I love video games...but despise most of the community.

The Resident Evil 6 nonsense today really just reaffirms my feelings on that. I'm sure I speak for many when I say I play video games for fun, or as an escape from reality, etc. I try not to get caught up on internet hype, and review scores, and system wars, and all of that jazz. Yet there are so many people that take gaming so...seriously. It personally offends them when a reviewer writes that a game isn't that good, when said person disagrees. They go out of their way to hurl personal insults, racial slurs and all manner of horrific things, instead of just offering a well meaning rebuttal in a civilized fashion. What really hit me hard was reading some tweets from Gamespots own Kevin Van Ord:

https://twitter.com/fiddlecub/status/252977850121072641

https://twitter.com/fiddlecub/status/252980595469213698

https://twitter.com/fiddlecub/status/252980679594373120

https://twitter.com/fiddlecub/status/252982072690503680

https://twitter.com/fiddlecub/status/252982399930097664

Now regardless of your feelings on Mr. Van Ord, he wrote an opinion on a video game. He didn't like it very much as most of you know by now. It's OKAY to disagree with him. It's also OKAY to completely agree with him. It's NOT OKAY to email him or tweet at him all manner of terrible verbal garbage. I'm not sure why this upsets me so much. It's not the first time and it won't be the last sadly. It's just something I've long thought about. I know I sound like I'm coming off as an elitist or on some high horse. That's not my intention and I apologize if it comes off that way. I know that there's going to be bad apples in any type of community, but with the gaming community it just seems overrun by them. Anonymous people who hide their identity behind an online alias and keyboard, who feel compelled to shit on everything and everyone. I feel bad for my topic title because there are plenty of great folk in our community, especially at this site in my personal experience. I wish there were more people like that. I wish every time a big, high profile game came out it wasn't such a shit storm. I don't even know what I'm getting at anymore because I'm basically rambling at this point.

Let me just say please stop and think for a moment when you're about to say something incredibly hurtful and offensive towards someone because they think Super Mario Galaxy is better then Uncharted 2 or a reviewer doesn't think a game you're hyped for is all that and a bag of chips. Just take a deep breath and remember these are video games.

"Most" of the community? Really? Do you honestly think most of the gaming community are belligerent assholes just because of a handful of idiots are?

This is an internet issue, not a gaming community issue. You get this kind of thing with anything where the anonymous consumer of something can directly communicate to the person who made it without being accountable for what they say. I'm not really sure what causes it. It's probably a combination of a lot of things ranging from just a burst of being upset about something without perspective to having real issues in someones life and finding a place to lash out for the release of it. I'm not sure it's something that will ever go away so long as the person saying the awful things isn't face to face with the person they are saying it to.

Yeah I've been moving away from having anything to do with game communities other than this site (because it's fairly laid back). I've quit caring about the community aspect of SC2 and whatnot because people are just getting too overboard with everything. Sorry I'm not a Master league player, I don't have the time to practice a game that much. I'd rather have a life and do well in school.
 
People need to get out more. I did and now I'm way more relaxed and all the stuff people get riled up about just seems trivial now.

Its not just the gaming community it is most of the internet. I also wouldn't say its a lot of people when it is more like a handful of idiots spouting that stuff. You want to see some messed up stuff read the yahoo comments when the article is about Obama or his wife. I honestly feel the gaming community is a little bit more tamed when it comes to a lot of the stuff I read out there.

Yeah, you just have to remember that's a vocal but extremely small portion of the community. The vast majority of us just go on our merry way ignoring such people.

@kishinfoulux: I understand where your coming from but you have to realize that it's a smaller group of people with who are more vocal. The rest of us just go on with our lives and stop paying attention to those who complain.

Play what you want and discuss the positive here with us, that is the best that it is going to get.

Dude, there are millions of people who play hardcore games even millions more who play casual ones like Bejeweled or Angry Birds. I highly doubt you've met/heard from even 2% of that demographic so just take a chill pill, ignore the trolls/idiots, and enjoy video games.

If you want positive change, then be it. Don't be a dick, be nice, internet or otherwise. I don't know if a real shift could ever truly happen, but it doesn't hurt either way. I find that's pretty much all you can do.

