DIGITISER
  • MAIN PAGE
  • Features
  • Videos
  • Game Reviews
  • FAQ

 WHAT NINTENDO, VIRTUAL REALITY, POKEMON GO, GAMERGATE, TRUMP & MILO YIANNOPOULOS HAVE IN COMMON - by Mr Biffo

20/7/2016

52 Comments

 
Picture
You don't need me to recap the past few weeks of Pokemon Go news. Let's face it, everyone's writing about it, because it's good for the clicksies. Even so, that cynical barb aside, it is a massive story - Pokemon Go is singlehandedly reversing Nintendo's fortunes, and, I suspect, pointing the way forward for gaming.

Now get this: the thing you have to know about me is that I'm always right. It's terrifying how right I am. Literally; I lay awake at night screaming in fear.

I've never been wrong about anything, and Pokemon Go might be the thing that I have been the most right about. And I was right about it in the face of all the so-called experts and games journos backing another horse altogether. 

Specifically, a bad, blind horse, whose minge had been bunged up with a kettle. Nobody wants to ride a horse like that, but nooooo... they were all "Oh, this horse is the future of horsing around!", while the rest of us were standing there all like "Er... what? Have you seen what's up its minge?"

​"Cup of hot water (or whatever this is), anyone?"
And here is what I was right about this time: in most of my many, many rants at the expense of virtual reality, I've argued that augmented reality is the future of the gaming realities. And now, in the wake of Pokemon Go's absurd success, we're seeing that happen. An augmented reality app has become the biggest phenomenon in gaming since... well, I dunno. There's never been anything like Pokemon Go. Ever.

It's the gaming phenomenon to end all phenomena - one that's actually encouraging people to leave their homes, and stare at their screens al fresco, while potentially interacting with others who are doing the same. That's nothing short of a miracle.

But wait! I'm not here merely to parp my own horn - much as I enjoy doing so. I'm here to parp your horn too. And I actually don't even know what that means.
Picture
DOWNSIDE GO
The downside of Pokemon Go's absurd success is that we're now going to be assaulted with a glut of me-too games, all of them jostling for a slice of that lucrative sausage.

​You just wait. This time next year there'll be dozens of them, by which point Nintendo will have ironed out the bugs in Go, rendering the existence of the dopplegangers even more pointless.

The thing about Pokemon Go is that it isn't the most advanced game ever, it isn't the best looking, it isn't terrifically complicated. It's simple and accessible to all, and uses existing, proven, technology in a way that feels fresh and clever. You know: a bit like Nintendo managed with the Wii.

And - frustrating all of us who would love a new Nintendo console that can compete with its competitors byte for byte - it's a confirmation that their philosophy works. At least, for them. God knows what the NX is going to be, but I doubt it's going to be exactly what any of "us" expect or have asked for.

See, being a gamer is a bit like being a North Londoner. We forget that beyond the M25 there's the rest of the country, and they don't necessarily think like we do.

​We've a blinkered, narrow view of the world. We live in a fishbowl, and though we might get a sense that there's something more beyond the glass, that's the immediate reality we're dealing with, and - oooh! The hand is feeding us!

That was proven in the EU referendum. And it's proven when most gamers talk about Nintendo. When Nintendo stubbornly refuses to behave in the way we think it should. And we'd better get used to it, because after Pokemon Go, and the more modest success of Miitomo, there's a lot more of that idiosyncratic behaviour on the way.

​Heck, they're already promising a "new kind" of Mario game - and we can only speculate what that might be. Running around the streets headbutting breezeblocks and stamping on turtles? 

Picture
NINTENDO VR?
The biggest priority for Nintendo is speaking to an audience that is otherwise underserved.

​An audience that isn't wooed and distracted by the technology and graphics like "we" all are. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Virtual Reality is never going to be a mass-market proposition. Some in the industry need to wake up to that.

Nobody outside of gaming - people who aren't games developers, or games journalists, or early adopters, or people on forums, or people who comment on games websites, or people who buy new games on the day they come out - will care.

Virtual Reality is a deeply off-putting concept, as cool as we might all think it is. For it to become a gaming format in its own right it needs to have the support of millions upon millions of gamers - to justify the development expense, to justify making games for it.

I have never been convinced that such an audience is there, and I'm not convinced VR will ever be anything beyond a novelty. Even PlayStation VR - the best chance virtual reality has of taking off as a mass-market proposition - gets my alarm beeping. I'm happy to be proven wrong, but I think its future doesn't lie in gaming... but in medicine, in business, in the corporate world.

