in which wil goes HULK SMASH

Last night, I was supposed to perform in the Thrilling Adventure Hour at Largo with a bunch of my friends, and a bunch of people who I really admire. Unfortunately, the sinus infection I was fighting all week had other plans, so I stayed home and rested on the couch with a screening of Repo Man.

I ended up sort of live-tweeting the thing, with silly pictures and quotes from the movie, which I did with Forbidden Zone awhile back. I'm not sure if it was as amusing to Twitter as it was to me, but it was still fun.

At that point, I could have gone to bed, but I thought I'd check Twitter to see if anyone had clever Repo Man references to toss back at me (they did) or if anyone was amused by it (some were). Then I caught this thing that made me explode into HULK SMASH for the first time in … I can't even remember the last time I was as angry. Here's an image that someone uploaded of the ensuing ragefest, which was captioned "Damn, Wil Wheaton is a jerk."

(click to embiggen at Imgur)

So reading that back today, I can totally see how I come off as a raging asshole. I make no excuse, but I wanted to offer a bit of context and perspective that 140 characters doesn't allow.

First, a little history: At PAX in 2007, I was approached by some folks from the ECA, who asked me if I'd endorse their organization. I'm very reluctant to do this sort of thing, because I feel like high-profile people tend to throw their support behind every cause in the world, and when I support an organization, I want it to actually mean something, instead of being just another entry on a list.

I looked at what ECA does, and I was impressed. I thought that it was a good idea for gamers to have a lobby in government, and I thought it would be great to educate non-gamers about who we are in a way that would dispel the hysteria spouted about us by politicians and other moralizers who demonize gamers and the games we play for their own political purposes.

I signed up, and I gave ECA a quote that I've since forgotten, but was signed, "Wil Wheaton – actor, author, gamerdad."

About a week after that went live on the ECA website, some guy who apparently trademarked the term gamerdad – oh, excuse me, gamerdad™ – e-mailed me with this long and rambling rant about how I was using his trademark without his permission, how he had some history with ECA that made this nefarious, and a bunch of other stuff I've also forgotten. I forget how ECA got involved, but the end result is the organization caved to this guy almost instantly, and took the "gamerdad" out of my endorsement.

You know, writing about this now, the whole thing seems really stupid and petty, but I was pissed. I remember saying to a friend of mine, "The ECA won't stand up to some crackpot who's basically being a patent troll, and I'm supposed to expect them to stand up to Congress? I can't be part of this organization."

I didn't want to make a big public scene (I waited until last night for that! Yeah! Go Wil! You're SMRT!) and the ECA people seemed nice and genuinely interested in making a positive difference in gamers' lives, so I kept my annoyance to myself, but I didn't renew my membership. I saw Hal Halpin at PAX the following year, and I told him how disappointed I was in ECA for not standing up to that guy and leaving me sort of out in the wind, and I couldn't vocally support the ECA because of it.

So last night, when I saw GamePolitics, which is part of ECA, Twittering what I interpreted as a passive/aggressive slam at me ("Ya, Wil is good, but what does he advocate for gamers/gaming?") something in my brain snapped, and I went HULK SMASH.

Maybe I misinterpreted it — I tell my kids that you can't get tone and nuance in text messages, so it's important to think carefully about how you engage people when you're only using text — but when GamePolitics replied to my "Really?" with "Other than Net Neutrality…" and "While I've really enjoyed your keynote speeches at PAX, it's not really representing" it seemed pretty clear to me that whoever writes GamePolitics was being deliberately obtuse, was genuinely ignorant, or was just being a jerk. Take my history of annoyance with ECA and stack this on top of it, and I was Godzilla in Tokyo. Hell, I was MechaGodzilla cranked up to 11 … ON FIRE.

If GamePolitics was just some random person, I probably would have just ignored it and gone to bed, but since it's part of ECA, I expected GamePolitics to know better. Since I expected GamePolitics to know better, I assumed that he/she/it was either deliberately insulting me, or making a conscious effort to minimize the things I've worked really hard to do.

See, I've worked really hard to advocate for gamers. I spent months writing my keynotes for PAX Prime in 2007 (message: We're not the bloodthirsty psychopaths some in the media say we are, and the best way we can prove them wrong is by example. Also, don't be a dick.) and my keynote to PAX East earlier this year (message: Playing game brings people together, and PAX is a time and place where we can celebrate the things we love.) I published a chapbook for GenCon this year called Games Matter, for frak's sake, about exactly that! 

