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[JORMBO]

GAF's reputation is going to take some time to heal, especially when you've got these sort of tweets from industry folk perpetuating the myth:

Seems to me that when the split happened, Era was deemed the right on, left leaning forum, and GAF was perceived as being everything that was left - essentially a right wing love-in.

Now, clearly that isn't true. I sure as hell wouldn't hang around here if that was the case, but it's symptomatic of the binary for-or-against approach that has taken over social media and the internet in the last few years. GAF is somewhat unusual in that anyone who identifies as right leaning isn't instantly banned - so long as they follow the site rules they're free to post. That rubs some people up the wrong way.

With the daily mass bannings on Era, we've seen a lot of old GAF users coming back to the fold, and I think they've been surprised to learn that we're not all wearing swastikas and cradling portraits of Trump. Posters like Black Chamber and Karak got hounded off Era, and their presence back here has seen them painted as 'Nazis' back at Era.

Hopefully GAF can continue to grow at good pace, and people will come round to the fact that it's not a toxic hellscape, just a place where people want to talk video games, and other stuff. Generally I find Evilore, GAF and its users to have an overwhelmingly optimistic outlook, and welcoming to all. A stark contrast to Era and it daily in fighting, witch hunts and spiralling depression.

GAF won't ever be the 'old GAF' again - it'll be better, the result of the seismic events of 2017 proving a valuable course correction.

Basically, any lurkers out there, quit lurking, log in, and get posting.

Is Imran much of an industry guy anymore? He's listed as a cohost of a kindoffunny podcast now after he left Game Informer. I unfollowed him awhile ago since his feed was 90% political activist stuff.

 

[OmegaSupreme]

Well, that's a cheapshot tweet, but in trying to be clever he is actually promoting GAF. Publicity, good or bad, is still publicity.

GAF may or may not one day be the GAF that was the home of industry professionals like resetera has become, but if that is the trade-off for the basic freedom to express oneself civilly without the constant threat of a ban-hammer then that is a trade-off, personally, I'd take any day.

Hmmm not sure I agree with this part. Largely the only developers I see on Re are small time indies. Meanwhile, we've got two directors from the God of War series who drop in and still post here.

 

[Topher]

Hmmm not sure I agree with this part. Largely the only developers I see on Re are small time indies. Meanwhile, we've got two directors from the God of War series who drop in and still post here.

That's my perception, but I'll happily be wrong. I know about David Jaffe. Who is the other?

 

[ROMhack]

Well, that's a cheapshot tweet, but in trying to be clever he is actually promoting GAF. Publicity, good or bad, is still publicity.

GAF may or may not one day be the GAF that was the home of industry professionals like resetera has become, but if that is the trade-off for the basic freedom to express oneself civilly without the constant threat of a ban-hammer then that is a trade-off, personally, I'd take any day.

Agreed and I mean this with no derision but the GAF is mainly just a bunch of nerds, mostly male and who largely prefer Nihongo games.

It's not surprising that it won't be serious enough for people who've staked their career/reputation on games as an art form because they have too much skin in the game.

For normal people with non-vidya jobs who don't get emotionally invested in games and who don't take the internet completely seriously, it's a perfectly good forum. More to the point, a solid community.

In a way, the experience of being here is very much like what the industry felt like in the 90s/00s. It's also thankfully less toxic than 4chan/kiwifarms.

 

[CatLady]

That's my perception, but I'll happily be wrong. I know about David Jaffe. Who is the other?

Wondering the same

 

[Excess]

I'm with you on that. I'm in my early 40s now, have been on forums since the late 90s and the experience just isn't what it used to be. Likely a combo of of all the things you note and just changes in myself as I've gotten older.

As you note, it's hard to find good discussions on things outside of the biggest games any more, and things have gotten so jaded and negative. Even ignoring all the SJW vs other side bs, all the political nonsense, and all the fanboy crap (that was always there) it just seems like an incredibly vocal minority on game sites doesn't like games. So much bitching and complaining, so much attacking people who like games they don't and vice versa and so on. When games are supposed to be fun and it seemed like years ago there were a lot more positive threads of people casually shooting the shit about games they were enjoying and it wasting so much time and energy bitching about things they dislike.

There was always negativity and tribalism, but GamerGate and the post-2016 politicization of fucking everything further tribalized things and I think many of the positive people just fled to Discord, game-specific subReddits and other smaller, more curated communities where they could avoid more of the negativity.

That said a lot of it is also just changes in myself as I've gotten older. I've gotten more reclusive and sick of people and their shit, less interested in others' opinions and more easily annoyed by hot takes, hostility and negativity and have a harder time not letting it all get to me. I simply can't have that as I'm having some stomach health issues and need to minimize stress, frustration and anger. I barely have a use for people in real life these days, much less to get too involved in online communities or to waste time arguing or debating with randos. Just want a fun place to shoot the shit about things I enjoy, but it's so hard to do that without leaving in a bad mood from all the other shit.

