Now in Paper-Vision: An Early Look at Halo 3

Meh. It's still just a dumbed down Marathon. Slowly figuring out that you (probably) aren't human is way better than "the guy on the screen is you. Geddit?"

I'm not human now, I think I'd rather be me in game than find out that the Master Chief was a human under that mask.

you need a better editor:

"Because it's exclusive to the Xbox 360, Halo 2 is also Microsoft's weapon of choice in its struggle with Sony for supremacy in the multibillion-dollar game-console market"

should have said Halo 3...

"Dumbed down marathon" has sold a million copies before it has seen the light of day....
Theres one of you in every single halo article, whining about something because its popular and accepted. Halo has done more for video games than you'd like to admit. While flawed, the game doesn't suck either.

I'm a bit bitter, regarding Halo. I remember being excited about it, when they were developing it for the PC. Then Microsoft bought Bungie and Halo became an exclusive for the X-box for a few years, and soured me on the title, even after it came to PC. The excitment had just faded by that time, and it felt like pc gamers were being given a hand-me-down.

I like the X-box, but I hate FPS games on consoles. I'll be a mouse/keyboard person for shooters forever, I'm pretty sure(as much as I liked Metroid Prime, I couldn't deal with the controls. MP3 on the Wii I might be able to handle, though).

It was just a huge disappointment when I learned Halo was going to be an x-box exclusive, as I didn't have an x-box and at the time had no plan to purchase one. I didn't get one until after halo 2 had come out, now that I think about it.

One of these days I'll pick up the PC versions, but I don't know if the sour taste will ever leave me.

In response to your previous post, I feel I must say that you have no idea what real hip hop is. Nerdcore is harmless in and of itself, and the kind of music you alluded to nerdcore being different from in its self-deprecation--gangsta rap and its egotism--is, yes, decidedly not harmless. Maybe if you weren't so busy being lost in yuppie nerdom, you would know that --that-- 'hip hop' was a small branch on the tree that was co-opted by record companies to sell records to the people who have enough money to actually buy them---people like yourself ten or fifteen years ago. People easily impressed by the lie that is the self-aggrandizing urban frontier. Those who didn't have enough money to buy those records bought that crap in other ways.

David - I know what you mean about FPS on consoles. It drives me nuts trying to aim without a mouse.

1st person will always be best on a real computer.......

It's Xbox, not X-box. Not Xboxen. Not xbox.
MS owning Bungie has nothing to do with how they make awesome games, nor have they compromised how they make their games.

Trust me Dave - no one is missing you not playing your sour tasting game. You'd probably do nothing but whine and moan into the headset about how much you suck at playing anyway.

Oh, I'm not saying Bungie doesn't make awesome games, I know they do, I've played and liked their games before(Though I would say after MS bought Bungie, I think Oni suffered because of the focus shift to Halo, but that's my personal opinion).

Far be it for me to prefer a mouse and keyboard, because I can assure you, I'd suck horribly at it without those. I just tend to prefer the battlefield series, personally, but that's just me.

Besides, I rarely use headsets =D Too busy, you know, playing the game?

Lev Grossman does not appear to understand Halo or its followers very well. Halo 3 will probably make more money than most movies of this summer. The Halo franchise will make more than a billion dollars in sales. More people will play Halo 3 than read Time Magazine. I go to one of the better colleges in the country, most my friends do not play Halo, my friends that do play Halo are not anti social, I am quite happily married, and I am a very big fan of Halo. Halo fans are not anti social and Halo fans are not a ghetto.

Man, you don't want to mess with the guys in the gamer "ghetto," dawg. We're all up in the street. Street Fighter, son.
But on a more serious note, the article you had in Time on Halo 3 could've used a bit more research. There are quite a few problems with the pictures you used, and quite a few descriptions. Most of it is outlined here:
http://www.thebbps.com/blog/2007/09/04/time-magazine-makes-a-mockery-of-journalism-in-halo-cover-story/
I didn't write this article, but I'm a longtime member of halo.bungie.org, which has been having a hard time figuring out your intentions, seeing as that you insult gamers in Time, but you claim to be one on your blog. Post on the forums, and we'd be more than happy to have an educated discussion with you. We aren't as anti-social as your article suggests we all are.