Like others have said, this is more the internet and a small, vocal minority than the entire gaming community. Sucks for Kevin though. I'm not too familiar with him, but he seems like a cool dude. Like Jeff said in one of his jar videos, some days the comments really hit home. But like Kevin said, he'll be back to normal sooner or later.

Also, this video comes to mind. People try to treat this internet thing like a motherfucking rap beef. And if you change Too Human to Resident Evil 6 and 5.5 to 4.5, it kinda fits.

@kishinfoulux: http://www.destructoid.com/getting-it-right-resident-evil-233760.phtml

that is a great article that may summarize how your feeling.

I whole heartedly agree with the OP's post (at least the general overview - I didn't read into the backstory) and it's sad and frustrating. I also agree with the comment that this really applies to the internet in general - not just the gaming culture.

It really bothers me as well, and the reason it think it does is that in general you don't see any "moderate" options being expressed, or at least they are massively underrepresented, and therefore over time it builds a perception that a moderate viewpoint is an aberration. As I feel like my own options are "moderate" as well, this in turn makes me feel like an outsider in the culture I have participated in for pretty much my entire life. It's seems.... ugly.

Even in writing this post I feel uncomfortable, as I have come to learn to not express any real sentiment on the internet as it so often gets returned with vitriol.

Maybe I'm too fragile, maybe I'm just an old hippy :) Maybe I'm a dinosaur..:)

Judging by the thread topic alone.. you came to the right people.

Yeah to be fair I should probably have specified the internet as a whole, not the gaming community solely. I guess I was more focused on that end of it.

@Soapy86 said:

"Most" of the community? Really? Do you honestly think most of the gaming community are belligerent assholes just because of a handful of idiots are?

Honestly? I don't know what to think. I do think it's way more then just a handful though.

People can be assholes. We want to tell our friend s " look this game is awesome it got amazing reviews!" And when some people can't do that it bothers them and thus causes this sick reaction. It's especially true for such a popular series and when it doesn't stand up people are quick to defend. I love resident evil and I enjoyed the demo and will be purchasing the game. Sure I wish it was more universally liked but I can respect and take into account all the reviews and opinions out there.

Also I think most of the people in here are right, it's more a a very our and small majority of people that are this terrible

@myketuna said:

Like others have said, this is more the internet and a small, vocal minority than the entire gaming community.

I used to believe this, but more and more it seems like they're actually the vocal majority, at least on the Internet. I've come to despise the gaming community as a whole and the way they react to pretty much everything. I don't know, maybe all the normal people are just as fed up as me and stopped even trying to speak up, but it just seems like gamers get worse and worse all the time.

People love to hate. Unfortunately, this underlying societal truth applies to a lot more than just the internet; here, however, it's just very easy to express it.

Even the OP is taking a chance at calling out, berating (with evidence!), and putting down another group which has some sort of slight against their sensibilities.

People are constantly seeking to discredit, undermine, and ultimately eliminate competition. Competing views and ideas are no different, even over trivial things like video games.

Conflict is the natural order and there's very little in the way of law to hold us back on the internet.

Man. Poor Kevin.

Could you imagine the rage if he had given a Zelda game a 4.5, oh man.

It's still hard to believe that people get that worked up over a video game review to feel the need to talk shit about the reviewer.

Eh, there's been worse reviewer backlashes. RE5 already soiled the series for some fans and I bet the action oriented trailers of RE6 turned even more fans off. If RE had been a consistently good series like Zelda or something, then it would be much worse.

@Soapy86 said:

"Most" of the community? Really? Do you honestly think most of the gaming community are belligerent assholes just because of a handful of idiots are?

Indeed, the vocal minority. Most of us don't give a crap about PS3 v. 360, but sadly, it's entertaining to read drama. I know I'll click a dumb forum post just to read the crap someone says about the company 'they're not loyal to.' Brand loyalty and taking a game review personally is the armpit of the gaming industry, but it's so damn funny I can't help but read and listen.

Oh look Kevin Van Ord is whining again. Doesn't he realize by now that he keeps enabling these horrible messages when he keeps showing how much it bothers him? It's worn thin over the years to see him cry about the most heinous trolls trolling him to quell any reasonable criticism he might get. Call me cynical, but that's how I see it after seeing him pull the same cycle of claiming martyrdom any time there's a backlash to his reviews.

