Does anyone else think a lot of video game forums are generic and pointless?

[Paul Phoenix]

I'm not talking about JoyFreak. Although, I will admit that nearly all forums these days are not super active.

I've been a member of so many forums over the course of many years, and I've just noticed in recent years, that many of them are a waste of time - especially the ones you usually stumble across in top searches on Google, such as GameFAQs. This is either due to them suffering from a lack of activity, or it's because the arseholes who inhabit them, are constantly being stupid. In fact, when I look at threads on Reddit, the people on that site actually seem to take the time to give a better response, but I won't rule out that even Reddit can have a few undesirables as well.

I go on a few Silent Hill forums, and one of them is just a sheer waste of time in its present form. These are the only ones of their kind that still remain on the Internet, and trust me, I will be surprised if they will last too much longer. Yes, I know Konami ruined that franchise, and it's been dead for a while, but I still like to talk about other horror games on forums like this, besides the popular ones, because people that like one horror game usually enjoy multiple games that are of a similar theme. But it's really a major waste of time now to post my thoughts on any of them. Here's why I feel this way...

You take the time to point out stuff, explain your points, etc. Nobody replies, or even if they do, it is like they're attempting to disregard your viewpoints almost straight off the bat. The forum is now inhabited by the same half a dozen people. I'm also a member of a handful of Resident Evil forums, and it's the same thing. While I tend to get a somewhat better response on those websites, days or even weeks can go by now where you get no reply from any active members at all. Usually when people sign in, they talk about everything else unrelated, so it's like you're just in the background of it all. In general though, I have had a lot of personal conflict with the airheads that hang around those parts. They also made a page about me on Encyclopedia Dramatica, which is below the belt and vastly immature in general.

YouTube is also a waste of time. I don't know why. Is there some law that states you cannot just make generic video entries on that site? I've seen people just using the camera on their phone to spew about a recent wrestling event, a movie they recently seen, but hated, or something. Not everybody knows how to edit, or do any of the more fancy stuff. But, yeah; I had trolls subscribing to me with hidden accounts and just voting down my videos, to the point where I came off it and quit attempting to make content altogether. I do think people have to stop saying ah and um so often, and prepare some sort of script, so that they can bring up the key parts of their speech. What gets me though, is that I appear to be posting the same precise points as other people are, yet in doing so, I get no subs, hardly any views, and other people get tons of views (and replies) within hours of posting a new video. Like, what on Earth does one have to do now to get noticed anymore?

But in all honesty, some people just ranting in front of a camera can bring forth good personal opinions, about as much as somebody with 9K followers, and a degree in computing, can. There's a lot of big YouTubers that I think just upload snide clickbait for to gain more ad revenue, and that's just shoddy to me. But it makes their opinions no less right or wrong, when compared to someone that only registered last week, or even during the last several years. I am however, not a big lover of some people's fake optimism. People shouldn't say stuff consistently to make themselves sound high and mighty, like this "Nemesis" guy did, then go back on their word. Be true to yourself, and also be firm about your feelings, but try to remain polite while doing it. Basically, never get into a big squabble with anybody who may say something to get under your skin. Just agree to disagree, and go about your day.

But what annoys me is that on one of those Silent Hill message boards, they don't like me talking ill of modern day Capcom. I just don't like them anymore. The old Capcom was amazing. Don't get me wrong. What they created back in the day was truly brilliant, and I'll always be grateful that they did what they did, then. Time hasn't been good to several of their famous franchises, though. They later sold out, and they're known to be serious money grabbers. People may still like their current games and stuff, but if you're a true fan of something you appreciate, that you know is being ruined for greed, and if you're a person that is more clued-up about their downfall as a whole, you'll likely understand why some fans hate their current products. It's not just a case of some so-called, "old-school fanboys" living in the past, and wanting to cry about the current state of a company all of the time. No!

