So this thread has struck yet another blow to my confidence in the level of maturity of the GiantBomb community.
Admittedly I wasn't expecting much so there's not much left to strike blows at.
I just find the attitude that people respond to anyone be they of a different stated religion or ethnicity or race is just... saddening.
Its hardly something specific to the GiantBomb community in itself, rather an internet wide issue. I guess it is to be expected considering the combination of anonymity and lack of accountability for your words.
There are so many many examples of people coming onto the forums and expressing a belief or a part of their identity and being met with abuse that is not in any way edifying or constructive. By all means have an opposing viewpoint theres nothing wrong with that. However this guy simply posted that he would like to meet other game players who share a similar world view to him and also enjoy this site.
At the very most a reasonable negative response to that post would have been:
"I don't agree with the community segregating itself by belief systems."
Thats it. Instead the very mention that the guy is a Christian received a tirade of abuse and snarky comments about his religion.
Seriously?
In any public forum where all our identities were known and we would have to live with the people, or at least in the same community as the people who had posted their feelings we would never respond like that. So perhaps in a way the response that was given in anonymity was the true nature of people? perhaps its a more honest representation of people and the nature of the community that frequents the site? If so its embarrassing, saddening and really shakes my confidence in the human condition.
Now I understand that someone who publicly states their beliefs to others is opening themselves up to criticism of those beliefs, but this guy simply asked if there were any other like minded people who would like to play with him. Probably in the expectation of finding people he could relate to and make friends with.
How the hell does that warrant ANY abuse?
I dont expect much of a positive response to this post. If much of a response at all but I figured I might as well make it anyway.
Disappointment in the GiantBomb community.
A small concentrated group of people bullying another in a very specific thread does not in any way represent what Giant Bomb's community are all about. We're good peeps.
Just don't go there then, it's not like your forced to.
There's a lot of things on here I don't agree with either, but in the entire world there's things I don't agree with.
Fuck em, not my problem.
So let it be, no need to get worked up over it.
Well clearly if you specifically mention "Christian" like it's important and then have completely normal games on there, you're asking to be bashed.
You have to think about such stuff when you post, no matter how simple and obvious it is. I just glanced at the OP and well, whatever he got, he deserved it, damn troll.
I don't think it had anything to do with him being Christian, it was more him saying that he was a Christian in the thread title and then in his post in the rules he listed he said he didn't want to discuss religion. It led to the thread being reduced to "I like these games, does anyone else?" and all people were doing is making note of that and saying how pointless it was to even mention it in the first place.
I'm kind of on the fence with this. Yes, people said some stupid things, but, at the same time, the thread creator is looking for a specific type of person and then says that his thread is not focused on this subject. I'm sure if someone said that they were looking for fans of first person shooters and then said "This thread is not to have any discussion about first person shooters", they'd get razzed about the same.
@InTheEnd said:
I thought this summed it up pretty nicely." @Chrono_Defying_Ninja said:
Really? Then use the other entirety of this fucking site! What's the point in even having this thread? Given your taste of games it doesn't seem Christians gamers are very different. Or are we heathens not good enough for you? "
- No Theological debates, this topic is focused on gaming and does not discuss christianity, islam or any other religion or the like.
" Just don't go there then, it's not like your forced to. There's a lot of things on here I don't agree with either, but in the entire world there's things I don't agree with. Fuck em, not my problem. So let it be, no need to get worked up over it. "Not worked up just simply disappointed *shrug*.
Sorry if I gave the impression of being angry. Rather saddened by the fact that its common knowledge that if you attempt to bring up faith politics etc, in, ironically a "Forum" it will simply end badly.
@Aeterna said:
" Well clearly if you specifically mention "Christian" like it's important and then have completely normal games on there, you're asking to be bashed. You have to think about such stuff when you post, no matter how simple and obvious it is. I just glanced at the OP and well, whatever he got, he deserved it, damn troll. "
Like so.
" I'm kind of on the fence with this. Yes, people said some stupid things, but, at the same time, the thread creator is looking for a specific type of person and then says that his thread is not focused on this subject. I'm sure if someone said that they were looking for fans of first person shooters and then said "This thread is not to have any discussion about first person shooters", they'd get razzed about the same. "This pretty much sums it up. Somebody buy this man a desk ornament.
" Giantbomb for me is a religion and the forum posters are the shit. "Well played :D
I hear ya on that one, but well, what can ya do?
We can go about saying Giantbomb's community is dropping, but I'm quite certain that the real core group here isn't the type you described.
Every forum has their good members, and a lot of them also have their bad members, this is not tied to GB or another site, just the way of the internet :/
Sad? Yes, very!
But there's little we can do...
Asking what the connection was between him being a gamer and religious hardly counts for bullying. In fact, what's the point of stating that to begin with, all it does is split you from the rest of the forum posters by sounding like you can't socialize with people who don't subscribe to Christianity.
There's something very hilarious about proselytizing atheists. They try and show people how evil religion is so they'll stop believing. I wonder how many of them realize what they're doing.
@Manatassi:
Disappointment with the community is something I've been reading a lot about lately. I've been here for awhile (back when it was just a blog, really) and I can tell you that the asshole percentage is the same per capita. Since there are more users overall, there are more assholes overall, but the percentage (I'd say about 10-15%, still REALLY low for the internet) is still about the same.
ooo i really like GTA too... sorry wrong thread :)
Oh its certainly not a specific issue to GiantBomb by any stretch of the imagination." There's something very hilarious about proselytizing atheists. They try and show people how evil religion is so they'll stop believing. I wonder how many of them realize what they're doing.
