What Do I have to Prove?

Ego-tripping on the current day Blog-O-Sphere


Okay, so I have accounts on most social media.  This is because I like to keep in touch with like minded people, as well as to keep up to date with all that moves in my hobbies and intrests.  To track and trace down any leads I might come face to face with involving Holy Grails for my collections.  And to share with the world that I'm doing the housekeeping or whiping my ass.

But what does all that have to do with the title?  Well, one of the downsides of the readily accessible internet is the exponential increase of self-prophetised knowers-of-all.  You know the types, those that declare that game X or company Y is the only true wargame.  Whom brag about just how good they are in a game, and when they do lose solely put the blame on someone else or on external factors.  Those guys (or gals for that matter) who need to utter the word 'noob' at least once every three other words when playing in videogame co-ops after they themselves died of idiocricy.  Think storming forward World of Warcraft tanks who don't wait for the healer to restore mana, then shouting 'noob healingzzzz' and leave.

Those people you just ingored 20 years ago and didn't bother to speak to, play with, or even play against.

But with the internet they can shout louder...


Now, subtitle wise I named the blog sphere, but it is just the same on forums, Facebook, Twitter and whotnot's.  I recently came across a person on the Saint Seiya fan forum who claimed to have predicted everything that so far has happened in Omega, even though there was no prove anywhere, was going in the mist with each new released episode... and then claimed that was because the writers didn't know what they where doing.  The shitty part is that you can't ignore hom as he spamposts between each reply so you HAVE to scroll to all his bullexcretions.

Now the kind of 'not eye candy' posts I love to read - and strive to write - are those articles in which people take an issue, dissect it and voice their opinions in a, while subjective, neutral toned manner.  I don't care if those articles are backed by hard facts or scientific prove, we are all entitled opinions.  It is not the message I read articles for, it is for the way those messages are brought forth.

Sometimes the articles of a player ending 64th out of a 100 are far more enjoyable and learnable, as they tend to analyse what went wrong, how he could have handled it and what he is going to do or try about it for the next time.  These articles are a far more enjoyable read then a douche shouting how he crushed all commers, without actually knowing why and how he won (in Magic, this is usually the best deck currently on the net that has been copied and with lucky top deck draws).

Unfortunatly, those people think they are always right...

There is nothing as irritating as trying to argue, or even just discuss in a friendly manner, heck, even offering a point-of-view to a fanboy / stonehead/ company bitch.  He will in no way even consider looking, no matter how briefly, in a different direction.  GW pricings, Magic JUND players and German Panzergrenadier players come to mind.  Confederate players are close seconds ;-)
The problem is you just tend to end up frustrated yourself by trying to get a point, no matter how moot or valid, across, while you keep crashing into a concrete wall.

 The saddest part however is that they believe themselves they are doing a good thing for the community and actually help their hobby.  While the reality is that for every disciple they convert, nine others have been pushed away.  I know of several people quitting a game or even a club due to a "persona divina" of another player.

And what does the majority of us contribute to the hobby in long term...  Zilch, nadda, nothing.  At best we become a short lived blog hype.  A foot note in the geeky world of internet. 
I have a few trophies on my shelf from tournaments, some certificates of paint costs.  I have played the so far only Belgian GW endorsed national (from an era of the Outriders program for the old guys amongst us) ending 4th after steaming through all the qualifier tournaments.  I ended highest belgian in the very first Ranking der Nederlanden, a sort of linked tournaments for Dutch and Flemish players ages ago.  I had my ugly mug on television during a convention interview, ended up in a wagame magazine... and what do I have to show for it, now 10 years further.  Some wrinkled article papers and old videotapes - very handy in a DVD era.

I DO however now have the knowledge of what a jack I used to be myself, and used to trip ego's myself.  Now, call it growing up, I can have people to have a chat with, am out of the whole tournament and ego boosting affairs, and can say I paint for fun and own games.  One day I hope to also get to play an occassional game in, but even with the painting back in gear I still haven't felt any urge to actually roll any dice... but that is for a later article.

Never the less, I'm sure that a lot people find their online niche community ego the most important thing in the world, far more then perhaps something like