What do you think of The Escapist community as a whole?

[Slenn]

I tend to enjoy this site a lot more than other gaming communities. It seems to be a hotspot where people can share their opinions and find a lot of people that are like them. That being said, there are some things that I saw posted in this thread that I've noticed, and not noticed before until thinking about it. The community seems to be split evenly into two camps: the youthful, more aggressive and zealous people, and the older, more reserved people, who have well rounded opinions.

One person mentioned that this site is a male dominated community. That I already knew. But the part that was surprising was that the site was racist and homophobic. I dunno, it's hard for me to say if I've seen that or not, since I tend to stay away from those types of threads. The only time I noticed the 'male-domination' in off-topic threads is when people post in transgender or 'what would you do if you were the opposite sex' threads.

I can understand the impetus behind wanting to talk about a new game or a new highlight in current events around the world. But put up one controversial thread about either one, and that thread will not die for days on end with nothing really gained except a lot of posts made by people regurgitating their arguments back at each other.

The material presented on the Escapist is also mixed for me. Yahtzee's material hasn't really changed, but I still enjoy it. I like the LRR's material a lot. And the Big Picture is well put together. There is some controversy with some of Bob's material, but that's another topic. There was some bad material that was thankfully discontinued. Game Dogs and Retro Show come to mind. I'm also not a fan of the Top 5 lists. Especially the cosplay one. It seems that the worst opinions on cosplay and everything about it come from people who don't cosplay at all.

Other than that, I have enjoyed my time here. The RP threads have been a good community, and I still chat with those guys.

 

[grey_space]

It has its good moments and its bad moments. I like it overall, in fact these are the only forums that I find interesting enough to post in but there's waaaaaaaaaaay too much passive aggressiveness around these parts, all done in an attempt to avoid mod wrath and you just need to look at the thread for last weeks Top 5 video for a good example of people needing a stick taken out of their ass.

True Dat... Never in the field of human endeavour had so many taken offence at so little with so few (reasons for actually getting offended).

Indeed it seems with some of those unfortunate people the rod up their asses actually had a rod up its ass. Sad story. And I believe a genuine medical condition.

OT:
The passive aggressiveness is probably the most alienating thing here for me. it seems sometimes people are trying to insult you without incurring mod wrath or trying to enrage you in to bringing said wrath upon yourself.

Sometimes the issues raised in Off Topic and such seem a little....young. But then I'm way older than the typical Escapist it seems. (young whippersnappers! get off my lawn!)


On the positive side though some of you guys really helped me to think about things in a different way. I really like the politeness of the site and even within the flamewars there are diamonds of reasoned and cogent debate, and some good points.

I come here every day both to watch the vids, pick up the news and find out what ye crazy bastards are arguing about now

I also really love how there are so many people genuinely passionate about so many kinds of games on here.

So a rating 80% awesome overall for me!

 

[Dragonbums]

I like the fact that it is overall a mature community, and unlike other forum based websites- punishes users for really stupid non-contributing comments. On that note, I also like how strict and diligent the moderators are. An offending comment won't be left ignored for long, and if the offense is bad enough the user of said post will be suspended or booted from the forums.
I also like that insults are generally not tolerated. Especially when it's just simple arguing.
It's one of the reasons I went to this place.
Kotaku was really tiring, with all the people there that are just...ah. Really annoying. 9/10 if you disagree with someone your bound to get insults thrown at you without any sort of intelligent argument.

The only thing I don't really like about this site is the whole PC Master Race nonsense, and the occasional "better hardware better games!" mentality.

 

[DocMcCray]

An overall intelligent group that is mostly capable of civil discussion and interesting debates. I think misguided angst hijacks the forum from time to time (feminism, gender politics, etc.) but for the most part it's a good place to have an interesting discussion.

I agree with this. There are people that seem to over-react when feminism and gender politics pop up. I attribute that mostly to cultural differences depending on which side of the pond you are on. PM those people with a "Hey...what gives?" and civility returns quite quickly.

I do enjoy the (mostly) civil and well thought out debate. I enjoy being corrected respectfully when I make mistakes (which I do, I will admit to that). And I enjoy great answers to legitimate questions I have instead of the "ZOMG N00B!" thing many other forums have.

 

[KungFuJazzHands]

I really appreciate the community here, but you guys are way too sensitive. Learn to take some constructive criticism every once in a while folks, you'll appreciate it in the long run. Overall, the average intelligence level around here seems to be a bit higher than at other forums, something that makes me feel at home. Thank Dog for that.

Slightly off-topic: the mods here seem to be slightly overzealous in their moderation duties. I've gotten warnings for really petty things that wouldn't have warranted attention at other sites. That's going to take me some time to get used to.

 

[staika]

I love it here, I know a lot of cool people here and they are generally very nice to me and stuff. Even after I left the site and came back they were all welcomed me back and the newer users I didn't know welcomed me back as well.

 

[Reyold]

I'm really fond of the community here. You get bad eggs, sure, but that's true of any community. I love how you can actually have an intelligent discussion about the thing we're all passionate about: video games.

In short, I'm really really glad I found this place.

 

[rasputin0009]

The Escapist community is smarter in general than other gaming forums. I find more individuals who are enjoyable to converse with.

