The "Sourpusses" of the Internet

If I'm going to reference Dan Americh (@oneofswords), why not use his word, too?

On Dan's One of Swords blog, he shows a pretty awesome fan-made video inspired by, and dedicated to, Modern Warfare 2. For a reported budget of just over $200, these guys demonstrated their love for a game and had some fun too. I was actually quite surprised that the budget was only $200, because it looks quite well-done for a video that was that cheap. Bullet explosions, gunfire, etc. I was impressed.

Dan then goes on to criticize what he calls the "sourpusses" who criticized the video for no really good reason.

First, here's the video:



The video was made by some fans at Corridor Digital. Called "Frozen Crossing," it's obviously made with great love.

So why are people criticizing it?

Dan goes on to say:

"Sadly, it’s not unique; it’s just the most recent example of a behavior I’ve spotted across all realms of gaming. There’s a segment of gamers who simply will never be satisfied — they can and will find fault with anything and possibly everything. I call this type of gamer The Sourpuss. For The Sourpuss, an honest effort and a decent result is never enough; a great game is never as good as it should be. Even when the price is free, The Sourpuss never stops complaining and finding fault with things they cannot or will not take the time and effort to create themselves. The Sourpuss is an expert at negativity and apparently nothing else."

It is definitely sad, and it's more than just the gaming world. Too often on the Internet, in discussion forums pertaining to everything from American Idol to politics, people feel free to slam somebody for just doing something they love. Or something inspired by something they love.

Yes, it's a free country (at least for now), so you have every right to slam a comment down on a Youtube video telling the creators that they're full of shit or something like Mendoza 0725 says in the comments for this video:

"Its cool i guess, but u guys move very unprofessional. crossing open terrain..jogging down a open road.. camo that doesnt match the environment. U guys would get wiped out by a ROTC unit."

It's a freaking $200 fan video that you're watching for free, and you're going to slam their professionalism? Give me a break. When I'm paying $12 to watch a movie and it's not realistic, then we'll talk. Or maybe not even then, if I was still entertained by it.

If somebody is putting themselves out there to the world, for nothing more than a passion for what they're doing, why slam them? Too many people have nothing but negative attitudes about things, and they relish sharing their negativity with the world. Meanwhile, some of us can appreciate when people put forward something that's done totally out of love.

We may not like it, of course. We may find it totally boring to watch (how many of my blog readers who are not video game fans actually even watched the video?). But those are the times that you just move on and go find something else to watch, or to read, or whatever.

Maybe that's why I couldn't even stand to watch the initial American Idol auditions, even if I would choose to watch the show itself (which I don't). These people are trying hard and they're being broadcast just to laugh at them. It's a shame.

But that's a whole other rant.

I encourage you to go read Dan's blog post as well. He says it much more eloquently than I could. I just wanted to make my feelings known. And if you're a video game fan, you should follow his blog too.