Web Community Pretension
 

http://www.enterthedream.net/webcomi...ll.php?cid=138

I have always felt that a large chunk of the online community refuses to give sprite comics a chance no matter what simply because sprites are used. Many people have told me that this pretension I sense is just my imagination. They say that if a sprite comic has good writing and good art and good sprites, they'll like it. And then I read reviews like this one. 8-bit theater... 1/10.

WHAT!

Did the reviewer even read the comics? He calls the art sloppy, the characters "sad," and the writing "consistently stupid." All of these things 8-bit theater is not. Obviously, he didn't read the comic. He may have look at it, but he wasn't able to let himself read the comic. All he saw was his bias against this artistic medium and ways to justify it.

Attitudes like this make me sad. Even if you only read it once in your life, and don't even finish it, it's still worth a good read and a good laugh. But there is this damnable and unfounded hatred of sprite comics, and it makes me sad that someone can't bring himself to enjoy some good writing.

I'm sorry, but I think the opposite might be happening here. The first review on this page doesn't seem to let the "sprite comic" bias get too much in the way of the review, past the "art" section. Is it possible you might be using that perceived bias to justify the reviewer's opinion differing (vastly) from your own?

Personally I can see where most of the criticism comes from (especially since some of these arguments has been brought up recently by fans, as positive points).

As for the second review... well then I think you'd be right. There's even some author bias thrown in at the end.

Oops. My mistake. I quoted the first post when I was more outraged over the second one.

Ah. That's downright logical. I should have figured that out before... The second one doesn't bother with a rating and goes straight to reet talk.

Quick, people! It's the webcomic police! RUN!
Read some of their other reviews, they aren't exactly objective judges, if you know what I mean.

They gave "Jack" a good review and a bad review to "WhiteNinja"!
From what I have seen, they only enjoy comics with a "serious" (AKA: Cheaply-written angst or grim scenarios) storyline or VERY simple gags. Oh, yeah... They also give it bonus points if the comic is "furry".
They wouldn't have picked up the story of the comic because it HAS to advance at a really slow speed that requires reading a lot of the comics.

Hey, 8-bit Theater's not for everyone.

But I wonder if conventions around the country pay for this guy's lodgings and travel so he can review things at panels and sell them merchandise and be swamped by adoring readers. And then I also wonder if universities pay him to speak at conferences with some of the top academics and creators in the medium as an expert in his field.

:)

That's not a very nice way to dismiss someone's opinion. Most of your readers (including those that adore and swamp you and such) fall into that category, also. I'm sure you don't respond like this to positive feedback. I can safely say I feel somehow insulted.

Unless you didn't mean to refer to yoursekf... then I'm just confused.

Guh?

I'm not dismissing his opinion, I'm merely being catty and pointing out the degree to which many other "qualified" -- however you want to take that -- people would seem to disagree with what he says.

How this is supposed to insult fans, I don't know. I have fans who are engineers. They get invited to summits for engineering to speak and instruct and discuss new theories and whatnot. By your logic, I'm supposed to be offended?

Bah! If Brian won't dismiss his opinion, I will. Who cares what such snobs think?

No.

Reading it again, I must still say that the way you formulated it the first time around, makes it sound like you were pointing out the fact that he's not "invited to conventions", "paid to speak at conferences", and so on. I figured you meant that didn't make him competent for something, and since he had judged your webcomic unfavorably (and that's what was mentionned in the thread), I guessed that thing was... well, judging your webcomic.

I'm sorry if I misinterpreted that. Also, I'd hate to give him points, but he seems aware of how popular 8bit theater is. So if that's what you wanted to point out...

Again, no offence.