So I visit many fewer sites than I used to, post way less often and plan on cutting that back even further as I focus on the health issues. Going to change my bookmark for this site to just my watched threads (all OTs) and just check the front page for news a few times a week. Going to make one last effort to curate a decent experience for myself on the few forums and social media I'm still on before just saying fuck it and fully quitting all of it.

Much of it not only comes from the algorithms that steer interactions of social media, but also the death of legacy mediums, such as television, newspapers and other controlled forms of communications. As these latter mediums attempt to keep your attention, they've slowly become more and more desperate, using social media to promote their sensationalism. That sensationalism, which usually gets people fired up, becomes a network effect on social media and then subsequently reaches critical mass, manifesting itself into all walks of life. Elon Musk implicitly made this point in a recent tweet stating, "The most entertaining outcome is the most likely." Social media has been complicit in this, and they know it, much like the proverbial mad scientist who has lost control of his or her own creation.

Furthermore, the scariest part is when they describe the algorithms designed to flag ToS viloations. They will often state that that they do not understand why one of their algorigthms detected a viloation, and a human will therefore need to do a manual review. Extrapolating this and applying it to the other algorthmic outcomes within the platform, specficially the feed and its interactions, suggests that A.I. is steering all thought and all discussion within our society, all for the most entertaining outcome, and the executives who run these platforms are either willfully ignorant of it in lieu of bringing about a benign technocratic society, or just willingly complicit in it for power and control.

Understanding this can go a long way to breaking habits from using social media. I often notice how my blood pressure will raise simply from reading a feed; it's flat-out unhealthy. Don't get me wrong, social media has its utility, but not at the cost of one's health. Therefore, I've deleted my Facebook and stopped using Twitter. Every time I feel I'm getting that itch, I ask myself, "Do I want to feel like shit today?"

I do think forums are a better medium for long discussion and nuance, and can often be cathartic. But many forums can often develop a hivemind and attempt to make you feel unwanted or uncomfortable, even if it isn't said explictly. I'm sure this place has had its share of that.

 

[Chan]

But many forums can often develop a hivemind and attempt to make you feel unwanted or uncomfortable, even if it isn't said explictly. I'm sure this place has had its share of that.

Just my 2 cents. Naturally Gaf has several hiveminds who will attack you for going against their ideals, but you don't have this constant danger of beeing banned for every slight 'misstep'. As far as I remember I haven't been banned even once here on Gaf, while having been banned dozens of times on Era. There are some genuinely good people over there with interesting gaming related takes and quite good topics. Otherwise I wouldn't even bother to go there. But beware:

Not every cop is a racist = banned.
(relativistic)
You don't mind a nice pair of tits = banned. (sexist)
You think CDPR is not a woman hating company = banned.
(fanboy-ism)

These insane mods are the problem.

 

[regawdless]

Just my 2 cents. Naturally Gaf has several hiveminds who will attack you for going against their ideals, but you don't have this constant danger of beeing banned for every slight 'misstep'. As far as I remember I haven't been banned even once here on Gaf, while having been banned dozens of times on Era. There are some genuinely good people over there with interesting gaming related takes and quite good topics. Otherwise I wouldn't even bother to go there. But beware:

Not every cop is a racist = banned.
(relativistic)
You don't mind a nice pair of tits = banned. (sexist)
You think CDPR is not a woman hating company = banned.
(fanboy-ism)

These insane mods are the problem.

If only the mods would be the problem, there wouldn't be that many active users left. Their policies are generally accepted and/or demanded by the userbase. But there's a thread dedicated to era discussions.

I'm glad to see this forum grow and I really appreciate the open minded approach by the mod team.

 

[Topher]

Just my 2 cents. Naturally Gaf has several hiveminds who will attack you for going against their ideals, but you don't have this constant danger of beeing banned for every slight 'misstep'. As far as I remember I haven't been banned even once here on Gaf, while having been banned dozens of times on Era. There are some genuinely good people over there with interesting gaming related takes and quite good topics. Otherwise I wouldn't even bother to go there. But beware:

Not every cop is a racist = banned.
(relativistic)
You don't mind a nice pair of tits = banned. (sexist)
You think CDPR is not a woman hating company = banned.
(fanboy-ism)

These insane mods are the problem.

I suggested a politics forum. Banned for a month for "whining".

 

[Maiden Voyage]

My gaf browsing is probably 95% logged out. I only ever login whenever I want to chime in.

