As I've made my first few tentative steps into the deep and vast ocean of the Destructoid community, I've been surprised by how well people get along here. It's an unusual and even staggering experience to have people speak to me with a genuine interest in what I have to say. On the very day I join, no less. It's an even stranger experience when compared to the gaming communities I was with before. As far as I can tell, many people migrate here from GameFAQs. I, however, had my beginnings on 4chan's video games board, /v/.

It's something I don't often bring up, because when people hear the word "4chan", they think of /b/, and all of the negative press it's earned. /v/ isn't that much different, it still has the trolls, the racism, sexism, the idiocy of any other part of 4chan, but at the very least it had a serious collection of people interested in the game.

So I thought I'd share my perspective on trolling on a site that's mysteriously free of them.

I'll start off by admitting I trolled. I'd start threads about how the PS3 had no games, or other times I'd start a thread about how the Wii is only for prepubescent children. My goal was to deliberately stir up drama by taking whatever side you weren't on. Sure, there would be personal attacks thrown, and the discussion would eventually fall off course, but for a while there would be be at least one gamer desperately trying to think of the cleverest, most well-thought out argument they could put to words on an online forum. I liked to think I helped incite discussions that might not have happened if I hadn't invoked Godwin's law three posts in.

I should also add a disclaimer- I don't and have never believed in trolling that spills over to IRL. Getting home addresses, phone numbers, or any other pranks that directly affect a person's life away from the computer is not something I do. That said, if I can bring a kid to a foaming rage by suggesting that Madden 09 was far superior to Metroid Prime, I'd happily do so despite actually really liking that game. Out of all the drama that exists on the Internet, whether it's religious debates, political arguements, or any other form of melodrama, I've found that Nerd Rage is hilariously easy to exploit, over and over again.


For my part, I have no regrets. It entertained me and the only consequence was the possibility that I might have hurt someone's feelings. On the Internet.