And, again, for me it all cycles round to the fact that if we want to be able to see and predict and understand and talk to a broader section of society, we have to be able to look beyond what's right in front of us. Those people we see and interact with, those shops we shop at, the things we buy ourselves, our choice of TV shows and movies, and who we follow on Twitter... that's not the world. That's a tiny sliver of the world, a distorted view of a greater whole. 

And that narrow thinking seems to be killing us as a planet. We've forgotten that - while we might not all think and feel the same way about things - underneath it every single one of us has the same basic needs.

Picture
WHO YOU GONNA CALL?
And while I'm musing on all this, it ties back into stuff that happened on Twitter over the last couple of days.

You know: with Ghostbusters actor Leslie Jones receiving racial and  misogynistic abuse for her role in the movie, and Milo Yiannopoulos, the self-styled "Most dangerous faggot in the world" and a supporter of Gamergate, being banned from the service for his own small part in that abuse. 

I think Yiannopoulos is a loathsome, hateful specimen, but censoring him feels like a mistake. It plays into the hands of him and his supporters, stokes up talk of a left-wing conspiracy, and clamping down on free speech.  

Plus, it seems absurd when he was merely being the oily, snide, underhand shit he usually is - and there were those who were behaving in a far more abusive way, who haven't been banned. All Twitter - and those who were demanding the suspension of Yiannopoulos - have succeeded in doing is turning him into a martyr, a victim.

CULTURE CLUB
This culture war that's raging on multiple fronts - in Gamergate, in Trump, in Black Lives Matter, in our own country with Brexit, and elsewhere - stems from us not understanding one another, because we're viewing the world through our own pinprick glory holes.

We only entertain perspectives which conform to how we already believe the world is. That's why those of us who are a bit on the liberal side, a bit too North London, were so shocked when the country as a whole voted to leave the EU. 

Hate speech, racism, misogyny, should never be tolerated - and what happened to Leslie Jones was despicable - but it's a symptom of something deeper, something that I don't understand because, on the whole, things are fine for me. But sometimes I despair because the left can be as inflexible as the right, and play into their hands. There's no looking at a bigger picture, no self-awareness. Just knee-jerk, rigid, conformity to one world view.

Trump has only come this far because he speaks to a disaffected populace, and has positioned himself as the one politician who'll listen to them. Similarly, Yiannopoulos speaks for these people, gives them voice in his columns, or in speeches. And does so in a way that only confirms their fears, and anxiety, and strengthens their hatred - and doesn't do anything to address or solve the issues at the heart of it all.

And Trump and people like Yiannopoulos are able to do that, because there's nobody else doing it. Nobody is even trying. We're all just staring at the walls of our own little boxes, repeating our own mantras, with our fingers in our ears.

You can't just tell these people they're wrong, and take away what they believe are their rights - because you're denying what they feel. They're all in their own enclaves, surrounded by voices which echo their view of the world, while the rest of us try to hammer down their walls, shouting about how wrong they are. This strategy isn't going to work. It doesn't make the world a nicer, safer place. It entrenches positions. If it continues unchecked like this it's going to screw us all.

We have to start looking past the ends of our own nose.

THE DIVISION
The world feels more divided than I can ever remember. Divided along political, social, religious and racial grounds - at a time when, not so long ago, I believed we'd be moving closer together as a species and a global community.

​We've slipped backwards, and I don't currently see a way to unpick all the damage that has been done. It feels like we're building towards something. A pressure that, once upon a time, would have been released by a World War, or similar cataclysm. 

The various factions are waging war while wearing sensory-depriving VR helmets playing the same messages over and over.

No wonder the rest of us are out trying to catch pretend monsters. 

FROM THE ARCHIVE:
GAMES OF MY YEARS: POKEMON - BY MR BIFFO
NINTENDO: LIFE BEFORE MARIO - A HISTORY
10 BLATANT MARIO RIP-OFFS

52 Comments
Barrybarrybarrybarry
20/7/2016 12:18:50 pm

Really enjoyed this Mr B - thanks! There's many who agree with you - it's a testing time and it'll only be sorted out if people actually start talking again. That's be nice, would it? Actually, as a reclusive, antisocial, misanthropist, it probably wouldn't. But hey, maybe someone else can do it.

There does appear to be an errant 's' at the end of 'comment' in the third section, third paragraph. Sorry, but I just don't feel right keeping it a secret.

Reply
Mr Biffo
20/7/2016 12:27:18 pm

I thank you for your sub-editing, Bazza.

