Hey gaming community, did you see this article by Roger Ebert abou- oh. I guess you did.
 
Wow. You certainly did see it.
 
Now, without actually addressing the content of the blog post, the reactions of the gaming community sadden me. They make me ashamed. Not that you should really care about what annoys me, but you should care about not making fools of yourselves. The knee-jerk mentality that pervaded the response to Ebert's blog is startling- at once, most everyone in the community shot back at this perceived attack with brash, unwarranted hostility. Ebert, a man who voices his opinions by trade, posted his thoughts in a civil, expository manner. The gaming community as a whole, essentially, posted a collective
  
To be sure, there were points to refute in Ebert's argument, but the sheer lack of respect in the dialogue opened saddens me. A few places put together encouraging but unnecessary rebuttals, but of the blogs and forum topics I've seen, a large amount essentially boil down to "Don't NEED Roger Ebert" [cause his opinion doesn't agree with mine]. That's not at all the mentality to convince people you should be taken seriously or that what you're evangelizing is anything more than a distraction for juvenile thinkers looking for popcorn entertainment. That's really not a mentality that should be accepted anywhere, yet sadly it seems to pervade so many corners of the INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY. You either completely stay away from the topic, or you counter with something thoughtful and sensible. "NO U" is not an acceptable answer, the same way when someone responds to you in real life with "Your face" you want to slap them. It's not productive and actively increases the amount of anger in play. It's just not something you do.
 
Or it's not something you should do, but people do because they're anonymous on the internet.
 
Maybe my complaint is more to do with the internet in general- it's just sad to see what could have been interesting soured by one side's refusal to engage on any level. Again, some people certainly were more level-headed with their responses, but the overwhelming negativity is incredibly discouraging.
 
I can't articulate myself terribly well sadly- out of practice with this here blogging. For the same reasons I said before I'll keep this off the forums I think- too much unbridled hostility is simply the norm there, and elsewhere. It's not terribly healthy for anyone.