236 replies to this topic

[ThugTears666]

Hello there.

So yeah, lets get this discussion under way. Do you feel like you fit into gaming world? If so, why or why not?


I think I've only really felt that I've started to fit in here in the past year, I think it's mainly to do with the fact that I wasn't really all that active on IRC or the forums until this year and I think IRL I'd be alot different to the majority of the members (not a geek huhuhuhu).
I remember when I first joined and when someone talked to me IRC, sent me a pm or quoted a post I made I thought it was a really big deal haha, even when I started talking to SB on msn and he laughed at one of my jokes I was like....holy....shit ahahah.
Also Gaming World is alot more 'grown up' than alot of other forums, I think maybe you find it hard to begin with but now days I kinda find it intolerable to go to places where everyone is being so nice to idiots that it reads like they are fighting off the urge to kiss or something.


Hopefully could be a pretty insightful discussion, it would even be cool if we got some key points down at the end and they were stickied for noobs or whatever. (Dreams are free right??)

[Lars]

I remember when I first joined and when someone talked to me IRC, sent me a pm or quoted a post I made I thought it was a really big deal

I am still like this. If someone quotes me or writes me something here or in IRC I'm always like "HOLY SHIT YES, GW HAS NOTICED ME!!! ".

It never... gets... old...

As for fitting in: Just insult people without seeming petty or bitter. That's the best way to get the ball rolling. And then after a while, gradually become chiller and chiller... yeah...

[Erave]

Not as much as I used to, but I was more involved with the inner community, made music/games/etc...

The hipster community has changed a lot and I never really moved with it and got into their style of forum posting and I usually don't share too many common interests with most people here as far as politics, music, and so on.

I still like hanging around though, there are a lot of cool people.

[Farren]

I don't know if I fit in or not.

I don't make rm games and I've NEVER been into RM games. The only reason I even found this place is because of a guy I went to school with that was into this site and he showed me some art that he posted on here.

I came in at first on another account at school and made a few topics spamming the shit out of him and then they got banned.

After looking around for awhile I found the old crap shack and saw some of steel's old topics the superman one and another D&D styled one that was funny as hell. I thought the people here were pretty funny so I made a new account at home I was just into the crap shack for awhile and then I made my way into General and learned alot from the people here. Alot of debate and discussion from this site really opened my mind and I'd hate to think of how stupid I would be if I never found this place.

Eventually I made my way into the other forums, music being the primary one that really changed what kind of stuff I listened to. Although alot of my friends aren't totally into my way of thinking and the music I've gotten into because of GW I think it has actually done alot for me.

So yeah, I don't use IRC very much and don't talk to anyone outside of the forums (which is pretty unfortunate) but I like posting here so whatever.


I always thought I was pretty dorky but some of the folks here put that to shame and then some

Edit: also, I never made a welcome/farewell topic and just started POSTING STUPID SHIT and I remember a few people being like, "What? who the fuck are you???" and I eventually started getting popular-er which I still don't think I'm very popular but I'd like to think that if I left for a year or something people would start to notice.

[Feldschlacht IV]

I'll be honest, a lot of you are great guys but I don't fit in here at all. Instead of making a long paragraph no one wants to read I'll just make a list. Be aware that this doesn't apply to every single one of you, it's just a vibe I get.


-GW is elitist as fuck. Period. Over the course of ten years this has been the number one compliant about GW and it rings true every single time. You'd have to be blind not to notice how much better GW thinks it is than everyone else. It's like if someone says "Hey guys, its been fun but I feel like I fit in more with this other forum over here so that's where I'll be" you can be assure there will be quite a few people going "How can he be there instead of here that place is so gay GW is the best". It's like you guys think you're in some exclusive club or some shit and you're automatically better than the rest of them.

-Speaking of which it sucks how much there's an "in" crowd. It's almost like nepotism or something. Sure, everyone can post here, but unless you're part of the inner circle of buddies, you can forget about being anything more than a random name. Of course you can get out of this pit if you subscribe to the general hive mind that GW seems to have. Anyway, GW definitely suffers from "inner circle" syndrome more than any other forum I've been to.

-I don't find the humor here funny. Just a preferential thing I guess. I'm not a fan of how a lot of people's posting style either.

-Circlejerking.

-Too much cynicism here. Whether it's TV shows, video games, books, movies, or just whatever, you find FAR more posts saying how horrible/terrible/how much something sucks than you do people who like it. Okay, you're thinking outside of the box because you think RPGs are terrible. Get over it.

-Everyone talks behind people's backs and such. I can tell you right now there's going to be someone talking about me and this very post in IRC or something. I can't even count how many times I've seen conversations about other members in IRC or topics or whatever.