Reply
Darren link
20/7/2016 12:26:09 pm

Milo Papadopoulos is a hack who obviously sucked many dicks to get to wherever he is going. He's one of those media whores who has become a real-life troll and whose opinions aren't worth a soggy fart.

It's the end of the world - yadda-yadda-yadda. Everyone hates each other - yadda yadda yadda. It's always been like this - the only different is that we didn't have social media to prove that we are all cunts.

Reply
Superbeast 37
20/7/2016 12:57:55 pm

Much ado about nothing again. There is no mass "hate"; the entire thing is a falsely manufactured narrative.

Curiously...only in two cases have I actually seen real bigots openly and outright calling for others to be harmed and inciting violence and it actually happening with people being killed and injured.

ISIS and Black Lives Matter.

Twitter always treats them with kid gloves for some reason.

I don't think what happened to Leslie Jones was racially motivated despite the narrative. She blatantly fed trolls (how many bloody times must you tell people!) and trolls did what they did best - chose the most effective attack vector. If she was white with ginger hair they would have gone for that instead. I've no doubt a large percentage of the trolls were black or have close black friends and not a racist bone in their body.

Funnily enough I see that Ms Jones Twitter history has been trawled and guess what it dredged up......yup, loads of racist remarks! (I'm not talking about the spoofed Tweets the trolls made either). I doubt she mean't those either and was just trying to rile people up. Pot and kettle.

We recently found out that half of "misogynistic" abuse comes from women and of course the truth there is that it clearly isn't misogynistic but rather women calling other women a "b*tch", "wh*re" and "sl*g" etc because it achieves the desired goal of riling the other person up.

It's also the case that male celebs receive more abuse than female celebs - again contrary to the narrative being pushed in the media.

Studies have proven that 99.4% of those using the Gamergate hashtag weren't abusive. Again the narrative of "hate" was proven false.

I think there is a lot of confirmation bias going on when people look at situations and always come up with the same answer of it being down to bigotry and division.

I just don't see all this division you talk about. I mostly just see political ideologues race baiting and trying to fan non-existent flames etc for personal gain. Trolls will always be there and do what trolls do, and people will always have arguments and dislike other people for totally non-racial/non-gender reasons. These ideologues are pretty much exploiting that fact and twisting it to help their cause.

Every disagreement or argument is dishonestly portrayed as being about identity.

As a well known female game critic said "everything is sexist, everything is racist, everything is homophobic and you have to point it all out".

Nope everything isn't like that at all. It's only in the mind of the moronic whack job doing the pointing-out and getting very wealthy from their cult-like following who lap it up. Just as religious nuts blame every natural disaster on us angering god.

I can confidently say that 99.9% of us don't have any "hate" in that sense. Where we do "hate" people they are generally of the same gender/race as us and it is over petty disagreements about money/sexual partners etc. Same as its always been.

I just can't understand why people actually want to believe that there is mass division and hate.

Reply
Superbeast 37
20/7/2016 01:09:22 pm

Just to clarify this statement: "I just can't understand why people actually want to believe that there is mass division and hate."

I am referring to those who don't get rich from the pushing the narrative. The followers, as it were.

In particular I observe when posting stats or studies proving that there is no mass hate/racism/sexism/discrimination, these people actually attack you for it!!!

I'd have expected them to be pleased to know that there isn't this irrational mass hate and threat out there and yet they seem to get very upset and abusive?!?!?

Why?!?!?!

Reply
Peter Venkman
20/7/2016 03:18:41 pm

It's true readers, this man has no dick.

Barrybarrybarrybarry
20/7/2016 08:18:27 pm

"In particular I observe when posting stats or studies proving that there is no mass hate/racism/sexism/discrimination, these people actually attack you for it!!!"

"Studies have proven that 99.4% of those using the Gamergate hashtag weren't abusive. Again the narrative of "hate" was proven false."

It's because you don't cite sources for your stats or studies. Please cite them. All. In detail. With appropriate statistical analyses to demonstrate significance.

Otherwise they seem made up.

Clockwork Fool
20/7/2016 03:39:50 pm

I've got to say, I think you're wrong about the lack of division in society. At least, when talking about America. That whole country feels like it's on the brink of civil war right now, the rhetoric from several sides has grown hysterical to the point where some kind of civil catastrophe feels almost inevitable.

I think if we're not lucky, the recent police shootings could be merely the tip of the iceberg.

