There's recently been some controversy about the objectivity of video game reviews. My take on that? If you want objective game reviews, read Objective Game Reviews. But I don't want objective game reviews, I'm fine with reviewers having previous experiences and biases. Yes, tell me what you think about the game. And please don't give me a score out of hundred, there's no way you can rate anything that precisely. If you absolutely need a score, make it out of five, but better yet, omit it altogether. That's why gaming website of choice is Rock, Paper, Shotgun, where the reviews are called "Wot I Think" and have no scores. That, and the fact that I like the authors and their style of writing.

So much for reasonable discussion and criticism. Sadly, that's not really what the last weeks have been about. Instead, some people are once again throwing around death threats on the internet, stealing accounts, publicizing private information and being generally hateful. I really don't get how anybody can be so vicious. I suppose it's a matter of education, some people have very weird values.

And it's fairly widespread. You only have to read some comments on the internet for an unhealthy dose of hate and stupidity. Personally, I just get depressed really quickly and try to avoid reading comments these days. There's only so much negativity I'm willing to expose myself to when there are so many nicer things I could do instead and there's so little to be gained from it.

This may be a good time to educate one of my readers. Here's a comment for my last post which I chose not to approve:

I thought you were going to write a blog post twice a month. I knew that was just talk.

That's not particularly hateful, there's much worse, but what does that comment achieve? The first half correctly observes that I haven't been writing as much as I had once set out to, but the second sentence really just turns it into an attack on me, doesn't it? It's not a comment that invites any kind of useful discussion or provides helpful insight. I reserve the right to moderate my comments and delete any I deem unhealthy to the discussion. You are welcome to disagree with me, of course, just don't be a dick.

Maybe this person meant to say "I thought you were going to write a blog post twice a month. I was looking forward to your next post, please take the time to write one soon, there are actually people who appreciate it." That could have encouraged me to write one earlier. But as it stands, the comment just has the potential to make me feel bad. Which may be the intent, there are tons of trolls who thrive on angering others, but I'm inclined to follow Hanlon's Razor here.

I just wish people were nicer to each other, even (or especially!) when they disagree.

Peace,

Willi

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