I've written dozens of columns for a number of diverse publications about games and gaming, and I've worked really, really hard to remove the media-created stigma associated with being a gamer.

When I got pissed at GamePolitics last night, I wasn't saying, "I'm Wil Fucking Wheaton, man. Don't you know who I am?" (Which, I was very sad to see, a lot of people seem to have thought I was saying) as much as I was saying, "I'm really hurt and offended that: a) you are supposed to represent gamers and don't know how I've tried to advocate for us; or b) you're minimizing the things I've done to advocate for us."

The responses I got on Twitter from GamePolitics last night just made me more and more angry. I felt like I was talking to a child who had broken my Death Star, and then sat next to it in mock innocence wondering why it was in so many pieces. Taken in context in the clear light of day, it doesn't seem to be quite like that, but that's how I interpreted it at the time, and I reacted accordingly.

I hope this gives some context to why I got so angry. I'm not offering excuses, just hoping to clarify. I should have just written a private e-mail, but I let my passions get the better of me. I'm human, and I do things I regret from time to time.

I'm sorry that so many people had to witness me explode in furious anger, and I am embarrassed that I lost my temper. I hope this doesn't get me voted off of Gamer Island, or invalidate the times I've tried to live my life's philosophy — Don't Be A Dick — by example.

Added: after much thought, and some discussions with trusted friends, I publicly apologized on Twitter to GamePolitics for losing my shit at him/her/it last night. I'm not saying that I'm sorry for getting upset, and I'm still not entirely sure what his/her/its motives were, but that's not really the issue: I regret the way I behaved, and I'm embarrassed that I did it in public. I don't view this as some Team Wheaton / Team The Other Guys thing, and I hope we can all learn something from this about how we communicate and treat each other. Well, I hope I can, anyway; what you do is up to you.

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250 thoughts on “in which wil goes HULK SMASH”

  1. Here’s the thing, I never thought for one minute that Wil Wheaton has ever represented himself as a political activist. My understanding is that you are an actor, a writer/blogger, a gamer-dad (ha!) and that you do more in those roles to promote the gamer culture than nearly anyone in any other role. Now Mr. Wheaton, if you so choose to enter the game of politics, and run for some government office, I would probably vote for you as an intelligent, honest-type person of whom there are too few. But to call you out for not being an activist when you’ve never claimed to be one, when what you actually are is an advocate and perhaps a spokesperson for our culture, that’s GamePolitics being a dick. I thought so last night when I first read the twitter exchange and this remains my very strong opinion. If I were you, Wil Wheaton, the top of my head would have blown off when that was thrown at me. No apology necessary, sir.

  2. I think you make valid and thought-provoking points, Danny. I guess my primary forms of advocacy are an effort to inspire people be the best we can be, get other people excited about games and playing them, and to dispel (in interviews and syndicated columns) the myths about games and gamers that are out there. I'm not on CNN because CNN doesn't give a shit about me, so I use what little voice I have where I think it will be heard, which is typically within our community.
    Anyway, I appreciate your comments a great deal. Thank you.

  4. It’s “preys” not prays. Just so you know. And I really hope you were kidding because if you weren’t you are obviously very ill-informed.

  6. You would be surprised. The two defining characteristics of cable news is that they’re very lazy and have a lot of airtime to kill. They never actually go out and look for people but having a recognizable name is usually more than enough to get in their DB of analysts for issue stories. It’s just a matter of giving them a call and making it easy for them to get in touch with you when another state passes a law restricting game sales.