How many browser tabs do you have open?

 

[Chan]

If only the mods would be the problem, there wouldn't be that many active users left. Their policies are generally accepted and/or demanded by the userbase. But there's a thread dedicated to era discussions.

I'm glad to see this forum grow and as I really appreciate the open minded approach by the mod team.

It's not about Era, but about moderation wherever it happens. Moderators can have a tough job at times, even very tough when the 'new shit' hits the fan. But I honestly think that moderation here on Gaf is exceptionally good/tolerant. People will respect/realize that in the long run.

 

[OmegaSupreme]

Wondering the same

Cory barlog pops in from time to time.

 

[sono]

Awesome

 

[.Pennywise]

With all this discussion about that horrible site and GAF 's current state.

Just wanted to say two things.
First, don't forget that the people that makes that site be the horrible dictatorship that it is, is the same people that once was here doing the exact same.

And second, just because you don't have to ban every opinion like in the other site, doesn't mean GAF should allow certain posts that are just plain insulting with zero intention of discussion.

 

[Paulxo87]

resetera is a progressive pile of shit. Most of those users are pathetic beyond words. Nothing more needs to be said

 

[Moogle11]

Much of it not only comes from the algorithms that steer interactions of social media, but also the death of legacy mediums, such as television, newspapers and other controlled forms of communications. As these latter mediums attempt to keep your attention, they've slowly become more and more desperate, using social media to promote their sensationalism. That sensationalism, which usually gets people fired up, becomes a network effect on social media and then subsequently reaches critical mass, manifesting itself into all walks of life. Elon Musk implicitly made this point in a recent tweet stating, "The most entertaining outcome is the most likely." Social media has been complicit in this, and they know it, much like the proverbial mad scientist who has lost control of his or her own creation.

Furthermore, the scariest part is when they describe the algorithms designed to flag ToS viloations. They will often state that that they do not understand why one of their algorigthms detected a viloation, and a human will therefore need to do a manual review. Extrapolating this and applying it to the other algorthmic outcomes within the platform, specficially the feed and its interactions, suggests that A.I. is steering all thought and all discussion within our society, all for the most entertaining outcome, and the executives who run these platforms are either willfully ignorant of it in lieu of bringing about a benign technocratic society, or just willingly complicit in it for power and control.

Understanding this can go a long way to breaking habits from using social media. I often notice how my blood pressure will raise simply from reading a feed; it's flat-out unhealthy. Don't get me wrong, social media has its utility, but not at the cost of one's health. Therefore, I've deleted my Facebook and stopped using Twitter. Every time I feel I'm getting that itch, I ask myself, "Do I want to feel like shit today?"

I do think forums are a better medium for long discussion and nuance, and can often be cathartic. But many forums can often develop a hivemind and attempt to make you feel unwanted or uncomfortable, even if it isn't said explictly. I'm sure this place has had its share of that.

Yep, agree with all of that.

Thankfully I was never very active on social media. I've had Facebook for a decent while, but always limited it to real friends and family, dropped people who annoyed me on there, and never posted much myself. I just glance through it every once in a while to keep up with how folks who live far away are doing. I'm not much on phone calls and texts outside of my absolute closest friends and family. Twitter I've always just had a random account for things like stock notifications for new consoles, contest entries, getting screen shots off Switch easily etc. and have never tweeted or regularly browsed.

Forums have always been my jam since I first got on the internet back in the mid to late 1990s. As you note, they're better for a discussion than social media or Reddit or Discord IMO--though the latter two are probably just my age showing as I just don't like the layout and upvote crap on Reddit or the chat room feel of Discord. Forums have also just gotten hit by the same things that social media have and most are very tribalized, hive mindish safe spaces etc. Gaf is a fortunate exception to that. It's just been hit by the same things that hit all game discourse with the further tribalization of the community post gamergate and 2016 and on politics on top of all the fanboy, platform warring nonsense that's always made most gaming communities insufferable for someone with zero platform loyalty who couldn't give less of a shit about sales data, list wars etc.

It just is what it is and I've accepted that I'll just never be into forums or enjoy them as much as I did in my teens through 30s. And that's fine, a 40 something and older dude doesn't need to be spending hours a day discussing hobbies with randos online anyway IMO. I've been happier and healthier after vastly cutting back the time I spend online and the time I spend interacting with people outside my closest friends and family in general.

 

[fatty]

GAF's reputation is going to take some time to heal, especially when you've got these sort of tweets from industry folk perpetuating the myth:

Seems to me that when the split happened, Era was deemed the right on, left leaning forum, and GAF was perceived as being everything that was left - essentially a right wing love-in.

