Most of the time I love the MMO blogosphere, but there are moments where I just have to shake my head and /facepalm. Especially when games are about to get released, some folks work themselves up into a lather.

There’s something about gamers, maybe it’s the competitive nature, but many of them pick contrasting sides as if they were betting on a horse. Xbox 360 versus PS3, DS versus PSP, Eidos versus Ubisoft, WoW versus every other MMO. They create animosity between themselves and the other side. Us versus Them.

So when a game is about to hit the shelves, if you say anything positive at all, someone else comes along and fights you over it like a scrap of food among starving rats. Half of the gamers are excited and the other half are predicting doom and gloom. You can smell the desire they have to see something fail, or reach great glorious success. Not for its own sake, but so they can feel proud they predicted it.

Even worse are the conspiracy theorists. Every little activity from the developer, every little marketing choice is seen as an indication of the state of the game. Nevermind that it’s all the same usual marketing we’ve always seen. These theorists will pick out details, waggle their fingers and exclaim that the devs are up to something, the devs are keeping big secrets. They’re sending encoded messages through their marketing dept!

Let me tell you something about marketing departments: They’re the most removed guys from the game. Testers know what’s up more than these guys. The marketing dept spends its time trying to get the game a big splash on opening day. They don’t compensate or even capitalize on the state of the game, they just sell. That’s all there is to it folks. No smoke and mirrors.

If you think something is a sign of confidence, a sign of weakness, or a sign of doom and gloom, seriously, stop trying to read tea leaves. You’ll know soon enough once the game has been out for 6 months or so. I’m all for info on upcoming games, but some people are trying too hard to discover the big scoop out of little or no source info.

Oh hell yeah, I’ve fallen for this stuff too, I’m a victim of hype as much as anyone else.

Just a few days ago I posted about NDAs and how I feel the core crowd of this Blogosphere should be shown more respect. This is the polar opposite. Making a metagame out of picking winners and trashing losers isn’t the way to earn respect. It just makes you look like an excitable consumer, ripe for the next bit of marketing bait.

Take off the tin foil hats.

Get off the FUD wagon.

… I see you trying to sneak onto that other wagon, the fanbois one… Don’t do it… Self-restraint… Yeah, that’s it. Okay now go play a game you enjoy. You’ll feel better about everything tomorrow I bet. =P