Maybe you shoud get a brain and try again. Halo has sold millions of copies and is very popular you should go shoot yourself.

We’ll start with the simple stuff. The stuff that points to the laziness of the reporter in doing even a minor amount of research. Take the following pictures that talk about Halo merchandising. The picture of the Scarab is not a “sculpture” as the caption states, but a Heroclix game piece used in the table-top game. The “Halo 3 branded console” is also completely wrong, and looks nothing like the picture included.

Lev Grossman does his best to devalue and marginalize video games and, by extension, video game players (comments like games working their way out the ghetto to one day play with the popular kids)...his assertion that most readers of Time couldn't possibly describe what the Halo games are about is the most laughable. Though Time magazine’s circulation numbers have dropped from 4 million down to 3.4 million in the past year, those numbers are still EASILY dwarfed by Halo 2’s sales numbers alone, so far moving 8 million copies. So maybe Grossman shouldn't assume that no one who reads Time magazine plays Halo.

Of course they’ll have one less Halo playing reader, since I’ll be canceling my subscription to Time magazine today.

Hi, I am a forum regular at Bungie.net, and most people there are very disgusted by your "journalism". I realize that gaming is a sub-culture, even though there are probably 4 times as many gamers as there are Times subscribers. I, along with many other people in the Bungie community, think that you unnecessarily supported the negative stereotype of gamers. I know that you try to appeal to the mainstream, but was it unnecessary to call gamers "anti-social". I feel that you positively talked about how big, marketing-wise, Halo 3 is and Bungie's work ethic. With your position, though, I would have tried to display the gamer and the people of Bungie studios in a better light. They have just as responsible job as you do.

-Fuzzy OneThree

P.S. - If it was your editor's fault, slap him for me. :)

jesus christ, lev, you've really stirred up a shitstorm with this article. every major gaming blog has picked up on your article's lack of proper research. the photo mistakes, calling the developers "the Bungies", and the disdainful tone in general makes it seem like you're on a mission to marginalise the Halo 3 community, and gamers in general.

maybe Time should get someone to write for them who actually knows what they're writing about......

@el moco

The scarab was correct. There were 500 made and some lucky few people that attended ComicCon were able to purchase them.

Link from Bungie.net
http://www.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=news&cid=12677

But the exclusive 360 was depicted wrong.

Posted by Micheal Parker:

"Maybe you shoud [sic] get a brain and try again. Halo has sold millions of copies and is very popular you should go shoot yourself."

Well, there goes any attempt to maintain that gamers aren't anti-social. Thanks for making us all look bad, sir.

Wow, some of you folks need to take a little more time while reading. Lev wrote a cool and insightful article. My mom and dad loved it. Hardcore gamers weren't insulted they were being complimented.

Act like you deserve it.

Zoinks! People, people, you gotta realize: there is a deep cultural divide in this country between gamers and non-gamers, and this article was written for those who are on the far side of it, who are numerous and wildly ignorant of gaming culture. You can argue that Halo is a work of art, and I would agree with you, 10,000%. But you gotta realize, most people in this country are still shocked and stunned by that idea, and to pretend otherwise is just making the problem worse. They have to be walked through the idea one tiny step at a time. Which is what I was doing in the piece. But it's a mistake to assume I agree w/ their point of view.

Let me take one example that seems like it's getting quoted a lot. "The cliché about gamers is that they're antisocial, if not sociopathic, but Bungie is very much a community." Now, come on: you have to really WANT to be offended to read that as, "gamers=antisocial." Yes, sadly, it is a cliche, but -- as I go on to note, second clause, same sentence -- it's not true. Because I'm writing for non-gamers, I have to go through and state the received wisdom and then knock it down, bit by bit. But quoting these sentence fragments out of context is grotesquely misleading, and won't really get you anywhere, except pissed off.

@Marty

If you are the person who I think you are (and I have a good hunch), then I would not be saying what you are now. If being called "anti-social" as a community isn't an insult, then I don't know what is. Personally, he said that people and Bungie couldn't get a more "conventional" profession, and that includes you. Your mom and dad were probably only loved it because you were in it.

