The thing I want to talk about today, for lack of a better topic, is WORA. That's a slightly offensive forum. It stands for 'When Online Roleplaying games Attack'...

Now the thing about WORA is, it is primarily used for bashing MUSHes around. (Not 8bit, 'cause 8bit isn't an RP MUSH..) It could be used constructively, but isn't really. People express their opinions in less-than-civil ways, and usually I think they are just venting steam immediately after causing, witnessing or otherwise being part to problems on some MUSH... It is to the point that in the agreement when you register, it says to expect people to be assholes. Not in so few words, but that was basically it.. I'll quote it later, maybe, to be sure.

Also, I thought it was funny that at the top of the forums it says 'If you are here, you are assumed to be an adult, or at least act like one.' Their definition of adult differs from mine, I think they just mean don't look to the forum staff to stop someone from insulting you. My definition of adult, in this situation, would be 'able to get your point across without insulting other people.' Unfortunately this is seldom the case in real life either, it seems.

Anyway. I don't quite see why people get so worked up about what is posted on these forums. It can't really be taken in seriousness... I talked to a player after she posted on the forum, and she said that she did not actually mean anything she wrote down anyway. It was just a way to let out steam. I believed her, but I wasn't about to take any of it seriously anyway. The whole thing is just a pile of bad reviews, no one ever posts good reviews unless I've been overlooking them entirely. I'm hardly an old member.

If someone insults my favorite staff member, on my favorite game, (King Luigi@8bitMUSH, of course :0) I'm not about to let them change my opinion. On the off chance they are telling the truth, and are completely informed, I can forgive and forget. And in some cases, I might actually agree with what they claim the staff member said.

That is one of my main flaws, I think. I forgive too readily, and I almost always afford other people the benefit of the doubt. In real life too. For example, just today we were stuck behind a slow driver, on a curve, and my mom made a comment about it that I forgot... It was sort of assuming, though. I would have guessed that the slow driver had some legitimate reason for going slow. The car was an old Ford Festiva, and anyway I don't know if his tires would have held out going faster... If he hadn't slowed, he might have gone off the road.

Back to the topic, though. I think it's odd that people would get so ticked off at the opinions of other people. If you don't respect someone, and you don't respect their opinion... Then just ignore it! I was wondering why people care, and thinking of various ways to tell them off, like 'Are you so insecure in your own opinion that you need to make fun of someone else's opinion in order to validate your own?' Then, it occurred to me that it might be just that.

Maybe people are often insecure in their opinions, or if they are secure, afraid in the face of a convincing argument that they are wrong. People do not like to be wrong. If someone offers a different opinion, instinct is to react and argue with it.

The response to an opinion will of course depend on the individuals. But I am currently at a loss when it comes to predicting how someone will react.

I can see in my mind cases where the more violently an opinion is expressed, the more violently an argument is posed.

But I can also see the opposite, where the more intelligent the opinion sounds, the more violently someone's argument will be made. It could be more threatening to have your opinion challenged by someone who sounds intelligent, because you are afraid they might be right.

Then of course there's the boring ones where both make intelligent points and counterpoints. Pfft.


I'm going to read this post into my MacGuyverPhones* later. Just for something to do. Later later, I mean. Tonight, I play chess. And win.

EDIT: I'm going to read a different post. Maybe compose one by audio, but maybe not... This one's too long, and I realized that I speak much differently than I write anyway.

Mac-Guy-ver-fones (n): Headphones plugged into the microphone jack