Reply
Gibley
20/7/2016 03:55:19 pm

Most of us don't hate (i think progressives over-use the word) but we don't need to actively hate to perpetuate inequality. We just have to dismiss people's arguments, to think we know better, to think racism etc aren't a problem because we don't personally face it. To go to a black woman facing racist abuse and tell her it's not really racist.

Sometimes it's best to listen to people who face harassment, injustice etc. Not get all defensive and prepare arguments about how they're wrong. Just listen a while.

And no this isn't some "silencing superbeast" thing, it's "stop being so sure you're right and listen to people who's lives are not like yours".

Reply
Superbeast 37
20/7/2016 07:26:59 pm

I'm not questioning whether someone received abuse. People have received abuse. You are attacking a strawman there Gibley.

That people often trigger/exacerbate it by ignoring Rule 14 of the internet doesn't mean they didn't receive abuse or that they aren't victims. I've not said that.

That victims attribute false motives and (often inadvertently) make false accusations at innocent demographics for anonymous abuse doesn't mean that they didn't receive abuse. I've not said that either.

These people have received abuse; I am discussing the motives behind the abuse and not just going with the BBC/Guardian narrative. Who are these abusers, why did the abusers target a certain individual and why those particular remarks?

The media would have us believe that there is mass racism/sexism online and it is white males perpetrating the majority of it against predominantly women/ethnic minorities.

I am calling bulls**t on that.

When I accuse the media/left wing activists of being liars, smearing innocent people, race/gender baiting and pushing identity politics at the expense of the truth....I am right! Because studies repeatedly show that I am right and that the narrative pushed by the media/activists is false.

My issue is with those who lie, smear and create false narratives, either for personal gain, out of prejudice/confirmation bias and try to create division where it didn't exist.

Ms Jones is a victim but I won't race-bait or smear innocent demographics to protect her fee fees. Appeal to emotion fallacies won't work on me. She is better off knowing and understanding what it was really about rather than living with the delusion that the moron activists would create for her.

It's too easy and convenient to look at a persons melanin levels and genitals and then jump to conclusions over the motives for abuse, point a finger at millions of innocent people and then create the very division that Biffo is worried about.

Pouring petrol on a fire is stupid, providing the spark is even worse.

Peter Venkman
20/7/2016 09:43:01 pm

Are you, Superbeast, menstruating right now?

Superbeast 37
21/7/2016 06:32:09 am

Barry - if you haven't even read the WAM study why are you commenting?

You are the one making accusations and you admit you didn't check the facts?

You shoot your mouth off, accuse innocent people and then admit you haven't read the study and ask me to link to it? Jesus Christ.

How about if you haven't done the basic research, you don't accuse people? Or does that require more humanity than you can muster?

Barrybarrybarrybarry
21/7/2016 09:32:02 am

Superbeast - it was not my intention to anger you, although it appears that I have. It is unpleasant to suggest that, because I have not read a particular report, I have no right to comment on this.

I have now had a look at the report of which you speak. There is no mention of the statistic you have mentioned above. In fact, it appears this figure has been created, disingenuously, by manipulating statistics. Please understand I am not accusing you of doing it. It appears that a misunderstanding of statistical analysis is the culprit, again.

I do not consider that I was 'shooting [my] mouth off' and I was certainly not making accusations. I was genuinely saying that statistics have to be sourced, or they appear to have been plucked from nowhere. As the famous saying goes, 92.8% of statistics are made up on the spot.

I consider you to be entirely entrenched in your position on this and will have to admit that it is likely that I am too. I simply believe that sending tweets of apes to a black woman is racist. I believe that a vote in the UK that 52% of people agreed with is divisive. As stated above, I think people need to start speaking to other people, with different viewpoints, to understand where their opinions come from.

Sadly, this doesn't appear possible on the internet, where anonymity makes everything difficult.

I wish you all the best and hope you have a pleasant day.

I also hope this comes out below your reply to me, otherwise it'll look stupidly placed and I would be terribly embarrassed.

Superbeast 37
21/7/2016 10:14:37 am

Your inability to read a survey/data and handle GCSE maths is your problem.

So is your cognitive dissonance at having your bigoted beliefs disproved.

Only a bigot smears entire demographics and bigots don't deserve courtesy.

If you wish to refute that you are a bigot then link to your figures supporting your narrative that Gamer-Gate was an abusive hate group.

I'd expect you to demonstrate that a sizeable percentage using the tag posted abuse.