But, there is a lot of sensitivity floating around, too. I mean, in regards to almost everybody sees a disagreement as a personal attack. It's very silly. And nobody likes it when I point out that they're being silly. Everybody's silly!

Also, there's an overabundance of the straight white male attitude. "Woe is me for being born in such tough times for the straight white male! Everybody else has it easier than me!" seems to come up every fifth topic. That's something the Escapist community should be embarrassed about.

 

[IshimaruHayato]

Everyone else sort of speak for me, But I would like a list of badges I could get on the site. Also Im not sure if were doing badges still. Please do not take them away

 

[Sonic Doctor]

I like the site a lot, but there are times when I just have to take a break, usually when there is some kind of way overblow crusade against companies and such, or anything political for that matter.

This site is too PC on most things, no I'm not talking about computers, but political correctness. I'm not talking about mods either they are fine and the site rules are fine. I'm talking about any subject under the PC banner that comes up, and it becomes a situation well you just have no feelings or whatever if you aren't on our side. That some topics can never be joked about and such.

I really can't stand what many people here stand for when it comes to feminism and equality in gaming. The push for more equality in gaming is gone about all wrong, people attack games that offend them on some feminism activist level in some way, instead of looking to push for more new equality or female protagonist games. Basically, people that let what the Anita woman is doing slide, even though she clearly isn't putting effort(no hard research whatsoever) into what people paid her to do, basically releasing a couple weeks of super procrastination lazy work over a year's time.

But I'm digressing there with my over explanation as I tend to overwrite things to get my point across.

Lastly going with my points above, most of the time the form can be too Liberal for me, well considering I'm pretty much a die-hard Conservative for the most part. But with a good deal of the user base being young, I can see where the Liberalness comes from.

But, I will say that most of the Liberals here argue and are a little more civil than elsewhere.

Everyone else sort of speak for me, But I would like a list of badges I could get on the site. Also Im not sure if were doing badges still. Please do not take them away

Here you go.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.282858-The-Escapist-Forum-Badge-Gallery-Badges-875-Version-II?page=1

 

[Xan Krieger]

As a guy who sticks to the R&P section there's too few conservatives so it ends up being very unbalanced. It sucks like when gay marriage is brought up and someone speaks against it nobody agrees with that person, instead everyone jumps on them and calls them a bigot or a homophobe and it's all very childish. It's basically namecalling because a person has an opinion that differs from most of the community. I think that kind of thing scares away other conservatives, they know there's a strong liberal presence and any conservative who joins will just be jumped on because of their personal beliefs.

 

[Mr.Pandah]

No opinion anymore since I hardly frequent the forums at this point. Used to back in my college days all the time. Still seems the same way its always been. People are overly sensitive/can't take a joke or can't see another person's side of an argument. Ya know, like the rest of the internet.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

No opinion anymore since I hardly frequent the forums at this point.

I've noticed. D:

I like the site well enough, even with the sane people that are all over the place.

You live in the right forum then.

 

[Phasmal]

Eh.

It can be great, it can be really shitty.
`Feminist` is a dirty word here, and a lot of ignorance is often thrown around. But there are many thoughtful people here.
So, it can be very different, depending on the day and the topic flavour of the week.

EDIT: Oh, and the obsession with rape is disturbing.

 

[KOMega]

I mostly just roam around different forums and lurk.
As you see my post count, I have only just recently become more vocal on the escapist.

But from what I see, it's not too bad.
There are some sane, smart people around who are willing to discuss things.
Trolls and people trying to start flames are easy to spot and easy to walk around (at least from my perspective.)

Try starting a thread titled "consoles are better" and see what happens ... the flames would be like hellfire in a furnace, in a volcano.

Now that is just obvious troll/flame bait. I look at a thread titled like that and I see a box with a stick on a string.
But now and again there are people who post something that seems like obvious troll/flame bait, but then they provide a list of thought out reasons for discussion rather than a simple "This is why I am undeniably right".

If after I've read the initial posts and they seem to have been written by someone set on fire or growing horns and living under bridges charging bridge tolls, then I will not give them the time of day.

 

[Mr.Pandah]

No opinion anymore since I hardly frequent the forums at this point.

I've noticed. D:

I like the site well enough, even with the sane people that are all over the place.

You live in the right forum then.

Yes, I'm sorry my friend. Life gets in the way of a lot of things it seems. lol

 

[Headsprouter]

It's a good community, but it varies like any other.

I've had people that make me feel bad about myself, but for the most part, by the way I presented myself it was a called for response. In those kinds of cases I was being immature, or selfish, gave too little information, or shouldn't have approached the internet in the first place.

I never really felt a part of the escapist until I migrated to the Forum games during a period in which I was unable to speak to my friends, made worse by some depression (or similar, downtrodden feeling) that was affecting my sleep, in some cases I was unable to get to it, and while I was sleeping I'd have unpleasant dreams. But I wouldn't call them nightmares.
I just needed some kind of friendly human interaction, and I suppose it's telling of the quality of the Escapist community that I was able to get it, with only minor feelings that I was being intrusive.

 

[King Aragorn]

It's a nice community, for the most part. It's good to see a forum where not every post is ''lol'', but at the same time, it has it's fair share of douches, honestly. But once you fit in, it's really a good place to spend your digital minutes and time on.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

SNIP

Message me one of these times and we can drink to our sorrows. Or our joys. Point is, we drink.