Now, clearly that isn't true. I sure as hell wouldn't hang around here if that was the case, but it's symptomatic of the binary for-or-against approach that has taken over social media and the internet in the last few years. GAF is somewhat unusual in that anyone who identifies as right leaning isn't instantly banned - so long as they follow the site rules they're free to post. That rubs some people up the wrong way.

With the daily mass bannings on Era, we've seen a lot of old GAF users coming back to the fold, and I think they've been surprised to learn that we're not all wearing swastikas and cradling portraits of Trump. Posters like Black Chamber and Karak got hounded off Era, and their presence back here has seen them painted as 'Nazis' back at Era.

Hopefully GAF can continue to grow at good pace, and people will come round to the fact that it's not a toxic hellscape, just a place where people want to talk video games, and other stuff. Generally I find Evilore, GAF and its users to have an overwhelmingly optimistic outlook, and welcoming to all. A stark contrast to Era and it daily in fighting, witch hunts and spiralling depression.

GAF won't ever be the 'old GAF' again - it'll be better, the result of the seismic events of 2017 proving a valuable course correction.

Basically, any lurkers out there, quit lurking, log in, and get posting.

Eh, who cares about the opinion of someone who has to start their profile as an ex-editor of Game Informer. His snarky posts here as ShockingAlberto were annoying enough, let him continue to feel relevant trying to take shots at a forum that has moved on.

(but I pretty much agree with your sentiment)

 

[Golgo 13]

GAF's reputation doesn't need to heal. Ideologues needs to heal. GAF is a neutral ground for discussion. Ideologues think that anywhere slightly tolerant of open discussion (or even SLIGHTLY right of radical leftism on the political spectrum) is immediately and irrevocably Nazi Germany circa 1943. It's the lack of original thought, possession by false ideas, and cheap and unearned moral virtue that needs to be recognized and "healed" by gaming media. It won't happen because it requires a lot of humility and hard work to free yourself from ideology.

NeoGAF needs to keep doing exactly what it's doing and people on the other side can feel free to wake up at any time. Fuck catering to the gaming media.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

Is Imran much of an industry guy anymore? He's listed as a cohost of a kindoffunny podcast now after he left Game Informer. I unfollowed him awhile ago since his feed was 90% political activist stuff.

He didn't "leave" Game Informer. He was part of the layoffs.

I don't know why people care what bitter game journalists have to say about anything. I can respect the folks who go independent and start their own thing, but dudes earning sometimes sub-$30k salaries on dying media outlets? They are followers and failures.

 

[Excess]

Yep, agree with all of that.

Thankfully I was never very active on social media. I've had Facebook for a decent while, but always limited it to real friends and family, dropped people who annoyed me on there, and never posted much myself. I just glance through it every once in a while to keep up with how folks who live far away are doing. I'm not much on phone calls and texts outside of my absolute closest friends and family. Twitter I've always just had a random account for things like stock notifications for new consoles, contest entries, getting screen shots off Switch easily etc. and have never tweeted or regularly browsed.

Forums have always been my jam since I first got on the internet back in the mid to late 1990s. As you note, they're better for a discussion than social media or Reddit or Discord IMO--though the latter two are probably just my age showing as I just don't like the layout and upvote crap on Reddit or the chat room feel of Discord. Forums have also just gotten hit by the same things that social media have and most are very tribalized, hive mindish safe spaces etc. Gaf is a fortunate exception to that. It's just been hit by the same things that hit all game discourse with the further tribalization of the community post gamergate and 2016 and on politics on top of all the fanboy, platform warring nonsense that's always made most gaming communities insufferable for someone with zero platform loyalty who couldn't give less of a shit about sales data, list wars etc.

It just is what it is and I've accepted that I'll just never be into forums or enjoy them as much as I did in my teens through 30s. And that's fine, a 40 something and older dude doesn't need to be spending hours a day discussing hobbies with randos online anyway IMO. I've been happier and healthier after vastly cutting back the time I spend online and the time I spend interacting with people outside my closest friends and family in general.

I can't say much for Discord, because I come from an era when IRC chatrooms were mostly the same thing. But Reddit is definitely hivemind because of the up/down vote design. You can be silenced quite easily over there.

But I honestly think you have the right mindset. Your real friends and family are more important, as you said.

GAF's reputation doesn't need to heal. Ideologues needs to heal. GAF is a neutral ground for discussion. Ideologues think that anywhere slightly tolerant of open discussion (or even SLIGHTLY right of radical leftism on the political spectrum) is immediately and irrevocably Nazi Germany circa 1943. It's the lack of original thought, possession by false ideas, and cheap and unearned moral virtue that needs to be recognized and "healed" by gaming media. It won't happen because it requires a lot of humility and hard work to free yourself from ideology.

