Sonic Stadium Remodels, Vows to Oust “Trolls”

By
Tristan Oliver
– March 23, 2009

Sonic Stadium Generic TSSJoscelyne: “We Don’t Want Anyone Destroying the Atmosphere”

In the wake of a server wipeout at the beginning of the month–an event that some in the community celebrated–The Sonic Stadium was given a new format over the weekend, as well as a new mission: Get the troublemakers out.

But webmaster Svend Joscelyne’s promise to permanently ban those he considers “trolling” may only fan more flames between the highly regarded community figure and the staff he oversees, and those who vocally disagree with TSS’s current direction.

The decision to go full force with the initiative began with a “Spring Cleaning” post in which he admitted, it’s been tough to commit to TSS lately:

For the last couple of years, The Sonic Stadium has been romanced with this idea that the Sonic Community and SEGA could be much closer than it was back in, say, 2004. And that idea certainly had a happy ending – SEGA are more receptive to what people are saying than they were before.

But when I first approached SEGA Europe and opened those metaphorical doors, I figured (maybe as a selfish concept of ‘reward’ or something) that TSS could be the ‘vessel’ that helps cross the gap between official and unofficial. That was a notion that formed some sort of success throughout 2005 to 2008, but today it’s different.

Sonic City’s Blognik now speaks directly to the fans and holds the official competitions, while Sonic Wrecks picks up any off-cuts/unused material and puts that in its Depository, making TSS’ role in the ‘gap-crossing’ venture sort of pointless.

Instead, this website appears to have become less of a fansite by definition (with information and substance) into more of a disposable news blog, and while I’ve tried to shirk that by introducing new writers which have brought new regular features, it’s something that still sticks in my mind.

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It’s no secret that I’ve been less than enthused with continuing the site as it was – hence the severe lack of updates on my part. It’s hard to write news on the latest games when they don’t interest you in the slightest, despite me still being one of the biggest Sonic fans there is.

That post was followed early on Sunday by a stern warning and a heavy dose of defense by the webmaster better known as Dreadknux.  Citing almost every recent review he has written in the article sans Sonic Unleashed, and writing a point-by-point argument against those he feels are a detriment toward the mission of his site, Joscelyne conveys he’s not going to take it anymore, blasting some of those who have criticized TSS and labeling them as trolls and threating to ban them from the site:

Seeing some comments fly around over the last few days, I’ve come to realise that it’s not me, or TSS, that has the problem. It’s a group of people that are otherwise known as ‘trolls’.

Trolls are people who try to ignite flamewars for no apparent reason other than the fact that they want to get a rise out of you. Their arguments make no sense, and they lower themselves to swearing and incessent idiocy. When you argue back, they argue more, causing a massive flamewar. If you do anything else, they’ll complain that you’re not allowing their opinion or voice to be heard.

Well, after having a brief influx of trolls on this website, I have decided to knock it on the head here and now. Anyone trolling on this website will have their comment removed and their IP blocked. This is a website that celebrates the Sonic series, and we don’t want anyone destroying the atmosphere for the rest of the Sonic fans that enjoy this place. Don’t confuse this with disagreeing with an opinion or review on TSS; you’re still allowed to voice your thoughts. Trolls don’t have opinions though. They have flamebait, and the mind of a basement-dwelling child.

Despite drawing the line between what is opinion and what isn’t and claiming “you’re still allowed to voice your thoughts,” Dreadknux disallowed comments on his post and the issue at large.  Further, no trace of discussion related to these words exists–at least in public view–on the Sonic Stadium Message Boards.

The comments come on the heel of harsh words from some community members regarding a long string of strong language and alleged research on the website regarding Sonic, Sega, and the recent direction the franchise has taken.  That string, in its current form, ends with Dreadknux’s unfavorable review of Sonic and the Black Knight, and an “experiment” conducted by TSS staffer Brad Flick, better known as Slingerland, in which he asked three Los Angeles kids to play SBK.  After noting Tetsu Katano’s recent comment that SBK is for children and reassuring that the sample only consisted of three kids, Slingerland made a blanket statement:

The kids were hooked on the presentation, like most people, but could not stand to play the rest of the game.  They complained that the game was “too difficult” and that their wrists were getting worn out.  From my observations, the difficulty stemmed from the poor design choices in gameplay that a majority of the reviewers have been harping on.  The kids refused to play the rest of the game and Katano’s primary audience of new, young Sonic players was violated.

You can take as many grains of salt from this experiment as you would like to (it is just three kids after all), but, personally, Sonic Team’s failure to hit their target audience speaks volumes on the state of the series.

Despite Slingerland’s caveats, over at Sega of America’s official Sonic forums, fans were talking about the recent story and almost overwhelmingly believe the experiment was fueled by his own personal bias.  Forumer Flamerstreak writes on the dedicated thread:

Something is fishy about this. It’s one thing to do an experiment involving only three kids, especially when there are many more who would have different opinions on this game, but since this article is made by that overrated Sonic pop icon wannabe who is so biased, I sense some biased in his little, but not convincing enough article.

Since many more kids can have different opinions from those kids in Brad’s experiment (in which the three kids whom Brad used the experiment in can be questioned in regard to which three kids he picked for this), I think Brad’s just trying to over exaggerate the results of his experiment through his own bias.

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I won’t reveal my educated guess publicly, but I can say it is safe to assume that the three kids he chose may have impatience, lack of well health (not necessary obese people), or kids that hate using motion controls for video games.

Another forumer, hypertailsx, wrote:

They experimented on 3 kids? And then they say that kids refuse to play. That is a terrible experiment. Why would you even bother make an article. This is just a load of rubbish. And the game wasn’t horrible in my opinion. It’s just the fans complain about all Sonic games these days.

And Kintor continued in the chorus:

As I said in the Wii thread, this article is really misinformed. Oh and I agree with everyone else in this thread, three people is an insufficient sample size, it is too small to reasonably represent the views of demographic let alone every child on the planet. Claiming that such a small group proves anything is either being ignorant or dishonest. I think it is obvious that Singerland just wanted to bash Sonic and the Black Knight, more then anything else I’m annoyed that he would sink so low just to try and ‘prove’ a point.

Oh well, I sincerely doubt his blog will have any affect in the greater scheme of things.

And another forumer, Vatek, offered up an equally blanket statement regarding TSS in his comments:

Jeez, Sonic Stadium hasn’t had anything worth saying in 6 years. Three kids played it, ooh wow. It’s not like they’re gaming geniuses who have extremely strong wrists. Pfft, the fact those three kids complained about it doesn’t mean all kids don’t like it. My 6 year old brother played it with no trouble until he got to Percival. It shows nothing except three kids didn’t like it.

In January, The Sonic Stadium started the No Drama ’09 initiative, a push for civility in the community, only to have members of its own staff stray away from its tenets.  The previous month, Slingerland called Sega out by telling the company to, well, “eff” themselves.  And coming full circle, much of the staff had to defend their anger toward Sega and Sonic Team last Summer, when SBK was first announced in Nintendo Power.  Despite such outbursts, the first Summer of Sonic convention meant to celebrate Sonic fandom and planned by Dreadknux was successful, and a second one is confirmed in the works.

While Dreadknux’s move may stem drama on the website itself, it may not be favored toward the “new generation” of Sonic fans, the faction of the community that some fear may be targeted with these drastic actions.

We want to know what you think of this move.  Do you think The Sonic Stadium is doing the right thing in cutting off extreme criticism on its website, or do you think such strong language will only exacerbate tensions in the Sonic community?  We welcome your comments below.

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