  7. I have to be honest, when I saw the one sided exchange this morning, I almost immediately clicked the opposing twitter because I figured there would be some monumental ragefest douchebaggery happening. When I actually saw both sides, I was more than slightly taken aback. As I posted in my twitter, I thought it was a joke at first because it just seemed to be so over the top. And lets face it, it wouldn’t be the first time that you’ve gotten together with your buddies and punk’d us…
    Having said that, I think there’s one side of this (indeed, of YOU) that everyone, including you yourself, are ignoring with regard to your headspace in this situation. I think you’d have to agree, as would anyone familiar with your history and all aspects of your career, that you’ve fought a largely uphill battle to get out from under the shadow of certain parts of your past. It’s taken you years to know yourself and see the value in what you do and to find the respect in your work that we all want. There are many ways that what Gamepolitics said could be taken, not least among them a general lack of respect for what you’ve tried to contribute to gaming culture.
    Going back over it, I could see how you could easily have interpreted his comments as such and had a ‘for fucks sake not again!’ response.
    I had something similar happen to me with regard to my work not long ago. Reader’s Digest version, I’m back working retail because my husband and I have an 18 month old and he works Monday through Friday and I work weekends. It’s cheaper than daycare. I’m a shift leader at the store I work, defacto manager as it were, and several weeks ago a customer made an offhand remark to me regarding my position. He said “Why doesn’t your nametag say ‘pretend manager’?” In hindsight, it was more than likely meant as a joke but the way that I took his comment was to say that the work I did wasn’t the same as a ‘real manager’ and therefore I deserved no credit for the work I did and no respect. (I was not the only one who took his comment that way either. The customer standing next to him had to pick his jaw up off the floor afterwards.)
    Did you go over the top? yeah. Did you have a ‘Don’t you know who I am??’ attitude? Not really, no. Are you sick of having to defend and justify yourself and your contributions in all areas of your work? Probably. I know I would be.
    Just throwing that idea out there as another possible context in which to look at the entire exchange.

  8. I saw the Twitter-HULK-Smash last night and was startled. Had to go back and read what I’d missed. I agree with many others here that it seemed like an attack on what you do for gaming. I don’t blame you for being upset or reacting. You did probably go one or tweets further than I would have… I would have taken it private at some point, as I don’t want my friends to have to see me angry 🙂 but that is me.
    I am totally behind you Wil. I feel you have done more for Geeks and Gaming in the main than any two other advocates out there. I thank you for this. It takes some of the awkwardness out of talking to non-geeks about being a gamer-girl. 🙂

  9. Wil,
    When I saw your first comment on this whole fiasco last night, I thought, “Man, someone hacked Wil’s Twitter account.” Then I saw that it kept going, and I was trying to flip back and forth between GamePolitics and yourself to understand what was going on.
    You said, “When I got pissed at GamePolitics last night, I wasn’t saying, “I’m Wil Fucking Wheaton, man. Don’t you know who I am?”
    That’s exactly what I took from it, and it sort of didn’t fit your persona at all. I think that’s the perception that most drew from the exchange. However, I don’t think that there is anything remotely wrong with taking that attitude. Some comments are so blatantly ignorant, that it takes some HULK SMASH to get things sorted properly.
    Thanks for taking the time to put all of this into context. You still rock man! 🙂

  10. Sounds like being a human being is not always easy, so you had a bad night. It happens and the important thing is what you do after. Your response was not “dick like” and “Wheatons Law” was not repealled.
    Twitter seems to be a type of communication that is faster than the speed of thought. Twitter is like e-mail on crack. Say “NO” to both crack and Twitter.
    Keep up the good work.

  11. I hadn't considered that, but I bet you're right, and it did contribute, even if unconsciously.
    I'm sorry some jerk insulted you, too. Stuff like that makes me stabby and … well, you know.

  12. I was reading along last night and re-read it in your post above and came to the same conclusion: you were getting called out by someone trying to improve their own credibility. Unfortunately, they failed. Instead of being the hero taking on a ‘Hollywood Poser’, he came across as petulant when they were shown to be full of gosa.
    You never came across to me, nor anyone else I have talked to, as a jerk, just as an impassioned gamer exasperated at the responses you were getting. They seemed to be ignorant of anything but your comments on a single issue. That ignorance was compounded by a lack of knowledge of any past dealings with there parent organization. Interestingly when you suggested to them that they read your speeches (addressing the issue directly), they no longer addressed your advocacy, but claims that you do not represent gamers, something you had not claimed to do. However when you called their right to represent gamers into question, they also claimed never to do it. I guess they never read their own twitter stream nor understand what the ECA supposedly does.
    Had they just shut up and not kept trying to get in the last word, this post would not have been necessary. I mean, did they seriously expect you to write out an itemized list on twitter?

  13. Psychology sucks huh? ‘specially when something you’d thought you had dealt with and put behind you comes back to bite you in the ass while you’re drugged out and on a Repoman happy fun cloud.
    I’m assuming you were taking something for that sinus infection. Otherwise someone is going to read this and the next time we google your name, we’re going to see that you’re scheduled on next season’s Celebrity Rehab as a strung out junkie who fights on twitter while watching old 80’s movies in your underwear. I’m assuming again. I have no proof that you were watching Repoman in your underwear.

