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Gamers.
Not all gamers are bad people, no, but I am absolutely convinced that gaming fandom definitely has the highest ratio of insufferable pricks out of any fandom. Any time I say this publicly I get waves of comments along the lines of "you can say that about any group!" and "it's just that people in general are assholes!"
No. You're not getting it. It is EXTREMELY FUCKING OBVIOUS that every single problem you can imagine with fans of something is multiplied tenfold when it comes to video games. Gamers display a bigger sense of entitlement, are far more critical and are far more judgmental over differences in taste than music lovers, film critics, foodies, artists, you name it.
Why did it get so bad? Do games pump people up with so much adrenaline that they never calm the fuck down? Do they slowly erode everyone's perception of reality? Or are the same people most attracted to games just already confrontational, competitive people?
No. You're not getting it. It is EXTREMELY FUCKING OBVIOUS that every single problem you can imagine with fans of something is multiplied tenfold when it comes to video games. Gamers display a bigger sense of entitlement, are far more critical and are far more judgmental over differences in taste than music lovers, film critics, foodies, artists, you name it.
Why did it get so bad? Do games pump people up with so much adrenaline that they never calm the fuck down? Do they slowly erode everyone's perception of reality? Or are the same people most attracted to games just already confrontational, competitive people?
Comments
Many of the groups I can agree with, but worse than music lovers? I'm suprised you'd think that given the backlash to some of the articles on Cracked you wrote.
That said, yes, people whose prickism stems from intolerance of one or more religions or sets of religion-like beliefs are far, far, far more hardcore than gamers who complain on the internet or disco-haters who blow up records.
By "far, far, far more hardcore" I mean murder, rape, slavery, genocide, terrorism, larceny, and vandalism.
Or are the same people most attracted to games just already confrontational, competitive people?
Of the possible explanations that you mentioned, I think this one is the most likely. Since a number of video games have modes of gameplay specifically geared towards competing with other people and even the ones that do not have ways to compare your performance with other people's (i.e. clear percentage and time, high scores, achievements) I do not think it is too surprising that video game fandom may be especially prone to pointless arguments and hostility.
I am not sure that such behavior is particularly unique to video game fans though and I would add sports fandom to the other groups mentioned as possibly being worse about that kind of thing.
o u
I think that the issue is that gamers and related fandoms tend to argue over what the standards are as much as they argue about whether or not those standards are met (Sonic The Hedgehog is a textbook example of that). So while there may be similar levels of rudeness in regards to academics, at least there is a foundation for the standards. Though when you're arguing about the quality of music, you're often fighting over the nebulous notion of "sounding good", even when you apply music theory standards (particularly since those rules are made to be broken).
Their backlash against anyone who criticizes games is always laughably childish. I can completely see what Roger Ebert meant about them not being art (shame he was bullied into apologizing) and I can agree with 10% of Jack Thompson's views. Also, I've grown to just want gamers to get offended anyway. Only Freepers and Scientologists deserve more trolling than gamers.
"Nobody has provided a convincing argument yet that I'm incorrect about gamers being the biggest jerkfaces."
If the religious intolerance part didn't convince you the superlative was inaccurate.... This is a "global warming denial"-style argument.
"I can completely see what Roger Ebert meant about them not being art (shame he was bullied into apologizing)"
I will concede that this is a point that concerns me about gamers. I often wonder why gamers care about that label so much, especially from someone not versed in video games by his own admission. Then again, I hold the "video games are not art" position myself.
Out of curiosity, would you consider chess art?
Admittedly, part of the reason I tend to be wary of labelling video games "art" is because a lot of time, I tend to not consider "narrative" as part of the "game" and believe that the more emphasis that is placed on story, the more "game" becomes a misnomer. Gameplay mechanics are geared towards reaching a goal of some sort, which is not creative in itself. Though at that point, how much you consider creative thinking "art" tends to play a role.