Is The Escapist the most civilized gaming website?

[Popadoo]

By now, the majority of you will have heard about Skyrim's same-sex marriages, giving the player the choice to marry either man or women, not depending on your chosen gender. This kind of thing sparks a lot of controversy in comments sections, and I was appalled by some of the comments on other websites;

G4:

Spoiler

'I do not want my fantasy games to be a reflection of the social norms of real life!!! That is why I escape from real life!!I do not need to be inundated from some social miniority trying to push there social agenda,for homosexuals are wrong,there gay,and anyone who agrees with homosexuals are themselves homosexuals...which I can only imagine that some of the people on the staff of Skyrim are themselves homosexuals....this just opens up a whole can of worms....which I bet most of the staff working on Skyrim would not admit to themselves that they are gay themselves even though they openly want gay marriage in the game!!!! Mr Howard get your head out of the gutter,and do not pressure your company to go "GAY".Can you imagine in 200-300 years from now when 90% of the population is homosexual,it would be the collapse of society of no one would be reproducing of any children...THERE SHOULD BE A LAW BANNING HOMOSEXUALS FROM PRACTICING THERE CULTURE,JUST LIKE MURDER IS WRONG,RAPE IS WRONG,BESTIALITY IS WRONG,STEALING IS WRONG,AND JUST LIKE THOSE CRIMES YOU WOULD HAVE TO GO TO JAIL,SO SHOULD HOMOS!!!!!'

IGN:

Spoiler

'wow Gayrim why do gay people have to ruin everything'

'I'm just tired of people telling me what is normal and then forcing gay marriage and everything else down my throat! Two men or women can not have babies and is not normal. If everyone went gay tomorrow the world would eventually die in less then 100 years. It's biologically wrong and that's the reason it is always voted down in America. Due to them putting this in the game I will NOT be buying it. Not supporting something is the only way to get them to change it.'

And these aren't a minority, about 80% of the comments I've seen have been hitting on Bethesda and homosexuals in general on these websites, and The Escapist is one of the only places I haven't seen stuff like this, besides the rare comment or two.
Thoughts?

 

[Girl With One Eye]

Gayrim

I laughed for a good 10 minutes after reading that.

Unfortunately this doesn't surprise at all though. Some websites are more moderated than others, and I guess that's why I like it here. I don't know if the escapist is the "most" civilized, but I think it's definitely a nicer place to be.

 

[Simple Bluff]

I'm pretty sure the G4 guy was trolling. Either way this is hilarious.

 

[Alphakirby]

Yeah,I would have to say that as far as gaming websites (Possibly websites in general) we are some of the classier people hanging around. Not so much that we force each other to not have fun,not so little that we barely resemble humans. We do not abuse our ability to be anonymous towards each other,unlike many others. (With exceptions of course)

We are the most civilized gaming website by far though.

 

[GestaltEsper]

No offense, but God I hope not.

 

[viranimus]

Yeah you do realize it is only perception. The core demo of the escapist is incredibly young. (15-24 area) compared to other sites. With that comes a perception that "My people are so much more tolerant than everyone else, so that makes me awesome!" which is all well and good until the next generation comes along and starts to "Love and accept the shit out of everything" to which the current generation is going to invariably take exception to how liberal the new generations views are.

So I dont think that it is the escapist being more civilized, nearly as much as the escapist is not yet mature, and does not show quite as many of these biases so openly.

 

[zidine100]

We are talking about the same website rite? I hate to make a semi low content post, but no. No way in hell is this the most civilized gaming website. Id rather not go into details, in a attempt to not get banned, i highly doubt that's not going to happen though, i did just somewhat insult this website, im not just talking about the forum, im talking about the site as a whole.

But hey who actually cares if the sites civilized, its a reasonably interesting place to be anyway.

 

[Jonluw]

Ehh, I haven't really been to many other gaming sites, but I imagine it's among the more civilized (large) ones.
The moderation keeps the worst asshats out.

 

[jawakiller]

G4, Trolling ftw! That's fantastic. He probably got a bunch of shit for that from straight up idiots haplessly trying to defend their hilariously weak arguments using lies that nobody believes anymore. Yep, he must have been one crazy ass mother fucker. I would love to read that thread.

But he does have a point... I don't want a minority trying to sneak propaganda (cuz thats what it is) in a game that DOESN'T NEED THAT BULLSHIT. Sure some games need it but do we really need to be like "thar be em fags in Gears of War cuz we need diversity n' shit, GO GREEN!"

Necessary?

 

[Prof. Monkeypox]

I have no opinion on our own civility (though I always try to be civil).
Yes, people here strike me as generally respectful, but there are also quite a few times when I came up against annoying trolls, flamers, and winging fanboys.
So, I guess we're maybe a little better than average?


Anyway, I mainly commented to say that those two examples above were pretty hilarious. Unless they were being serious. In which case, WTF?

 

[CrashBang]

I'd say yes. The only other gaming forum I've actually posted frequently on was GameTrailers and that place is awful. I've nosed around in IGNs and theirs, like OP said, is also terrible.
I love the Escapist to pieces, never get bored of posting here.

 

[Bobic]

Sure, it's more civilised than most. Though the average level set by gaming sites is incredibly low. It's like being one of the most tolerant KKK members. It really isn't much of an accomplishment.

 

[FalloutJack]

The Escapist? Most civilized? Uhhh...

[HEADING=1]NO.[/HEADING]

It's not the worst, but if this is the best, then I can probably do better out of a free forum of my own creation. But given that fact, it's likely that others DID and so my original point still stands.

 

[Zaik]

Uh.

I guess "civilized" as in when I read people trolling/arguing here, it sounds like a high class English accent in my head, rather than trolling other places where it tends to be more snide or rageitude.

That makes sense, right?

 

[ImperialSunlight]

Eh, Gamesradar wasn't that bad. I think these websites are just more popular so there's a larger amount of idiots on there.

 

[JasonKaotic]

Wow. Those two quotes actually made me pretty pissed off. Although I did laugh inside my head at their logic at the same time, of course.
But it seems pretty civilized to me. Definitely mature. Although there are the occasional dipshits that hate opinions, but the majority of the users seem pretty chill to me.

 

[Hero in a half shell]

When I read this thread title I thought "Hmm, well it could be, but then I noticed the thread placed right below it: "Women. HOW DO THEY WORK!?" So, yeah.

I would say the Escapist forums tends to have quite a visible community of gay, transgender etc. users on it, and this tends to reign in peoples... more radical views when posting about these subjects, also they'll almost certainly bring down the wrath of the Mods. Doesn't mean our community is any more tolerant, just that if we do have these feelings we aren't as quick to rant about our radical views because of the rather tight community.

 

[Ldude893]

Meh, there's probably better and more stricter websites out there in terms of moderation, even though I can't find one myself.
I agree thought that the Escapist is one of the rare gaming websites where people actually talk sense.