is pretty good.

The biggest problem I have is more a problem with people in general than something specific to this community. It's that arguments tend to go in circles for 100-300 responses then die off because no one is willing to give any ground under any circumstances.

Good Luck Have Officebat!

@Morrow said:

@TaliciaDragonsong said:

people are either dumb as fuck, closeminded or so set on being a joker that no discussion is possible.

No offence, but that sounds a bit stuck-up :-/

I also think it's not true, while I'm not in this community for as long as you probably are, I made 90% positive experiences here. I even consider some of the arguments I had here positive, because most people actually can articulate their opinion. I also have the impression the GB forums are a lot more civilized than other communities out there :)

Yah, as much as everyone likes to piss on this community, I have been with this community longer then any other forum community before. That is partially because I have yet to be banned. But it is more a factor of me feeling like part of a community. And that my opinions are, at the very least, not dismissed at the mere sight of them. I like these forums because they are both lax, and at the same time mature.

I don't know, I kind of like it!

Eh, its usually the first few comments that are "clever or smart" but if you get into the thread there are some awesome member like  @Cloudenvy:  @Dagbiker:  @Morrow:  
Just buckle down and you'll find Giant Bombs community is awesome.  
 
EDIT: This is my nicest post ever.