And even that is mostly feigned (mostly. . .).
But yes, I have a problem with Dean’s arguments. I will explain. No, there is no time. I will sum up. Yahtzee is bad for gaming, in part because freshpersons (but wait, did we establish they were freshpeople? I missed that. It isn’t relevant, I’d be mixing a little contempt and a lot of feigned contempt at any group we could have substituted) are badly copying him. I thought he was also bad in part because of his level of invective as well but maybe not. There has been a question of substance, but I feel one cannot criticize Yahtzee here, because there is definitely substance (yes. there is uneven review quality and yes there is an argument he has gone down hill).
Dean adds on a tiny list of critics that his students can name (and yes, sorry, Kotaku?!?), as proof that Yahtzee enjoys too much influence with his students, I think (and possibly people like them? I don’t know). Or at least another reason why he is bad. I have no earthly idea what he’s been teaching in his class; I would assume he has introduced more names for people to examine. If he hasn’t, again I don’t understand what he’s after. If he has, and his students ignored them, yes they’re serving up the weaksauce. They’re pretty typical students, it’s not the end of the world. A life unexamined, though. Either way, we haven’t really established why Yahtzee being copied is somehow an indictment of Yahtzee. Because people do this kind of thing. All the time. The copying itself will probably occasionally result in good but mostly result in bad (90% of everything is crap, and all that). Tthe question of the students getting (or not) Yahtzee remains open.
Dean also makes the SWM argument. It absolutely happens, and it’s absolutely an issue in gamer culture. But I question whether this is really the case with Yahtzee. My counter claim here is very much open to debate as well, of course. But I feel like I have more substance on my side when I can point to actual Yahtzee arguments and all he can point to is yahtzee using the word “gay”. Yes, I know, that in and of itself is supposed to be part of the argument. Nobody “mature” or I’m not sure how else to say it uses the word gay like that.
Yahtzee may not be a hit with the BGLwhatever (there’s a term. I can’t remember what it is) crowd in Dean’s experience. I don’t believe that just because they are gay and don’t care for how the term is often used (reasonably so), they are somehow “correct” in a view of Yahtzee. I would challenge the idea that his language (presumably not just “gay” but any number of other phrases, like “inhaling furious amounts of dick”) hurts his message, certainly the point is arguable. Twain used the term “nigger”, after all, and Twain has received criticism for his “depiction” of blacks (yes, I just went there. No, I am not claiming Yahtzee == Twain). If they can’t find any substance in Yahtzee’s reviews, yes I question that.
And I challenge the notion this thread is SWM dominated and people are missing the point/some other perspective/whatever, even though it is pretty much SWM dominated. I think there are plenty of people here who rise beyond that, in fact.
Was I being snarky? Yes. I long to belong, and here at Qt3 we swim with the sharks (though, you know, this place’s rep is way overrated) and I want BillD to like me, just for a moment, and all that shit. I recognize the dangers in being snarky - it very easily muddles up the lines of communication. And yes, Dean, my style was confrontational. But you levied charges in this thread, implicitly and explicitly. I think some of them needed responses.
Your institution of higher learning couldn’t afford me.