NeoGAF needs to keep doing exactly what it's doing and people on the other side can feel free to wake up at any time. Fuck catering to the gaming media.

I just recently joined because I was always looking for a reasonably moderate userbase.

I often see the bannings that occur on Era, and some of them are like satire, like some kind caricature of what forum moderation regresses into.

 

[RollingNowhere]

I suggested a politics forum. Banned for a month for "whining".

They pretty much ban people for anything, and their most obsessive users weaponize that to silence any dissenting opinion.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Eh, who cares about the opinion of someone who has to start their profile as an ex-editor of Game Informer. His snarky posts here as ShockingAlberto were annoying enough, let him continue to feel relevant trying to take shots at a forum that has moved on.

(but I pretty much agree with your sentiment)

No kidding.

Just checked his Twitter and you're right. He's some ex Senior Editor of GI.

The game magazine that gave almost every game a minimum score of 7/10, most games skewed to 7.5-9/10, and it was a shill mag for EB/GS to sell more games.

His advice on anything gaming related should be scrutinized, as you never know how much back end deals he has in the background.

https://twitter.com/imranzomg?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

 

[Moogle11]

I can't say much for Discord, because I come from an era when IRC chatrooms were mostly the same thing. But Reddit is definitely hivemind because of the up/down vote design. You can be silenced quite easily over there.

But I honestly think you have the right mindset. Your real friends and family are more important, as you said.



I just recently joined because I was always looking for a reasonably moderate userbase.

I often see the bannings that occur on Era, and some of them are like satire, like some kind caricature of what forum moderation regresses into.

Yeah, the upvoting/downvoting definitely reinforces group think. That said, Reddit can be great for smaller communities. Individual game subreddits (suck for huge AAA games, but good for smaller things), my city has a subReddit that's pretty useful and has a nice little daily chat thread community etc.

All the politics, social justice crap doesn't really affect me one way or the other as I quit giving a crap what other's thought about that stuff and having any interest discussing that stuff online--or in person--years ago. The only affect is being annoyed at how that crap festers into discussions of games, movies etc. in current times.

My main gripes these days are with how rampant fanboyism, console warring has become. It's always been bad ever since the early days of game forums in the 1990s. Just seems way worse to me--though it could just be me being bitter and less patient for that noise the older I've gotten. It also seems more amplified on GAF post split as there just isn't as much casually chatting about games people are playing as there was before. That crowd seems to have jumped shipped to ERA given the active OTs over there or discord and other platforms. I've made it more manageable by just throwing console wars, sales etc. threads on ignore and ignoring blatant console warriors (peruse the bans list and block anyone that catches a suspension). That's made it tolerable and hasn't sent me running from the site again yet.

 

[Mato]

How many browser tabs do you have open?

Currently 9. Why does it matter?

 

[EviLore]

Yeah, the upvoting/downvoting definitely reinforces group think. That said, Reddit can be great for smaller communities. Individual game subreddits (suck for huge AAA games, but good for smaller things), my city has a subReddit that's pretty useful and has a nice little daily chat thread community etc.

All the politics, social justice crap doesn't really affect me one way or the other as I quit giving a crap what other's thought about that stuff and having any interest discussing that stuff online--or in person--years ago. The only affect is being annoyed at how that crap festers into discussions of games, movies etc. in current times.

My main gripes these days are with how rampant fanboyism, console warring has become. It's always been bad ever since the early days of game forums in the 1990s. Just seems way worse to me--though it could just be me being bitter and less patient for that noise the older I've gotten. It also seems more amplified on GAF post split as there just isn't as much casually chatting about games people are playing as there was before. That crowd seems to have jumped shipped to ERA given the active OTs over there or discord and other platforms. I've made it more manageable by just throwing console wars, sales etc. threads on ignore and ignoring blatant console warriors (peruse the bans list and block anyone that catches a suspension). That's made it tolerable and hasn't sent me running from the site again yet.

Drop a thread to talk about what you want to talk about. Likely to get a lot more traction now than it would've a year ago.

 

[Maiden Voyage]

Currently 9. Why does it matter?

I was making a joke that you were responsible for all 10,000 visitors. Apparently it didn't work.

 

[CatLady]

Cory barlog pops in from time to time.

Very cool. Nice to know we have a couple of the top industry professionals like Barlog and Jaffe as members of GAF.

 

[Kazza]

My main gripes these days are with how rampant fanboyism, console warring has become. It's always been bad ever since the early days of game forums in the 1990s. Just seems way worse to me--though it could just be me being bitter and less patient for that noise the older I've gotten. It also seems more amplified on GAF post split as there just isn't as much casually chatting about games people are playing as there was before. That crowd seems to have jumped shipped to ERA given the active OTs over there or discord and other platforms. I've made it more manageable by just throwing console wars, sales etc. threads on ignore and ignoring blatant console warriors (peruse the bans list and block anyone that catches a suspension). That's made it tolerable and hasn't sent me running from the site again yet.

