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The Daily Grind: Do you report other players?
I have a few social rules that I follow when I'm in any MMO. I am courteous to other players and helpful when I can be. I stay the heck out of political, religious, or World of Warcraft-themed "debates" in general chat. I resist correcting others' grammar or mocking them for a poorly chosen name. And if someone is being verbally abusive to anyone, I report them. Maybe that makes me a narc, a thin-skinned snitch who's just waiting to tattle on anyone with a potty mouth. Actually, I don't care if you swear, but there are certain words and phrases meant to put others down that cross a line with me. Communities should be better than that, and that's why I have no problem hitting the report button now and then. Do you report other players for things apart from gold selling site spam? If so, what's your threshold? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
7 anti-Apple cliches that need to die
PC vs. Mac flamewars are older than the web itself, but it seems like the more popular/successful Apple gets, the more heated the argument gets on both sides. Almost any debate about the relative merits of one platform or another is guaranteed to degenerate into an all-out shouting match. In the midst of all the fighting and name calling, the oddest thing happens: almost every time, you'll see a lot of the same points being raised by both sides again and again. Some of these points are so tired and worn out, they've reached cliche status. In online debates, there's an informal rule known as Godwin's Law, whereby if you invoke references or comparisons to Nazis or Hitler, you've automatically lost the debate. I say the items on this list have become so worn out they've reached automatic rhetorical failure status on their own. I know that every time I see one of these points appear, I immediately stop any serious consideration of any other arguments from the person who brought it up. I'm focusing on Apple haters and their cliches for this article, but don't get the idea that Apple users aren't just as guilty of cliche-ridden arguments when they argue against using Windows. If, for example, you're an Apple user and you do any of these things: -- Cite the Blue Screen of Death (or BSOD, as he's known to his closest friends) as a point against Windows -- Insert a dollar sign into Microsoft's name (Micro$oft, M$) -- Use "clever" alternate spellings of Windows (Windoze and other less family-friendly revisions) -- Call Internet Explorer "Internet Exploder" you're employing a heavily-cliched, Godwin-esque talking point, too. Read on for the seven deadly cliches of anti-Mac attacks.
2K Marin: Console wars 'drown out creative discourse'
The initially Xbox 360-exclusive BioShock was one of the major salvos in the ongoing console wars, waged on message boards and comment sections everywhere (including right here on this very site). Speaking with Destructoid, BioShock 2 producer Jordan Thomas expressed hope that the multi-platform sequel -- which launches today -- doesn't play a similarly divisive role. According to Thomas, "platform partisanship" is just silly and it "seems to flood the critical channels and drown out other creative discourse." Which sounds about right -- whenever a piece of news comes up that swings even close to the differences between the various consoles, the discussion usually degenerates into the same old arguments, and new and more interesting issues get drowned out like Andrew Ryan's old city. 2K Marin didn't ask in so many words, but we will: Would you kindly all just get along?