Then if somebody mentions my name, being sarcastic or joking around about how I talk about Capcom a lot, it makes me want to talk about Capcom all the more, since I'm genuinely displeased with their business decisions as a whole. So then these members with a problem, just reply with remarks at the users that sparked it off again. Off topic comments like, "Thanks a lot" or "Now you've done it" - kind of crap. But really, I know that shouldn't bother me, although it kind of does. I've just been taking the time to write up something, speaking from the heart here... and they just crap all over it, take the piss, or ignore me completely. I'm sure if I did it back at them, I'd be warned about it, the topic would be locked, or I'd even get banned.

So, really here. What is the point in posting on those forums? I've got a mild type of autism in real life, but even I write better posts and use proper punctuation, way more than most of the people on that site ever do. But since they're being like what I just described, it makes me feel like doing all that typing is essentially for nothing. Anybody else feel like that too, with other websites they've been on? Whether it's forums, blogs, Facebook, YouTube or even Wikipedia, I'm always getting knocked back somehow. But at the end of the day, I do know I need to seek a social life that doesn't involve engaging with trolls on the Internet.

 

[Paladin]

The problem with hosting a debate on a forum is that some people will straight up attack you without even bothering to address your argument. Believe me, I've tried. It never ends well.
I guess the reason why people post on forums is that it just makes people talk without having to talk, if you understand my point. It certainly works for me - I'm socially awkward, and being on a forum helps with interaction with others.

xenonVirus. When you try debating with someone online, more than not it devolves into ad hominem.

 

[Paul Phoenix]

Yeah, I agree with what you said. I'm not good at talking to people in person, which is why I've used message boards as a source of communication for years. But I think the longer you're stuck in that rut with a digital life versus a "real life" offline, the more it drains your self-esteem, and makes you anxious about approaching people face to face.

I've been interested in being an actor in films, which is probably not a wise career choice if you have autism and anxiety. But while I've giving it a good crack, all I have achieved up to now is landing little bit parts, and most of these independent movies go absolutely nowhere. Many producers cannot even complete their films unless they gain all the necessary funding for both the production and post-production stuff, which usually involves setting up a Kickstarter or Indiegogo type of campaign. However, I have to be careful with what I promote online now because of a stalker. I'm suspicious about him, and he spammed on other forums with a lot of accounts in recent months. He knows I have a page on imdb.com and all that, so I think he has been trying to contact people I worked with in the past, to grass me up about putting movies on YouTube, and he has probably just been badmouthing me in general. Since they have the copyright, he was just doing it to be spiteful.

Women in this day and age are awkward too, and probably wouldn't want to date a guy with autism either. I mean, the only girlfriend I ever had was someone who deliberately wasted my time for years. She made me buy her an iPod, and other things. I hadn't seen her for years before we were reunited. I met her in 2005 and I never seen her again until we met up in 2012. We met up after talking on Facebook, and all she did was mess me around after that, and her family are also very rude. She denied that she knew I had been looking for her, but I'm sure she was aware of this. I'd actually been looking for her, for a long time, and people that know her responded to me to say she wasn't interested. She bullied me into getting her that iPod, too. Only she didn't put the link cable in the right way, and mangled its dock. She made out it wasn't her who damaged it, and I took it to a repair shop to get someone to fix it, and then I gifted the damn thing back to her. She had sex with me for a few minutes, and insisted she was tired. After that, she just went back to being horrible and wouldn't let me kiss her, or hold her hand.

I was paying up the iPod on credit, and all she did was treat me like garbage, while screwing around with another guy she was with in the years we were apart. A year after that commotion was over with, I got us a PS3 from the same Argos shop, because we had seemingly made up by that point, and it was something we were meant to share. She was supposed to pay half for it. So, that was pretty much me being a dope yet again. She took it away, and I never saw her for over a year after that. She wanted me to go and meet her somewhere, and I was reluctant about going to see her, since I didn't fully trust her. But I got a bus to see her regardless, and she wasn't there. At the time, I didn't know how to go tethering on my phone or I don't know if I had any data to do so, and she refused to give me her mobile number. We had to talk via Facebook, and when I got home, I sent her a message to ask her why she never appeared, and she blocked me.

We live in Edinburgh, Scotland, and I took her along the Union Canal for a walk once. We got to this area, and she went to a friend's house, seemingly just to use the loo. She had me waiting around like a moron, and she never showed up. The battery on my phone was very low. I just had enough power left, so I called my mother, and she recommended I get on the next bus out of there. My ex tried to say she never came back because she fell asleep.