I think some of the best, casual discussion about just playing games (no console warring) is currently happening in the backlog thread:

No new games in 2021, unfinished backlog only

The 2019 Pact is a distant memory. The 2020 Pact is complete. 2021 draws near. THE RULES: No playing games released in 2021 No playing games purchased in 2021 Otherwise, buying games is fine (you collectors and Steam sale junkies out there can keep packing your shelves) Mini-FAQ: Do I have...

www.neogaf.com

No bullshit, just games. Hopefully, with the consoles new consoles already out for a couple of months now, the console wars will cool down a bit.

 

[IntentionalPun]

I think some of the best, casual discussion about just playing games (no console warring) is currently happening in the backlog thread:

No new games in 2021, unfinished backlog only

The 2019 Pact is a distant memory. The 2020 Pact is complete. 2021 draws near. THE RULES: No playing games released in 2021 No playing games purchased in 2021 Otherwise, buying games is fine (you collectors and Steam sale junkies out there can keep packing your shelves) Mini-FAQ: Do I have...

www.neogaf.com

No bullshit, just games. Hopefully, with the consoles new consoles already out for a couple of months now, the console wars will cool down a bit.

Yeah most people here just want to talk games; have plenty of decent convos in random threads about games.

The insane fanboys mostly spend their time in threads comparing Sony/MS stuff or the stuff exclusive to either console (which of course invites lots of fanboys from both sides.)

 

[Fuz]

It's very hard to ever go back to that. Era's activity is fading and the moderation fucked up too hard for the site to recover. Gaf is growing, but it's hard to envision a level of activity like in 2017 or earlier.

On the other hand... it was so fucking hard at times to follow the forum, since every refresh all the threads changed due to insane high activity. It was impossible to follow anything without massive use of the watched threads.

Discord is where official communities seem to be moving

I'll never understand why. I find discord very complicated, cumbersome, slow and confusing. And on the other hand, reddit is a shithole with publishers shadow-modding the subreddits and that stupid vote system. Forums are perfect. Why would even people look for something different is beyond me. Logic-driven, easy to search and, mostly, neat and clean UIs.

 

[rofif]

I really like that we can freely talk about almost anything. The r forum would not even have co 2077 thread lol.
It was such an eye opener after giantbomb banned me and I came here looking for place to talk.. I felt brain washed by gb and re... Glad to see there can be a great community still on the internet.
And I like the like emote system. Brings another layer to posting.

 

[AmuroChan]

Cory barlog pops in from time to time.

Are we sure that's the real Cory? I find it hard to believe that he would post here and Ree would be fine with that. Jaffe is a different story because he's not an active developer anymore. Ree can't really cancel him. Though he is pretty much banned over there.

 

[Moogle11]

Drop a thread to talk about what you want to talk about. Likely to get a lot more traction now than it would've a year ago.

Oh I plan to give that a shot. Have just been mostly playing newer games with the new console launches so I've been covered with OTs for a while (other than Miles Morales which oddly didn't get one--posted in the Reviews OT for it by mistake). Plan on playing/replaying some older games on Gamepass, the PS+ collection and catching up on some semi recent things I missed this year since new releases that interest me are always slow year one of a new generation. So I'll probably bump some old OTs and/or make some LTTP threads as needed and see if they do more than sink like a stone now that activity is higher than a year or so ago.

I think some of the best, casual discussion about just playing games (no console warring) is currently happening in the backlog thread:

No new games in 2021, unfinished backlog only

The 2019 Pact is a distant memory. The 2020 Pact is complete. 2021 draws near. THE RULES: No playing games released in 2021 No playing games purchased in 2021 Otherwise, buying games is fine (you collectors and Steam sale junkies out there can keep packing your shelves) Mini-FAQ: Do I have...

www.neogaf.com

No bullshit, just games. Hopefully, with the consoles new consoles already out for a couple of months now, the console wars will cool down a bit.

Thanks for sharing. I'd never entered that thread as I thought it was just a challenge type thing for people only playing back log games. I love playing new games day one, being part of the zeitgeist, avoiding spoilers etc. so that's not my bag. But as I said above, I'll be playing more non-new releases that usual the next year or so, thus I may give that thread a go for discussing those if bumping OTs or making LTTP threads doesn't generate much interest.

Agreed that hopefully things will die down on the console wars front as the generation gets further along. I'm not super optimistic it will though as it's so engrained here and other gaming communities these days. Probably always was this bad, just stands out much more with a lot of the more casual chatting about games shifting to discord, Reddit etc. instead of traditional forms so there's less to drown out that noise.

