In 1938, Orson Welles narrated and directed a radio adaptation of H.G Wells’ classic sci-fi novel,The War of the Worlds. Using the book as the basis of a simulated news broadcast, Welles and his cast members detailed the invasion of Earth by a race of malevolent Martians.
While much of what happened after is more suited for the subject of urban legends, there are still reports of panic and hysteria following the broadcast. It took only a little suggestion before people could smell the black smoke of the Martian war machines and felt the need to flee their homes.
TheWar of the Worldsbroadcast is one of the more famous examples of mass hysteria and the frighteningly powerful delusions of a crowd mentality. In contemporary times, we too have our own example of humanity’s “herding instinct” going into overdrive. We have console fanboys, and their increasingly paranoid delusions.
While they sometimes have had reason to be upset (though only the mosttenuousof reasons), the fanboy set has quite clearly fallen into the self-sustaining fantasies of collective obsessional behavior. Very much likeWar of the Worlds, it has taken very little suggestion, but they now believe fiction as fact. They can smell the black smoke of their enemies.
Yet just like those who found themselves terrified by Orson Welles that dark October night, these poor lost souls are only trolling themselves now.
Killzone 2has received intense amounts of press in the month leading up to its release. While much of the focus has quite rightly been on its blazing hot critical reception, a significant amount of time has also been given over to the incredible “controversy” surrounding the game. Of course, as with all crowd delusions, there isnocontroversy outside of what the pack mentality has invented for itself. Let’s look at some examples.
First of all, we have the famousTotalvideogamesreview, which our own Jonathan Ross highlighted in hisFanboy Fridaycolumn. The Web site gaveKillzone 2an 8/10, and the 400+ comment thread that followed was so full of bile, outrage and unacceptably evil-minded nastiness that even I, someone who has received a fair bit of hate mail over the years, was actually shocked.
From claims that the reviewer should lose his job, to accusations of him being a “microshitting fagtart,” the spiteful commentary flew thick and fast, and why? Because he dared to giveKillzone 2agreatscore and not aperfectscore? Yes … apparently that’s exactly what the problem is.
“hey jon you obviously jerk off too xbox 360 so if you were here in front of me i would roundhouse ki[#@!?] in your tiny microsoft loving balls,” explains one brave and anonymous commenter. “also if you think halo is even good your a retard… it was a mirror of the first two and sucked even harder than the first two… so dont talk about weak story lines your gayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy”
This is because the reviewer said the game wasgreatand notperfect. Yeah. It’s astounding to see how often that famous “bias” word comes up, often in multiple times during one post. This isnotbecause the word has any relevance to the argument, andcertainlyisn’t because the person using it knows what it means. Most of these trolls use the word “bias” because one of the other members of the herd used it. This is evidenced by the sheer amount of times the word is thrown around, often in the completely wrong context. Most of the people accusing others of “bias” have no idea of what the word even means anymore. They simply use it because it’s used.
Moving on, it’s amazing to find that even G4TV’s5/5 reviewgarnered hatred from the fanboys, and this is where we see a clear example of how the trolls have begun to troll themselves, to feed their own paranoid fantasies when there’s nothing really there. G4’s Adam Sessler hasfamously bitten back, answering some of the most ludicrous accusations, but the one I want to linger on a couple that truly show what an Ouroborus this whole situation has become.
“Wow, bias toward the 360 much?” claims one person, after watching this 5/5 review. “No-one mentioned the post launch co-op that was already announced, nooooo. It’s just a bad thing that there’s no co-op, right? I really thought Xplay gave honest reviews. Sure it’s a 5/5 but it killed you guys a little on the inside, didn’t it?”
If you don’t think that’s a clear enough example of the crowd seeing only what the crowd wishes to see, then this one will get you:
“No matter what it’s never enough,” the commentironicallyopens with. “5/5 huh yet no matter how badass it looks you can hear it in Adam and Morgan’s voice that they were almost upset that the game is as good as it is.”
This comment, this comment right here is what struck me with the epiphany that we are now living through our ownWar of the Worldspanic. When you can watch a glowing review of a game given a perfect score and then starthearing secret bias in the voices of the reviewers, then you have gone beyond. You have truly started climbing Jacob’s Ladder.
Finally, we have an example from the pages of Destructoid itself. Just this Friday,we posted a videoof a supposed “glitch” inKillzone 2that someone struggled incredibly hard to find in the game’s demo. The maker of the video, with ridiculous amounts of effort, was able to jump up to a spot in the map not intended for travel, and break out of the map itself. To call it a glitch as if it exposed some huge problem withKillzone 2was ridiculous, and we mocked such effort.
I wish I could say that the post was some great experiment to “trap” fanboys into betraying their own paranoia, that it was a big prank in order to get an example of a truly indoctrinated herd member, but it was genuinely posted with the goal of entertaining everyone, and nothing more. There was no attempt at trickery, no clever ploy at work. I just honestly didn’t think someone could bethatdeluded. I was wrong.
The post was very clearly sarcastic in its tone, declaring as it did that Sony was doomed by a buggy, glitchy, brokenKillzone 2.Apparently, however, the whole post betrayed myobvious love of Microsoftand all things Xbox 360.
“Yup. Jim is a Xbot Fatboy who is clueless about videogames and the concept of playing more than one console,” helpfully explained one user. “Lame.”
Of course, when it was explained to this confused individual that he might have missed the sarcasm (after all, an article called “OMGKillzone 2is TOTALLY broken OMG actually” justhasto be genuine, right?), he responded with yet another beautiful example of herd delusion:
“His sarcasm is just a cover for his actual and true feelings. The video didn’t show a glitch. It showed some dude hopping around.”
Yes … my sarcasm is a cover-up for my actual feelings thatKillzone 2really is a buggy piece of shit, apparently. He then, almost as if to accentuate the self-parody, explained theentire pointof my article, as if nobody else had evenrealizedthat it wasn’t a true glitch.
When it gets to the point where people are going into high-scoring reviews and posts that actuallydefendtheir precious exclusive games, dreaming up things to be miserable about, perhaps it’s time certain individuals re-evaluated their priorities, and perhaps took up a hobby that doesn’t cause them so much grief and sorrow. People are becoming emotionally absorbed, and at a time when PS3 fans should be overjoyed that they have a fantastic videogame coming their way, that fact that all they can focus on is the stuff that upsets them is truly fucking sad.
Xbox fans are no better, somehow feeling threatened by the presence of a great PS3 game and trying to attack it.Killzone 2itself has become their Martian invader, the Black Smoke, and they whip themselves up into a frenzy about it just like the PS3 fanboys who have become so paranoid that they can hear voices and see sarcasm as sinister cover-ups.
Nobody has actuallydone anythingthough. Nobody in the press has gone out of their way to hurtKillzone 2, and nobody has any reason to “harm” the PS3. Nobody choked up and died inside when they gave the game full marks, and nobody is hiding their true hatred of Sony exclusives in the tone of their voice or strength of their sarcasm. In short — the people in the press are nowhere near as interested in the downfall of the PS3 as PS3 fanboys themselves. Nobody wants the PS3 to die, but PS3 lovers seem to want peopleto wantit to die. That’s fucked up.
If all the fanboys and trolls who have made these accusations and spat their bile for the past weekactuallycame together and truly shared a collective mentality in one body, if their obsession, imagination and deluded inability to ever be satisfied came to represent the mind of just one person, that person would have the psychological profile of a serial killer. These people have lost their minds. Driven by compulsion, fueled by their dreams of conspiracy. Trolling themselves, because nobody elsecares enoughto troll them.
