Normally, we wouldn't be in favor of a mob mentality, but look at some of these reviews! "Going to Central Asia? That sounds a bit too much like a hobby to me. I would never dream of reading/doing something for fun, whats the point of doing something if it isnt improving yourself?" We also like, "Being told to read this book before passing judgement feels like being told to immerse myself in smack and teenage pregnancy." You know what that is? That's a confirmed burn.
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_thumbnail.jpg "i am 8-bit: 2008")
(Page 1) Reader Comments
That's getting lambasted, and a mob scene?
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I'm also kind of assuming that (like Lawrence) Amazon deleted some. Also, it's not just this book: http://www.amazon.com/Extreme-Continental-Blowing-Through-Central/dp/0575400072/ref=tag_dpp_lp_edpp_ttl_in
Lol @ the guy recommending kotaku as a traveling guide.
Still, that's some funny shit.
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I had a real goofy grin on my face reading that.
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On the link Justin posted, it shows he has a sales rank of 2,257,700. I don't think many people were buying the book anyways.
It just seems like a real waste of time. Should we really encourage moar mob justice on the internet?
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Its the gamers form of protest.
You are right: it is a form of protest. It's easy and relatively anonymous. But it's a little juvenile. Not that I disagree with juvenility: I'm just saying.
Anyway I'm with Nigeria on this one. I'm not sure I see the point, really. Cooper's book was new and she in the midst of promoting it, so she really felt the sting. But I don't think it should be some universal form of protest, because at some point you just start doing a disservice to other people (those genuinely interested in buying the book) and then they just come away thinking "Yeah, these gamers really are a nuisance." and that kind of defeats the purpose.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1860110762/ref=cm_cr_thx_view
Unless you feel that making these reviews is a waste of time.
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I would literally shit myself laughing if Giles Whittell's official response to this was "No fair! HAxorS!"
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From digg: http://www.arsgeek.com/?p=3796
"Pregnant teens, heroin addicts cry foul over Times Online editorial comparing them to gamers."
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Yes I'm comparing this man to a less-than-average-intelligence cat.
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Is there a "getting Coopered" Wikipedia entry yet?
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born2kill,am I supposed to be in support of your tirade or offended by it? I just don't know...
The idiot here is you.
For example. He could have said "Being told to ... before passing judgement feels like being told to immerse myself in hunting and bowling."
If he had the meaning you say he had, a comment like this would have sufficed. But he chose "smack and teen pregnancy" because they are 2 undesirable aspects of society that he wanted his readers to equate to gaming in their minds.
He deserves to be roasted for his comments.
@Crono.. #1 dont call me an idiot, you ignorant pussy. #2 He made a very specific point of saying his criticism were not that games were wrong or bad. READ THE DAM ARTICLE #3 He can use whatever analogy he wants to make his point that there are certain subjects that society comments on all the time, which they are not immersed in. #4 Its fine to defend gaming, but alot of mindless, asshole gamers are getting carried away and theyre getting very dogmatic over shit they have no clue about.
Call me a pussy again. Well get this thread to stretch to page 2.
Epic contests of who gets the last word FTW!!!
5 pages I say!
smack is a definite known bad thing to do and so is teen preggers (usually) and so he's right to say that he doesn't need to immerse himself in those things to know that they are bad. but to lump all video games into the 'known bad' pile isn't the same thing. it's like saying he doesn't need to read a book to know that all books are bad. it's different, it's ignorant and it's wrong. however, it is his opinion which technically can't be wrong but he sure can get lambasted because of it.
If you want argue that games don't necessarily take as much time away from real life as he's claiming, thats fine; but youre not going to say that hes saying that games are harmful/dangerous as drugs, because he specifically says that is not true...period
i read the article and I still think you're off base.