By "sizeable percentage", we could use as an example the percentage of Muslims that would have to commit/support terrorist attacks before the Guardian/BBC branded Islam as a religion of hate. Let's apply the same standards to all because you arent a bigot, right?

I suspect you have nothing because the only data I've found was the WAM study.

I have a peer reviewed study conducted by feminists in partnership with Twitter. Their data shows that 0.66% of the accounts using the hashtag posted abuse.

Islam would not be branded a hate group over the actions of 0.66%. That's my case.

Over to you. What's your percentage? Let's see who can best support their position.

If you have nothing then you have no right to blame thousands of innocent people by association. You are acting out of prejudice and a mob mentality. Attacking a group you were told to blindly hate without any fact checking. Anyone would think you wanted to believe it.

You and your bigoted ilk are the problem. Not these phantom non existent bogeymen the loony left are trying to witch hunt.

Walter Peck
21/7/2016 05:08:47 pm

Actually SB. It's you who is statistically illiterate and you who can't read the WAM harrasement study data properly. Your complete and total idiocy coupled with your obscene level of self regard won't let you accept this, but for the benefit of those here who have more than two brain cells to rub together I'll break it down.

The WAM study found that 12% of harrasement during the trial period came from gamergate affiliated accounts. As this was an opt in study, where people had to submit tickets to WAM reporting the abuse we can be sure that not every peice of harrasement was reported, some people will have been harrassed and not reported it at all, some may just have reported it to twitter and not the the WAM study. This means that using this figure to say anything at all about the ultimate number of gators involed in harrassment is at best meaningless and at worst willfully misleading.

What it does tell us though is the proportion of harrasement that comes from gamergate and this clocks in at 12% of the cases reported during the trial.

Since gators comprise 0.004% of twitter population , it's an entirely accurate statement that gamergators are massively disproportionately reponsible for harrasement. 12% of all reports came from a community of 0.004% of users. The fact is that gamergate accounts are, by a considerable distance, far more likely to engage in harrasment, either hate speech or doxxing, according to this study, than the average twitter user.

This is is what your own peer reviewed study actually tells us. The one you keep citing in your now trademark painfully haughty and arrogant manner.

I look forward to your frothing, ill-tempered, ill-informed, ramblingly incoherent yet outrageously arrogant reply that I won't read.

Spiney O'Sullivan
20/7/2016 07:47:08 pm

Bravo. You've really outdone yourself this time. You always talk about people twisting events to suit their narrative, but here you've actually argued that explicitly and intentionally racist abuse was sent by people who definitely aren't racist at all and don't think racist thoughts to suit your usual lines of argument. You're presuming many people's intentions to suit the argument you want to make, so you can keep on claiming victimhood. But then, I hear there's a lucrative career in that these days...

Reply
Spiney O'Sullivan
20/7/2016 07:56:12 pm

The sad part is, I don't even disagree with the idea that not everyone on your side of the fence is totally and unquestionably evil, despite the deluge of articles about it. The insane mess that has become online videogame discussion in the last year has decent people and monsters on both sides, most of whom I believe are acting out of a sense of injustice, alienation, and victimisation, mixed with an inability to step back and see other perspectives. But come on, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, and sometimes a racist tweet is just a racist tweet.

Hamptonoid
20/7/2016 10:59:33 pm

Nice commentin' , tex.

Superbeast 37
21/7/2016 06:17:47 am

You can prove the people posting that stuff did so because they are racist Spiney?

You don't even have the first clue who they are or what race they are. You are just assuming and talking nonsense based on your own preconceptions. You don't know their motives.

People like you do too much of that.

Assumed Gamer-Gate was an abusive group - got utterly rekt by stats.

Assumed women receive more abuse online than men - got utterly rekt by stats.

Assumed most trolls abusing women are male - got utterly rekt by stats.

Notice the pattern? You smear innocent people and get rekt by stats and studies again and again.

You race baiting plonkers have been repeatedly humiliated and exposed for shooting your mouths off and getting it wrong.

I don't know who the trolls are. My guess would be that they come from many races and genders because that is what data on previous trolling incidents/attacks on celebs suggests.

We know a lot of trolls have conditions such as aspergers too and the motives often were boredom or kudos amongst peers. But as I say, there is no proof.

We only know that the superficial appearance is almost always entirely wrong.

Mass racism on the Internet? Bollocks. We are talking about the most progressive generation in history. It ain't 60 year olds sending these tweets we can pretty much be sure of that.

Have you seen the mass of genuine racist tweets Ms Jones made? Do you think she is genuinely racist? I guess not. So why do you assume the trolls are?

