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Ninja

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On Mass Effect 2, community strife and something to write.

Mass Effect 2.

 
 
    So I completed Mass Effect 2 this weekend. It was awesome but I can't help but feel the ending for me wasn't so epic because everybody survived, on the bright side that means that my next playthrough where everything goes wrong will be shorter because I'm not planning on doing any loyalty missions. I also feel that in the final cutscenes none of the characters feel real. I guess it's because there were too many squad mates so they weren't given to much to say in the final minutes. 
 
 Epic but the climax is left wanting.
 Epic but the climax is left wanting.

 In the first Mass Effect you always feel like squad mates were hinting towards what decision they thought you should make. Garrus was one of these characters in my opinion. The final decisions in Mass Effect 2 however are strange because it is easy to see if they are paragon on renegade due to the layout of the conversation wheel but you don't really know what each of your squad mates would think about the decision. Sure after you have completed the suicide mission if you are still alive you can ask  people still on the ship what they thought about the decision but thats after everything is done. I don't know I just feel like they weren't really there during the dramatic climax of the game and tat they were blindly following order whereas throughout the rest of a the game the were willing to criticise and second guess your decisions or advise you before making that decision. That's just my point of view but I still enjoyed Mass Effect 2 more than anything else from last year.
 

A small issue in the community.

 

    On to problems within the Giant Bomb community. I don't know I guess I just don't like seeing so many locked threads in the off-topic section. I mean if theres anything we want the Giant Bomb community to be is random and funny bcause those are the reasons we all like Brad, Jeff, Ryan and Vinny and I think it is only appropriate that we as a community can echo their sense of humour as it is in-tune with our own. A small amount of the moderators however seem to think differently to how I do. I'm not going to call out any names and make this a personal attack but some of them seem to think that topics in the off-topic section need to have something very meaningful and almost  philosophical to say to warrant a thread staying open.  
 
 Look, some community policing.
 Look, some community policing.

 
They act like the only solution of a slightly silly thread is to close it. This community however I think is very intelligent and funny and if they see a topic not worth their time then they will ignore it. If they see a controversial thread they will argue and if they see a silly thread they will join in. I think that threads that cause arguements however are a very  integral part of an online community such as this. We shouldn't be expected to agree on every single point. We are all unique people but who can agree on alot of things and that is why we all come to Giant Bomb regulary. A small minority of the Moderators on these forums though don't allow us to argue and debate and I have seen perfectly good off-topic threads being closed for 'becoming and arguement' or for ' descending into sillyness.' I mean I come to Giant Bomb alot of the time to descend into sillyness, it is my favourite thing about this website along with it's video game slant obviously.
 
You cant help but feel  that the discussions the guys have on the bombcast would be locked in 3 minutes by the moderators if they were a thread here on the website. I don't feel it is appropriate that this is the case. We are here because we all enjoy the discussions of Brad, Jeff, Ryan and Vinny along with their writing skills and also like to have similar hilarious and off the wall discussions but a certain minority of the moderators will not allow this discussion because it is silly or is nothing worth discussing. I don't know I just feel this small minority have lost touch with what Giant Bomb has become and they are a bit overzealous with the power of policing the community that they have been given.
  
I think that if my blog gets more than 20 comments with some comments that one or two of these moderators dont agree with it also will be locked, but if I am open and don't mind the comments on my blog why should it be closed? It's on my page can't we just keep peace allow blog comments to only be disabled by the person writing the blog, that makes sense to me. 
 
Again these are all my opinions and I'm not trying to get into trouble and start a flame-war or get banned so please don't be too harsh if somebody doesn't like what I've said. I'm sure the majority of people don't have a problem with the way the forums and being policed and if the majority think that then it's not really a problem it's just me thinking there is.
 

Not blogged in a while.

    So some people will have noticed that I've not blogged in a while, thats because I don't think im really that good a writer (the same reason I don't have many forum posts) or that I do have that much worth say. I like taking in content alot more than producing comment, huess thats just the kind of person I am. Anyway I'm sorry if the writing quality in the blog is very poor and I'm sorry if there is alot of bad spelling and punctuation. I read most of it over before posting.
 
-Ninja
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9 Comments

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Ninja

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Edited By Ninja

Mass Effect 2.