By the way, if the majority of the video game community bothers you, it is quite easy to enjoy video games without dealing with them. I on the other hand have learned to ignore the undesirable elements cause they don't represent the part I like to associate myself with.

RE6 sucks ass, we knew it would, it totally does, people need to get over shit and accept that the game was at its height when RE4 came out and that was a surprise.

@BestUsernameEver: I have a somewhat opposite response to what you mention, those things hurt my brain and I stop reading when I notice something like that. Frankly it's caused me to not even read 90% of the written stuff on the net as a whole, because most of the time it's filled with that kinda junk from internet people. I'm so glad that I developed whatever it is that's needed to not be a dick on the internet cause there's a lot of damaging things you can say on the net that can come back to destroy your ego later on, or worse. My worst moments on the net have been isolated and small enough that I can't even remember them and I'm glad for that. It's very painful to see others have some pretty bad things to say to each other just because they are in the stink cloud that is anonymity on the net.

@QuistisTrepe said:

Could you imagine the rage if he had given a Zelda game a 4.5, oh man.

Didn't even need to "imagine" the rage when a certain somebody gave a Zelda game an 8.8!? OH THE HUMANITY!!!

@DJJoeJoe said:

@BestUsernameEver: I have a somewhat opposite response to what you mention, those things hurt my brain and I stop reading when I notice something like that. Frankly it's caused me to not even read 90% of the written stuff on the net as a whole, because most of the time it's filled with that kinda junk from internet people. I'm so glad that I developed whatever it is that's needed to not be a dick on the internet cause there's a lot of damaging things you can say on the net that can come back to destroy your ego later on, or worse. My worst moments on the net have been isolated and small enough that I can't even remember them and I'm glad for that. It's very painful to see others have some pretty bad things to say to each other just because they are in the stink cloud that is anonymity on the net.

I usually laugh at it, not try to make sense of it. I know they're irrational loyal fans.

Seems like the vocal minority (usually negative) almost always drowns out the non-vocal majority in cases like this

I think you mean you despise the internet.

@TeflonBilly: I envy your way to view things. If entitled idiots showed up to my workplace every fucking day to tell me what a horrible person I was and what a lousy job I was doing, I'm quite sure I would've left that workplace a long time ago. But hey, more power to you.

That's not "most of the community". That's a vocal minority of idiots. You just have to ignore them.

there's something about the sheer unimportance of video games that causes a huge inflation of ego from people that place too much importance on them. game worlds are so removed from anything of consequence, and yet so engrossing, if you're wrapped up in one the potential is there for it to warp any perceptions you might have of a bigger picture. i noticed it playing warcraft a few year back, a ridiculous level of elitism from certain players that obviously used it as a focus for their identity and self-esteem, because this was the thing in their lives they had mastery over. many developer forums are riddled with these attitudes, and are not nice places to be, but what can you do? it's a sad aspect of the industry.

Yep, I've touched upon this situation a few times in my blogs. Its kind of bleak and terrible but that's the way this community (and others, yes) is right now.
 
All we can, and should, do is make sure we keep our own place clean. Giantbomb is a great site with a great forum and community that needs active and levelheaded members to keep things from turning as bad as they are on other sites nowadays.
 
It's best to just smile at haters or ignore them. Some people have no real opinion or just want to watch the forums burn.
People have passion for games but not everyone is as gifted with creative arts (or basic education to write a blog) as some of us, so they stoop to lower levels of anger and blind hate.

'I hate muslims because most of them blow stuff up' is effectively what you've said here. Just because the most vocal people in the community are usually the most dickish and complaining doesn't mean they speak for everyone, people don't vocalise when they're happy most of the time, only when they have a complaint.

Take a look at yourself for example, you were unhappy about something so you vocalised and made a forum thread about it, I doubt you would have made one praising the community.

@Soapy86 said:

"Most" of the community? Really? Do you honestly think most of the gaming community are belligerent assholes just because of a handful of idiots are?