If you aren't Marty O'Donnell, then sorry.

This has to be the most absolutely laughable, uninformed statement I've ever read in regards to videogame culture in general. What this dipshit pencil dick fails to realize is that the so-called "popular kids" are the ones who made Halo as widely accepted as it is today.

The original Halo was an absolute staple in college dorms, being played by all social groups of all ages across entire campuses. When I went to take part in some of these LANs, did I see a certain elite clique playing Halo while others only wished they could take part? No, I saw jocks, "emos", punks, -- or whatever meaningless social designation you wish to brand someone with -- all playing the same exact game together...HALO.

Halo is what it is today because of the widespread acceptance it earned throughout the entire social spectrum. It was simply accepted as what it was, and enjoyed by all.

The argument is baseless, without any first hand experience. You, Time, have just been told.

PS- And the entire analogy of "legitimizing" Halo with other "respectable media" is downright absurd and vague enough to ask for an explanation? If her referring to the multi-million dollar Halo film still under pre-production, or perhaps Bungie penetration into comics, novels, and other widely accepted "legitimate" forms of entertainment?

Absolutely disgraceful piece on Time's part, and I'm writing a letter to them about it this very moment.

What an idiot. You should stick to Harry Potter Lev, it seems to be the only level at which you are able to understand your topic.

I have to take what you wrote about Halo as being a joke... because seriously, I doubt anyone could have purposely set out to make a worse job of it than you have.

You have all the humour of a yeast infection.

Damn Lev, I see that not alot of people agree with your article. I can see your intentions were in the right place, but in the future I suggest doing ALOT more research on something as big as Halo.

I am a gamer myself, spending time at bungie.net is almost a daily thing for me. A thread in the forums discussing your article mostly concentrates on you pointing out that gamers are anti-social. From what I can see, they really take offense to that.

If your trying to spread information of the gaming sub-culture to the mainstream, try doing it with proper research.

-Thing1

what this clearly uninformed individual fails to realize is that the so-called "cool kids" and halo fans are one in the same.

the property has been accepted as mainstream staple of gaming. fans of the series are not ostracized to some sort of "invisible ghetto" (wtf) as you so bizarrely put it.

halo is as mainstream as it comes.

I seriously recommend retracting the article. You've overstepped your bounds and clearly has no experience in the topic you've attempted to discuss.

I agree; you don't know what you're talking about here. The Halo community isn't some "invisible ghetto", and you have no right to debase the game, or gamers.
Not only that, you're supposed to be a journalist. You're supposed to provide an educated, unbiased story. You're detracting not only from your own credibility, but from that of journalism in general.
This kind of ignorance and narrow-mindedness has no place in journalism, and frankly, I'm dismayed that Time ran the article.
Also, Halo does far surpass Time Magazine for sales: 8 million plus, versus Time's 3.4 million.

As a big time Halo fan, I am seriously offended the way you present the article in Time magazine about the Halo community. I hope you do realize you've made a big mistake and would consider retracting the article.

I am a big gamer and i think your article was offensive and you should have spent some more time researching first of all it is not in the ghetto let me just point out Halo sells more copies than time and the gaming industry in total is a 7.4 billion dollar a year industry. I would also like to address the statements that basically all video gamers are teenage losers first of all the average gamer is 33 and something like 40% of casual gamers are female. Lastly, in not sure if you were the one who found the pictures for the article but it shows the inability to just research for a minute you posted a modded xbox skin not the official halo 3 xbox 360 and Halo 2 was for the original xbox not an "xbox 360 exclusive"

Have you guys even read the actual article/completed fifth-grade Reading class? Damn, I guess the Halo kiddies really are as stupid as they act on Live.

Leverus, journalistic integrity dictates that the best approach to writing a mainstream article on a widely misunderstood topic is to elucidate the facts. Instead, the article in question reinforces grossly inaccurate views by indulging in the same puerile rhetoric typically spat by alarmists with a baseless grudge against video games as a medium.

I believe your assertion that the skeptical public must be guided toward the realization of new concepts with tiny baby steps is at once specious and insulting. Readers need to be challenged, not pandered to.

Wow, the sheer audasity to even mutter these words in this day and age...unbeleiveable.

