[6.0 - 6.4 Spoilers] An interesting video detailing Venat's polarizing reception

[Absimiliard]

If being critical of Venat gets you ostracised from social media, then you have to admit it's a minority opinion.

I don't think most people espousing negative views of Endwalker do think they're in the majority, at least none of the ones I've had any association with did. They were largely under the impression their opinions would be perceived as hot takes, and so they quietly walked away from the game. A few of them did try to voice their opinions on social media prior to leaving, but uh... let's just say it didn't go well. Now, when I say "voice their opinions," I mean in the form of respectful, insightful critique of the content as presented, utilizing facts and not solely their feelings on the matter. Mind you, I'm not talking just Venat here. Some of them had gameplay critiques, some had issues with the story not related to Venat, and some multiple grievances. I'm sure you get the point.

The most interesting thing I noticed while observing all this take place was how different the reactions people got were. Those offering the most well-thought criticism seemed to receive the most enthusiastic push-back from the community, while those being vitriolic airheads saw little to no engagement. Or, phrased in a more straightforward manner, those with critiques worth reading wound up getting absolutely buried in salt. Notably, it did seem mentioning Venat in particular would invite the largest quantity of salt. There were of course some good faith individuals looking for a proper discussion on the matter, but they were typically drowned out by far less eloquent posters. When you're getting blasted from all sides, it can be kinda hard to find and focus on those individuals who've indicated a willingness to engage with you respectfully.

It's completely fine to disagree with someone. Hell, as weird as it is, some of the most intellectually engaging conversations I've had pertaining to this game came in the form of debating other players on various issues. Somewhere along the way people decided to choose debasing over debating, much to the chagrin of myself and presumably others. It's not just a problem here, though. It's a problem everywhere, and it seems to be getting worse with time. A fair amount of it stems from people's tendency to perceive criticism of something they like as an attack and become defensive, I suppose.

[T-rexpectation]

I don't think most people espousing negative views of Endwalker do think they're in the majority, at least none of the ones I've had any association with did. They were largely under the impression their opinions would be perceived as hot takes, and so they quietly walked away from the game. A few of them did try to voice their opinions on social media prior to leaving, but uh... let's just say it didn't go well. Now, when I say "voice their opinions," I mean in the form of respectful, insightful critique of the content as presented, utilizing facts and not solely their feelings on the matter. Mind you, I'm not talking just Venat here. Some of them had gameplay critiques, some had issues with the story not related to Venat, and some multiple grievances. I'm sure you get the point.

The most interesting thing I noticed while observing all this take place was how different the reactions people got were. Those offering the most well-thought criticism seemed to receive the most enthusiastic push-back from the community, while those being vitriolic airheads saw little to no engagement. Or, phrased in a more straightforward manner, those with critiques worth reading wound up getting absolutely buried in salt. Notably, it did seem mentioning Venat in particular would invite the largest quantity of salt. There were of course some good faith individuals looking for a proper discussion on the matter, but they were typically drowned out by far less eloquent posters. When you're getting blasted from all sides, it can be kinda hard to find and focus on those individuals who've indicated a willingness to engage with you respectfully.

It's completely fine to disagree with someone. Hell, as weird as it is, some of the most intellectually engaging conversations I've had pertaining to this game came in the form of debating other players on various issues. Somewhere along the way people decided to choose debasing over debating, much to the chagrin of myself and presumably others. It's not just a problem here, though. It's a problem everywhere, and it seems to be getting worse with time. A fair amount of it stems from people's tendency to perceive criticism of something they like as an attack and become defensive, I suppose.

People being mean to you isn't really an argument against their positions. You can be right and mean, though it would be nice to have one without the other.

[Absimiliard]

People being mean to you isn't really an argument against their positions.

Nor did I remotely imply it was. Not really the point I was making at all. The rightness or wrongness of the positions being espoused really isn't important for our context here, at least for the time being.

Besides, most of what gets discussed about Endwalker is subjective anyway. For example, let's say I take a look at Zenos and go, "he was a really messed up dude." That would be an opinion I've formed based on information provided to me by the story, yes? If that opinion is not rooted in facts provided by the story, sure, it could be wrong in the sense that it was spawned by a lack of understanding. But what if it isn't? What if that opinion is rooted firmly in the information provided by the game and other canon sources? Suddenly it's a lot harder to say it's objectively wrong. Someone could disagree with it, but that wouldn't make it objectively wrong. The difference between not agreeing with something and it being objectively wrong is rather significant.