I have to agree. A lot of people think that the bad apples are the majority. I had been convinced that coming out as a gay in high school would lead to nothing but assholes. But even those who, based on their closest 'stereotype', would be expected to be assholes to you about it, were totally cool about it. I think I encountered like one person that was anything but supportive to my face, throughout all of highschool.

I think most people on the internet are similar. There is a vocal minority, but most are decent people. Some can get a bit heated, but hey, it's their passion. Let them be passionate assholes, and just ignore em. They won't hurt you either way.

One: I don't read reviews (I just read the summaries on Metacritic to get a 'feel' for it).

Two: I don't buy games based on reviews (I base purchases on what I know I like).

Three: If a game I am really looking forward too turns out to be less than stellar, I am disappointed, but move on to another game (and probably still buy it when the price drops).

Too many gamers have such an unrealistic interest in a game or series that they lose sight of the point of it (fun) and turn it into a serious life event. It reflects badly on any individual that even raises the slightest bit of anger about a game.

Such is life.

@Spankmealotus said:

This is an internet issue, not a gaming community issue. You get this kind of thing with anything where the anonymous consumer of something can directly communicate to the person who made it without being accountable for what they say. I'm not really sure what causes it. It's probably a combination of a lot of things ranging from just a burst of being upset about something without perspective to having real issues in someones life and finding a place to lash out for the release of it. I'm not sure it's something that will ever go away so long as the person saying the awful things isn't face to face with the person they are saying it to.

Pretty much this, its the vocal minority that run around yelling stupid stuff because it makes them feel all big and important, most of us will chip in a line or two but as the majority of us are respectfull and understand that reviews are opions we dont spam the hell out of news stories. It only takes a few shouting loudly enough to make the whole community look bad, but this goes for any form of entertainment, comcis, games, movies, there are always a few who think its funny to be racist and insulting because its the internet and they can. Dont get me wrong, i always feel disgusted or a little upset when people start insulting the guys and girls i follow on here, comicvine or any of the other sites i hang around on, typically i get really annoyed, go for a walk around the office and sit down again and carry on.

@TeflonBilly: I envy your way to view things. If entitled idiots showed up to my workplace every fucking day to tell me what a horrible person I was and what a lousy job I was doing, I'm quite sure I would've left that workplace a long time ago. But hey, more power to you.

This is exactly what's going on (again), dramatized by MEGA64. Haha

The Gaming community needs to take a page from the IWC (that's the Internet Wrestling Community for those out of the loop) on how to act like a fanbase. People disagree with wrestling all of the time but you NEVER hear about people doing this kind of crap. Just don't take it to seriously and watch the video of the Shockmaster falling through this wall.

While I don't condone sending stupid messages to people who write reviews just because you don't agree with them, isn't it a bit hypocritical to write some scathing tweets about a game and then get hurt because some people write mean things back to you? His early tweets were along the line of "I would rather do anything other than play this terrible game" which is pretty mean spirited. Shouldn't he as a professional keep that sort of stuff inside and air out his grievances in a calculated journalistic fashion through the review? I'm sure there were some hard working people that put a lot of late nights to make that game happen and aren't they entitled to the same respect he is? Is it ok because they're in Japan?

If you're going to talk shit about a game very blatantly on an open forum you shouldn't whine later that you get hate mail about it. It's not ok to get hate mail, but still, he must know by now how to avoid those situations.

@Willin: Are you kidding me? The IWC are insane!

The thing is that wrestlers know better than to listen to smarks. You don't see John Cena cry about half the arena hating him. CM Punk ackowledges the odd hatfeul tweet by mocking it. When Brandon Stroud told Sheamus that he ruined Wrestlemania for him due to 18 seconds all he said was "Sorry about that fella" and was super nice to him.

@Humanity said:

While I don't condone sending stupid messages to people who write reviews just because you don't agree with them, isn't it a bit hypocritical to write some scathing tweets about a game and then get hurt because some people write mean things back to you? His early tweets were along the line of "I would rather do anything other than play this terrible game" which is pretty mean spirited. Shouldn't he as a professional keep that sort of stuff inside and air out his grievances in a calculated journalistic fashion through the review? I'm sure there were some hard working people that put a lot of late nights to make that game happen and aren't they entitled to the same respect he is? Is it ok because they're in Japan?