  14. Hey Wil,
    Even if some people view it as being a jerk, you are human just like everyone else; just like everyone else when you feel like your integrity is in play you defend it. Just chalk it up to foot-in-mouth syndrome. I think the statements he made were rude and stupid but I also think that he did not convey himself properly and it just spiraled from there. I’ve had plenty of times when I’ve had foot-in-mouth syndrome and the aftermath is not fun. I think it shows your integrity and your “don’t be a dickness(?)” when you gave us all a blog explaining what happened. Even though you owed no one an explanation, you still gave us one. You are the ultimate non-dick, ever!! :o)

  17. Yes, I like to think that when I’m trolled because of my celebrity status, I’ll do better as well. For one thing, in that universe I’ll have Katee Sackhoff and Alyson Hannigan mewling for me to come back to bed rather than getting engaged by the Gosh, But I Only Meant… Trolls.

  18. If it’s any consolation, Wil, my first thought when I saw the exchange wasn’t “Man, that Wheaton’s a jerk!” It was “Geez. That’s out of character. I bet there’s something behind this. I’m sure Wil will make everything clear in the morning.”
    And you did.
    In my mind, at least, this comes down to a misunderstanding of what Game Politics was saying. I even saw that last night. Your explanation here makes the misunderstanding a reasonable one – that history with the ECA and not seeing the original article explaining Game Politics was talking about *political* contributions lets me see where you’re coming from instantly. It certainly didn’t help that Game Politics misunderstood you, too – if they had seen where you were coming from, they could have explained they meant political contributions to the community. They probably wouldn’t have said that idiot thing about your PAX keynotes, either. It’s clear now that they probably meant that the keynotes and your other significant contributions were not political contributions, not that they were not contributions of any kind (obviously they were – and how). But without the explanation to you, there’s no way you could have known that. It would look like a dig at you – either an ignorant one or a malicious one.
    So. Yeah. In the end, a bit of an overreaction to a misunderstanding on both sides. Not the end of the world. I would have said something, too, if it were me. That you posted this here is certainly to your credit. I wonder if Game Politics will be as gracious to you as you were to them when they post their account of last night.

  19. So… I watched things unfold last night. It was, no joke, my first night on twitter. I signed up because of you, Felicia Day. Oh. And William Shatner *shrug* Who knew that dude could twitter? I picked up a few others as the day went on…
    So far? I’m zero impressed. Not aimed at you, Wil, but with Twitter itself. What is it for? Seriously? I don’t get it. Seems like just about everyone curses, everyone tries to sum up important things in as few characters as possible and no one *actually* communicates ANYTHING of importance. Nuance is lost and really? As much as I dig you (I’m no #1 fan, but I have your signed chap book)? I don’t know that I neeeed to know that much about anyone. Ever. It’s an illusion of closeness that is weird and disturbing.
    Twitter hasn’t made me feel more connected to anyone… it’s made me feel alienated. :(.
    Yeah… so… gonna delete it. I’ll stick with getting my info from your blog and Felicia’s facebook. In the end? I get the context there that I need… I can live without the rest.
    <3 thanks for all you do Wil...
    MaryKate

  21. I’m with some of the above commenters – you were over the line (I honestly thought someone else had hacked your Twitter account) – but you clearly know that. I’m really glad you blogged about it..it calms us kiddies down.
    And, let he who hath not overreacted on the internetz, cast the first stone…
    <3,
    J

  22. That hit something in you that clearly shows how passionate you are about it. This guy took a swipe at a piece of your soul and it hurt.
    Personally, I think you were right and in the heat of the moment – especially when you don’t feel good – will bring out the big guns. What brings you to a different level (and one I really respect) is your willingness to do a post-mortum on the situation. Everyone reacts to something – not many look back at it.
    I am not a huge gamer, but in my head I associate you with gaming so, I am going to have to say you represent. Naturally, I see you flashing some sort of gamer sign and posturing when I say that. 🙂

