Copper Zen said:
I wonder if some of the grumps have to do with "survivor's guilt". You're still here while hundreds of people have come and gone. And a lot of people you used to know have left or gotten banned.
Now you're the oldsters gazing across your lawns at the pups playing in the street. You've been there and done that, seen it all...and sound like you're getting a little crotchety in your advancing years. From the sounds of some of the things you've said Daystar I got the impression you were feistier in days gone by.
Do you folks find the User Groups more comfortable because they present you with a controlled environment of familiar faces?
What is the likelihood for gamers to remain gamers and hang out at a site like this for years on end? As far as games go I spend more time playing mighty Hidden Object games so I'm not exactly one to jump into the Console War debates. And my PC won't play most simple PC games (I think the optics drive is going out) and I've lost money on The Witcher and The Force Unleashed because in the 1st case it keeps asking for "Administrative approval" or something so I've never gotten past the "do you wanna play"/set up screen and in the 2nd my graphics capabilities are so poor the game plays at super slow speed.
Now I'm depressing myself. Where's MY cane?
Everyone I knew who have been banned are in contact with me via Skype, teh Twatterz[footnote]I will never call it Twitter ever again because I prefer Twatterz.

[/footnote] and other sites, so I doubt it's survivors guilt on my end. Could possibly be, but I doubt it.
And I now prefer user groups because, as many have said, I'm less likely to be insulted there for stating an opinion. Gonna take a recent example, but I reviewed Duke Nukem Forever and posted it here. In that review, I called it the "Worst game I'd ever played in the years I've been gaming." which, in my opinion, it is. Queue posts in a similar vein to this about half way down the comment thread.
Yes, dear, you're such an edgy nonconformist for disliking a first-person shooter. Now tell me all the reasons why disliking Skyrim makes me an idiot.
Now, stuff like that, while it isn't happening to me every time I post or indeed every single post, is happening on a regular basis and seeing it happen just grinds on my desire to post in the forums. Another example is when I saw Daystar say something about Spec Ops: The Line a coupla days ago. He got quoted to hell and back because he made a statement that hinted he didn't like the game. He didn't call it the worst thing ever made, he said it failed at doing something, maybe satire, I wasn't paying much attention. I think in the first page of posts, about 5 to 10 of them were people responding to that quote in a bitchy way, saying Daystar was X, Y, and Z. Shit like that can get frustrating to deal with.
Also another reason I'm a bit crotchety with the site is some users seem to need to get a reputation and build it up or maintain it. Just...seeing shit like that makes me want to slap them. Why does your standing on a message board with good content matter one bit? I mean yeah, it's nice to be quoted and messaged by people saying "Oh, you're cool and funny." and what not but why strive to be that guy?
TL;DR, Things have changed since I joined, I don't like them so I ***** about them instead of doing something about it.
