zombievac

How do you know? You can't see what posts are being deleted and people who are banned. As was said, that info isn't shared (Sweep said he's already deleted serious death threats in this thread... really?? They must be quick on the trigger if those are occurring, because I haven't seen it happen even once and yet apparently it's constant?).

I can tell you from the experiences of all my old GB buddies who got into the site when Gerstmann left Gamespot and create the site, it was TOTALLY different. Not toxic, or not to a level that should concern anyone that often, and fun. People were treated like adults, as this site is FOR adults given the content's "R-rated" nature mostly... and more importantly, people were treated with respect, as people should be, especially paying members of the site - people who literally support the site on a grassroots level. But they all agree, as do I, that since things changed around the time the site went back to the old ownership, the forums and general feeling of the community changed BIG time. And I saw, and even experienced, quite a few really ridiculous scenarios with moderation. I'd rather ignore idiots on YouTube comments than feel like I'm stepping on eggshells discussing or disagreeing with anything for "breaking rule #1", which covers literally everything, depending on how broadly interpreted it is. And the interpretation, it seems, is very broad.

The problem is people are literally afraid to post how they feel, because it will be viewed and moderated as if it was in the most serious/evilly-intended fashion. That definitely includes criticism of the staff or mods. It's the same way it works at the office I've worked for before: "the CEO's door is always open!"... but if you actually go in there to make a critical, valid complaint, you'll get burned by it HARD. The same general feeling applies here, and I'm a bit happier for humanity today to see that this same perception of these forums is not just mine at all. I was literally quite concerned that the newer members really did think free speech, wherever it occurs, should be censored if it can possibly offend a single person out of 7 billion.

Yep. And we (should) all know why. CBSi mods are not exactly my idea of "fun" or "open minded" and they assume/do the worst if there's any question on the extremely widely interpreted "Rule #1" - sarcasm/satire do not exist here anymore.

The forums were really fun back in the day (for example, you could actually do and say stuff just like the staff does! Now, it's kindergarten in the forums, and high school in the site content). This was, of course, before the site got sold to a giant corporation run by... well, I'll leave it at that. No joking or fun here, move along. But if you want to attack and pile on to the latest evil-doer who lived by social norms in the 70s and 80s and is being held to today's standards in retrospect, you've found it!

Ugh, a lot of this thread gives me the cringes. Is it that hard to understand that making fun of something is not necessarily a "hateful" thing, and you can't "hurt" a game franchise's feelings? You can only hurt the feelings of those who identify with it to such a bizarre level that it would even cross their mind to be miffed about it.

Comedians make fun of things they like, or love, overall ALL THE TIME! Themselves, their family, their kids, their friends, the groups they feel a part of, etc - the things they know most about are generally things they're probably fond of, and they make fun of what they know - but making fun / joking is not meant to be hurtful when a comedian is doing it, and usually, outside of childhood/primary school, neither is a friend doing the same. Lots of friendships are based on shared comedic sense, making jabs at each other - it, in my generation, is almost always a "good thing"! But even if not, taking personal offense or any offense at this is definitely something you'd only see from the "target audience" for it - and whomever that really is outside of tweens, I'll never know.

For example, as a young person that was a bit past the age of this series' target market, I went in with an attitude of "there must be something to this, since a couple people I know like it SO much, even though it seems like the worst idea ever (and I never liked any of Disney's traditional characters or films - some were ok, but definitely not anything with Mickey & friends in it, for example)..." - and I tried, but that sentiment was only cemented further as I tried. I don't hate JRPGs, but I strongly dislike most of them, and really like a few... that's not what the problem is here though, IMO.

I was born in '81, and I can honestly tell you that out of 100 or so friends/acquaintances that play video games and I've talked to over the years, only 1-2 of them can even stand this series, let alone be hardcore fans of it - but the 1-2 that like it, LOVE IT (and also happen to be quite socially awkward, to put it nicely. And I don't mean nerdy, geeky or similar - which I myself always have proudly been - I mean they're childish, in the worst ways, and are ALSO those things). I don't even know any men, or boys when I was a kid, that like Disney's (traditional) characters, period (of course that's a stereotype and not 100% true like anything, but it is definitely mostly true in my experience)... Disney's traditional characters were definitely seen as "for young children and/or girls" for as long as I can remember, among my age group/various locations I've lived in.

Combining bad, silly, stereotypical (to the point of being harmful stereotypes, in the Disney tradition since the beginning) characters with a completely whacky game/story/universe is going to be something that a few people may love, but most will feel the opposite - or just avoid it entirely and not really even think about it. Combine that ALSO with a confusion over whether one is deriving pleasure from it due to mostly nostalgia or true long-standing greatness, and you get people angry about Kingdom Hearts, for example - either angry at it, or angry at those whose opinions don't agree with another's opinions about it.

Besides, you can't let people's opinions hurt your feelings, especially when the topic is so "first world" - who cares? Does it hurt anyone (justifiably) that they don't like, or even make fun of, the series? If it does, it's the person choosing what hurts their feelings, not the opinion, at "fault". It's akin to corporate worship - the fanboy syndrome. Nintendo's better, Sega's better... Xbox/PS.... etc. Childish. Not worth even thinking about, let alone getting angry/sad or in any way emotional about! The meanest things I've ever said aloud have been to my best friends, and they do it back - it's social bonding, like a contest to see if we can actually offend each other. In the end, it made it so that we generally couldn't be offended unless it was truly, seriously harmful to someone. And it was just my group of friends, I found the same is true at any job I've ever had, etc.

I'd say, refocus your attention/anger/pain on things that matter, not trivialities. Not that games are trivial (some, if not most, are though - but that's ok), but letting them get you down because someone else doesn't feel the same way as you do is not a productive or fun way to go about life...

I would be thoroughly surprised if that 2 million figure is accurate, if you count number-bumping technicalities as inaccuracy. The game is so new that they could count every player who has logged in since launch as active, and seem to be doing so based on those numbers. I remember a LOT of people playing Destiny at launch (and being disappointed), and I can't find a single person I know actually playing Destiny 2 actively right now - though they at least tried it, and really wanted it to be what everyone dreamed Destiny 1 would even be.

Oh, I can only assume you must be asking me for no reason at all... I think it's a disturbingly sad, oozing scar on the face of the entire gaming industry!

What do you think of Kane and Lynch? Heheh

(and congrats Jan, of course!)

If it's TRULY unlimited data and not throttled after a certain point (like all unlimited plans in the US, basically), that's actually a great deal. You'd pay out the ass REAL QUICK if you tried to use more than your 22GB "unlimited (?!)" cap with, for example, AT&T in the US... or otherwise are throttled down to "not usable" in many cases.

I can see that, sure. It surprises me the things that freak out my 6yo nephew sometimes, all they have to be is an image of something monsterish, and sometimes he thinks it's awesome, and sometimes he will have nothing to do with it.

Scary games (ones that actually were scary to any real extent) just didn't quite exist yet, or I didn't know of them, until I was old enough to have already been freaked out by "worse" things - including movies - it seems.

He's right though... even if they don't, this is something that requires a targeted attack (someone very skilled, spending their time, & sitting in range of your device). It's not a big deal for the average consumer or home user.