 and how would a thread that starts out as a flame invitation "devolve" into a flame |
I said that threads that turn into free form conversations (of which this is one) run that risk. The fact that you started it as an invitation to flame (even though you probably expected little flaming) is just coincidental irony. Also, I use the word "devolve" to express my distaste over the (almost inevitable) occurrence of actual flaming.
However, certainly a valid turn of the conversation of this thread is towards a general discussion of flaming. There are two major cases to consider. The first is the effect of flaming on those directly involved. The second is the effect on those "just watching".
I think the second case is easier to discuss. When not directly involved it's not particularly upsetting, it's more like the car wreck that people can't stop looking at even though it usually disgusts them. This is the kind of thing that IMHO inhibits people that play the game, and have been lurking, from joining in and contributing to these forums. It also tends to turn off the occasional poster from continued participation. I think this represents a lose-lose situation for the GC2 community.
In the first case of the people directly involved, it's usually much more upsetting or far less upsetting. If the target of the flaming actually cares about his attacker's opinion, then the flaming can be very upsetting. However, this quickly dissipates once the target simply considers his attackers opinion beneath notice.
Of course this requires a bit of maturity on the part of the target to not get caught up in the whole win/lose rat hole. The attacker on the other hand usually exhibits no maturity whatsoever and comes off thinking that they "won". They couldn't be further from the truth.