On the other hand... it was so fucking hard at times to follow the forum, since every refresh all the threads changed due to insane high activity. It was impossible to follow anything without massive use of the watched threads.



I'll never understand why. I find discord very complicated, cumbersome, slow and confusing. And on the other hand, reddit is a shithole with publishers shadow-modding the subreddits and that stupid vote system. Forums are perfect. Why would even people look for something different is beyond me. Logic-driven, easy to search and, mostly, neat and clean UIs.

To the first, I do agree that peak GAF and Era could be overwhelming with how fast threads got made and posts happened in busy threads. Plus side of that level of activity is just things like OTs staying active for way longer, smaller games having active OTs, having a bunch of active community threads vs. just a few etc. Just always tradeoffs.

To the second, I think the appeal of Discord is people are engrained these days to want instant replies. That was the appeal of peak Era and Gaf for many, and as forum traffic slowed people that wanted instant reactions, instant answers to their questions etc. gravitated toward discord or super busy Subreddits. The upvote/downvote system also has as lot of appeal to younger folks who grew up chasing retweets, likes on Facebook etc. Not for me at all, but I can see why traffic has shifted. It's always going to be tweens through twenty-somethings who drive the most dominant forms of online communication as they have the most free time to kill.

 

[SlimySnake]

Yeah, the upvoting/downvoting definitely reinforces group think. That said, Reddit can be great for smaller communities. Individual game subreddits (suck for huge AAA games, but good for smaller things), my city has a subReddit that's pretty useful and has a nice little daily chat thread community etc.

All the politics, social justice crap doesn't really affect me one way or the other as I quit giving a crap what other's thought about that stuff and having any interest discussing that stuff online--or in person--years ago. The only affect is being annoyed at how that crap festers into discussions of games, movies etc. in current times.

My main gripes these days are with how rampant fanboyism, console warring has become. It's always been bad ever since the early days of game forums in the 1990s. Just seems way worse to me--though it could just be me being bitter and less patient for that noise the older I've gotten. It also seems more amplified on GAF post split as there just isn't as much casually chatting about games people are playing as there was before. That crowd seems to have jumped shipped to ERA given the active OTs over there or discord and other platforms. I've made it more manageable by just throwing console wars, sales etc. threads on ignore and ignoring blatant console warriors (peruse the bans list and block anyone that catches a suspension). That's made it tolerable and hasn't sent me running from the site again yet.

the cyberpunk and demon souls threads were fairly active during launch.

I do agree that console warring here became absolutely insane before launch. I felt like i couldnt criticize Sony or Microsoft without someone getting triggered and calling me a fanboy, but thankfully the mods really stepped it up in recent months and started banning and perma banning the worst offenders.

 

[Moogle11]

the cyberpunk and demon souls threads were fairly active during launch.

Yep, this place is great for big games--both those threads are still quite active. As I said to Evilore above in a post after the one you quoted, I've been covered with OTs for what I was playing lately since I've been playing PS5 launch games (Miles Morales not getting an OT was odd). You just don't see many OTs, much less active ones, for older gamers, lower budget games, indies etc. yet. Would be nice to see that change and I'll try to bump or make some when I play those kid of games going forward.

 

[ironmang]

I'll never understand why. I find discord very complicated, cumbersome, slow and confusing. And on the other hand, reddit is a shithole with publishers shadow-modding the subreddits and that stupid vote system. Forums are perfect. Why would even people look for something different is beyond me. Logic-driven, easy to search and, mostly, neat and clean UIs.

I think discord is a lot better for conversations as they're happening and the ability to quickly jump into voice chat shouldn't be overlooked. It's also the quickest way to get an answer for a new person since they don't need to register for anything besides discord itself so that leads to faster community building than a community thread on a forum.

Readability can be awful though if you're searching old information, especially if the channels aren't well organized. That's where traditional forums like gaf shine.

 

[Tell’em Keb]

Just my 2 cents. Naturally Gaf has several hiveminds who will attack you for going against their ideals, but you don't have this constant danger of beeing banned for every slight 'misstep'. As far as I remember I haven't been banned even once here on Gaf, while having been banned dozens of times on Era. There are some genuinely good people over there with interesting gaming related takes and quite good topics. Otherwise I wouldn't even bother to go there. But beware:

Not every cop is a racist = banned.
(relativistic)
You don't mind a nice pair of tits = banned. (sexist)
You think CDPR is not a woman hating company = banned.
(fanboy-ism)

These insane mods are the problem.