Then in 2015, I saw her once in the middle of the night, when we were in town. The first thing she did was ask me for money when I noticed her, then she made out she couldn't be seen with me after I said I didn't have any money to give to her. I think she deleted her Facebook account ages ago, but she ignored me on it anyway. She kept on blocking me so many times. She's the height of ignorance. It seems like she's got a bad case of bipolar, yields selfish traits, or has something affecting her decision to understand how people feel, when she isn't treating them nicely.

 

[Nova]

I think you have to start somewhere. You have to first have some sort of forum in order for people to come in. Then comes the part if things are pretty much same or not. I'd say that generic forums too have the value as long as the new content is added. But if there is no new content added then it may slowly fade in traffic too.

So it all depends on the content.

 

[Demon_skeith]

Not all sites are bad, Joyfreak and my own forum Gaming Latest seem to host content in a very chill environment and people can interact without dealing with extreme fanboys.

 

[Paul Phoenix]

Maybe I need to branch out and try other games. I'm trying to do the same with movies, but I just think old films were made way better than they are today. Although I did really like one game that was released this year, called Days Gone, but I guess that's still classed as being a horror game. I really enjoyed that one, because it had a decent story and it also feels like a "distant cousin" to The Last of Us. I guess that makes some sense, because both games are PS4 exclusives from Sony.

I think it has very impressive graphics, and I liked the long roads with the pretty details. The motorbike is very realistic, and the various missions and locations kept it from becoming too uninteresting. It reminds me of The Walking Dead, with all the different camps with the survivors, just like with all the communities they have now in the TV show, that makes you forget everybody's names at times.

The problem these days with Hollywood, is that they can make new franchises when they push for it, but it's usually about milking the past success and popularity of what came before. Sylvester Stallone and also Schwarzenegger and Willis, needed to retire long ago. They ruined their flagship franchises with awful sequels that were not necessary. When I saw the new Rambo movie, I thought they just slapped the name on it. It could have been any other vigilante movie. It really had nothing to do with John Rambo at all. He was a soldier in the original movie, but he was still a guy that just wanted to be accepted, and he used his training to do good things, despite the fact that yes, many people still died in combat.

Spoiler: I'll explain what happens in the movie, so click on this red text to open the tag!

In the latest film, he was just a guy with combat skills looking to avenge the loss of a loved one, and he is nothing like the Rambo of old. It was just a violent film with no backbone behind it. He even kills the last bad guy like he's Jason, or someone.

The new Terminator was a chance for everyone involved to redeem themselves for all the past screw-ups like Genisys and Rise of the Machines (and all that spin off crap), but to be honest, it did no such thing. Edward Furlong said he was gonna be in the movie, but he really isn't in it in any new capacity. I won't spoil it for you, per se. I only saw 5 minutes online, but it's just a body double with Furlong's likeness edited onto him, and trust me when I say that the writers should be exiled from Hollywood. After you see it, you'll agree that they have ruined the series permanently.

Arnie is way too old, and it shows. The same with Jackie Chan. His old Hong Kong movies are awesome, but his later day American stuff is corny and can be painful to watch. Some of the stunts from his retro films are nothing short of spectacular, and he could carry a movie on his own, but normally he still had strong support from Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao, and Mars, from his team of stuntmen. You usually saw all of them together in most of his 80's films, made in Asia. These days, all of the actors in films just look like they don't want to be there, and I'm also tired of all these remakes.

Also, nobody can fight like Bruce Lee could!

 

[Paul Phoenix]

I'm bumping this thread after less than a day, to inform you that the prize for the most friendly bulletin boy, has gone to... "NanayaShiki".

Seriously, though: I absolutely love having productive debates with that guy on a dead Silent Hill forum!

Hell! If this were on Twitter, I know what my hashtag would be.

#Sarcasm

 

[Rub]

Sounds like you invite a lot of bullshit, then cry about it afterwards.

 

[Paul Phoenix]

Ha!