 
 
    So I completed Mass Effect 2 this weekend. It was awesome but I can't help but feel the ending for me wasn't so epic because everybody survived, on the bright side that means that my next playthrough where everything goes wrong will be shorter because I'm not planning on doing any loyalty missions. I also feel that in the final cutscenes none of the characters feel real. I guess it's because there were too many squad mates so they weren't given to much to say in the final minutes. 
 
 Epic but the climax is left wanting.
 Epic but the climax is left wanting.

 In the first Mass Effect you always feel like squad mates were hinting towards what decision they thought you should make. Garrus was one of these characters in my opinion. The final decisions in Mass Effect 2 however are strange because it is easy to see if they are paragon on renegade due to the layout of the conversation wheel but you don't really know what each of your squad mates would think about the decision. Sure after you have completed the suicide mission if you are still alive you can ask  people still on the ship what they thought about the decision but thats after everything is done. I don't know I just feel like they weren't really there during the dramatic climax of the game and tat they were blindly following order whereas throughout the rest of a the game the were willing to criticise and second guess your decisions or advise you before making that decision. That's just my point of view but I still enjoyed Mass Effect 2 more than anything else from last year.
 

A small issue in the community.

 

    On to problems within the Giant Bomb community. I don't know I guess I just don't like seeing so many locked threads in the off-topic section. I mean if theres anything we want the Giant Bomb community to be is random and funny bcause those are the reasons we all like Brad, Jeff, Ryan and Vinny and I think it is only appropriate that we as a community can echo their sense of humour as it is in-tune with our own. A small amount of the moderators however seem to think differently to how I do. I'm not going to call out any names and make this a personal attack but some of them seem to think that topics in the off-topic section need to have something very meaningful and almost  philosophical to say to warrant a thread staying open.  
 
 Look, some community policing.
 Look, some community policing.

 
They act like the only solution of a slightly silly thread is to close it. This community however I think is very intelligent and funny and if they see a topic not worth their time then they will ignore it. If they see a controversial thread they will argue and if they see a silly thread they will join in. I think that threads that cause arguements however are a very  integral part of an online community such as this. We shouldn't be expected to agree on every single point. We are all unique people but who can agree on alot of things and that is why we all come to Giant Bomb regulary. A small minority of the Moderators on these forums though don't allow us to argue and debate and I have seen perfectly good off-topic threads being closed for 'becoming and arguement' or for ' descending into sillyness.' I mean I come to Giant Bomb alot of the time to descend into sillyness, it is my favourite thing about this website along with it's video game slant obviously.
 
You cant help but feel  that the discussions the guys have on the bombcast would be locked in 3 minutes by the moderators if they were a thread here on the website. I don't feel it is appropriate that this is the case. We are here because we all enjoy the discussions of Brad, Jeff, Ryan and Vinny along with their writing skills and also like to have similar hilarious and off the wall discussions but a certain minority of the moderators will not allow this discussion because it is silly or is nothing worth discussing. I don't know I just feel this small minority have lost touch with what Giant Bomb has become and they are a bit overzealous with the power of policing the community that they have been given.
  
I think that if my blog gets more than 20 comments with some comments that one or two of these moderators dont agree with it also will be locked, but if I am open and don't mind the comments on my blog why should it be closed? It's on my page can't we just keep peace allow blog comments to only be disabled by the person writing the blog, that makes sense to me. 
 
Again these are all my opinions and I'm not trying to get into trouble and start a flame-war or get banned so please don't be too harsh if somebody doesn't like what I've said. I'm sure the majority of people don't have a problem with the way the forums and being policed and if the majority think that then it's not really a problem it's just me thinking there is.
 

Not blogged in a while.

    So some people will have noticed that I've not blogged in a while, thats because I don't think im really that good a writer (the same reason I don't have many forum posts) or that I do have that much worth say. I like taking in content alot more than producing comment, huess thats just the kind of person I am. Anyway I'm sorry if the writing quality in the blog is very poor and I'm sorry if there is alot of bad spelling and punctuation. I read most of it over before posting.
 
-Ninja
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Jensonb

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Edited By Jensonb

Well reasoned, well-written. +1'd for truth.