  23. I’m not going to make excuses for you – you lost your temper, and shouldn’t have done. Good for you, for doing the decent thing and apologising to us for putting all that in the public arena.
    However, I hope you’ve apologised to the person behind the @gamespolitics account too. Not everybody knows how to express themselves well through text – you’re a writer, Wil, remember – and I know if it was me, I’d be angry and scared and all twisted up inside my head for pissing you off. Please make things right with the guy / lady in question. x

  25. I just happened to catch the exchange right at the end, when you posted that you were hurt and disappointed, so I went back and read the transcript. I don’t follow GamePolitics, so I was doing it the “old school” way and flipping back and forth between the two streams, but I got the general gist. I wondered what on earth the guy said to piss you off, but by the end I saw why you were upset.
    Funny thing, if he had bothered to search “wheaton” on HIS OWN SITE, he would have come up with an article titled “Actor Wil Wheaton Weighs in on GTA IV Controversy” (URL http://gamepolitics.com/2008/05/01/actor-wil-wheaton-weighs-in-on-gta-iv-controversy) that links to an article at joystiq.com (that recounts your PAX ’07 appearance and speech), and THIS BLOG! C’mon!
    Don’t you DARE apologize for your anger. Your cause was just.

  26. ^^^
    That, spammed in a combo. FLAWLESS VICTORY.
    Joe Blow gets to play the “Who Wil Wheaton?” card. A self describer gamer advocate doesn’t, not without getting asked to flash their Nerd ID Card.

  27. If you feel badly about throwing the first @ – they actually were the ones that began publicly picking on you. You merely lobbed the @ back at them.
    Either way, everyone is entitled to lose their shit once in a while. You can’t be ‘on’ all of the time.
    No one can.
    Feel better!

  28. Dear Wil,
    First of all, thanks for posting this. Seeing you get that angry was a little scary, to be honest. I read it, couldn’t figure out what lit the fuse, and basically put it down to “Oh well, WTF, but not really my damage.”
    Anyway, I can totally understand why, with the context, you got so angry so quickly. I don’t think that the other party in the business was trying to be an asshole, and I TOTALLY get that everyone gets to be mad when it’s something THAT personal. You ARE a gamer, an advocate, and a gamerdad (wtf, gamerdadTM, I mean).
    OTOH, dude. You have the ConCrud (so do I, actually, not the PAXCrud, but the DragonConCrud, so I am totally sympathetic). You were supposed to be somewhere having fun and performing with your mates, and that got fucked by the Crud. Then, to have someone seem to question that commitment that we see from you on a regular basis is really infuriating.
    So don’t beat yourself up. I don’t think you violated the Prime Directive**, and I’m the person who was trying to set up the visit at the University that has fallen through.
    **We say someone “has violated the Prime Directive” when we want to obliquely call someone a dick. As in, “That guy over there is violating the Prime Directive,” when someone is misbehaving.
    So, I pass you a virtual Guinness, and remind you that everyone has a bad day, everyone gets mad when it’s something that impersonal and important, and hell, we’re all human. It’s cool, man. You’ve never pulled that “WTF DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM” crap, and honestly, people who think that’s what you were doing really aren’t your people.

  29. The problem with that interpretation is that “If you don’t know what I’ve advocated, you have no business claiming to represent us.” is exactly correct. It’s not egotistical, just 100% stone cold accurate.
    If your ostensible job is to advocate gamers, and you don’t know the keynotes from PAX off by heart, then you’re in the wrong job. Asking to be edumacated is either eye-bat trolling, or a sign that you really are incompetent. Either way, you. Do. Not. Speak. For. Me.
    And in the end, that’s what it comes down to. When Joe Random Webguy stands up and claims “I speak for gamers”, I want the @wilw of the world to tear him a new one. If not @wilw, then who?

  30. Thanks for posting this explanation, Wil. When I read the whole exchange this morning, it seemed like you were being completely unreasonable, but I reminded myself that everything I’ve seen of you other than that has shown you to be a non-dick sort of guy, so I immediately wondered if there was some back story I was missing. Posting this explanation (there is back story, plus Wil is human and occasionally overreacts) has restored by faith in your general not-a-dick-ness.
    Thanks.

