I'm with ya'.

Look, there will always be games that don't quite "do it" for us. There are games I love that others may hate, and vice-versa.

I just never quite understood why some have to be so VOCAL in making sure they beat us over the head with their opinion. Like, if I somehow don't agree, it invalidates their existence.

If I see a game that doesn't quite hit me right (because of the theme, artwork, gameplay...whatever), I just shrug and move on...and let others enjoy it if they want.

Ruining someone else's idea of "fun", just because it doesn't match up with mine is pretty poor form.

Pete

Really excellent post, Mr. Wilson.

I agree that the thin line of "constructive criticism" and downright flaming and offending for the sake of "winning" an argument is often lost behind the thin black and white words we type up.

Words most of us would never say in person are easy to type up hastily with minimal reprocussions. I often think: Our conversations here will be up for as long as the website exists--hopefully for many years to come. Future hobbyists will look to these pages for help and answers, or just to see "Hmmm what was the launch like of *insert game here* like 10 years ago?" and see that a lot of us were probably assholes (to put it frankly).

While I've been in this hobby for hardly a sliver of time compared to the veterans, and even less time on these forums, it's easy to see the nonsense regardless. Life is just too damn short.

Max

Nice post brother!

Go to meets, go to conventions

I have found it hard to take cheep shots at people that I have actually meet

But then again, this is a forum, a place of discussion.
Not every game that gets made will be a winner in everyone's eyes. You are allowed to have and express an opinion. But tooo many people feel the need to express their negative opinion, every day, of every week, of every month. These types need to get over it

Groovy. Obviously I give much more credence to people who use their real names in online posting. Aliases and anonymity just serve to demean integrity, IMO.

Well said, well done.

Well said, and thanks for saying it.

Good post! Welcome to the real name club.

I wrote something along these lines last year, after last Expo when I had a chance to talk with Greg Freres about how personal people got with the GOT criticisms, and I apologized to him if I had any role in that. I remember he talked about how someone said the art looked like someone had just taken a shit on the playfield. He read that, it wasn't just stupid internet banter that went nowhere. It was obvious his feelings were hurt, and who can blame him? I never said anything like that, but I still felt like an ass.

I've been a lot more careful about how I post since then when discussing games.

Keep that in mind, Stern, whoever, they're reading. Which means your voice is heard, and that's great, but it also means when you're a giant dick it comes across too.

Speaking personally I don't really care if someone criticizes my art. You don't like Alien or whatever feel free to say so. But I appreciate it when people don't make it so damn personal. I have thick skin, but it wears on you after a while, all the negative energy. When the criticism is constructive I take it to heart, being thoughtful and taking a moment to compose your thoughts honestly does get your point further, if you actually care and aren't just looking to take shots at someone.

Bravo! Keep in mind though that from good constructive criticism of an idea, improvements can happen. Most of the established pinball designers I know have a thick skin but they do listen to us and they can sometimes make changes to games to make them better.

As a side note, i use the nickname blownfuse because it was given to me by the people/friends/boss I worked with while learning to repair pinballs in coin op back in the early 70's. Pinball has been in my life since '72 and I've never regretted it because of all the people I've met along the way, be they players, collectors or designers. All, I consider friends to this day.

I do however sign my name at tbe end of each post because I believe it makes things a little more personal and can help defuse a bad post that can be read with two different directions of thought.

Steve

Great post.

Thank you.

It's Always been about the people.

I am so lucky to have 45 years in the hobby
and recently to be in a position, to affect it

I started drawing playfield and mailing them
to Chicago on the 60s.
It was about the people then, as it was at expo.

I retired for health, but also people.
Truth be told, 90% of pinball is positive,
and the hobby is blessed with wonderful people.
But the 10% hurt.

A pleasure to read and share, and my
hopes to those reading this thread, that
when you type, take a few minutes, walk
away, and read again. Maybe it's a bit too
much, and we can all do better for each other.

well said . And will say so in person next time I see you .

Nice thoughts, thanks!

charltonheston (resized).png

Well said Jeremy!

I agree. Before the whole nickname thing comes up, a nickname is more or less a little piece to the puzzle, how you conduct yourself is the important part. Although I support his name change, that was probably not necessary, although being a great nod to his own statement.

I'm with RCA1 - the title of this thread reads like it's soylent green-ish. Like if you lift up the playfield on a game, there's actually a person in there. A slave. Activating lights and VUKs and whatnot. I can't help it. That's just how the title reads to me.

I agree with the idea behind it - I just can't get past how my brain reads the title every time I see it

Thanks for sharing OP.

It's important that people share both their good and bad opinions. And with both its important to communicate clearly. When you say "this game is cancer and the sound effects literally give me AIDS..." that's just rude and people should just put that noise on ignore.

The JJP3 threads have been great for building up a good ignore list. Why people even bother engaging with the trolls I'll never understand. Don't feed them, ignore them!

That sounds better than me hearing the title read out loud by Mitt Romney every time I see it!

Pinball is people my friend.

I have nothing against the designer, Pat. He obviously did come up with an original theme.

For me; it's the money grab by JJP. Nothing can excuse that ass-o-nine price tag at the volumes he's selling those LEs at.
6K units for 9K... how is that limited? How is it a justifiable price other than a money grab when we all know that volume = better pricing.

When JJP, PPS, and Stern come to their senses and stop silly price increases - then well; I'll calm down a little and thank them for their effort.

Pinball is like sausage.

Maybe we don't want to know how it is made.

Good read,and great message. May we never stop the dreamers from dreaming. And may there always be a pinball game at everyone's price point,new and old.

This is a truly great post to read with a positive message that all of us can appreciate. Thank you Mr. Wilson!

I think I get the drift of what you are trying to say.

0594e9039790cbec589e242f32cb12f0 (resized).jpg

I truly hope they don't come on here and read this stuff. I accidentally called it "bitchside" the other day and then realized it maybe wasn't so accidental. Excellent post brother.

Well, those guys have been around for a minute and know first-hand how passionate and a-holish pin fans get. They should know by now how to roll with the punches. Heck, Steve Ritchie Lit Me Up once for something I wrote. I don't remember now what it was, and I hope he's forgotten too, but I'm still steerin clear if we're in the same room at a show!

My point being, those guys should be able to "take it". They've been in the trenches so long I'm genuinely surprised they would get more than mildly annoyed for a few seconds about what we post. They are royalty (and not in a bad way!) and we are the huddled masses (not in a bad way!). We ALWAYS have to pick at the royals. Things can ALWAYS "be better", and we have the benefit of hindsight. We LOVE the royalty, but sometimes you wanna chuck rotten lettuce at them. They pick the lettuce off and go back to the castle and make more games for us to love or hate.

Not a horrible system...

Thanks OP for starting this topic. I was thinking a lot about this over the weekend. But I honestly didn't have as much of an issue with people's Pinside comments as I did with the comments that were popping up live during the Periscope broadcast. I had never even used Periscope until last Thursday night. But immediately after "tuning in" all I wanted to know was "How do I turn off these forking comments?" Seriously, who are these ass-hats who feel the need to keep criticizing every little thing? Are these trolls my Pinside kin? I tried to get past it but it was just impossible to ignore (literally, cause the comments were blocking the view). It was a complete troll-fest. I felt bad for Pat, for JJP, and that poor fellow in the front row of the audience. Everybody (even the camera person) was a target. It was really, really sad.