On Attitude.

Gaming News... with Attitude: This is a motto that everyone here is familiar with. When I came to Evil Avatar four or five years ago, I embraced it. Say what you want, about whatever you want, and never mind who you piss off in the mean time. It sounds good when you first hear it. I have found that this attitude may have been a core problem with our community's former home, and would like to share my insight and thoughts on what I believe to be a path to fostering a healthier community, as well as a better personal experience inside the community.

Amongst our members, and gamers as a whole, there are a wide variety of different groups. These groups overlap heavily, with most people belonging to many. Their classification has a wide range of criteria from brand loyalty, to design philosophy; they also carry over into off-topic discussions such as politics or even comic books. The existence of these groups brings a cosmopolitan quality to a site like CoG, leading to interesting discourse (which is the main function of these communities), but which can also lead to heavy and long lasting conflict.

The key to fostering diversity but denying animosity lay in several factors, the primary being personal responsibility towards one's disposition. Most large conflicts can be traced back to a single person being driven past the point of discussion, and into the realm of argument. This is a very human mistake, and would be hard (if not impossible) to avoid entirely. However, once one person is pushed across this line, they inevitably drag others with them. On the internet, this is particularly easy as it is both unnatural and difficult for a voice of moderation to enter the fray before things get out of hand. The only voice to stop one from starting a fight, or entering one, is the voice within one's own mind; thus, self-control and monitoring should be a priority for all well-meaning community members. This is not something that comes naturally to all people in a forum environment.

Even with this in mind, heated arguments are bound to break out from time to time, and each and every member is likely to take part in one at some point. This in itself is not disastrous for the health of the community, but can grow to be a real danger if personal animosity between members carries through many topics over time. These cancerous feuds can infect even the most pleasant of topics, and turn them sour. Often this can lead to a katamari effect, with other community members being picked up into the vendettas, which then continues into further topics. This separates people into new groups, based not on the opinions they carry on topics such as gaming or film, but rather on the school yard dust-ups happening on the forums.

Feuding between members is unacceptable, and is something that should be dealt with quickly; first by the members involved, then by the community, and if necessary, taken into the hands of moderators. I would ask that anyone reading this look to their own behavior towards other community members, and contemplate whether or not they have carried on some type of grudge with another member of the community in the past, or are propagating one currently. I would then ask that they examine the value of continuing on this course, as well as the ramifications it could have on the community as a whole.

While it may seem to those involved that they alone are right, and the other person is clearly wrong, nothing can be gained from participating in this kind of behavior. Whether or not factual evidence is available on the subject(s) in conflict is irrelevant to this topic, as the conflict itself is inherently destructive. I believe it would be in the best interests of those involved to ask themselves whether or not they can interact with the other person in a friendly manor, and if not, to simply break off contact entirely.

The next part is more difficult. If one sees a grudge forming between two or more members of the community, I would ask that you attempt to step in and be the voice of reason. Often people will attempt to do this, but will inadvertently sway themselves to one side or the other by pointing out one party in particular as being the origin of the problem, rather than simply pushing both sides away from the conflict. Singling out one party can often make them feel as if they're being ganged up on, leaving them with no choice but to continue retaliation. It is best to simply advise both sides to step away from the argument, and if necessary, to avoid contact with each other on a more permanent basis.

This may all seem like common sense to many people, but I believe that it is undeniably and issue in a forum environment, and we can begin to see old grudges appearing on our forums already; though people do seem to be more mindful of the effects of all-out brawls, thus far. I'm aware that this blog post may not be read by many, but I hope that those who do look over it take away something that they can use to improve their own experiences here, and in doing so, improve the atmosphere of the site as a whole. Fundamentally, we're all here for the same reason: We enjoy talking to other gamers. We don't come here to bring each other down. With proper care, we can make this community a very positive place for gamers to come together.