Echo Chamber (Destiny)

by Leviathan , Hotel Zanzibar, Wednesday, December 03, 2014, 13:52 (3606 days ago) @ iconicbanana

This is obviously summation for people whose opinions I don't share. But it is indicative of the problem (edit: "problem" is not the right word. work with me here) you see in this forum: the echo chamber. We'll have this debate endlessly. I honestly find it more entertaining than the game at this point. I just burned up a lunch hour writing it. Let's all try to recognize the echo chamber. I would argue it's also fun. It shows the real investment.

I wish I could share that enthusiasm for the debate and fun in the forum, but I usually have a very opposite reaction to these echoes.

It's not the opinions or the side that are the problem with the debate for me. It's some of the voices. It's the condescending and elitist attitudes, no matter what they're arguing for. It's the threatening or pretentious tones. Snide remarks and self-importance. I've been rude too at times, but it's usually because I feel like I've been offended by these kinds of things. Obviously the Internet is rampant with these kinds of voices, but I continue to hope Bungie.Org can be better than that average.

It's certainly not everyone here, or even a majority, but those that derail the debates with these styles of inciting communication are loud and active, and thus they drive me to ignoring them so that I can still have some fun on this board or stay enthused with news-posting. I try to assume they don't intend these negative affects, but their consistency makes that hard to believe.

It's a weird, depressing feeling - either I try to take part in the forum and feel like everyone hates every bit of news I post, or I post the news, don't look at the forum, and hope the silent readers are still interested. I mean, I see a lot of people playing Destiny when I get online, but I wouldn't get that impression from reading this forum.

Perhaps I feel the negatives more because I helped start the site and have been trying to keep the frontpage healthy the last few months. Some sense of parentage, stress, pressure or something. I think I might have had the first post on the board so yes, there was some pride in it. But I don't know how to keep it inviting. I could try to moderate more, but I've tried to maintain the more 'free' approach of Bungie.Org forums, i.e. letting people resolve the problems themselves.

It just bums me out. I often get urges to make fanart or perhaps work on a Destiny comic, but I don't feel like I have a community audience interested in bouncing those things off of like I did with HBO before the Great Schism after Reach. Whenever I try to tackle the forum I feel like hanging up my admin hat altogether, instead.

I don't know. I just wish people would relax, be patient, light-hearted, and especially be civil to each other, whatever their opinion.