  32. The crappy thing about being someone that a lot of folks pay attention to is that when you do get upset, in a personal way, it’s difficult to keep that personal or delimited from the public you. I’m sorry that this whole thing left a bad taste in your mouth and that you ended up feeling embarrassed. If you can be reassured that it does happen to everyone – we say things that come out the wrong way, we feel like idiots, and we get hurt and disappointed. It’s more public in your case – but if we’re honest with each other, all of us here can identify with that experience.
    It’s really difficult, especially when you get passionate about something, to remember that not everyone is in your head with you – at least it is for me. And so, all the things you were thinking and feeling as you responded – when you looked at your responses, you didn’t see those things as clearly as you felt them. That’s the hard part about humans in general – and about being a more public human in particular. Being locked inside our own brains with no windows for the people we interact with can get confusing and unintended meanings can happen. It’s just one of the rough parts of communication.
    But you are excellent at communicating, and I really appreciated your commentary on the exchange here. I think that’s the best we can do – give others the best explanation we can, and do our best to correct misunderstandings. And it’s a hard thing to be able to do sometimes, so I think you deserve a pat on the back for being able to do it, honestly. Here’s hoping that you have fewer communications obstacles going forward!

  33. You aren’t an Android like Data (yes, i am making this reference) and you cannot turn off your emotion chip either.
    We all snap…. You snapped with class… because as far as i’m concerned…. you could have done far worse.
    You have passion…. never lose it. Don’t dwell. You said what you felt, and now its time to move on.

  34. But the thing is, Danny, because of who Wil is, he reaches people who don’t go to PAX or Gencon. I’m really not a gamer, it’s not a culture I play in, and it’s not something I’d go to cons over. And while I of course knew of Wil from his acting in the 80s, I originally bought his books because I was working on a project for how to convert an organization’s blog to a book, and Wil was a great example of ‘how to’.
    The books introduced me to the things that Wil (hi! sorry to talk about you in third person) does advocate for, led to me reading the blog more frequently, following on Twitter, watching PAX speeches, supporting groups he recommends, educating myself on policies and media that does affect gamers (because ultimately it will affect us all), and actually becoming involved in advocacy myself (even if it is just lobbying my representatives).
    So yes, although he speaks to the gamers at these cons, it’s not like it stays there – what Wil says gets out in the wild, where other fans who are less gamer and more geek see it and go from there.

  35. From the website they claim to be Tweeting on behalf of:
    Copyright © 2010 ECA. All rights reserved.
    Game Politics and Game Politics logo are trademarks of the ECA.
    It really doesn’t seem like a far stretch to expect that they are a part of the ECA, given that, you know, it says so.

  36. When I saw this tussle this morning on the twitters I was kinda wondering what was going on. Checked out the gamepolitics site and I gotta be honest that I wasn’t impressed by the site. It wasn’t exactly bad by any means but there were parts that I was wondering how is this NOT making stereotypes seem more plausible.
    That’s what made kinda completely take your side on this though to be honest I didn’t feel it was quite as rage-worthy. But more power to ya on what ya did.

  37. Mr Wil,
    Having only yesterday found your twitter account this was (apart from strange repo man walkthrough… hmm) the first time i’ve seen you interact outside my TV (I’m an Australian.. bit far to walk for a convention.. lolz) & I must say…
    Brilliant!!
    This Gamepolitics bunch are a laugh, bit trolllike though.. and that’s probably where it all went south.. I for one HULKSMASH trolls just for fun.. having one blatantly insult you then try to bait you is enough for any man to snap.. you did well Mr.Wil don’t quite know what the others wanted you to do or say.. “oh please mr Gamepolitics.. dont say bad things about me..”.. geesh.. yeah right.. time for a smashing!
    Sometimes tolerance IS NOT the answer, and loosing one’s temper is the natural way of things when faced with such a jerkoff attitude.. at least that’s how we do it down here..
    Well done Mr.Wil.. well done 🙂

  38. Seems pretty reasonable to be all “Don’t you know who I AM” when “who you are” is someone who advocates for gamers and contributes in major ways to the gaming culture. (Not that that’s what I really thought you were doing.)

  39. Thank you for giving us some context. After you posting with the .@ I was a bit confused reading just one side. You truly are “one of us”. You game, love to talk about it to anyone who will listen, love your family & life in general – and just like us you occasionally go a bit overboard.
    So, welcome the the WBC (that’s the Wet Butt Club cuz none of us walks on water). I take it as an example of you showing just how passionate you really are about gaming. If you didn’t consider yourself an advocate would it really have bugged you? Probably not.