If you're going to talk shit about a game very blatantly on an open forum you shouldn't whine later that you get hate mail about it. It's not ok to get hate mail, but still, he must know by now how to avoid those situations.

I think you're way off base here, Humanity. Voicing that you don't like something doesn't give license to people to verbally abuse them. That isn't right, and we shouldn't try to make excuses for them. Like "Oh, yeah, that guy hitting his wife was bad. Though, ya know, he wouldn't have done it if she hadn't egged him on." Putting yourself out there for abuse doesn't make abuse okay, and the threat of abuse shouldn't silence you. When you say "you shouldn't whine later", that's a heartless suggestion that someone somehow deserves such mistreatment. People aren't just being disrespectful; they're lambasting the poor man.

He shouldn't -have- to avoid those situations. Next you're gonna tell me women who get attacked at night should know better not to be out at night. Or maybe they shouldn't dress a certain way if they don't want to be touched inappropriately. The sad thing is that someone would have to feel like they -can't- do something without fearing such awful outcomes. That isn't okay. He should be able to voice his displeasure with a stupid videogame without fearing a torrent of idiocy. That isn't a case of him not knowing better. It's a case of people doing something wrong to someone who didn't deserve it. This kind of shaming of a person being viciously attacked is simply sad.

If you're doing anything in a public setting, you won't last long if you can't take a few hits.

Like @TeflonBilly is saying, pro wrestlers often (in some cases, every time they step into the ring) fuck up and here about it all throughout their performances and afterward, or are just heckled in general, and the majority either ignore it or at least handle it privately. The same goes for video game reviewers; while they aren't body slamming people or plying their trade in front of a live audience, the majority get their fair share of hate after many of their reviews and take in in stride.

Look at Jeff. Remember TP's 8.8 bullshit? If he let it bother him, he certainly didn't post how mean the Internet was to him and the hate he took was a megaton compared to this firecracker. That resolve displays a kind of professionalism.

I'm not condoning the bullshit people are sending his way and I've got nothing against Mr. VanOrd, but I'm surprised he hasn't developed thicker skin by now (he admits as much ). Everyone handles criticism and hate differently, but the softer ones don't usually last as long as he has.

@TruthTellah said:

He should be able to voice his displeasure with a stupid videogame without fearing a torrent of idiocy.

There's something to be said for those that go out and do it anyway and fear no "torrent of idiocy" despite its existence. It doesn't make what these people are doing any better, but it makes the reviewers better people in my eyes because of it.

There are better ways to handle this hate then what he chose, in my opinion.

@TruthTellah: As I said I don't condone the bad mouthing and verbal abuse. At the same time you must realize that we don't live in a utopia. I shouldn't have to worry about going through dark alleyways late at night and getting mugged because I pay taxes for the Police to patrol the streets - but the cold hard truth is if I get mugged in a bad part of town it will just be my own stupidity to blame rather than some idealistic notion about how society should have prevented this. You can't just sit back and say "well he shouldn't have to worry about expressing his opinions on the internet" because it's not a perfect world and we all know how the internet works. He has to take under account that there is a sea of crazy, opinionated idiots that will assail him with hate mail for the slightest remark they don't agree with. It's bad enough when you just write a review but when you fuel the fire and go on Twitter having tons of followers, and go on about what a hot piece of shit the game is you'd be insane to not expect backlash. You can choose to live in a fantasy world where things like that shouldn't happen, but were not there yet and they will happen. I understand your point of view completely, but can you honestly tell me that given the status quo of interacting within internet communities, a person has nothing to worry about when voicing their honest opinion? I'm not asking what SHOULD happen but rather what WILL happen.

That aside my main point was the irony of him verbally abusing how bad this game is, when ostensibly it's just average, and then complaining that he himself was then in turn getting verbally abused. In my opinion you can't say "this game is a piece of shit" and then get upset when someone writes back "no you're a piece of shit" because you've set the tone for that exchange.

@Mirado said:

@TruthTellah said:

He should be able to voice his displeasure with a stupid videogame without fearing a torrent of idiocy.

