A Plea to Gamers and Internet People....

I want to make a plea to fans of video games and users of the internet.

We've become aware, lately, that people have opinions. Sometimes, these opinions are disagreed with. This happens. As in, All The Time. But what's been happening lately is that people decide that disagreeing with other people means that you can insult them, scream at them, hate them, threaten them, and try to shut them up because you do not agree with them.

This is not okay.

Do you have an opinion about something? Fine. Do you want to express it through words? Excellent. Do you wish to convey it through voting in elections? Even better.

But you know what? It pretty much stops there. You can't MAKE people agree with you. You can't threaten to kill them if you don't like what they have to say. Everyone has the right to peacefully express themselves, just like you do. If you don't agree, then, fine, you are allowed to stop listening to them, but honestly you ought to at least hear/read what they have to say before dismissing them outright - there is always something to be learned from someone else's point of view.

Also, you might be wrong.

The internet was designed to share information - easily and instantaneously. It is powerful for that reason alone, but we are seeing it now get used for all manner of hateful and horrible things. THIS NEEDS TO STOP.

Forget for a moment the idea of basic common decency. Forget kindness and empathy and the idea that we should respect all other human beings for their basic right to be treated as you would want to be treated. The more we use the internet for aggressive, prejudiced, ignorant and violent communication, the more reason there will be to clamp down on this form of communication.

Don't you see? If you keep breaking your toys, they're more likely going to be taken away from you.

So, please. Be respectful. Be decent. Play nice. A little less PvP IRL, if you don't mind. kthxbye.