Says the guy who made an account in June, just to post that singular comment today, when I've posted on here for months. Unless you're "Gimpy" again (aka 1831 other names), but you've been lurking until the time felt right to post that. But that's not even a constructive post.

Did you take a break from spamming on acyberlove.com every single day for the past 2 years, with 2721 alts, just to come here and post that amazing comeback? But if you're not the person in question, I guess I'm disappointed. Carry on!

 

[Ash]

I guess that's one of the issues when you have a large number of forums in a certain niche with most forums not trying to be different. I think you could summarise most gaming forums as being just a forum with a section for each gaming platform, maybe a few for gaming categories and then have some general discussion forums near the bottom. A few will also have some gaming servers advertised on their sidebar. One of the things I like about JoyFreak is the smaller number of categories.

 

[Paul Phoenix]

A few days ago, I was involved in a "live debate" on Discord, with the same three jackasses that used to squabble with one another over Resident Evil related disagreements. This is how all this commotion started in the first place, last year. These two YouTubers were talking shit about this "Nemesis" guy, because he was being too emotional about Capcom, and whatnot.

They started going on about me being a woman beater, which isn't really all that true, hoping he would turn against me. But I did hit a woman once because these support staff that I knew were lying to me about support related aspects, but they take all this stuff and try to make out that I deserved to go to jail, and that I deserved getting banned on forums. Although I got harassed.

Anyway, I could hardly get a word in. Each time I attempted to debunk their shit, they kept butting in. Nemesis has such a loud voice as well. They also claimed that I false flagged their YouTube parody and criticism videos to hide from the truth, and they admitted to contacting people to do with films, who I only messaged due to them spreading chain messages in the past.

 

[Rub]

Start your retirement 2 months early. Listening to that cemented how absolutely pathetic you are. Thanks for sharing, mate.

 

[Paul Phoenix]

The 2 post wonder lives!

 

[Nova]

Never feed trolls. And the thing about the trolls is that if you make controversial statement then be ready for the backlash too. Such people chase you later wherever you go.

 

[Paul Phoenix]

Yeah.

I mean, these tossers keep saying they never had any "blood war" going on. It's all bullshit to cover up the fact that this entire carry on is all due to me sticking up for Nemesis, because I was literally saving their videos from YouTube regarding Nemesis, in February I think it was, just as they were pulling them down. That's because I seen a tweet from Renegade Operative, claiming they accomplished their goal to get Nemesis to stop complaining about Capcom, and that they would therefore delete the videos about him, but retain the ones focusing on myself. So no. The old videos mocked him to begin with, and they said he should be blacklisted over the fact that he supposedly spreads misinformation, and is toxic to the community. Et cetera. This was around the time we were all waiting for E3 and the announcement for the Resident Evil 2 remake, well over a year ago.

In fact, to get an idea of what his old videos are like with his yelling and whatnot, you need only watch ones such as this video here where Nemesis is moaning incessantly about Capcom ruining the franchise.



Anyway, I defended the guy in the summer of 2018, because these trolls made videos about him, and I normally agreed with his viewpoints. Unfortunately, they made the videos about myself private ages ago, because I flagged them and reported them. They did that as a precaution, but there's still a lot of videos that are publicly visible on Renegade Operative's channel, all featuring thumbnails of rodents, where Renegade Operative can be heard saying I look like a rat, a grapefruit, a birth defect, and stupid shit like that. At one point, I gave Renegade Operative a copyright strike for using clips from my videos, so he made yet another video saying that if he feels the need to badmouth me again, he won't use my voice or likeness anymore.

Near the end of that stupid live debate, they wanted me to show them evidence that I reported people in real life to back up the claims that I've been harassed. They said they would not record that stuff if I did so, and I was thinking, "How daft do these people think I am?" There's no way I was going to fall for that. So after they were trying to call bullshit on this, I tried to explain that there's an issue where my phone doesn't get recognized when I connect it to my laptop, and they went on and on about how they could do it, so they made out this was a stalling tactic. Although I said I can show a letter, but I refused to display any addresses.

