Slashdot Mirror
Wikipedia Closes Wii, PS3, Sony Entries
GameSpot reports that Wikipedia has closed the next-gen console entries because of nigh-onto constant defacement from angry fanbois. From the article: "Last week the complete Nintendo company page was replaced with the phrase "Nintendo Sucks!!!!!!!!!" briefly before the Web site reloaded the original entry. Previous vandalism efforts include someone doodling on a Hitler moustache and horns on the photograph for the entry for Bill Gates, and the sentence "Microsoft is Zomg T3h Suck0r!!!!!!" briefly replacing the computer software company's page. All of the next-generation consoles make it into the company's top 40 list of most revised pages, with the Nintendo Wii at number 10 (12,780 revisions), the PS3 at number 21 (9,894 revisions), and the Xbox 360 at 25 (9,481 revisions.) Interestingly, the Wii seems to attract more conflicts of opinion on the site than the subjects of Scientology (8,475 revisions), God (7,537 revisions), and even Britney Spears (9,886 revisions.)"
The editor misspelled "Suxx0rz".
-c.
Casey
More scratches on the cave wall, thanks be to anonymity.
Interestingly, the Wii seems to attract more conflicts of opinion on the site than the subjects of Scientology (8,475 revisions), God (7,537 revisions), and even Britney Spears (9,886 revisions.)
I think I know what console the tabloid writers are going to get.
I'm not sure how this is news. Anonymous and very new users can't edit the entries, but all accounts older than 4 days can, so the articles are still updated almost as fast as before. And numerous pages are semi-protected every day as vandalism flares up and dies down. Judging by semi-protection only, the consoles aren't any worse off than Lucille Ball, Tundra, or Michelangelo...
That those idiots went bragging to their friends that they hacked a site.
"It's difficult to meditate on amphetamines." - Joe Walsh
This is concrete proof that the Enyclopedia Brittanica is superior. They have exactly zero revisions to their Wii page! No vandalism in sight. They really have their priorities straight.
-Eric
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
I find it disheartening that young gamers feel the need to find a single console and lock onto it with a religious fervor. We're all gamers, we all enjoy the same hobby, but a large part of the community spends its time decrying everyone else.
The only reason I can think of that this happens, immaturity aside, is that young gamers must rely on their parents to buy consoles and their parents probably limit them to one console of choice because of price. This may give the kid a need to prove to himself and others that he got the very best console possible and made the best decision, because if he didn't make the best decision he'll never be able to buy the other console(s) and fix the problem.
Too bad they can't just relax and enjoy the different experiences offered by all the consoles.
Well, there is the usual adolescent desire for everyone to be the same. They'll pick on queers, blacks, nerds, tall people, short people, etc. ad nauseum.
However, there may be a bit of rationality behind it. I remember making fun of atari 400 and sinclair 1000 owners because they didn't have a real keyboard, TI owners for paying too much, and every time I'd meet a fellow commodore owner I'd get all exited and start trading programs. It felt good to find someone else who'd made the same decision that I did, and it had a payoff in terms of being able to trade experiences, techniques, and programs.
It is possible that this kind of behavior makes sense in a way. After all, if everyone owned a Wii there'd be more games for it.
I'll never understand it now that I'm not a kid anymore. I'll also never understand getting in a fight with someone over their religion, country, favorite team, etc., but it happens every day.
Man, you really need that seminar!
I mean, honestly - why the hell do people think consoles need their loyalty? The companies behind them are out to make cash, which is what corporations do. They have their own marketing budget, people paid loads of cash to sell games and consoles and so forth. And before anyone mentions 'viral marketing', this kind of crap would only serve to put me off buying a console.
For the most part, here, you're referring to a group of people here who have great amounts of their personal identity onto their purchase of, and allegiance to, a particular product. This isn't anything new -- or relegated to gamers -- think of the grown men you know who would actively define themselves by their brand of truck. I think that when people are in a situation where they feel that they have no ability to carve out their own indentity -- be it feelings of impotence or just a general lack of creativity -- they will turn to external means to establish who and what they are in the eyes of others.
Quite simply, like any other group which defines shared identity as a similar product choice, or belief in a shared ideology, gamer fanbois are, at the root, confused individuals who are searching for a sense of belonging. There's a large population of the "gamer" population that's, quite frankly, socially awkward. Evangelizing a game system (or a brand of PC, or a genre of music, etc) gives these people an easy way to feel a "connection" with a social group that doesn't require any alteration in the way that they deal with the world or interact with other human beings.
When I was a teenager, I was really into hardcore music for the same reason. My skills of actually holding a conversation were fairly limited, but I knew that I could hang out with my "hardcore friends" or log onto a message board and 'communicate' in the way which I was comfortable. This in and of itself is fairly harmless, but the insular nature of these sort of 'product cliques' will almost always eventually turn to "us against them" codifications as the individuals within the group struggle to establish their own socially hierarchy. In my days as an elitist asshole, it was the 'corporate drones' who would 'actually buy this mass-produced music' that were the de facto topics of my rage. For these kids it's the 'idiots' who would 'actually buy [system].' It's the same motivation in both cases -- a desire for acceptance, at its root.