The ARGH first.
Why do I get myself involved in threads like this? I take my metal damn seriously, and watching people celebrate the most brain dead cliches of the genre (and brain deadedness itself) just drives me up a wall. I just need to avoid any reference to metal in RPG terms for my own sanity.
Then, the request. Hits to this blog have gone up up up over the past week or so for whatever reason, and I've been getting some mysterious friends requests on Facebook from people I've never heard of. I suspect the two are related. I don't mind if a fellow RPGer wants to be on my Facebook list, but please leave a note explaining who you are and why you're sending the request.
Why do I get myself involved in threads like this? I take my metal damn seriously, and watching people celebrate the most brain dead cliches of the genre (and brain deadedness itself) just drives me up a wall. I just need to avoid any reference to metal in RPG terms for my own sanity.
Then, the request. Hits to this blog have gone up up up over the past week or so for whatever reason, and I've been getting some mysterious friends requests on Facebook from people I've never heard of. I suspect the two are related. I don't mind if a fellow RPGer wants to be on my Facebook list, but please leave a note explaining who you are and why you're sending the request.
rpg.net has far too many Forum Hipsters "TURNING IT UP TO 11" and jerking each other off, randomly smashing tropes together in Ironic Combinations and pretending the brainless, soulless result is "gonzo" or whatever.
ReplyDeleteI'm vexed by that superior detached poseur shit where people play up and wallow in the most superficial aspects of "old school" or "metal" or "gonzo," with an implicit wink because it's ACTUALLY SO UNCOOL. They don't bother digging any deeper than the surface, which is fine, game however you like. But tourists shouldn't be surprised if us natives occasionally come off as less than awed by the uninformed, unnuanced, insulting opinions they offer about stuff we actually love and understand.
Nothing good comes out of me discussing things with most gamers online. We just don't have a lot in common and aren't looking for the same things. We're from different planets. Since I don't voluntarily seek out vexation, I just leave forums alone and avoid them for the most part. I love to talk about weird shit with genuine kindred spirits, but I don't like being smirked at by some bunch of douchebags.
Sorry, long day, venting a little. But just from having read your blog, I can't imagine you being anything other than frustrated by any discussion on the rpg.net Open or D&D forums.
Congrats on the rising popularity. You've certainly earned it. :D
ReplyDeleteOh goddammit man for once I agree with you wholeheartedly and without reservation. Admittedly I don't take my love of metal 100% seriously all of the time, but there is honestly nothing, nothing ironic about it. As a better man than me pointed out, 'just becaue I'm laughing, doesn't mean it's a joke.'
ReplyDeleteAnd frankly there is nothing worse than seeing a bunch of twots who clearly don't care about any of it pick out the most superficial elements of metal and parade them around like they actually mean anything. 'Spikes and skulls'? Fuck off.
Incidentally, more metal material online please (I would subscribe to your newsletter, so to speak, but I don't have a credit card and frankly Paypal sets off my paranoia something awful). Thanks.
I'm waiting for one more interview to be sent back to me and then I'll be posting a few at once on the website.
ReplyDeleteIn the meantime, a reader has started an interesting conversation about his own essay here.