Internet, you and I need to have a little talk about being fans. 

It is in our nature as humans to sort of latch on to and become defensive of the things we like. It's good to like things, it helps us connect with other people  who share our interests. The collective term for people in such a group is a "fandom". Generally I would be all for this sort of thing, and most of the time it leads to good things. Heck, if I wasn't part of the video game community I wouldn't be on this website writing this. But I've noticed lately that there a number of awful subsections in fandoms popping up that lead to some embarrassing situations for the rest of us.

I feel like I should start with talking about the DmC controversy and that stupid-ass petition to the White House to have the newest DMC pulled from shelves. When I first heard of this petition I just sort of laughed it off, and reading it made me laugh even louder. When the laughter died down however, I started to think to myself what implications this could have. Granted, this petition only received 66 signatures before it was removed from the website. Despite that though, it could still have had a large impact on the image of the gaming community. Image if you will, if this petition had gotten more signatures and would not have been pulled from the website. What image would that cast on the gaming community?

DmC is selling extremely well right now, plus It's getting great reviews. And what is the thing that gets the most attention? The fact that they changed Dante. The outcry to the new Dante was massive, with fans promising to boycott the game if Dante isn't changed. And then when the game is released, they write the petition. You know what it makes us look like? It makes us look childish.

There are those among our community who really push for gaming as an art form. People like the Extra Credits team and Jim Sterling are constantly working toward a better understanding of games so as to elevate the medium they love to a higher level. And then the people who wrote that petition make all that work pointless. Games have finally gotten to the point where we can make games like Spec Ops: The Line without fear of persecution. People are finally starting to realize that games aren't just a kid's plaything anymore. We can finally make bold and critical statements about modern events. Do you realize how much we have had to do to get this far? And this petition essentially invalidates all of that work because we're losing our shit because someone changed something.

Let's take a look at this petition shall we? I've quoted the full text right under here:

Let's get this out of the way now, if only for my own sanity: the grammar sucks. You call him "Mr.Obama" like you personally know him or something. There shouldn't be an apostrophe in "months", "gamers" "originals" or "its". 

On a more serious note, this petition contains some highly questionable text. First there is the notion that "A majority of gamers are aggravated that this game has changed so much from it’s past predecessors". Judging by the fact that not only is the game selling incredibly well, but also that your petition only got 66 signatures, I think it's safe to say that this is not true. Secondly, and most importantly, there is the claim that this game violates your rights as a consumer. Now, you're sending this to the President of the United States, and in the United States they have this document called the Constitution. Maybe you've heard of it, it's quite important. In fact, the first amendment gives anyone the right to freedom of expression. Video games are protected under this amendment, meaning that the industry can produce a game with whatever message they want. Your right as a consumer does not allow you to demand something be removed from shelves if you don't like it. It is your right to not buy it.

In conclusion, it makes me sad that I even had to write this. ScrewAttack has a great community with a lot of smart people that probably already know this. It's sad that things like this still happen. We need to be more careful with what we start yelling about. We saw that yelling worked for Mass Effect 3, but yelling at everything makes us look bad.