And if so, is there anything wrong with that?
When I first started here at Destructoid, content creation was the key to maintaining a successful website; update the site as often as possible, with as much high quality, unique content as possible. These days, the story has changed. Content is everywhere. No one is thirsty for more. They’re literally drowning in it. Instead, people are looking for curation to help dam the ever rising flood of information sent into their brains each and every day into something they can control. Netflix, Steam, etc.
Over the past few years, I’ve witnessed more and more people try to take on the task of curation themselves by using the internet’s endless capacity for the free exchange of information to control how others exchange information. The ever-increasing demand for trigger warnings, spoilers warnings, and various other forms of content warnings. The attempt to publicly humiliate and stifle people based on their tastes or opinions. Using various labels, and the counter-labels used to try to humiliate and stifle those who are suspected of trying to humiliate and stifle others. The organized “raids” on online personalities and pundits who have “wrong opinions” in order to try to intimidate and exhaust them to the point where they stop talking. The list goes on.
Sadly, gamer culture has been prey to all of these wholly undemocratic and unfriendly practices. Seeing as how AAA game marketing has worked to shape gamer culture into a petty, excluding, turf-war obsessed “Bad Boy’s Club” for more than 20 years, I don’t blame a lot of younger gamers for falling prey to this nonsense. Still, I have faith in you, dear reader, and your capacity to self reflect. So tell me, do you want Destructoid to become a “safe space”, where you do not have to run the risk of feeling challenged, criticized, or potentially made to feel less than perfect? If not, where exactly do you think the line should be between honest and uncensored editorial and editing your work in an effort to cater to your audience?