Spiney O'Sullivan
21/7/2016 08:42:16 am

Gosh, that's a lot of assumptions about what I think of tangentially related issues. I am just saying: you have every bit as much of an agenda as the people you complain about. You too seem to filter events through your own pre-concieved views, because you're not as neutral or rational as you'd like to think. Because no human being is.

I've never actually specifically doubted the findings of your WAM study (even though now I think about it, you've just argued that surface-level tweet content doesn't actually indicate the underlying beliefs of their posters...), or that women also send misogynist abuse. I am just saying that in this case you are excusing at best, and at worst actively trying to justify just something genuinely horrible because of your own agenda, because you see your demographic as the main victims (and I'm not going to deny that working class white men -which I'm sure you've mentioned being one of- have problems, some of which are indeed systemic, but they also don't face a lot of problems that other demographics do).

So much of this last year has come down to the very "hurt fee fees" you dismiss on both sides.

Superbeast 37
21/7/2016 10:51:06 am

Were Ms Jones racist tweets racist in motivation?

If you think I'm wrong to assume the trolls aren't motivated by racism, am I also wrong when I assume she isn't a racist?

At least we know who made her racist tweets about white women. She did. A black person.

You don't even know the race of the trolls. Not the first thing about them!

Maybe i shouldn't give her the benefit of the doubt? Perhaps she should be expelled from the movie industry for that racism? Is that what you want?

Spiney O'Sullivan
21/7/2016 12:04:37 pm

I don't spend as much time on this as you, but let me guess, Leslie Jones posted some mean comments about white people? It's almost as if a demographic that historically suffered under another group and still faces the impacts of that in various ways both subtle and unsubtle might have some views on the other demographic... Of course, this doesn't fit with your apparent "we're all totally equal now and racism is over forever except for the minorities who are the real racists" viewpoint.

And I don't want to be so flippant, but it's frustrating, as I just don't understand why for someone who claims to be neutral, you are so aversed to trying to see things from other perspectives than that of you and those who share your agenda. Like I said, I really don't think everyone on your side of the fence is inherently bad, and I get that certain parts of the media like to portray it as if you are, but you're in danger of becoming as kneejerk as you claim that the people you oppose are in your attempts to prove that you're not.

Superbeast 37
21/7/2016 01:05:49 pm

Did you seriously just try to justify the vile racism spewed out by one of the most wealthy and privileged people on earth?!

Spiney O'Sullivan
21/7/2016 05:23:40 pm

If I was, that would make two of us in the same conversation.

Sometimes I genuinely don't know whether you're being facetious. Anyway, as I'm sure you know and are choosing to ignore because it's inconvenient to your narrative, the concept of "privilege" as used in critical theory isn't just about money.

Spiney O'Sullivan
21/7/2016 05:25:04 pm

And before you pick me up on that first line: That would make two of us justifying someone else's racism.

Random Reviewer
21/7/2016 10:27:04 pm

I'm curious about your POV. Say we accept your view that the racist pictures were not tweeted at Leslie Jones out of racist intent but merely as a 'troll' - is that somehow an acceptable act in your opinion? Are you sure there was no hate in the hearts of these trollers - was all mindless fun for them? Because even if that was the case, to tweet those pictures without understanding just how messed up that action is leads me to believe those tweeters (and the people defending them) have an almost sociopathic lack of empathy.

Reply
Spiney O'Sullivan
21/7/2016 11:51:46 pm

Allow me to save him the time:

You can't prove with peer-reviewed statistical analysis what every single one of them was thinking while they hurled hate speech at someone, so it's best to give everybody involved the benefit of the doubt, even if their actions are strongly suggestive of their opinions. Except the person getting targeted, because they're the real racist.

Also read the WAM study, you're the bigot, who's the real victim here, media agenda, tangential swipe at other hot-button issues not actually relevant to issue at hand, virtue signalling, potential correctness gone mad.

Did I miss anything?

(Sorry mate, but it's getting a bit predictable)

Virtual Boy
20/7/2016 01:14:18 pm

But people fall on cliffs when playing Pokemon Go!That doesn't happen with VR. I mean, OK, there was that time I got motion sickness and sicked up, and then slipped on the sick and fell over and broke both my arms, and ended up trapped on the floor in the sick, unable to take off the helmet, and I went sort of mad for a couple of days.

But Pokemon Go is for babies!

