I made a mistake today. Usually I refrain from commenting in the forums due to the current state of things. Lately it seems like it’s better to not share your opinion with anyone because of how dangerous having a different opinion can be that other people don’t agree with. But today I saw a post in the forums that I felt compelled to respond to. Compelled because someone had decided to air their opinions about the current state of micro transactions and their impact on seasonal events in Destiny 2. Now to be clear, it wasn’t the fact that this individual was defending the business practices of Bungie and their approach to cosmetics and Eververse (though I strongly disagreed with their point of view). No, what drew me in was the fact that this individual seemed to have a complete unwillingness to try and understand why anyone would feel deceived or betrayed. Betrayed by Bungie’s decision to literally bar nearly almost every cosmetic item, from shaders, to ships, to ghost shells, to sparrows, to transmat effects behind the Eververse inventory. And after promising they were turning over a new leaf to focus on us, the hardcore players. In spite of hundreds of different users, this individual refused to even have a dialogue, shooting down anyone who disagreed with their opinion. So I made a mistake, one I should have known well having had the time to look back at their responses. At first I tried to reason with this individual, to show them data, the numbers, the cold hard facts. But try as I might, every response they gave was a taunt, a denial, or an insult. They absolutely refused to even try to see it from anyone else’s point of view, and anyone who disagreed with them was either a liar, a moron, or ignorant, and I let my anger take control, allowing myself to get baited, provoked. But what followed truly left me both saddened, shocked, and ultimately at a loss for words. You see, when I allowed myself to be provoked when this individual called me a child, I revealed to him that I wasn’t in fact a child, but an college student and an adult who also happened to be a volunteer firefighter. It was my naive hope that maybe, just maybe, this would get him to at least show some respect instead of consistently talking down at me, and that maybe as a result we could have a dialogue. I didn’t want him to agree with me, just to understand why so many of us are so frustrated with Bungies choices as of late. Instead he choose to continue his charade, claiming he too was a volunteer firefighter. But what followed not only proved my suspicions correct that this individual was indeed looking to provoke, it also showed me he was a liar too. It is one thing to claim you are a firefighter. It is a whole other matter to do so and insult one of your dead brothers who laid down his life in the line of duty to make sure others would be safe, and claim it is proof it should be left, “[u]to the professionals.[/u]” We are volunteer, but we are also professionals. Let me be clear here before anyone reads these, no firefighter, paid or volunteer such as myself, would ever insult another firefighter, let alone claim that a firefighters death is proof that they’re not professionals. This crossed a line, and I hope you’ll all agree with me. https://twitter.com/andrewdlavallee/status/944093838167150592 https://twitter.com/andrewdlavallee/status/944093882572304385 I’ve been with the Union Fire District of South Kingstown for several years now, and we are one of the biggest volunteer departments on the east coast, and damn proud of it. Other departments from Greece and across Europe come to train with us to see how a volunteer department works. Paid or not there is a sense of community, family. Indeed I often call the guys I work with my brothers because you depend on them, bond through hard times with them, all the while knowing you could trust them with your life. And after today, and this person’s willingness to insult my colleagues sacrifice, well I had to let it out somewhere. So I apologize for the rant, but I hope if you’ve read to this point you’ll understand why I wanted to post, to let it out. Hopefully this game will improve, and the community along with it. But after today’s encounter, well I’m not too sure it will. I’ll see you Guardians on the training grounds of the crucible. Thanks for listening to me vent.