'waste of time' is a completely subjective thing to say - one person's waste of time is another's nectar of life. I don't want to read the Harry Potter books but I would never say that people who do are wasting their time.
you really think he arbitrarily chose smack and teen preggers? and you think he's right to imply that the entire realm of video games go in the 'known bad' pile like these 2 specific activities? it's a horrible analogy he's made because it exposes his enormous ignorance on the subject. sure, he doesn't need to immerse himself in smack to know it's bad, but he needs to at least know what smack is.
the analogy is made worse by the next sentence. He's making a comparison of a generalization to a specific activity - ALL video games are a waste of time like doing smack. let's say I play a video game version of chess where it's proven to improve certain brain functions... hmmm, the analogy breaks down pretty quickly once you find a positive use for video games - there was a study a while back that showed surgeons become better at their job after playing video games. to say that no good use can come from video games is as ignorant as it gets.
wait, oh now i get it, you're just arguing for the sake of argument. moving along, nothing to see here.
Let me say this again, the man likes the 'real' world and taking part in activities therein. He doesnt think games are bad/wrong, just that they consume a hell of alot of time (3 hours/day on avg.) from kids that could be spent in the non-virtual world. Therefore its perfectly understandable that he takes the position that activites like games, drugs, etc. are a waste, because they can really distract kids from real life. He doesnt need to be immersed in gaming to know that, anymore than you need to watch paint dry for 3 hours a day to know its boring. And besides that, I know people (like my cousin) who hold the same position and have been immersed in gaming. Theres absolutely nothing wrong with what hes said, nor his creditials to say it. Being offended by it is extremely ignorant, immature, and overly defensive.
Now: 'move along, nothing to see here'
right, because to disagree with you is completely out of the question.
>> He doesnt think games are bad/wrong, just that they consume a hell of alot of time (3 hours/day on avg.) from kids that could be spent in the non-virtual world.
ok first of all he says it's a 'waste' of time, not just 'comsume' a lot of time - all the 'real world' activities he likes also consume a lot of time. if something is a waste of time, it means that there is nothing positive to be gained. this point he makes exposes his ignorance to the fact that a video game (or an activity derived from the technology) can actually have positive effects on you which makes those activities not a waste of time regardless of how much time they take.
secondly, he's talking about ALL video games and ALL video game players (hint: he's stereotyping). this also points to his ignorance because not all video games take a long time or are distracting to 'real world' activities. I know lots of people who play video games AND go snowboarding - wow, how can you possibly do both? forget the fact that if I sit down and play tetris for 10mins, I've somehow consumed and wasted a colossal amount time. the picture he paints is of the extreme game addict - yes those people have a problem but they are the fringe, not the norm which shows his ignorance of gamers.
thirdly, he's comparing a generalization to specific activities so the analogy doesn't have legs. also, it doesn't matter that he says 'games aren't bad' or even that 'smack isn't bad', that's a deflection. for his broken analogy to work, he had to pick truly awful activities to illustrate his point that he doesn't need to learn about those things to know they have a bad affect (yes, he really does mean that a waste of time is a bad thing).
fourth, "immersed for decades at a time"? do y ou know anyone who has been immersed for decades at a time? this means that for 10+ years, someone has done nothing but games. There have been a couple of people who sort of tried this and they died after about 100 hours.
the guy is a toolbag and clearly doesn't know what he's talking about. Why would you defend his ignorance? I understand defending his right to his opinion, but is ignorance is harmful, deliberately closed-minded and misleading to others who are as ignorant as he is (hint: there's a lot of them).
>> Being offended by it is extremely ignorant, immature, and overly defensive.
i'm not offended by his opinion, I'm offended by his ignorance on the subject - a subject I know a lot more about than he does. He put his statements out in the wild for everyone to see and comment on, tell me again why we shouldn't comment on it?
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In this case, the author is posting an editorial. In other words, his opinion of something. Yes, it's an ignorant opinion (in my, ahem, opinion) and an unpopular one, but its just an opinion.
And on some level I almost can relate. It is kind of sad when you see parents taking the time and energy to take their kids somewhere pretty cool (say, a science museum, or a neat natural landmark) and the kids are so engrossed in their DS that they don't even look up to see what's around them. But that, as is so often the case, comes down to poor parenting I think.
It'd be just as sad to see the kid's nose in a comic book, and of course 40 years ago people were writing the same kinds of editorials about how horrible comic books were.
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