[Rant] Am I the only one to be tired of extreme opinions related to RPGs?

[Turjan]

I think it is safe to say that a majority of gamers who post here are Americans, and Americans have this really nasty tendency of exaggerating everything they say, giving standing ovations when they are not deserved, cheering for things that shouldn't be cheered for, and sounding extremely opinionated when it isn't warranted.

Let me tell you that this kind of behaviour belongs to the universal virtues .

 

[Odhanan]

I don't think it has anything to do with being American or Japanese or French, to be frank. I can give you some links to French-speaking message boards where people get outrageously opinionated. For instance? Try liberation.fr's forums.

PS: Please do not go on with the whole ethnicities/cultures bashing. Moderators, please feel free to lock this thread if this keeps on going. Thank you!

 

[Maggan]

Yeah, for me it's gotten to a point that if anyone uses hyperbole to make a point, I just disregard their entire argument.

Instead I hunt for the well reasoned, balanced viewpoints, and just let the rest slide.

/M

 

[d20Dwarf]

I find the poll options too extreme to choose one.

 

[Heathen72]

It seems the nature of internet discourse to be polar. People treat discussion as debate, mistake jokes for insults, and are more interested in provoking a reaction than provoking thought.

 

[Umbran]

It seems the nature of internet discourse to be polar. People treat discussion as debate, mistake jokes for insults, and are more interested in provoking a reaction than provoking thought.

I'll toss out another idea - how folks behave on the itnernet really isn't all that much different than they behave otherwise.

It isn't that folks carry on discourse differently online than they do offline, but that they carry on discourse differently with relative strangers than with close friends. It is merely that in the meatworld, one rarely gets into much discourse with strangers at all. The behavior becomes more visible here not because it is different, but because it is more concentrated.

 

[Odhanan]

I'll toss out another idea - how folks behave on the itnernet really isn't all that much different than they behave otherwise.

It isn't that folks carry on discourse differently online than they do offline, but that they carry on discourse differently with relative strangers than with close friends. It is merely that in the meatworld, one rarely gets into much discourse with strangers at all. The behavior becomes more visible here not because it is different, but because it is more concentrated.

More concentrated and written. I think that's a huge difference. You can make a lame joke at a restaurant table and people can discard it in 3 seconds or less. You post the same lame joke on a message board and the chance of getting a flamewar is greatly increased. Because written texts can still be read a while after someone posted something, and the statements "between the lines" (which aren't automatically imaginary on the reader's side) are all the more visible.

 

[Ourph]

I'm more bothered by extremely rude expression of opinions (any opinions) than I am by extreme opinions. If you have an extreme opinion and express it in a civil manner you're cool IMB.

 

[Einan]

I think the forums tend to reflect not how people act in real life, but how people wish they could act in real life. In real life (TM) I don't express extreme opinions for fear of alienating or angering those people I am forced by proximity to be around day after day. On the forums I can express my extreme distaste for lemmings, since I don't have to see anyone if I don't want to. (Thanks, Ignore Button!) Plus I can always dismiss anyone who disagrees with me on the forums by belittling their spelling or choice of icon or signature. Ignoring someone's opinion in real life can be hazardous, since I often have to see them day after day.

Thus opinions tend to be artifically skewed toward extremes. I don't really like Eberron much becomes I HATE EBERRON!!!!! very quickly. And often spawns replies with equally extreme opinions.

Einan, who really is this obnoxious in real life (TM)

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

More concentrated and written. I think that's a huge difference. You can make a lame joke at a restaurant table and people can discard it in 3 seconds or less. You post the same lame joke on a message board and the chance of getting a flamewar is greatly increased. Because written texts can still be read a while after someone posted something, and the statements "between the lines" (which aren't automatically imaginary on the reader's side) are all the more visible.

In addition, misinterpretation of written information is very easy. In my Project Management classes they often say that only 10% of the information in conversations is conveyed by the words themselves, the rest is from tone of voice and non-verbal cues. Smilies help to convey some of that on messageboards, but it is still very easy to misinterpret or read more into a written message than was actually intended.