When I was hardcore into anime, particularly anime cels, I was never subjected to tons of negativity. Sure, some fans were absolutely crazy and had no problems calling you names online if you dared to not like their favorite character or happened to have more money to throw at an auction than they did. But there wasn’t a lot of people posting threads that start with, “This thing sucks because…” Everyone accepted that not everyone liked the same shows, and since we were out to purchase the cels used for said shows, we were fine with people liking other things. After all, that meant less competition. But even then, people who loved Inuyasha more than life itself typically didn’t jump onto Yu-Gi-Oh! people and tell them that their favorite show was awful. When people did, they were quickly run out of the forum. Most people were of the opinion that you were free to voice your dislike, but don’t constantly voice it. We get it, you don’t like it. Can we move on?
So now that I’m in the world of video games, this constant stream of negativity I witness day in and day out makes me miss those crazy cel collectors. People are bashing for not liking something. People are bashed for liking something. Publishers are bashed for putting in features in games. They’re bashed for not putting in features. I have to stop reading comments on every news article and review I write, because most of them are incredibly negative and go along the lines of, “this is stupid.”
I wonder if half of these people like video games at all. Nothing seems good enough for most of them. So many are so quick to judge everything about a game that isn’t even out yet just because of a publisher or a developer. Whatever happened to giving things a chance? Whatever happened to praising what we like and feeling good about it instead of constantly yelling about what we don’t?
I can’t change asshats on the Internet, but I can change my approach and I can make sure I don’t slide down to that level.
From here on out, I am going to do my absolute best to never post a negative comment or something negative to social media. If I do, it will have a humorous spin on it. I will not bash people for liking something or not liking something. If I don’t have something nice to say about someone or something, I’ll leave it off the Internet. I’ll even do my damndest to make sure that I don’t write an overly negative feature or editorial, and that in my reviews, I’ll stay critical without being insulting.
I love playing video games, and I love having fun playing them. If I can make sure my voice on social media stays happy and fun, then I can cancel out at least some of the rage and negativity. I’m going to try to anyway.
I’d like at least my corner of the Internet to be happy and fun where everyone rides rainbow unicorns.
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