Remember back in the days of old when you praised game like Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island as the coolest shit ever? The pre-Halo days, when mentioning the acronym “FPS” would result in a storm of bewildered looks. Or even the early days of GameFAQs - back when the collective IQ of its forum-goers was much larger than my shoe size. Call me nostalgic, but I definitely prefer then to now.

Fastforward a decade later: You’ll find a generation of people who’re disinterested in the merit of what makes a good product. People are strolling down the streets with their iPods, listening to terrible music; others congregate around a local convenience store, talking about how the Saw series is “the most awesome shit ever.” These are the same people who’re raised on the flawed ethics of “what makes a good video game.” As far as they’re concerned: All a game needs is blood, tits, gore, a terrible hardrock soundtrack, and flamboyant clothing and they’re sold. What about substance, you ask? Pssh, who needs that?

I mean this in the utmost seriousness when I say “gaming has become a social scene of its own.” The typical stereotype of what one might consider a gamer is relatively easy to identify: A feeble person who wears a pretentious Halo or Zelda t-shirt, banters for hours-on-end about how Final Fantasy VII is the epitome of perfection, and has a minimal or nonexistent social life. The latter tends to fluctuate depending on your skill at Guitar Hero.

In further pointless efforts to differentiate themselves from other “lowly figures,” they adopted terms and phrases. These include: “pwnt”, “BOOM headshot”, “I five-stared your mom on expert”, “all your base are belong to us,” and other banal idioms. It’s bad enough that people like this even exist, but things are becoming far worse with the advent of G4… a channel dedicated to mass-producing these fuckwits by the millions.

G4 is a television channel that claims to “appeal to both the gamer and nerd communities,” in the same fashion as TechTV (whom G4 bought out, sadly). The truth is very different, however, as the majority of their broadcasts consist of Ninja Warrior re-runs and the like. So what about the gaming shows? I count a grand total of two - one focused on reviewing games (X-Play), and the other that mentions them, along with other internet culture news (Attack of the Show!). I blame the latter for further ruining the culture. If you wish to know why, try watching it for ten minutes… I guarantee you’ll cringe in disgust.

Combine all these qualities and you get a recipe for the most annoying individuals on the planet. People who, as ZombieG mentioned in his latest entry, have a penchant for making your life an absolute hell. If I was ever given the choice to live with these guys or GaiaOnline users, I’d sooner consume Agent Orange and end my misery on the spot.