Journal of Other Forum Analysis (Volume II, Issue 2)

[simiansmarts]

https://www.resetera.com/threads/i-kind-of-just-despise-gamer-elitism.1393243/

I hate elitism and snobbery, simple as, whether it's wealth elitism, class elitism etc. So it shouldn't be that much of a surprise that I don't like gamer elitism much and my tolerance for it has grown shorter and shorter over the years. Whether it's genre elitism in general, elitism against people with "lesser" computers, elitism again "casuals", elitism against people who play mobile games, console wars nonsense, Console vs PC nonsense or the many many MANY fan warring nonsense I've seen over the years, I have very little time for it.

First of all, it just makes gaming discussion more toxic then it needs to be (and it can already be quite toxic), often creating an "us vs them" mentality that is utterly miserable to try to discuss around because people online will try to place you one group regardless of you feel about it (and the worse is if you so-so or in the middle opinion of a subject). So much of this feels like the result of people online treating everything under sports team mentality (which I am also just sick of) and often turn every discussion into right vs wrong, trying to prove the other "side" wrong with gotchas to prove themselves "Objectively" right over some of the most silliest of things (and no, I'm not talking about pushing back against bigots and hate, that IS something that should always be called out and pushed back). Nuisance discussion gets harder and harder to impossible; and things feel like they become screaming matches and people being passive aggressive with each other (which I'll fully admit I'm guilty of as well).

And so often, it feels like these things often come across as one sided, online people shouting at people who don't care and trying to provoke them into reacting to feel superior to themselves; just angry that game X and game Y is more popular then Game Z and feel the need to demean those who like X and Y; or upset and holding grudges against people for having the gall to disagree with them. Hell that can be used to describe so much of nerd elitism in general.

To be blunt, most gamer elitism to me is just insecurities, a need to feel superior compared to others. Simply put, so much of gamer elitism just feels like an excuse to exclude people, to try to push people and opinions out they don't like, to make an excuse to dismiss criticism or differing opinions on their favourite games. This is why I roll my eyes when I see gamers talk about "the casuals" because it's just elitism and ego and just fucking arbitrary… And misogynistic and homophobic.

Yeah let's just slam into the big Elephant in the room, it's hard not to notice throughout the decades gamer elitism, hell not even that, nerd elitism is very often slanted against women and LGBTQ+ people (and so often by white straight men), that hobbies and genre more popular with women and LGBTQ+ people, whether shipping, fanfics, social games, simulation games etc etc will so often be automatically considered "casual" genres, lesser or more mockery worthy, more worthy of being talked down to. Elitism to exclude people not deemed worthy to be "hardcore" enough to be "real gamers" because they don't want to share the space with us, don't want to acknowledge they aren't special and we've always been around. You see this with anime discussion, you see this with nerdy movie discussion etc etc.

Same with disabled people, it's hard not to notice so often when I see "hardcore" gamer dismiss accessibility options in gaming (and no I'm not talking about easy modes, don't fucking derail this thread) as "AAA focused group nonsense" or "Hindrances to REAL game development, freedom and creativity"; I simply cannot hear in my head "I feel superior to you for things you can't control or help! I don't want you to enjoy MY games!" that game developers don't really and shouldn't care about issues that don't affect "real" gamers, it feels incredibly othering and exclusionary which is the point.

So yeah, I despise gamer elitism

wlw?

There's the wlw 

Just ignore that Echoes is quite literally a romantically unsuccessful straight white man who obsesses over lesbian relationships from a heterosexual perspective, they're really a wholesome wlw transbian ally on the inside who's imprisoned on TERF Island from being her true self.