I guess that's all that comes to mind right now.

[From Jungle]

Eh, you ask a lot of unusual questions Afura...which is good.

To fit into GW, learn internet etiquette then do the exact opposite.

Also, what Feldschlacht IV said.

[Artis Leon Ivey Jr]

anyone who thinks gw is elitist thinks any standard at all is elitist.

seriously look at like CATAMITES or whatever, anyone can join this imaginary elitist club (which I'm probably part of), you just have to try not to be awful consistently.

if you want to be IN THE CROWD, I mean, whatever, that's going to happen anywhere! people have cliques. like Afura's a cool dude but I don't talk to him like I'd talk to panda, but if that's elitism OH NO F*CK.

basically I think GW is a pretty easy place to fit into but with a very vocal minority who doesn't think so!

[Strangeluv]

They call me the poster boy of "reformed trolls". Anyone can be mod if I'm mod. I'm the William Hung of GW.

[Lyric]

I'm quite new, but I'd say no.  I don't have the time to thoroughly go through the forums and interact.  It appears that that generally is required in order to fit in here.

[Artis Leon Ivey Jr]

and hey we have to remember this is honestly very preferable to other forums. I'd wager GW is in many many aspects better than SA which has a community a hundred times our size and it's because we do kind of enforce a "what, are you stupid? shut up" defacto response to stupidity.

like there's that post 9/11 topic about that forum talking about HOMOSEXIALITY...THE BUTT FUCK?? and here we can actually deal with a topic about the morality of using the word "faggot" on a forum or about how RE5 has implicit racism without a majority of people chiming in with a "feh...feh..."

this unfortunately creates a blockade even for potentially good members because all of us are probably slight idiots about shit but not one I've ever viewed as impassable!

They call me the poster boy of "reformed trolls". Anyone can be mod if I'm mod. I'm the William Hung of GW.

we actually do have a lot of people as mods or who were mods or whatever that most forums just would not even dignify. like I said, it's pretty easy to move around the GW sphere, it just requires a minimum of effort some people view as too much!

[ThugTears666]

Thinking someone is dumb and not being afraid to voice an opinion on it is not being eltist. There is a difference between thinking you are better than ANYONE and thinking that something is dumb.

Over the course of ten years this has been the number one compliant about GW and it rings true every single time.

I bet the majority are people who gw didn't like because they were shitty posters. HOW ELTIST

[Feldschlacht IV]

I bet the majority are people who gw didn't like because they were shitty posters. HOW ELTIST

False.

[Erave]

Well a vocal few decide who the "Shitty posters" are. Most of the time it just comes from opinions and tastes in things.

I don't know about the mod thing though, I was a mod a long time ago.

[Iaman]

blahblahblah ELITISTS blahblahblah

Well that's just because we ARE better than everybody else.


Seriously, though.  GW gets seen as elitist oftentimes because we have standards and we TAKE PRIDE IN THEM.  I dunno how you were raised or anything but that's just sort of how life works.  We've got standards because we don't want to be arsed to put up with bottom of the barrel pieces of shit, and, surprisingly enough, it makes GW as a whole a much better place to be.  There's FAR less circlejerking going on here at GW than there is at, say, RMXP.org, and even though we don't treat every forum member nicely I think that just about everybody realizes that it almost always boils down to the PREDEFINED STANDARDS AND RULES that we've set up and that the people who don't follow them are faggots for not learning them.  Sorry, jews.  I'm not supposed to use faggot anymore.

On to the main subject of this topic; I'm still not sure if I fit in at GW.  Hell, I probably don't.  But I don't give a shit.  I mean, I really don't honestly care if I fit in here or not, and I'm oftentimes happy just being able to say the shit I say and vent it out, and that makes me feel awesome.

[Artis Leon Ivey Jr]

think about it really. I'm pretty sure I'M ONE OF THE ELITES huh but what the fuck can I do? yell at you? nooooooooooo!!!

it requires a slight thickening of skin but I think anyone who is like GW....HATES EVERYTHING... is just being a little too fragile about it.

elitism with no real power behind it is just some dude being a dick basically, and I kind of don't see me saying ERAVE...STUPID FAGGOT... as elitism! elitism I think kind of requires some degree of power or enforcement, not just a few people saying "christ you're an idiot".

and then let's not forget some people are really really stupid and its not some elite group that thinks this, but people are on IRC so someone posts a topic and yeah suddenly five people jump on one guy's back buttttt this happens everywhere!

[Frisky SKeleton]

I think we need to bridge the gap.

