Little Things that Irk You: Episode V

[QualityChimp]

[eastyy]

i am confused as well as we were both giving out about our partners watching it lol

[JazzFunk]

Irks me that I've just drunk half a bottle of Lidl gin n forked out ?11.99 for the 360 version of REmake, a 13/14 yr old GC game, essentially. Which I already own.

Best thing: I WANNA play it! And I never thought it was that ship-hot, just the gfx, PSX had the scares which madeth the game. GC was never scary but ship-hot looking. Ship ship-hot. Hotter than ships.

[kryss]

All my bags came in under weight at the airport.

I really have nothing to complain about this week, except my TERRIBAD exam on Wednesday. It went so badly I'm not checking the result for at least another week.

[shaffy_oppa]

****ing GAME website pausing my music continuously. ****ing train being delayed and two that were supposed to leave to the same destination after this one left before... Not happy.

Need to find the source. Every little thing is pissing me off.

[The Moleman]

Playing Link to the Past for the first time in years and I forgot how much the health meter alarm penetrates your insides and scratches away at your very soul, christ that noise is annoying....

[noobish hat]

The complaints about the all-male character lineup for FFXV that seem to overlook the fact that X-2 had an all-female lineup 12 years ago. I don't recall anybody complaining.

[Asura]

The complaints about the all-male character lineup for FFXV that seem to overlook the fact that X-2 had an all-female lineup 12 years ago. I don't recall anybody complaining.

It's even more complex than that; there have been complaints that one of the main female characters is over-sexualised:



Then, throw in to the mix that the male line-up was meant to appeal to a young female audience (hence why FFXV looks a bit like "One Direction saves the world").

It's a tricky line for S-E and all content creators to tread. The Internet has given everyone an equal voice, which has brought with it both positive and negative outcomes. The positive is that it can be a real voice for social issues, which is a good thing.

The negative is that all voices speak at roughly the same volume. People call for change in a particular videogame which features something they don't like, when it's unclear how many people share that opinion. You might have a comments section on Kotaku get 100 comments, but that's still a vocal minority for a game like FFXV which is expected to sell in excess of 5 million copies.

Then there's the "filter bubble" issue; the idea that due to being fuelled by advertising, Google and other sites have a self-interest to never challenge the reader, but instead only show things that they agree with. It's like the internet is an echo-chamber of people who agree with you unless you really try to strike out.

Related, too, is how so much internet traffic (in the English-speaking world at least) is concentrated around a few sites - YouTube, Eurogamer, IGN, the Steam Community, a few others. It means that a determined 20 people who are willing to post in a bunch of places and upvote stuff can sound like the prevailing public opinion. It isn't a conspiracy; they don't need to coordinate, they just need to share the same point of view and say it in a few key places where pretty much everyone congregates.

Of course, just because it's a minority doesn't mean you can or should ignore them, but then what do you do? Just make what "the people" want? That's design-by-committee and it never works, because "the people" don't actually agree. They only agree about "wedge issues"; big, huge things that they're unhappy about. In the end nearly every creative decision pisses off some people and delights others.

[noobish hat]

I love it when Japanese developers try to deal with complaints over gender issues, it's hilarious to watch because they have no ability to understand it. Their responses often make things worse. Have you seen the interview where they discuss people's complaints about the car mechanic? Totally missed the point and could not address the real question being posed to them, like talking to a child. I think it's the crisp combination of being a game developer and being Japanese that means they are woefully out of their depth here.

[Asura]

I love it when Japanese developers try to deal with complaints over gender issues, it's hilarious to watch because they have no ability to understand it. Their responses often make things worse. Have you seen the interview where they discuss people's complaints about the car mechanic? Totally missed the point and could not address the real question being posed to them, like talking to a child. I think it's the crisp combination of being a game developer and being Japanese that means they are woefully out of their depth here.

People ask sometimes why the Japanese industry doesn't always engage with the Western world, and this is one of the reasons. They just have a totally different background for these issues; plus translation doesn't help and we all know how a single word can turn things in this kind of debate.

Part of the problem is that some people consider their views as "global", or they project their understanding onto other cultures. For example, a big one is how I often see Americans online who dismiss racial issues in eastern Europe because "they're all white people, they don't really have problems".

[Decider-VT]

Amazon are doubling the threshold for Super Saver Delivery to a minimum ?20 order, unless you're ordering ?10-worth of books. Another annoying gouge.

[EDDIE M0NS00N]

"May the 4th be with you!"

Urgh!! (yawn)

[Decider-VT]

Let's be glad that it's only for a day. Six months remain until we have a month of crap facial hair and selfies abound.

[nakamura]

"May the 4th be with you!"

Urgh!! (yawn)

Every ****ing year now. Ugh.

[Lebowski]

woo 10% off starwars lego again and a **** figure that no one wants