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Garrus

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Edited By Garrus

Can't speak for the community moderation from how long I've used the site but I do sense a problem if the off topic threads are locked due to not fitting certain criteria, anything that's like repeated or just stupid and easily calling out for attention like religion threads I find should be locked as all they do is cause problems, not discussion.
 
And yes Mass Effect was awesome and had awesome parts to it but it really did feel like gathering 30 people for a house party that would last 15 minutes. That's pretty much  what I felt the last mission was like, the effort to recruit simply for the conclusion we get given did not seem worth it.

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Baillie

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Edited By Baillie

Threads get locked because they're pointless.

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Ninja

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Edited By Ninja
@Garrus said:
" Can't speak for the community moderation from how long I've used the site but I do sense a problem if the off topic threads are locked due to not fitting certain criteria, anything that's like repeated or just stupid and easily calling out for attention like religion threads I find should be locked as all they do is cause problems, not discussion.  And yes Mass Effect was awesome and had awesome parts to it but it really did feel like gathering 30 people for a house party that would last 15 minutes. That's pretty much  what I felt the last mission was like, the effort to recruit simply for the conclusion we get given did not seem worth it. "
Yeah I did like that so much of the game was recruting and learning about these characters who you invite along for the ride but then it felt like the didnt actually get on the ride and I was left with 2D shadows of them who just said 'yes, sir' in the last portion. Aswell as the final fight being a bit of a damage sponge. The lead up to the final mission however is a brilliant story with a great fleshed out universe.
 
Also like I said I think most of the mods do a good job to keep discussion going in a good direction on these forums but that some threads are closed about a certain hobbie while one about another hobbie stays open. I don't think that it is a mod permit to choose what hobbies are up for discussion in the off-topic section.
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Garrus

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Edited By Garrus
@Ninja: 
 
Yeah pretty much, though Im expecting Bioware to deliver better this time with DLC which could be more epic and more frequent.  I've no idea why they may have "rushed" the last mission or why it may deliberately have been this way, for somebody's suggestion I heard earlier, if it was to be the prelude to the reaper invasion as in, this is the small part, this game is just getting ready, the next game is gonna be the big fight - to say that it kinda seems a little...much, as we're waiting another 3 years for Mass Effect 3 now. So even with that, I just don't see so much of an excuse for the game being so small on the plot.
 
My other problems with the game which I think could be fixed in some  cases is the amount of things to do in the game anyway, like exploration missions. They're all like 2 minutes long on normal difficulty. I believe a DLC "mission enrichment pack" for extra missions on planets and side quests with better length and detail would be appropriate.
People complain on the armour and the weapons but I complain that the exclusivity of the armour to Europe was stupid considering the US got the whole Mass Effect 2 armour parts ad on Soda drinks where as we here CAN get the codes, it just wasn't advertised and isn't common knowledge.
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Jeffsekai

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Edited By Jeffsekai

SIGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

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MattyFTM

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Edited By MattyFTM  Moderator
Right, I'll give my thoughts on the "small issue in the community"    

 On to problems within the Giant Bomb community. I don't know I guess I just don't like seeing so many locked threads in the off-topic section. I mean if theres anything we want the Giant Bomb community to be is random and funny because those are the reasons we all like Brad, Jeff, Ryan and Vinny and I think it is only appropriate that we as a community can echo their sense of humour as it is in-tune with our own. A small amount of the moderators however seem to think differently to how I do. I'm not going to call out any names and make this a personal attack but some of them seem to think that topics in the off-topic section need to have something very meaningful and almost  philosophical to say to warrant a thread staying open.  

  
None of us think that topics need to be philosophical to warrant a thread. Threads must simply promote healthy discussion. If we allow every single "hey check out this random youtube video" thread, or random thoughts of the day, the forums will be come overrun with nonsense. It would become impossible to find threads with actuall discussion value. The humour on the bombcast is often very directed. They're talking about a topic in detail, and they're piping in wth a joke of some sort related to the topic at hand. And we are fine with that sort of stuff on the forums. Sure, there are the occasional random interjec
tions, but there are four dudes, sat arround a table discussing stuff on a podcast. That is a very different medium to a forum where hunderads, thousands or potentially even milions (ok, that last one might be a slight exaggeration) of people can jump in and say stuff. They're very different mediums and demand different styles of content. We if we allow people to post every random thought that pops into their head, we'd end up like 4chan, and I don't think anyone wants that. 