While I was never banned at ERA, I also never felt comfortable to fully speak my mind. I thought they became increasingly more trigger happy with their banning and acting as if they are the moral authority on everything sociopolitical. On my final day at the site, folks were getting banned for the most insignificant or ambiguous comment, albeit in sensitive thread topics, but still. Thread rules a mile long posted in certain threads basically saying that if you dissent or have another take to the one they approve - you're gone. I can't stand that.

 

[ironmang]

While I was never banned at ERA, I also never felt comfortable to fully speak my mind. I thought they became increasingly more trigger happy with their banning and acting as if they are the moral authority on everything sociopolitical. On my final day at the site, folks were getting banned for the most insignificant or ambiguous comment, albeit in sensitive thread topics, but still. Thread rules a mile long posted in certain threads basically saying that if you dissent or have another take to the one they approve - you're gone. I can't stand that.

Saw it coming a mile away soon as they showed their initial mod list. After a brief honeymoon period it quickly turned into agree with 100% of the mod approved stances or you're banned for being a bigot. Eventually just pmed and asked for a ban 2+ years ago since I knew it would happen eventually anyways over nothing.

 

[OmegaSupreme]

Are we sure that's the real Cory? I find it hard to believe that he would post here and Ree would be fine with that. Jaffe is a different story because he's not an active developer anymore. Ree can't really cancel him. Though he is pretty much banned over there.

I mean I don't know for sure but this is the internet and I don't trust any of you fuckers. /s

 

[NinjaBoiX]

My gaf browsing is probably 95% logged out. I only ever login whenever I want to chime in.

I'm not sure I get this.

So you open GAF logged out, browse like you would normally, but if you want to post or reply you have to specifically go and log in? Then you log yourself straight back out?

 

[ruvikx]

It's the entire internet which seems to be heating-up. It's a political minefield out there.

While I was never banned at ERA, I also never felt comfortable to fully speak my mind. I thought they became increasingly more trigger happy with their banning and acting as if they are the moral authority on everything sociopolitical. On my final day at the site, folks were getting banned for the most insignificant or ambiguous comment, albeit in sensitive thread topics, but still. Thread rules a mile long posted in certain threads basically saying that if you dissent or have another take to the one they approve - you're gone. I can't stand that.

When vicious halfwits deem themselves your moral & intellectual superiors, you know it's time to get the hell out. I'd laugh at their awfulness if their "movement" of pious cultural Marxist internet soldiers wasn't so widespread & backed by the corporations who own the hosting services. Bad times.

 

[Hoya Destroyer]

Current gaf has a nice relaxed atmosphere. It was so uptight and authoritarian a few years ago.

 

[Kumomeme]

Saw it coming a mile away soon as they showed their initial mod list. After a brief honeymoon period it quickly turned into agree with 100% of the mod approved stances or you're banned for being a bigot. Eventually just pmed and asked for a ban 2+ years ago since I knew it would happen eventually anyways over nothing.

bigotry is their favourite word. you could been banned and labelled as bigot for simply voicing a neutral, non aggresive, simple comment despite being fully mannered. what funny is they is the biggest bigot at the time. like other said, those place is full of proggresive minded people. if you want to comment, you just can pick their side. not the other or on middle side. you could get banned for just being 'existed'.

also like other said, here atleast people can freely speak their mind.

 

[eot]

I'm not sure I get this.

So you open GAF logged out, browse like you would normally, but if you want to post or reply you have to specifically go and log in? Then you log yourself straight back out?

Not that poster, but I always use private browsing, and that makes me logged out on a lot of sites by default. I always log onto GAF though for the old theme.

 

[michaelius]

I saw that Imran was made reduntant together with other GI people has he found anything new ?

 

[EviLore]

How many members were usually online during the peak of GAF?

A lot.

 

[ShadowLag]

A lot.

I will never forget the PS4 hype train days. The quality of gifs coming out at that time was stratospheric.

 

[Rean no Kiseki]

GAF is a gaming forum with some fun off-topic threads on the side, most people who sign up want to talk video games and as a member mostly focused on the gaming side i wasn't aware of the meltdown of the politics side until seeing MiyazakiHatesKojima banned for engaging in politics trolling, lol he should've known Quattro Bajeena gets punched in the face after his famous i came to laugh at you meme.

 

[K' Dash]

I will never forget the PS4 hype train days. The quality of gifs coming out at that time was stratospheric.

the legendary threads, my god, I couldn't stop laughing at the gifs and memes, it was amazing, as well as the threads backfire.

I hope we can get there again someday.

 

[JimmyRustler]

the legendary threads, my god, I couldn't stop laughing at the gifs and memes, it was amazing, as well as the threads backfire.

I hope we can get there again someday.

Banderas gif coming up was legendary. Good old days.