Knowing the times we live in and the "politically correct" way to say things, you sure do know how to disregard the feelings of others or even seem to remember that you are supposed to be writing for a rather largely self-respecting magazine.

When you expect to run an article featuring only the biggest game in the modern day-age of gaming, you should have already anticipated this reaction when you act like the community as a whole is "anti-social" or somehow imply that gaming in general is "underground".

Have you even done any research? Do you expect your "article"..if it can be called that (was more of a completely biased, subjective blog) to be taken seriously with the "facts" you have to support your claims? If you didnt know, Halo 2 made more money in the first 24 hours of its release than most, if not all blockbuster movies make in their first day, weekend, or even week of release..."Underground"? "Sub-culture"? Hardly.

So with simple understandings of economics and supply and demand, coupled with the MASSIVE fan base and huge marketing/media support, Halo 3 will be a far cry from just another outlet for us "anit-socials" in our little underground community.

Damn. Apparently too much Halo destroys one's reading comprehension. Maybe Jack is on to something after all.

Kill yourself Times.

Dig a deep grave and jump in. Halo is played by everyone like it or not.

Soooooo tempting to not keep reading this comment thread. And yet I continue. Why?

I know how much money Halo has made. It's in the article. Counting H and H2, Halo has sold an impressive number of units -- 14.8 million is the latest number I have. But there is a much much larger culture of people out there to whom gaming is totally baffling and sinister. As a gamer, I encounter the bafflement and condescension of those people on a daily basis. It would be weird to pretend they don't exist. If they didn't exist, Peter Jackson could get his damn Halo movie made. But they do.

Not that I, personally, care whether gaming is mainstream or not. What's so great about being mainstream anyway?

I am a very big fan of the Halo series. If I were the writer, I would have written this article totally different. I would have said how a single game has eliminated the boundary created by culture. It has brought millions of people together to enjoy themselves doing one thing, gaming with no biases opinion to who you are.

I can understand that the article was written to the people who don't understand gaming, but in the manner it was written doesn't help out. It doesn't break down any of the pre-conceptions there are about gamers and doesn't even touch that there is now a professional league for gamers.
I really think there was nowhere near enough research done into this article. If there was it wouldn't have ticked off EVERY gaming community out there.

Some of you people claiming that because Halo sold more copies than Time magazine did last year that somehow it's known to everyone in the American populace need to go outside and start asking 35+ year olds if they know what Halo is. I bet most say "I don't know." followed in second by "My kid's favorite videogame." I have a feeling that the chances of you finding someone to say that it's "their favorite work of art" is slim to none.

Just because you understand everything about the game and just because Halo and Halo 2 have sold more copies than Time Magazine doesn't mean that people automatically know what it is. Seriously, have you guys never seen a Venn diagram and how it works?

Also, anyone who cancelled their subscription over an article on videogames is an idiot and Time should be glad to be rid of them.

Wait; so we counter Lev’s allusion to the fact that gamers are viewed as socially inept by flaming his blog with quasi-literate rants? That doesn’t exactly seem like the most constructive way to approach this.

We seem to be blurring the lines here between criticism and righteous indignation. Are there things about the piece that I, as a gamer, found a little odd? Sure, but would I have written it differently? Who’s to say? I am not a writer for a major publication in the unenviable position of being a gamer writing about an incredibly significant game for a largely non-gamer audience.

Sure, gaming – and, to keep things relevant within the confines of Lev’s musings, nerd culture in general – has picked up a lot of steam of late, and is well on its way to mainstream acceptance, but let’s not fool ourselves into thinking that we’re there yet. If the myth of the antisocial gamer had been dispelled to Mr. John Q. Public, folks like Jack Thompson wouldn’t have nearly as much ammunition with which to grab media attention.

To an outsider reading this ever-lengthening exchange, what most of us can clearly view as fanboyism run amuck can easily seem like cold, calculated malice, and that’s exactly the kind of impression that erodes the hard-fought image of the gaming community as a supportive and social group.

Halo is mainstream. Mountain-Effing-Dew has the Master Chiefs face on Game Fuel. Microsoft, the biggest name in Computer Software, owns Bungie Studios.