There's something to be said for those that go out and do it anyway and fear no "torrent of idiocy" despite its existence. It doesn't make what these people are doing any better, but it makes the reviewers better people in my eyes because of it.

There are better ways to handle this hate then what he chose, in my opinion.

Honestly, I don't think that's our choice to make.

He didn't lash out at gamers or say anything stupid. All he did was voice that he is a human being with emotions, and that a ton of people being assholes to you can still get to you whether you're expecting it or not. All he's guilty of is having feelings, and it's sad that we have to play monday morning quarterback on how he should feel. It's fine if you prefer when reviewers respond a different way, but to criticize someone rather innocuously expressing sadness over people being needlessly awful toward them is simply tone deaf in a way unfortunately all too common on the Internet today. Far too many people make excuses for why they can mistreat others, and we shouldn't hand out excuses to those people, suggesting that victims are somehow to blame and some words might deserve such hate.

This is why the Internet continues to see a slide downhill in how we treat one another. Not because the awful parts are so strong, but because the good parts are so meek.

@TruthTellah said:

He didn't lash out at gamers or say anything stupid. All he did was voice that he is a human being with emotions, and that a ton of people being assholes to you can still get to you whether you're expecting it or not. All he's guilty of is having feelings, and it's sad that we have to play monday morning quarterback on how he should feel.

He can feel however the hell he pleases. What he shouldn't do is directly publicize individual comments that he's getting; the only thing that is going to do is paint a larger target on his back as more and more people come up with more and more vile things to send to him in the hopes of gaining even a sliver of attention.

I'm not sure anyone here is suggesting Kevin is to blame. At least, I'm not. To do that, I'd have to suggest that his RE6 review was deserving of this kind of backlash, which it isn't. That's the equivalent of saying "she was asking for it". What I'm suggesting is that he can "voice that he is a human being with emotions, and that a ton of people being assholes to you can still get to you whether you're expecting it or not" without specifically calling people out so as to minimize any more personal attacks. You can get the point across without giving those assholes any personal glory to feed off of. Don't give these people the light of day.

I still think he didn't mitigate it properly.

@Humanity said:

@TruthTellah: As I said I don't condone the bad mouthing and verbal abuse. At the same time you must realize that we don't live in a utopia. I shouldn't have to worry about going through dark alleyways late at night and getting mugged because I pay taxes for the Police to patrol the streets - but the cold hard truth is if I get mugged in a bad part of town it will just be my own stupidity to blame rather than some idealistic notion about how society should have prevented this. You can't just sit back and say "well he shouldn't have to worry about expressing his opinions on the internet" because it's not a perfect world and we all know how the internet works. He has to take under account that there is a sea of crazy, opinionated idiots that will assail him with hate mail for the slightest remark they don't agree with. It's bad enough when you just write a review but when you fuel the fire and go on Twitter having tons of followers, and go on about what a hot piece of shit the game is you'd be insane to not expect backlash. You can choose to live in a fantasy world where things like that shouldn't happen, but were not there yet and they will happen. I understand your point of view completely, but can you honestly tell me that given the status quo of interacting within internet communities, a person has nothing to worry about when voicing their honest opinion? I'm not asking what SHOULD happen but rather what WILL happen.

That aside my main point was the irony of him verbally abusing how bad this game is, when ostensibly it's just average, and then complaining that he himself was then in turn getting verbally abused. In my opinion you can't say "this game is a piece of shit" and then get upset when someone writes back "no you're a piece of shit" because you've set the tone for that exchange.

For one thing, a person isn't a videogame product. Saying that you hate a game doesn't entitle anyone to verbally abusing you. That's utterly absurd.

Of course people often do respond poorly to things people say. Bad things do happen to people, and awful things often happen to people on the Internet. Yet, we don't have to be cold-hearted about it. We don't have to talk about that with such disregard for a fellow human being. I get it. You're unhappy that he said he disliked a game you think may be mediocre. That doesn't mean you have to be heartless toward him. I can understand feeling bad and even expressing that his comments make you sad, but dehumanizing him and belittling his sadness isn't the answer.