They act like the only solution of a slightly silly thread is to close it. This community however I think is very intelligent and funny and if they see a topic not worth their time then they will ignore it. If they see a controversial thread they will argue and if they see a silly thread they will join in.

While there are a lot of very inteligent & funny users on the forum, there are also users who insist on spamming dumb threads with pointless pictures and other nonsense. The only way to stop this is to lock it. It's an unfortunate necessity of internet forums. As great as the majority of users are, we can't just leave troublesome threads to die naturally due to the idiocy of the minority.
 

I think that threads that cause arguements however are a very integral part of an online community such as this. We shouldn't be expected to agree on every single point.  We are all unique people but who can agree on alot of things and that is why we all come to Giant Bomb regulary. A small minority of the Moderators on these forums though don't allow us to argue and debate and I have seen perfectly good off-topic threads being closed for 'becoming and arguement' or for ' descending into sillyness.' I mean I come to Giant Bomb alot of the time to descend into sillyness, it is my favourite thing about this website along with it's video game slant obviously.

 
We encourage arguments. We don't expect people to agree on everthing, and we love seeing constructive debates and arguments on a whole range of subjects. But this is the internet. Debates like this often devolve into flame wars and personal insults. This not acceptable and we have to step in to stop it when arguments decend to that low level.  
 
 I think that covers all your major points.
 
edit: I don't know why the first part of my post is in bold, and it won't cancel. Weird.
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Ninja

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Edited By Ninja
 
@MattyFTM:
  A fair and reasonsable response.  While I agree that most threads closed are simply degenerative and spam, if you pardon the parlance. I'll admit that my blog didn't praise the work of the mods in general. I was simply sharing my gripes with some of the 'kinks' as I view them, but then again this community isn't for me it's for everybody and for that reason is probably incorrect as all opinions are the 'incorrect' or 'correct' opinion depending on who you are. 
 
I agree that youtube videos and thoughts for the day should not be posted in the forums, they should be blogged, for that is what our blogs are for talking about our feelings, hobbies or just sharing content that we enjoy but they are posted on the boards, which I think is a great way to share the blogs. The problem is that I see some conflicting actions happening to threads  I didn't really want to use examples of thread but I guess to show examples I should: 
 
As I'm typing this their are healthy threads about users experiences at rock concerts they have been to, and a discussion what your desktop looks like and what tablet you would recommend. In contrast there was a week ago by somebody who was dyeing their hair and asked for recommended methods and other peoples experiences. The only difference I can see is that Rock and desktops have a larger appeal to the otaku gamer audience but I feel there will be plenty of people here who have dyed their hair and could have had a conversation with this person about it. I cant see much of a difference between that thread which was closed without there being any replies from normal forum goers to which the mod shrugged the thread off saying 'this is a site about video games' which while true sounds very exclusionary. 
 
I agree that we don't want to leave the forums un-policed and degenerate into uninteresting dull and alienating conversation as the internet can do that to poorly monitored forums. 
 
At the same time obviously I think all of the mods do a wonderful job, I know I said in my original blog that I was unhappy with a small majority but I have done a bit more research and have seen the ones who I got a little hot-headed over also do wonderful work in keeping the forum in check. I'm sure all of you have probably also made mistakes? We all do, right. 
 
Even this blog has gotten a bit out of hand so I think my choce to write it was a bit of a mistake and I admit people have to learn what to post in forums, I know I did back in 2005 when a young immature me got banned from two website, when these communitys were younger and before Giant Bomb was a thought never mind a website. I have however been here from day one and do not want to make it sound like there is a large issue going on in these forums because there is not. I love this community! I just feel that the way in which the moderators here, who themselves are active, interesting and enthusiastic members of the giant bomb bio-mass, do their job would seem more correct if when they were doing their duties that they do it in a more equal and organised way. That's what I feek but whatever way things go I am currently enjoying things on this site and community very much and am mostly happy with the actions of all the moderators.  
 
I am sorry again if this post has extraneous amounts of poor spelling, bad grammar or bad punctuation.
 
I love this community!
 
-Ninja