“Video game discourse has gotten me down lately. Why are some people so shitty about their favorite hobby?” This comment from Jake Baldino, a presenter over at Gameranx, appeared in my Twitter timeline today and garnered some interesting responses. A lot of people stated it was all down to a “loud minority” of gamers, which is a very common refrain. But I’m not so sure. Whereas I may well have trotted out such a response a decade ago, recent events seem to indicate otherwise. I have a sneaking suspicion that “people” aren’t as nice as we may have previously thought and that includes gamers. Yes, the anonymity of the internet does encourage some hostility among “keyboard warriors”, but you only have to turn on your TV to see people happily being bellicose and objectionable in public. So perhaps it’s not just a case of the “the squeaky wheel” getting noticed. May be there has been and continues to be, a major cultural shift in the way we interact with each other.