He is guilty of having feelings and expressing those feelings, and you have expressed that he deserved to feel that way. That saying you dislike a game gives people license to say awful things to him. You can't just say, "I don't condone this verbal abuse, but let me list why I think no one should be at all upset about them doing this, -especially- the person most affected by it." People are rightfully displeased that people acted like assholes, and lo and behold, the subject of that abuse is displeased about it, too. But I suppose he showed too much emotion. He showed that he might have a beating heart that others can affect. How awful.

This is ridiculous, Humanity. There is no parity between a videogame and a human being, and while some kind of irony might seem funny to you, real people were involved. Of course bad things happen, but we don't just have to harden our hearts to anyone who is ever victimized. We don't have to dismiss any displeasure with a world full of assholes and people who will simply accept what those assholes do as part of the way things are. We don't like in a utopia, and that's the point. Stuff is awful sometimes, and it's okay to say that. It's okay to sometimes even have an emotion regarding that fact. It's okay to be a human being who feels something about what goes on around them.

Something awful happened, and someone felt awful about it. The original poster felt awful about it, too, and you know what, it bothers me, as well. Though, I'm once again reminded of what saddens me more than assholes on the Internet. It's decent people who simply accept what those assholes do and make excuses why feeling things isn't as cool as just shrugging off everything around you. People matter, and what happens to them matters. It's sad that people get hurt. You do have to push through it and go on with your life, but it doesn't mean something isn't still sad. And if someone wants to occasionally voice some emotion regarding that fact, that isn't so awful.

The be all end all of this is simply that whenever you vent an opinion as publicly as the internet, even if that opinion is your job, someone is going to disagree and some will do so with words that are not very polite nor constructive. That's always the risk of putting yourself out there. And as much as I would like to sympathize with his "lack of thick skin", I find it a little weird that an internet based writer cannot find a way to ignore comments from people he doesn't know. Don't connect twitter to your phone, don't read the comments to your review, don't bother with the forums. Be unattainable until it's time to be available in a controlled form. I mean, he even admits to lacking thick skin, so why is he seeking out the dispute? Obviously he's too available for his own good.

Besides, it's just whiny assholes on the internet. He's not under threat of being killed like certain journalists in certain countries, nor is he physically assaulted for "liking the wrong team" by a mob of hooligans.

@Humanity: That's like saying if he broke the disc in half to show how bad it was, punching him in the face is the same vein and as such tonally accepted. Calling a game and calling a person a piece of shit isn't quite on the same spectrum of things. I mean really, even using the term "verbally abusing" for negative remarks on a video game is pretty strange.

@Mirado said:

@TruthTellah said:

He didn't lash out at gamers or say anything stupid. All he did was voice that he is a human being with emotions, and that a ton of people being assholes to you can still get to you whether you're expecting it or not. All he's guilty of is having feelings, and it's sad that we have to play monday morning quarterback on how he should feel.

He can feel however the hell he pleases. What he shouldn't do is directly publicize individual comments that he's getting; the only thing that is going to do is paint a larger target on his back as more and more people come up with more and more vile things to send to him in the hopes of gaining even a sliver of attention.

I'm not sure anyone here is suggesting Kevin is to blame. At least, I'm not. To do that, I'd have to suggest that his RE6 review was deserving of this kind of backlash, which it isn't. That's the equivalent of saying "she was asking for it". What I'm suggesting is that he can "voice that he is a human being with emotions, and that a ton of people being assholes to you can still get to you whether you're expecting it or not" without specifically calling people out so as to minimize any more personal attacks. You can get the point across without giving those assholes any personal glory to feed off of. Don't give these people the light of day.

I still think he didn't mitigate it properly.

So, in your opinion, he just could have handled his one or two comments better so as to not aggrandize the fools? Sounds like fine advice for the future. Though, as far as judging whether someone's a "better person" due to whether or not they perfectly live up to your standard in a tweet or two, I'd say that's pretty myopic. And nitpicking someone while they're down is pretty cruel. But, hey, it's fine advice for the future. Perhaps you can use it some day when a bunch of people are attacking you and show what a better person you are than this random videogame reviewer who should have known better.

Frankly, I find your tough talk on how "soft" he is to simply be tone-deaf bullying. It's completely unnecessary, and it's sad that you would think it's alright to talk about another human being in that manner.