Reply
TekMerc
20/7/2016 01:47:11 pm

Yes, yes, those who live in London are the blinkered ones. So little of the world we experience. We burn the wicker man to ensure a good harvest. God our perspective is just so narrow, being a Londoner.

Reply
Dr Kank
20/7/2016 02:17:04 pm

A good jellied eel harvest?

Reply
timmypoos
20/7/2016 09:25:39 pm

Dr Kank, proper lol'ed over that, lol!!!!

Clockwork Fool
20/7/2016 03:35:39 pm

I'm pretty strongly liberal and I wasn't even remotely surprised by Brexit. The result seemed curiously inevitable to me, to the point where I basically called it when the idea of a vote was initially floated.

But then, I don't like in North London. I sometimes think the surprise is partly because of how over-inflated London's own sense of importance is. London is practically a separate country and it often seems blind to the existence of the rest of the country.

I also think you're underestimating Trump. His long history of association with professional wrestling, WWE style has (I believe) given him a very different understanding of how to communicate and how to compete in the kind of razzle-dazzle arena of American politics. Things like being visually distinct, (You don't think he could afford to have his hair grafted if he was just sensitive about being bald? The Trump Do is a deliberate visual signature like Hogan's own preposterous crop), but also things like how he addresses a crowd and how he frames his ideas. I think he has a lot more going for him as a campaigner than simply plugging in to feelings of hatred or even political disenfranchisement.

And I think prevailing opinion being that was all he had is a huge part of why his success has surprised the establishment in his country and his party so much as it has. That same underestimating may yet be a factor in the proper election.

Reply
Random Reviewer
21/7/2016 05:54:48 pm

I will never tire of watching Austin delivering the Stone cold Stunner to Trumpey Dump.

Reply
Mr Jonny T
20/7/2016 05:41:49 pm

"The world feels more divided than I can ever remember. Divided along political, social, religious and racial grounds - at a time when, not so long ago, I believed we'd be moving closer together as a species and a global community."

So... you're not always right...?

Reply
dab88
24/7/2016 11:43:33 am

Just because it "feels" more divided than ever that doesn't mean it actually is. Every major news story is under the spotlight with scrutiny from every corner. We are exposed to more negative events that don't actually affect us than ever before. I'd be inclined to believe the world has always been this divided (probably more so) but we now have the technology to expose ourselves to it all

Reply
Bruce Flagpole
20/7/2016 05:49:24 pm

I played Pokemon Go and thought it was naff.

Reply
Spiney O'Sullivan
20/7/2016 09:00:07 pm

I'm impressed you managed to play it at all. With all the server issues and freezing, I've only managed to get the thing working for about an hour despite having it since the UK launch...

Reply
Guppeth
20/7/2016 06:51:01 pm

"I think Yiannopoulos is a loathsome, hateful specimen, but censoring him feels like a mistake. It plays into the hands of him and his supporters, stokes up talk of a left-wing conspiracy, and clamping down on free speech."

It's just like when Mad Gavin got barred from the Red Lion for making gibbon noises at the black customers.

Reply
Mrtankthreat
20/7/2016 07:02:38 pm

"It's the gaming phenomenon to end all phenomena - one that's actually encouraging people to leave their homes, and stare at their screens al fresco, while potentially interacting with others who are doing the same. That's nothing short of a miracle."

And for a while everyone marveled at how motion controls attracted non gamers to play while encouraging regular gamers to abandon their sedentary lifestyle and get fit and active while enjoying games. In the end it was a short lived gimmick and I fear the Pokemon Go/Augmented reality phenomenon will go the same way.

In the end, the promise of motion controls began and ended with Wii Sports. Everything else that came along just tried to shoehorn it in and no one else ever really figured out what to do with it. I can see Pokemon Go being the pinnacle of augmented reality where everyone else will try and copy it and do nothing different with the technology while the market is flooded with terrible clones and then even Nintendo will struggle to top that initial success. I hope I'm wrong.

Reply
Damon link
20/7/2016 11:08:52 pm

Little deep there Biffster.

Not wrong but...

Reply
Euphemia
21/7/2016 04:57:55 am

Deep ... and hard.

Reply
Lofty from EastEnders
21/7/2016 10:30:12 am

""I think Yiannopoulos is a loathsome, hateful specimen" <--- How or why did you come to that conclusion? How long have you followed him? What, specifically, is hateful about him?