[ase]

-GW is elitist as fuck. Period. Over the course of ten years this has been the number one compliant about GW and it rings true every single time. You'd have to be blind not to notice how much better GW thinks it is than everyone else. It's like if someone says "Hey guys, its been fun but I feel like I fit in more with this other forum over here so that's where I'll be" you can be assure there will be quite a few people going "How can he be there instead of here that place is so gay GW is the best". It's like you guys think you're in some exclusive club or some shit and you're automatically better than the rest of them.

GW is only elitist to the eyes of those who are used to hanging at internet communities where the members put absolutely no effort into challenging themselves or thinking critically or being creative. You may find us to be "elitist," but I personally see that as an indication that we're rejecting the shitty internet standards of stupidity that most everyone else seems to use. We "elitist" members take pride in being able to spot a 12-year-old's homophobic post on another forum and laugh about it not just because it's FUNNY, but because we're hoping some people will take a moment to scratch their heads and say "hey wait a minute"...... "lets put em on an Island called Gay-atopia" is a really stupid thing to say!

The elitism you're implying is some sort of disorder based on baseless ideas where we have no right to call idiotic people idiots or point out how someone's underdeveloped argument is weak and full of bullshit. I disagree. Whether it's an argument about video games, politics, pedophilia, music, or how to attract people to a website (let's.... bridge that gap......), the ability to say WOW WHAT A GAY IDEA (either in "nice" terms or exaggerated e-anger) and then list reasons why MY IDEA IS BETTER makes an otherwise indistinguishable 8-posts-registered-yesterday person 500% better than the 3000-posts-registered-3-years-ago shithead who whimpers in the corner and says "n...no.... your wrong.... adam sandler is my rolle model.......dont you dare diss waterboy....."

Everyone's free to have an opinion, but when you start saying "NO YOU'RE ALL ELITIST WHY CAN'YOU JUST ENJOY THIS MOVIE FOR ITS ENTERTAINMENT VALUE (hehe midgets)" then all you've proven is that you can't let go of your childish beliefs and refuse to be influenced by people who (GASP) have different opinions



edit: While I was writing this post, Steel mentioned the exact same homophobia callout topic as me, and climbtree said BRIDGE THAT GAP too. heh.. we're all such circlejerks

[headphonics]

Man, I really don't want to see this topic turn into an argument about elitism, so if that's where this is going, try not to take it there!

Also, I don't know where I fit in, but I feel like I must at this point.  Years ago, when I first became a mod and started hanging out on IRC a lot and generally made my GW DEBUT as a person of interest and not just some random idiot who posted from time to time, I felt like I fitted in quite a bit.  Like, into the IN GROUP the maybe the OUT GROUP or really, whatever you wanted to call that entire clique.  But uh, idk, I eventually sort of came to be pretty disenchanted with a lot of those people, and since then I haven't really felt like I fit in at all.  It feels like GW doesn't have much room for individual personalities if they don't somehow reconcile themselves with larger groups.  Like, I felt like as soon as I stopped being a part of all that, I immediately lost whatever relevance I had, but maybe that was just the case with me.  It doesn't really bother me much at all, but yeah.

So yeah I guess the answer is no, I don't, but I used to!  I look at people like, idk, ASE or Adeline now and see people who sort of FIT INTO the community, and even though I post a lot and I guess I'm pretty involved in the community, it still seems like I'm looking in on things from the inside, and it didn't used to.  Maybe it's just because being involved in the community as a whole doesn't necessarily mean you're involved with the people.  The difference between then and now is that I think I used to have quite a bit of NET FRIENDSHIPS or whatever forged from GW, and now there are maybe one or two people from here I even bother to talk to anymore.  IRC is a huge component, I think, and I didn't really realize that until right now!  Before I got really active on it, I was more or less just white noise, and since I stopped being active, I've more or less reverted to being white noise, and I've felt more and more out of touch with the community and TRENDS and HUMOR and POPULAR IDEAS and all the things that define the site as a collective and not just a bunch of individuals who happen to be together.

It sort of makes me feel a little bit WISTFUL, because I liked the way I used to feel about GW and how I thought it felt about me, but I guess that's what it is to go through phases!

[headphonics]

I think we need to bridge the gap.

Man this is really not that funny anymore at all.

[Artis Leon Ivey Jr]

yeah it's actually kind of funny, I think a lot of folk here believe I fit in but really I haven't made a fucking game or done too much. how much can you fit in!

not that I feel particularly left out but there's a reason more often than not I post negative shit about directions because I just don't get how these bandwagons get started or something.

idk I wouldn't say I see someone like NinjaPirate and think HE AND I...LIKE THIS *daps fists* but at the same time I wouldn't say I'm outside that sphere. probably just because I've been on this hardcore GW burn since like December though!