  40. Watching the whole thing last night, it really seemed like @GamerPolitics was goading you, trying to play victim. It’s incredibly frustrating to deal with someone who’s being so passive aggressive. This guy (or girl) dismissed you, tweeted *about* you and not to you at first, and then claimed to be misunderstood without ever really trying to explain what he apparently meant in the first place. I’d have raged, too.

  42. A word of caution, I think maybe the reason you took everything being said to you in a heighten angry way might be because you have a sinus infection. In know when I get an infection one of the first sign, even before a fever show up is I get all over emotional. I mean TV commercial’s will make me cry.
    So in future you might want to carefully watch any emotional reaction your have to a situation when you sick.

  45. See, I totally don’t think you were an Evil Person for this, because this is entirely something I would do. That said, later, I’d regret blowing up and making snap decisions or taking my ball and going home, because it makes me look petty or incredibly quick to anger.
    So no, I don’t think you were a giant ass. I think you’re human, you were on a short fuse, and this person was intentionally trying to goad you. It doesn’t make what you did right, because he was being a troll, and you overreacted because of the perceived ties that he had. But no, I don’t interpret it as you having an ego. I interpret it as you being personally insulted.
    Next time I’d just try to keep in mind that if someone’s this much of a douchebag, you can probably just play the bigger man, screen cap it, and get him fired.
    After all, you ARE Will Wheaton. 😉

  47. “See, I’ve worked really hard to advocate for gamers.”
    I don’t see how giving keynote speeches to gamers about gaming is advocating for gamers. You’re preaching to the choir there. Ditto with GenCon.
    I’ve look through your site and can’t find the “dozens of columns for a number of diverse publications about games and gaming”. You may not have reprint rights, how about a bibliography somewhere?
    Sure, you’ve worked hard, but what have you accomplished? What’s changed because of your work? In other words, don’t go on and on about the work you did, tell us about the results. For if there are no results then perhaps your hard work has been wasted and a new approach is called for.
    I don’t believe GamePolitics was trolling and I think you overreacted. Not being intimately familiar with your body of work is not a reason to throw a hissy fit like that, but you know that since you apologized. Good on you for that.
    Paul

  48. Ah, maybe it’s just the impact of having had a terrible past decade+ (when my life has been ruined by other people’s actions), or some brilliant life lesson I’ve learned as I rapidly near 40, but…
    …I just don’t care what other people have to think about things anymore. I find most people, even when you’re clearly in the right on an issue, will find some way through their jaded, “everything sucks” mentality to try to bust on you for it.
    All that matters is what YOU know is true is true, and what you do. Other people, especially on Twitter with 140 characters, take what you say entirely out of context and tone more often than not. Conversely, too many people don’t communicate clearly enough (or use proper language) to understand, thus creating confusion for those reading.
    My point? If you feel someone was unjustly calling you out- even if that might not have been the case?- you’re entitled to go WILSMASH on them AND use the “I’m Wil Wheaton” card.
    Keep doin’ watcha do.

  49. Sure is a lot of brown-noses in here. Found this hilarious screenshot on a forum and decided to look up where it came from. Being a gamer myself I can honestly say I’ve never heard of you before.
    You were being a douche, and lets face it, we all are at some point. The proper way to handle it would be to say “Sorry, I was being a pompus dick cause my massive hollywood ego was swelling to dangerous proportions”, not to come with excuses.

  50. Yep. (Ha. Hi. Small internet.) ^That.
    Wil, you’re a living, breathing, functioning counterexample and representative that “gamers are just normal dudes with a hobby”. You’re a working actor, published author, family man, you don’t smell funny (I assume), and you’re pretty much NOT fulfilling all those godawful stereotypes-for-a-reason the gamer culture has in the mind of society.
    That, plus the geek/not-gamer exposure means other people SEE that. It sticks. It turns PAX from “nerds in a stinky box” to “industry and enthusiast convention”, RPGs from “tool of Satan!!!1111” to “hobby with a bunch of funny looking dice”, gamers from “stinky dude in basement” to “normal guy with hobby that makes the occasional eye glaze over”.
    Doesn’t matter how many signs get waved and rallies get attended if everyone STILL thinks you’re a smelly dude in his mother’s basement, after all.
    You may have snapped a little bit, but dude, that “advocate” dude needs to learn “hey, maybe I shouldn’t poke a stick at someone who keynotes nerd Burning Man on a regular basis…” If your smack helps that, well, win-win.

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