Forums / Discussion / Serious Debate

And yeah I'll say up front a lot of it has more to do with when I express opinions on media I happen to like. Specifically I'll sometimes say crap like "don't judge it until you play it" only to then start doing shit like "well if the majority reviews say Mighty No 9 is mediocre I guess I'll stick with that opinion myself despite never playing it."

Other times I instead do things like use reviews that align with my personal opinions in order to reinforce said opinions and basically just end up disregarding reviews that say otherwise. For example I'm prone to using certain reviews from Jim Sterling's past to disregard certain opinions I hear from him that I disagree with (for example him giving Mario Kart 7 a 5/10 for "being more of the same" but yet giving Modern Warfare 3 a 9.5/10 for apparently "changing things up"), but yet I'll also tell people to stick mainly to reviews from The Completionist or GameXplain if they want an opinion on Star Fox Zero, as these reviews are mostly positive ones that align more with my own positive opinions on the game, a game which, I'll be honest, has gotten pretty mixed opinions overall over one major factor (namely the fact the game forces the use of GamePad controls with no option for a "traditional" control scheme).

Plus part of me can't help but notice the irony in people taking a review from IGN kinda seriously (Mighty No 9) when yet IGN has also been mocked very often in the past for things like "giving God Hand a 3/10" or "7.8, too much water," so maybe this shows really we're all like this and I'm not as big of a hypocrite as I'm thinking I am, but yet I still feel rather unsure about myself in this matter.

Yeah t's part of human nature to do shit like that I guess. You overthinking it is honestly a good thing because it means you can think about it more and try to consciously stop it when it happens and set a precedent for yourself. People who doubt themselves when it comes to opinions are usually the nice ones. Being confident about things is cool and healthy but at the same time leads to ignorance and arrogance. Try to find a healthy middle where you don't overthink and overstress to where it hurts you but also make sure you're always introspecting.

Nobody's exempt from being a hypocrite (well, aside from babies, people in comas, etc.) so as long as you keep trying to make your views more logically consistent, that puts you ahead of most most people.

Also, while I think it's possible to overthink a lot of things, I personally don't think self-debates regarding logical consistency generally fall under that category, except perhaps in some more extreme cases. Self-reflection like this is generally productive (it's a good way to practice critical thinking, self-restraint, skepticism, and using different perspectives) unlike other types of over-thinking which can be neurotic (worrying about what ifs), obsessive (wondering what someone(s) are doing to an excessive degree), paranoid (conspiracy theories), delusional (talking yourself into believing something you know isn't actually true), reinforce flawed views (internal rants), or unproductive (spending an excessive amount of time deciding something incredibly trivial.)

Tl;dr Basically everyone's a hypocrite, but actively trying not to be one isn't overthinking things, generally speaking.

When it comes to game reviews, just don't use them unless they don't give a score.

Totalbiscuit is good for that, since he wears his bias on his sleeve and talks more about functionality and game mechanics than if the game is fun or not.

As for being a hypocrite, we all fall into that trap sometimes. The problem is when you fail to recognize it and deny it when people call you out.

The important thing is that you're aware of your hypocrisy and try to move forward with your new information. Most of the time people are unaware that they are hypocrites.

I think it's important to remember that hypocrisy isn't inherently a bad thing but rather is a logical fallacy. And like many other logical fallacies it's easy to trip up on them because people don't always think 100% logically. So don't beat yourself up over it. Learn from it and move forward.

Also remember that you're talking about the opinions of video games and that it's really not necessary to get too serious about it. And yes, you haven't actually played Mighty Number 9, but you can tell that it doesn't look like what has been put forward looks like a good product, and it's implied that if you haven't played the game this is what you're actually stating. There's a lot of evidence to support the idea that you shouldn't expect a great game if you buy it, so it's not like what you're saying is entirely unfounded.

I understand your concern with this because hypocrisy is one of the big things people take issue with on the internet, but back when I used to spend a lot of time dotting my Is and crossing my Ts in posts I felt like I was trying to cover my ass more than I was actually expressing an opinion, and in the end that's what's more important.