To say that Halo is not mainstream, or to think that Most 35+ people don't know what Halo is, makes a biased statement.

Most kids walking around the streets know what Halo is, and dammit if their kids play it, the 35+ parents know what it is too.

Rich, no offense, but you're 17 years old - you don't know what most people over 35 think. I'd say less than half of my friends here in New York know what Halo is, and they're all in their early- to mid-30s. As much as we want to think everyone knows about our hobby, that's just not the case, and I think that's where a lot of this garbage is coming from. The BBPS post is slanted from the perspective of a hardcore gaming blog, and they're so far in that they've lost all sense of what the "mainstream" actually knows about gaming.

I'd also be amazed if Zuccarelli actually has a Time subscription, although it was a nice coup de grace for his trolling. Frakkin' drama queen.

Granted there are far more people that don't play video games actively but did you really need to keep referring to our pasttime as being "ghetto"? I can understand trying to dumb stuff down for the general audience but I see no reason why you had to dumb us down. I'm sorry but when I think of a ghetto the last thing that pops through my head is anything good.

Mountain Dew might have the Master-Chiefs face on it, but I doubt most people over 35 even know who he is other than maybe "that guy from a videogame".

Seriously, if anyone doubts me on this, please do an experiment yourself and get a bottle of the soda he's on and go around asking older people if they can give you his name. Or even ask them who owns the company Bungie. I bet 93.5% won't be able to answer those questions.

I should make a video; Go to downtown Portland and ask everyone I see on the street if they know what Halo is. Most of them are hippies and bike messengers, but I may get some positive results. especially if I stop by the mall. :)

-Thing1

When people act like gaming as somehow just sprung up from the depths of nowhereville and has just suddenly become this comepletely revolutionary idea that no human on earth has ever heard of before just because it happens to be doing really well, better in fact than some other media outlets/sources for entertainment, this really makes them seem like a.) they are kidding or b.) they are just lying to themselves.

That said, with faces like Mario and Link from Zelda known all over the world, (and not just by children or hardcore fans, but by the mailman, the news anchor or the parent who has to shop for these items for their child, and the countless "average joes" all over), one can only assume that statments like "gaming is underground" or "is a subculture" are rather vastly underestimating the community as a whole.

Drug dealing is underground. Dog fighting is a subculture. Gaming is about as "mainstream" and widely accepted as the next thing. Since the advent of Nintendo (NES)around 25 years ago, millions upon millions of folks around the world have tried their hand at "gaming" and many more have at least seen it or heard of it.

So, with a title like Halo 3, assuming that most people dont know who the the main character is, or what the game is about is fine and most likely accurate, but to call the community that does rocognize the game anti-social or somehow imply that they are social outcasts is just inaccurate and frankly plain irresponsible.

I find it oddly amusing that you all think Lev is not one of you gamer people and that he's doesn't consider himself as one of you. It's as if you'all never even read the name of his blog, his other blog entries, or any other article he's ever written.

It really is quite sad to see other "gamers" show their lack of reading comprehension skills. As previously stated by Leverus, many of you are misinterpreting parts of the article by taking it out of context.

On the other hand, it is equally sad to read an article by a "fan" that has so many mistakes. Not only that but the butchering of some words in this "blog" make me question Lev's writing capabilities. (Majorer? Really now.. that is just embarrassing.)

I didn't find your article offensive in general, but there were a couple of spots where you clearly pander to what you seem to assume is mainstream America's attitude toward gamers. Namely, that we're the contemporary equivalent of Goth kids--brooding, alienated, possibly antisocial, etc.

I can see that some of your statements have been taken out of context and you've been harshly criticized for them; but when you write that gamers love gaming "with a lonely, alienated, unironic passion," it's pretty hard to take that out of context. Apparently you consider yourself a gamer, is that how you love games?

Gaming is a hobby for the vast majority of gamers. As with any hobby, there are those who become obsessed with it. But do most people think that music lovers are all mopey and depressed because of the Goth and emo kids? I think that the intelligence and creativity of Bungie employees is a perfect example of who gamers are. I'm a 38-year-old college textbook editor, not some whacked-out kid who thinks he can kill cops because he plays Grand Theft Auto too much. If your intention was to make your non-gaming readers more aware of gamers and who we are, I'm afraid you did us and your readers a disservice.