When I finally did show something after taking a picture with my webcam, they assumed I typed it up over 20 minutes, as it didn't look "professional" to them, and it was in fact a real letter about a court order. It just hadn't been typed up very well by whoever did it. But I mean, you can tell they just goaded me into doing that live chat with them, so they could try to expose me and take the piss. These guys have hundreds of followers too, which is obviously why they find this abuse hilarious to begin with. At every opportunity they could get, they would point out how many viewers were witnessing this, and calling me a moron.

They also constantly implied that I'm a woman beater, a stalker and a potential child predator, because I wear glasses due to having myopia, and because "Grace Saunders" (The Saunders child) is a female minor from the Alone in the Dark series.

Responding To Nemesis, One Of The Worst RE Content Creators Real Talk : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

A video about a fan of Resident Evil, that complains about everything.

archive.org

RE Yep, Nemesis Is Still One Of The Worst RE Content Creators Out There Real Talk : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Nemesis is unhappy about Capcom ruining the Resident Evil series.

archive.org

Nemesis The Most Toxic Resident Evil Content Creator : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

YouTuber BioDevil_Dom (aka Dominik Chraca from Illinois) badgering this Nemesis guy, because him and his mate, Renegade Operative, thinks he is a fanboy that...

archive.org

Here's a video where Nemesis called people out for referring to him as being a toxic individual.

Im Toxic To The Resident Evil Community : Nemesis : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

YouTuber Nemesis acting sore over the Resident Evil fanboys.

archive.org

 

[Nova]

I think you have to move on from this attack that happened to you. Prolong discussion on that part would not go well with you because such amount of negativity drains mental energy.

 

[Paul Phoenix]

Google must be a lame website with an even lamer policy, if they keep failing to acknowledge all my reports about them.

 

[Paul Phoenix]

The problem with hosting a debate on a forum is that some people will straight up attack you without even bothering to address your argument. Believe me, I've tried. It never ends well.
I guess the reason why people post on forums is that it just makes people talk without having to talk, if you understand my point. It certainly works for me - I'm socially awkward, and being on a forum helps with interaction with others.

Yes. That's exactly what happened on YouTube.

They were trying to focus on me as a person during that whole snide debate and mock me, and my character, by bringing up previous court issues, screenshots of messages, and my past more than the fact that they were targeting me for sticking up for Nemesis last year. Then they followed this up by saying I was sucking up to the guy, avoiding their questions, or deliberately going off topic. They brought up unrelated shit, like saying stuff about my sexuality and a disparaging quote used in Ted 2, after Nemesis made it more than clear that he doesn't like me and wants nothing to do with me as a whole. Although I did insult America for cheap heat, he is of the belief that I hate the United States. I don't!

He only found out about that stuff they use against me, because they were like, "Oh this guy shared the link to his ED page. Come see how crazy this guy is" - and Nemesis basically believed all this bullshit that is mostly a plethora of outdated nonsense from years ago, presenting it as being on public record on a site that everyone knows exists for trolling, so I guess he believes that it counts as facts. Yet I even stated that trolls posted all of that to defame me. Then they used the recent drama with the disgruntled actresses that have been attempting to blackball me, thinking they had me beat, and I really wasn't going to be stupid enough to give out too much personal information. They also weren't really interested when I said I got banned from some forums over my opinions, or that a male support worker used to send me abusive emails using a nickname. Also, this garbage that I beat women is greatly exaggerated, and it isn't really unlawful to kill rats either, as they're vermin. But still: I'm not a corporate shill like these guys are. So thanks for enabling Capcom to ruin the Resident Evil series.

And for the last time, that was a real letter. I've got a lot of them in my flat, but it's just that they didn't buy a word I said, and they just goaded me into doing it to slag me off in front of other people anyway.

 

[BrettyBoy]

I find that it’s normies that ruin everything they touch to be honest.

 

[Paul Phoenix]

Yep. They do just that. But I have decided to quit forums after the Summer Game Fest. There's really barely any life in forums anymore. It's certainly the same with YouTube. You really do end up feeling like you're a face in a crowd. But this is online!?

Everytime I tried to start a YouTube channel with passionate rants, I don't think people could understand my British accent. Or in a more likely scenario, they just don't care about my rantings. So like, why continue?