Not surprisingly, a lot of individuals have chosen to take personal offense at a message directed at no one person.
When you don't direct something at one person, it's meant for a general group. Looks to me as though a general group responded.
The language of the original message was meant to be strong enough to shake its reader into thinking about adopting a different perspective than that of the victim. If this point of view angered you, that's unfortunate but maybe it means it holds some truth for you.
I could say the same thing about a conversation that happened about a month or two ago in Camon Heights. Funny how that fits, isn't it?
My intention is entirely well-meaning here. If I didn't care about this community I wouldn't have risked posting something I thought could eventually help but that I knew would be received as an unpopular point of view. However, for those who are not moved enough to say anything but do happen to share this perspective, I hope that it was a reminder that they aren't alone and don't need to succumb to this wave of negativity that is choking us.
By telling us "Stop being spoiled brats, and get the hell over it," you're just as guilty of perpetuating the "wave of negativity" as anyone else. You don't fix a situation by telling anyone "Well, this is better than that." You don't tell a r*pe victim "At least he/she didn't kill you." It fixes nothing, all it does is offend and anger. You should learn that, as it's an important lesson.
In an effort to push people to step back and zoom out to a broader view of things, it does not seem to have been clear just how broad I meant for it to be. Most backlash has been framed within the same sphere I was hoping to help nudge us out of - that is, the extremely narrow sphere that constitutes our little corner of cyberspace here.
You don't seem to fully fathom that this extremely narrow sphere is our world. At least, on these forums. If we wanted a broader view of the world, in its entirety, we'd be hanging out on CNN.com, not here. This is what we care about, or we wouldn't be here. You're not getting us out of this sphere, and you're only going to anger us by trying.
It sounds to me like what most detractors of my message are saying is that I don't and could never understand the depth of their loss and that I'm invalidating their grieving process. Also this set seem to think that new perspectives automatically belong in the garbage for some reason. That's a very reactionary point of view for a crowd inspired primarily by a guy who finally gained his power by learning to believe in his ability to change things.
First of all, who are you to talk about our reactionary point of view, when you button your lip and walk off at the first sign of a conversation you potentially won't like? Secondly, our inspiration is derived from a LOT more than a singal fictional character. If you really think us so simple, then perhaps you should look to horizons more fitting of your "broad" mindset.
By no means do I think anybody is wrong to grieve the loss of this fabulous game as it once was (and please don't tell me I don't know how it was, while I've been otrying to make a good time out of what IS here, all I've heard about since I got here is the "good old days" - in extensive detail - repeatedly). However, making it into a protracted grievANCE is not helpful to anybody here, including the grievance lobby.
And in what way is telling us how "sucking it up" going to change that particular equation to one that benefits us as a community? You need to understand, Kreis, that a number of us (not just I) have been trying like hell, for four plus years now, to keep this community moving in a positive and constructive direction, only to have one support beam cut out from under us, after another. If you've got some miracle "fix all", then by all means, hit us with it. I'll kiss your feet if you do. But if it's just "look on the bright side," then I'm sure I'm not alone in saying that I'm not interested.
So a major international corporate conglomerate failed to come through for you on your expectations. That's just you, me, and everybody else in the world. Sony is too big to care about what is going on here - that's just how it is with a large corporation. There's only so much personal touch you can expect. And it's just not worthwhile to demand accountability from your entertainment. You won't get it. You'll get told to go elsewhere. If you demand often enough you might eventually get enough attention to get us canned, but that's about it.
BS. Two corporate conglomerates failed to DO WHAT THEY SAID THEY WERE GOING TO DO. It's called false advertising, and it's an infringement on player's rights. We're expected to sit down and shut up, because there's a EULA and a TOS to keep us in line and protect them from any wrongdoing on any behalf. Because it's "just a game," we're expected to shut up and sit down. When in actuality, no, we don't need to. When Wal-Mart advertises "The Lowest Prices in Town," and you go there with another store's lower price, do you expect them to do what they avertise and match that price? It's called ACCOUNTABILITY. You do what you advertise, or you deal with a lot of unhappy customers. That's exactly what this is. Because it revolves around a game is NO DIFFERENT than if it revolved around any other financial enterprise.
My strong suggestion that we all try to look at how much we still have to be thankful for here has been met with almost nothing but retaliatory arguments suggesting that there is "nothing left". This is the crux of my argument - I'm not saying nobody has lost anything. I'm saying that "nothing" is a very relative term. Your idea of "nothing" is not the same as everybody else's. If this looks like nothing to you, I recommend having a look at a bombed out Afghan village or a Brazilian slum sometime.
Afghanistan and Brazil have what to do with a MMO that was based on an ONGOING STORYLINE?! Maybe you haven't done all of the neighborhood missions. Most of us have, and were told we'd get much, much, more. Maybe you haven't done all of the Archive Missions. Most of us have, and were told that we'd get much, much, more. Maybe you haven't completed the majority of the in-game quests, dungeons, or archive constructs, but WE HAVE. And like it or not, sweetie, we're the majority. New players in this game, regardless of what anyone says, are far and few between... and yes, the ones that do come in are usually run off by the negativity of the community (which is perpetuated by our continued mistreatment.) You want to have fun with the content that's already here, GG, go right ahead, nobody will fault you, but DO NOT tell us to be happy with what we have. It is NOT your place.
And that's it - I'm asking you to consider that while you have experienced a loss here, if you let that consume your perspective so much that it stops you from taking responsibility for your own enjoyment, the only person who loses in the end is you.
I've taken responsibility for MY OWN enjoyment for a long time. In fact, I, like many others, have taken responsibility for OTHERS enjoyment as well. I've run countless events, just like the other players here. I've taken countless players on hardline tours, leveling groups, and so on, until I've gotten blue in the face. But what do you do when you lose the audience? We came here because of the promise of being entertained by the storyline that "Picks up where the Matrix Revolutions left off, and goes on from there." Well, you know what? It just ended... so ask me why they haven't canceled us yet.
So I'll repeat - let's show everybody how well we the people can rock this house without any help from The Man.
Just because I don't announce my presence to anyone, when I play different characters, doesn't mean I'm not around.
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