Is the gaming community too negative?

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This is something I've noticed for a long time, especially since Gamergate. I've noticed that sometimes it's impossible to find a positive discussion in gaming communities. A lot of gamers these days seem to hate every game that comes out, not to mention there's lots of arguing about politics (especially from right-wing gamers accusing everything of being "woke"). On some gaming websites, political posts get more discussion than ones actually about games. I'm honestly sick of seeing this attitude in gaming communities.

Do you think the gaming community is too negative? Why or why not?

There's few things sadder and more pathetic to see than a man who looks like a giant thumb crying over potential trans representation in a video game.

Supposed to be about fun?

I just play Asphalt 9 on the Switch. It is fun!

People are upset about GTA6. I've seen many sides of this story as to why people don't like it from moralism to anti-trans to anti-woke/anti-female protagonist to Zionist conspiracy theories. I'm tired.

It's just a take on a Bonnie and Clyde double protagonist story. That's not so bad.

Back when I joined a gaming forum in 2005 I think it was, the forum was non political.

By the time I fully left in 2009 or so, the forum was turning political in a negative way.

And then it disappeared altogether, as it was one of the smaller communities.

I think it's always been negative but ever since politics got mixed in it's gotten a lot worse.

And I agree about the funny way gamers hate on every new video game that comes out despite the fact that they'll still waste money buying and playing these games that they supposedly 'hate'.

Trolling has always been part of the gaming community.

I don't think the gaming community is too negative, rather I think the people of society have become so soft and cry baby'ie over the little things. Everyone is offended by everything..

Politics finds its way into every forum - mostly because it gets stamped out in one place and has to find a place somewhere else. That's true whatever your own personal views may be. Its happened, is happening, and will continue to happen anywhere people congregate.

I think it's gotten much worst. When I was a teenager female gamers were more welcomed in the gaming community but now they've become more rare because they don't like putting up with the rape and death threats from male gamers. I mean that was kinda what Gamergate was in a nutshell, it exposed what the gaming community is truly like in regards to how it treats girls and other minority gamers

With more people (of any gender) gaming online the problem is getting noticed more - it doesn't necessarily mean its gotten worse - "girls" doing "guy stuff" have always been treated badly.

Among the most easily offended are the people who meltdown over valid criticisms of behaviour they choose to engage in.

There's nothing sadder than some man-child whining over pronouns or gay representation (or whatever they're calling "woke" this week). Those guys would have thrown a tantrum and complained Metroid was woke if it was a current game.

I'm actually all for having more characters of color or lgbtq characters in games. My only problem with the woke movement is that it's forced. As a gay gamer myself I don't want poorly written LGBTQ characters forced into games just for the sake of pissing people who are against it off because that ruins the fun. I like it when it's treated as a more natural concept to the game, and that really should be my right to not want my sexualty forced on people as a political weapon.

There are plenty of positive examples of LGBTQ friendly games now. Like the Fable games and The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim that allow for same sex marriage.

And two of my favorite new horror games, Remothered: Broken Porcelain and Tormented Fathers, the main female characters Reed and Jennifer were both clearly lesbian lovers and their story was rather tragic how Reed spent so many years searching for Jennifer after she disappeared. The way their characters were written felt natural and they were deeply sympathetic, at least to me.

I feel like rainbow capitalism (and similar) are the real culprit, and it's just that because a lot of the critics lean to the right they have no interest in breaking down what they lump together as 'woke'.

Like, having queer characters in general would be 'woke' to those folks, but they'd likely point to the less well written examples when making the case. Those poorly written token characters are there because of rainbow capitalism, but that specific criticism will never be made, because the goal isn't to call out poorly written queer characters, it's to attack the inclusion of queer characters in general.

I don't think the pandering sort of inclusiveness that often appeals to people hoping to make a few extra bucks benefits anyone, they'd still be excluding queer characters if they thought it would make more money. Businesses try to exploit the most they can while maximizing profit, but that's not a good framing if you're trying to argue they're actually trying to brainwash people into not hating queers enough.

World of Tanks (ASIA1) is full of trolls from Australia and New Zealand.  Lots of nastiness directed at anyone whose winrate is less than average. Lots of bad blood between the "Play for Free" and "Pay to Win" crowds.

All in addition to expressed contempt for anyone other than white, right-wing, conservative gun-nuts.

You actually make a LOT of sense with this. In fact I'm starting to realize thst maybe I would actually be more for the woke movement if it wasn't being hijacked by greedy capitalists who have both exploited it for money and basically sold it as ammo to the far right to weaponize against people like me.

Thank you, I try to. I don't usually like writing too much and when someone's aiming to be concise it's easy to miss a lot of context because it wasn't provided (in the interest of concision).

"Anti-wokes" are pissed that the majority of people don't hold the same hate that they do and they hate being reminded of it (which seems to be the main thing rainbow capitalism contributes, reminding those people their views are so unpopular it's more profitable to embrace opposite values).

I doubt most people who'd get called woke would want to see every aspect of identity get commodified and treated in that way, but I don't think media wants nuanced conversations about that. They want the polarization because that attracts eyeballs.

It's gotta be frustrating for communities that are trapped in the middle because somehow your very existence is now a 'woke' issue to some people, meanwhile the people who are most visible of your allies aren't really allies, they just want to sell you and your friends s**t you don't need.

Those same 'most visible' allies weren't there from the beginning, have zero personal investment and didn't care about these issues until a position became popular enough that it's no longer brave to take a stance.