Post by Shrikeswind on Sept 1, 2020 3:56:44 GMT -5
So, as you've probably guessed from the sudden influx of Runescape discussion I've been chucking around like a baboon throwing feces - or just from all the times I've said "Yeah I play," - I play, and enjoy, Runescape. And I kinda want to talk about my experiences as a gamer as it relates to fandoms in general, but in particular Runescape and Nintendo.
So, for as long as I can remember, I've enjoyed playing video games. I was born in 1990 - God, I'm going to be thirty this month - and many of the most enjoyable moments of my childhood had me either with a controller in my hand or watching someone else play. I remember the first time I ever saw King K. Rool was because my babysitter was a platforming goddess, I remember countless hours sunk into Super Mario All-Stars, I remember my grandmother's Pac-Man (I'm pretty sure she had an Atari, but that might just be me blending knowledge and memory), I remember exactly where I was in the Jet Force Gemini demo when my dad found me and decided "Yeah, my 9-year-old son is enjoying this game where he shoots giant insects until they explode into green jello, let's get it." There's definitely a lot that I can look back on fondly. I remember that summer day when my new friends introduced me to Runescape, and while I don't particularly remember getting through Tutorial Island for the first time (they kinda rushed me through it), I very much do remember how that ended with me on the shores of Draynor Village asking (hopefully not in such a dumb way,) "How I mine for fish?" and then getting killed by the dark wizard as some Samaritan tried to teach me the magical power of the fishing net.
I also remember not having anyone to talk to about the games I liked.
I'm not going to get into the full history of bullying, but it's worth remembering that there is a history of bullying that I could get into. But it certainly led me to get on bandwagons, like PokéMania, or its sequel, PokéHate. It wouldn't be until high school that I'd get over that and start just enjoying things no matter what people thought of it, because surprise, you fit in better when you stop trying to force yourself in places where you don't belong. But even as a gamer, I'd often notice places where I didn't fit in because I was a particular kind of gamer. Runescape was...well, is...a common shame-game, but I had friends who played and as an MMO, it's pretty easy to look at the number of people busy chopping trees, smacking anvils, luring noobs into the Wilderness, etc., and say "Yeah sure buddy," but in high school, the fact that I was a Nintendork kept people talking down to me. You even saw it on TV - people hated Nintendo because it wasn't cool, it wasn't an XBox or a PS2, tHe gRApHicS, ThE kiDdIE gAMeS...you get it. Hell, I'm pretty sure we all remember it - if memory serves, that was around the time I joined NinDB.
Cut to now. Understand me when I say this, I blame no one here at NinDB. This is a call to action, not a denouncement of my long-time friends who I haven't even seen (or at the least, who I don't remember having seen) act this way. But Runescape, like I said, was one of those common shame-games for all that time. And Boo Destroyer, a couple days ago at time of writing, said this: "RuneScape.... I haven't heard that name in a long, long time." And I have to wonder, because I can still look at the number of people playing at any given moment and see that, yeah, it's still active, people still play, how could someone have just not heard that this was still around? And it strikes me that maybe this is the problem. That maybe, after all the hate, all the vitriolic rage, that people reserved for Runescape, everyone just stopped talking about it, that people stopped sharing their excitement for a game they love to avoid having to defend themselves again for liking it.
And before anyone starts saying that this sort of hate is a problem of the past: People still do it. There are still jokes about hurting, even killing children over loving Fortnite. How is that acceptable? Gamers have historically been bullied for liking games, and we're going to go that next step into it? We're going to embrace it? No. We need to stand against that sort of behavior. I remember when I was growing up. I was bullied constantly from first to eighth grade, and still had to put up with it on occasion until graduation. Gaming was my refuge from that. Can we, as a community, get back to that? I very much doubt we're going to have a lot of that here - NinDB has always been a very welcoming community - but I'd like to see people standing up to that sort of toxicity, and the first step is, as always, by talking about it.
So: Have you ever been shamed for liking a game? Or have you recently seen this sort of behavior? And how do you think we can stop people from acting like this?
So, for as long as I can remember, I've enjoyed playing video games. I was born in 1990 - God, I'm going to be thirty this month - and many of the most enjoyable moments of my childhood had me either with a controller in my hand or watching someone else play. I remember the first time I ever saw King K. Rool was because my babysitter was a platforming goddess, I remember countless hours sunk into Super Mario All-Stars, I remember my grandmother's Pac-Man (I'm pretty sure she had an Atari, but that might just be me blending knowledge and memory), I remember exactly where I was in the Jet Force Gemini demo when my dad found me and decided "Yeah, my 9-year-old son is enjoying this game where he shoots giant insects until they explode into green jello, let's get it." There's definitely a lot that I can look back on fondly. I remember that summer day when my new friends introduced me to Runescape, and while I don't particularly remember getting through Tutorial Island for the first time (they kinda rushed me through it), I very much do remember how that ended with me on the shores of Draynor Village asking (hopefully not in such a dumb way,) "How I mine for fish?" and then getting killed by the dark wizard as some Samaritan tried to teach me the magical power of the fishing net.
I also remember not having anyone to talk to about the games I liked.
I'm not going to get into the full history of bullying, but it's worth remembering that there is a history of bullying that I could get into. But it certainly led me to get on bandwagons, like PokéMania, or its sequel, PokéHate. It wouldn't be until high school that I'd get over that and start just enjoying things no matter what people thought of it, because surprise, you fit in better when you stop trying to force yourself in places where you don't belong. But even as a gamer, I'd often notice places where I didn't fit in because I was a particular kind of gamer. Runescape was...well, is...a common shame-game, but I had friends who played and as an MMO, it's pretty easy to look at the number of people busy chopping trees, smacking anvils, luring noobs into the Wilderness, etc., and say "Yeah sure buddy," but in high school, the fact that I was a Nintendork kept people talking down to me. You even saw it on TV - people hated Nintendo because it wasn't cool, it wasn't an XBox or a PS2, tHe gRApHicS, ThE kiDdIE gAMeS...you get it. Hell, I'm pretty sure we all remember it - if memory serves, that was around the time I joined NinDB.
Cut to now. Understand me when I say this, I blame no one here at NinDB. This is a call to action, not a denouncement of my long-time friends who I haven't even seen (or at the least, who I don't remember having seen) act this way. But Runescape, like I said, was one of those common shame-games for all that time. And Boo Destroyer, a couple days ago at time of writing, said this: "RuneScape.... I haven't heard that name in a long, long time." And I have to wonder, because I can still look at the number of people playing at any given moment and see that, yeah, it's still active, people still play, how could someone have just not heard that this was still around? And it strikes me that maybe this is the problem. That maybe, after all the hate, all the vitriolic rage, that people reserved for Runescape, everyone just stopped talking about it, that people stopped sharing their excitement for a game they love to avoid having to defend themselves again for liking it.
And before anyone starts saying that this sort of hate is a problem of the past: People still do it. There are still jokes about hurting, even killing children over loving Fortnite. How is that acceptable? Gamers have historically been bullied for liking games, and we're going to go that next step into it? We're going to embrace it? No. We need to stand against that sort of behavior. I remember when I was growing up. I was bullied constantly from first to eighth grade, and still had to put up with it on occasion until graduation. Gaming was my refuge from that. Can we, as a community, get back to that? I very much doubt we're going to have a lot of that here - NinDB has always been a very welcoming community - but I'd like to see people standing up to that sort of toxicity, and the first step is, as always, by talking about it.
So: Have you ever been shamed for liking a game? Or have you recently seen this sort of behavior? And how do you think we can stop people from acting like this?
