Wednesday, 7 January 2015

On Twitch and Hating Fun

I have an ongoing problem with the Twitch community at large.

If you know anything about me, I'm sure you know what's coming. I don't enjoy spam, the faces, the bandwagoning or the hero worship. I think it detracts and distracts from the enjoyment of the stream itself. Hiding the chat is a non-solution; discussing the stream is what I want to do.

However, all this is distant compared to the actual issue here. Look at my opening sentence again: I have a problem.

My feelings on this situation are no more or less valid than anybody else's. My hatred of noise stems from my real-life aversion to crowds and sensory overload. The faces strike me as protecting the interests of insular groups I don't identify with. Bandwagoning? My love of variety and sometimes petulant insistence on being different from others, occasionally to my own detriment. Hero worship; my own realisation of (and cynical insistence upon) everyone's fallibility.

My introversion has given me a lot of free time to examine my own beliefs, and the outcome is being less sure of them. An echo chamber is a dangerous thing. Of course, such a chamber can have many voices.

I defend (or invite criticism of) my own views here to help others understand. Sometimes I have been too willing to dismiss other's views out of hand; I'm not always as logical as I want to be, and emotions can ruin any otherwise good situation. I have said some inflammatory things in the past that I regret.

Reconciling my own feelings and preferences with the current state of affairs is something I have to do, not others. Nothing I've said is particularly profound and I expect no immediate change in others' relationships with me. I just want to start the process of mutual respect.

Of course I don't hate fun. I just don't like your fun.

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