Gobble Gobble Gobble, my fellow nerds!
Its that time of year to be pseudo-thankful for all that you have. I say “pseudo-thankful” because a majority of you seem to have lost a bit of grip on the difference between entertainment and your life.
From the militant basement-dwellers, to the recent surge of the fair weather fan crowd, it seems that the wall between artists and fans has faded to a chalk line that one continuously dares the other to cross.
WARNING: THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS A BIT OF PG-13 LANGUAGE.
IF THAT OFFENDS YOU, YOU MIGHT NOT WANT TO READ BEYOND THIS POINT.
So it seems the lot of you entitled jerks need a nice reality slap. Allow me to oblige.
From threatening George R.R. Martin, to organizing mobs to spit on Walking Dead actors, to staging protests of Doctor Strange, to outright extorting celebrity material for your own personal gain like that one d-bag from Wizard World Conventions who isn’t important enough for me to remember his name. Let me say this as politely as I possibly can… GET A LIFE!! Oh, I know some of you are probably out there right now saying some (probably much more vulgar) version of: “But David, we’re nerds, this IS our life!” That’s great, I’m in that boat as well, that’s why Mr. Harlequin and I started this fine publication you fine folks read on the regular.
But here’s the difference, I know that what I read, and watch is this little thing called FICTION – as in it is NOT real, NOT happening outside your home, but fake. People that dress up, recite pre-written lines, and portray a character are, in a nutshell, working their job or chosen career if you will. These people in no way represent the characters they play on TV or in movies in this little thing called REAL LIFE.
Authors and the people writing the films and shows are just the same. They aren’t out to hurt you, and you sure as hell have no right to dictate to them how you want their story to progress. If your favorite character gets killed off in a bad bit (in your opinion) then, well… sorry about your damn luck, suck it up buttercup and either keep watching to see what happens next, or turn it off and go do something else. But we all know that doesn’t happen, because you people that do this are all entitled babies. You go and hop on social media with firesticks and pitchforks and badger these poor people into staying away altogether. Bravo, you just railroaded another human being for your own selfishness.
It probably never occurred to you slobbering mongoloids that this affects how conventions and other fan events operate as well. They all pay attention to social media, and in the name of trying to protect the investment in the event, they hire extra security, the celebs get more restrictive with meet and greets, or they just stop showing up at all out of outright fear for their safety. What this means is that those good fans who are the real majority, by the way, suffer because of your jackassery. Bravo again, junior.
So in the end, all of your little “social justice warrior” tactics end up working against you, and you end up having a bad time at your chosen events, as well as in life. Just remember, you did this to yourselves. Instead of keeping a check on reality, you let it bounce and frolic through your own mental delusion about how you think everything should go. If that be your way of going about being a fan, then please, just go away because you are the problem. Not the fictional TV shows or movies you so frequently take issue with… not the creators and actors that you constantly harass and try to be the thought police on… you.
This is Dave Ward and you have just warped through the Negative Space.
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–Dave Ward
First Ambassador/Staff Writer: Nerd Nation Magazine
@DaveWard1279
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Please Note: the views and opinions expressed by Mr. Ward are entirely his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Nerd Nation Magazine, our sponsors, or anyone else, for that matter. This is an opinion column, and is intended for entertainment purposes only, so please don’t be a d-bag and try to sue anyone over the stuff he writes. If it offends and/or infuriates, encourage you to just go read something else… preferably right here on Nerd Nation!
- NERD NATION MAGAZINE - 
I tend to agree in so much as spitting on people and making death threats is stupid, childish and dangerous. That said sometimes creators bring it on themselves, not so much in the examples cite, but I can think of at least one example of a creator ignoring properly given fan input and criticism to the point where the fans had no choice but to get loud.
Randy Pitchford, the voice of Gearbox Software. I love this guy, I really do. You can tell he is very passionate about what he makes and genuinely loves his work. The problem with Mr. Pitchford is that he has an almost parental love of what he makes, even when it is god awful. Much like the parent of a hellishly difficult child he will accept no negative criticism from anyone without going into defense mode and shutting down the dialogue. Fans have been clamoring for Borderlands 3, which is in development. They eagerly asked for news and updates. Randy, good old Randy, told them about this new IP, Battleborn, instead. He went on at great length about how awesome it would be and how it was a genre all its own. Fans waited and eventually Battleborn was released.
The fan response was lukewarm at best. Fans decried it as just another MOBA with a different camera angle. You would have thought we insulted his first born. He explained, as if videogamers needed to be told, what a MOBA is and how Battleborn was different. He flailed and failed and the fans sighed and asked when they could expect Borderlands 3. He didn’t want to talk about it. He even got a bit rude with industry journalists who tried to talk about it. That’s when the fans got nasty. It was a subtle catty kind of nasty at first as people brought up Aliens: Colonial Marines and Duke Nukem Forever. Then it started to get a bit personal with people calling out Pitchford. I don’t think it ever got to the point of death threats, but eventually he caved and started talking to the fans about what they wanted to hear.
At the end of the day I respect artistic integrity. Artistic integrity is the difference between Velvet Elvis and Starry Night. The thing is art speaks to the individual. Once the creator decides to sell that art to the masses it becomes product. Like any other business selling a product they ignore the consumer voice at their own peril. For every obnoxious mouth breather spewing their vitriol on the internet there are probably at least a dozen others that feel the same and simply decide to disengage from the creation entirely. Those are people who are gone, lost. You won’t get them back. Loyal fans deserve a reason and a rationale at the very least. A creator need not kowtow to every complaint, but engaging with those dissatisfied people instead of writing them off or withdrawing is the key to keeping them as loyal fans and not trollish detractors.
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