I just saw the thread about Phenomenon 32 on Something Awful, and… whoa. Just whoa. That’s a lot of hate in one place, guys.
Not sure how to react to this, really. I mean, on one level I guess it’s hilarious to see just how absurd some of the comments are. On another level, it’s quite sad – why do these people have nothing better to do than to bash other people’s work? For fuck’s sake, it’s just art – if you don’t like it, say it’s not your thing and move on. And why turn this into some kind of personal issue with me? Apparently I’m some kind of self-obsessed emo wannabe who spams the world with his artistic creations and then whines when people don’t like them. Oh, and my blog is bad because it has a lot of entries. Hey, maybe I even use long words sometimes.
I’ve been asked by several people to reconsider removing my game from GameJolt, and maybe that’s the wiser course of action. After all, the hate’s gonna come from everywhere. My mistake wasn’t putting the game on GameJolt, it was making a game that is labelled “platformer” and thus attracts a different crowd than something labelled “adventure.”
It’s clear that this is little more than trolling, of course. People want to feel big, so they need something to crap on, especially when that something is not exactly what they want it to be (i.e. small and easy and featuring ninjas, zombies or pirates). And they love nothing more than someone articulately trying to explain his or her choices – that’s whining and being emo. It’s the George W. Bush approach to discussion: “huh huh huh, he’s talking about numbers!” And anyone who actually likes the game is obviously just me posting under an assumed name, or someone involved with the game.
In the end, engaging with this kind of stupidity is just lose-lose. But having to deal with these people’s limitless stupidity and self-important anger is also a total waste of my time. Time which I could be using to tell other stories, in a medium where they might actually reach the people they’re meant for.
Those being self-obsessed emos with artistic pretensions, of course. Or perhaps self-obsessed emus with artistic pretensions. You never know with these flightless birds.
