Rants are Good: Zero Punctuation

On Wednesday afternoons when a new Zero Punctuation bursts into the world like a fornicating teen's unwanted fertilized egg shortly after taking a "morning after" pill I like to hop over to the related Kotaku thread to lurkingly frolick in the fanboy idiocy.

Whenever "Yahtzee" releases a new rant there will undoubtedly be irritated fan boys who decry the "review" and hurl insult at "Yahtzee" like bricks sent aloft by Christians lovingly embracing the message of Christ by destroying abortion clinics. And just as the Christians miss the point of their Holy Text (Don't Be A Dick!) so too do the fanboys miss the point of Zero Punctuation:

It is fun to find fault with things.

Ranting, nit picking, critiquing, and generally berating things is an enjoyable activity both for the individual and the audience. People like George Carlin, Lewis Black, and Denis Leary have made careers out of simply finding fault with things and so, too, has "Yahtzee". And while I can understand the reasons for which, say, John Hagee would not appreciate George Carlin I am somewhat perplexed by why a fanboy would dislike Zero Punctuation.

In a convoluted way players become personally invested in the games they play. If a person plays WoW for months on end, grows up playing Mario games, or reaches a new level of excellence in Guitar Hero there is a degree to which these games become a part of who that individual is. So in this way it would be sensible for a person who enjoyed The Witcher, due to some brain abnormality, to be upset by "Yahtzee"'s review of The Witcher. But what this situation fails to capture is the self-awareness gamers need to have.

I think it behooves an individual to be aware of their self, to understand their self. If, for example, an individual is obsessed with an ex-girlfriend it behooves that individual to acknowledge this even if that individual can internally justify the obsession based upon their completely objective assessment of past events. If an individual really likes, say, Devil May Cry 4 it behooves them to have the self-awareness to acknowledge that the game has flaws, that it is not perfect.

And this is the aspect of reality upon which Zero Punctuation focuses: nothing is perfect.

There are always nits to pick, always flaws to exploit and focus upon. And doing so, finding these flaws and picking this nits, is an enjoyable activity which both entertains and reminds us that we ought to have a knowing sense of awareness and humor about our hobbies. While an individual may be personally invested in a game that same individual must also acknowledge this investment and step away, so to speak, from the pastime and realize that while to them it is enjoyable it is also, in so many ways, a waste of time and a subject ripe for mockery.

All this to say that I really like Zero Punctuation and if you don't then you suck.

So there.