Reply
combat_honey
21/7/2016 02:54:31 pm

Can't speak for Biffo, but my own answer to those questions are as follows:

1. Through my ability to read and understand the English language and come to conclusions using common sense and logic
2. Never followed him, but have seen plenty of his tweets
3. The fact that he marshalls his followers and fans to take part in hate campaigns, denies the existence of sexism and racism, is a white supremacist, is Islamaphobic, and supports Donald Trump.

Reply
colincidence link
21/7/2016 03:36:11 pm

Q.E.D.

(Quite evidently douche)

Loft from EastEnders
21/7/2016 04:33:57 pm

On point 1, I guess you might need reconsider your ability to draw conclusions based on available evidence. I say that because your point 2 suggests strongly that you have come to a conclusion based on anecdote, not evidence. And your point 3 shows the weakness of your points 1 and 2, because he has never marshalled his fans to take part in hate campaigns. Unlike the person who accused him of doing that. Still, never let facts get in the way of a good virtue-signalling prejudice.

amazingmikeyc
22/7/2016 02:21:36 pm

There was that thing he did when he didn't pay any of the journalists at his company.

Lofty from EastEnders
22/7/2016 04:32:35 pm

That's true - and could be a valid reason to dislike someone. However, businesses go bust all the while. Does that make the owners evil? Or just bad at business. As well, Milo secured new funding for The Kernel, paid off all its debts and relaunched:

http://www.thedrum.com/news/2013/06/02/controversial-tech-mag-kernel-relaunches-after-paying-debts

Kendall9000
21/7/2016 02:44:33 pm

I'm not a Milo fan - to me the fact that he's turned into Gamergate's unofficial mascot is reason enough to keep a distance from it. He helps Gamergate's respectability about as much as the screeching tantrum throwing SJWs disrupting his talks help their movement's image.

What I find interesting/concerning is that he doesn't seem to have been banned because of the things he actually said to Jones: the worst thing he did was accuse her of playing the victim over the hate mail she'd received.

Despite not being accused of personally saying anything threatening or racist, or directly telling anyone to harass her, he's blamed for inciting other people to make those hateful/trolling comments. He got permanently suspended even though the individuals actually carrying out the trolling generally weren't. The fact that some of them followed Milo on Twitter, and stuck their oar in after his exchange with her, is enough to make him culpable for their behaviour.

How many people here would like to be judged based on the actions of the people they interact with on social media? It wouldn't bother me, but then I have a total of 3 followers (including my mum). Anyone who's vaguely internet famous (especially a provocateur like Milo) is bound to draw in a few nastier trolls and the odd genuine nutter.

Banning Milo for the behaviour of his followers, rather than waiting for him to cross the line with his own comments, definitely feeds his own censorship victimhood narrative (that I'm sure he'll be milking for months to come).

Reply
Lofty from EastEnders
21/7/2016 04:42:08 pm

...and this is a much better way to draw conclusions using common sense and logic.

Reply
amazingmikeyc
22/7/2016 02:28:01 pm

he knew what he was doing though.

Lofty from EastEnders
22/7/2016 05:08:35 pm

That's an interesting comment. Perhaps he did or perhaps he did not. If he did not, he's innocent. If he did he's... guilty? Guilty of what? Guilty of saying what he thinks? Guilt of not caring that others will take his comments and use them to justify their own extreme reactions? Who decides what we should and should not be able to say? Would those who like to see the likes of Milo silenced like to see their own ability to express themselves removed on the opaque say-so of some opaque authority? We should all be chilled by that idea.

Spiney O'Sullivan
22/7/2016 05:59:51 pm

Who decides what we can say indeed? Well, surely since Twitter is a private company, they can decide how their service is used. It's all in the T&Cs when you sign up. If people don't like it, they have other social media options.




Leave a Reply.

    This section will not be visible in live published website. Below are your current settings:


    Current Number Of Columns are = 2

    Expand Posts Area =

    Gap/Space Between Posts = 12px

    Blog Post Style = card

    Use of custom card colors instead of default colors = 1

    Blog Post Card Background Color = current color

    Blog Post Card Shadow Color = current color

    Blog Post Card Border Color = current color

    Publish the website and visit your blog page to see the results

    Picture
    Support Me on Ko-fi
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    RSS Feed Widget
    Picture

    Picture
    Tweets by @mrbiffo
    Picture
    Follow us on The Facebook

    Picture

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    May 2022
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    November 2020
    September 2020
    July 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014


    RSS Feed

Picture
This site Copyright Paul Rose 2016 - All images Copyright respective copyright holders
  • MAIN PAGE
  • Features
  • Videos
  • Game Reviews
  • FAQ