@Manatassi: Disappointment with the community is something I've been reading a lot about lately. I've been here for awhile (back when it was just a blog, really) and I can tell you that the asshole percentage is the same per capita. Since there are more users overall, there are more assholes overall, but the percentage (I'd say about 10-15%, still REALLY low for the internet) is still about the same. "
I guess I just prefer the definition of a "Forum" ...
World English Dictionary
As a place to discuss matters and express ideas. Unfortunately I think that the use of the word Forum in the context of internet websites has become more that of a haven for conformists and bullies. The Post I used as an example was by no means the worst example just the most recent one.
The fact that any mention from a long list of blacklisted topics is met with negative snarky or sometimes hostile reaction. A simple "I don't agree" would allow the "forums" to function so much more like an actual Forum for discussion.
Unfortunately the nature of the internet doesn't seem to allow for any kind of amiable discussion on any topic more intricate than "what should I have for dinner?" I fear we are breeding a culture of intolerance and ignorance into internet users.
I simply find it all a bit sad.
Perhaps I am simply in a depressed state of mind right now and my optimism for the human race will bounce back to its usual chirpy self. Unfortunately I doubt I will find reading these forums a particularly edifying experience in that endeavour.
You're going to argue about the argument in the other thread? That is some elitist shit. Why not just post in the first thread?
I think it is sad but it comes with being on the internet, when you can say what you feel without anyone remembering how much of a jerk you are then you will get a lot of hurtful or just tactless anwsers. The bright side is that for every 5 jerks you run into you will meet 1 really cool dude on here so you just can't let it get to you.
After reading only one page of the thread I share your disappointment.
Giant Bomb has a fairly large community. The poster was trying to find some people with a similar interest to connect with (since this site has tons of community and social networking hooks and would be a great way to make some gaming friends), and he got jumped on for it.
The similar interest being a religious belief should have been irrelevant. Had the thread been titled "Game Developers on Giant Bomb" or "Martial Artists on Giant Bomb" or anything else, the thread probably would have remained positive.
" After reading only one page of the thread I share your disappointment. Giant Bomb has a fairly large community. The poster was trying to find some people with a similar interest to connect with (since this site has tons of community and social networking hooks and would be a great way to make some gaming friends), and he got jumped on for it. The similar interest being a religious belief should have been irrelevant. Had the thread been titled "Game Developers on Giant Bomb" or "Martial Artists on Giant Bomb" or anything else, the thread probably would have remained positive. "This.
I didn't see much outright flaming on the thread myself, but yeah, some people were far more critical than they would have been if it was people of a certain profession or who lived in a certain area instead of religion.
I don't think the issue was him being religious at all, i can't speak for anybody else but that's certainly not why i responded to the thread. I know there were people posting stuff like "Fuck Christians" which i most certainly do not agree with. I'm just saying that i would have said the same exact thing if he was asking for "White" gamers, or any other kind of group. I didn't understand how Christian gamers were any different from Atheist gamers or Budhist gamers or Muslim gamers, which is why it felt to me like he was the one who didn't have an open mind about interacting with different kinds of people. And the second thing was that he brought up religion as the main point of his post, but then turns around and says that he does not want to talk about religion. Which was odd, both to me and a number of other posters. Some of whom, i agree, could have been a lot more respectful about it.
The offence people have taken over the thread has NOTHING to do with Christianity...beleive it or not.
@FlyingRat: Honestly, I think he was just looking for people with a similar background or just some common ground with. That's also why he mentioned not talking about religion. Even saying Christian can be a very broad term and once you get too far into specifics it can be divisive among people who consider themselves a part of that larger group.
" @cap123 said:I guess I need to clarify." I didn't even bother going into that thread. "Same here. "
I am not endorsing the opinions of the posters in that thread and to be honest you don't need to read that one to know what topics of conversation are going to come up in it. Why? because it mentions Religion. Thats my point exactly.
I guess its reiterating my last post but I felt the need to clarify.
The fact that the only places you can discuss Politics or Religion or many other subjects on the internet are forums exclusively for the use of people who are of the same opinion is simply nonsensical. For any form of cohesive or productive Forum you must have diversity of opinion, personality and belief. Otherwise you are simply stagnating in an incestuous pool of degrading cyclical nonproductive ideas.
The problem being that the anonymity of the internet and the lack of human interaction seems to create a "forum" that is a contradiction to its own name.
The very thing that causes societies to segregate is a lack of communication between separate parts of that society.
Here we sit on the perfect tool for harmonious and productive discussion across the whole of the human race, the internet. And yet our very nature as soon as we remove the boundaries to expression of ideas is to become a bunch of dicks because we feel anonymous.
That makes me sad I guess.
So yeah not really anything to do with the actual content of the other topic rather the nature.
@Insectecutor said:
" You're going to argue about the argument in the other thread? That is some elitist shit. Why not just post in the first thread? "@spankingaddict said:
" @Manatassi: im not exactly a Christian, yet... But i believe in God and go to church every week. ooo i really like GTA too... sorry wrong thread :) "
Hope that makes that clearer :)
Sure, that is def what I think, but I wasn't suggesting that people who don't push their beliefs don't have any conviction, you dont see me pushing mine. But I certainly don't believe that anyone with any real conviction in their own beliefs has any impetus or desire to assault anothers. There were plenty of people who had constructive things to say, such as your suggestion that perhaps the OP could have made his initial inquiry more inclusive and not "segregated." I just think when people attack other peoples beliefs, it is a pretty strong indicator of A) an insecurity about their own beliefs or B) some sort of personal grudge they are harbouring against that particular belief system. Really pushed the TL:DR limit here....
Please Log In to post.
Log in to comment