To me it seems as though your article was being written with the intent of informing the "mainstream" about Halo 3, from a perspective that they understood and were comfortable with.

That said, their perspective (and consequently, the articles,) is simply ill-conceived, outdated, slightly patronizing, and poorly-researched.

Its as though you we placating your demographic instead of educating them, a choice that you should be called out for, regardless of what the publication or audience is.

Basically, the article did nothing to aid in the mainstream's perception of gaming as the next big platform of entertainment, or even it's legitimacy to the mainstream in any way. Which is why people keep bringing up sales numbers, gaming is already "mainstream".

And if sales numbers are not enough to indicate "mainstream," how do you? Public awareness? Do we need all the "35+" citizens to know the Master Chief before Halo is mainstream?

If so, well, no problem then. Just give it 15-20 years ;)

seriously lev just get facts right and do proper research and lay it down unbiased, dont make gamers seem like some evil anti-social force.

I couldn't resist posting more:

I do think that it is important to note that the author seems to go to great lengths to show that the Bungie community is not antisocial, is not lonely, and not sociopathic. But I have to tell you that this piece does not have the tone of a person trying to convince people about how great the hardcore gaming community is. Instead, it feeds the stereotypes of obsessive computer nerds and implores Bungie and its fans to help hardcore, in-depth gaming submit itself to the mainstream. And despite his blog or his personal beliefs, his tone is unmistakeable -- hardcore gamers (including Bungie employees) are kind of weird and seclusive, and should change their ways to embrace the mainstream.

This tone is easily identifiable, and regrettably unsupported by any evidence whatsoever. Sadly, the article makes all of these assertions without citing a single source for support. The author himself is not an anthropologist or a sociologist, and thus his own observations and opinions do not merit expert treatment. As an editorial, this piece is fine. As supposed "journalism," it is woefully inadequate.

But anyway, for those of you expressing shock and disbelief at how anyone reading this article could be offended, try to expand your mind and allow me to enlighten you.

First, the author begins his piece by calling hardcore gamers "lonely" and "alienated." He then -- without citing any support for his assertions -- proceeds to draw a series of lines between "non-gamers" and "gamers." The lines the author draws are not meant to cause (or at least do not have the effect of causing) "non-gamers" reading the Time article to realize, "Hey, we're not so different after all." Nay, instead, the author's piece seems meant to accentuate (or at least has the effect of accentuating) the differences between the two.

Unlike the author, I cite a virtual cornucopia of examples:

*When nongamers look at the Master Chief's helmet, they see a forbidding, anonymous mask. But when gamers look at it, they see a mirror. They see themselves.

*There's a foreign-legion quality to it, as if the company had been created as a refuge for smart people who wouldn't or couldn't fit into more conventional professions.

*It's doubtful that many people reading this could say exactly, or even approximately, what the Halo games are about.

*In return, they give Halo most of their waking hours, which vastly outnumber their sleeping ones. For the past few months, shifts at Bungie have run from 6 in the morning till 2 in the morning. One manager confessed that he was so strung out on caffeine, he had to drink a Diet Coke just so he could kill his cravings enough to fall asleep. . .

*"We actually are insane," the engineer says . . . "Literally. We ought to be locked up."

*This devotion is fueled by a belief, not shared by the world at large, that video games are an art form with genuine emotional meaning and that Halo 3 will be the premier example of that art.

*There's an opportunity beyond video games, too, for Halo to break out of the ghetto and become a mainstream, mass-market, multimedia entertainment property.

*They don't need to legitimize Halo by associating it with other, more respectable media.

*They're happy in their invisible geek ghetto.
It may be time for the Master Chief to come in from the cold and join the party, with the popular kids.

Thus, to those of you who still don't believe that this article might offend a gamer, allow me to draw some basic conclusions for you, all of which may be supported by drawing upon the above-quoted excerpts:

* According to the author, gamers are under the delusion that they are futuristic super-soldiers. Non-gamers, of course, simply see some dude with a helmet.

* According to the author, Halo fans don't read Time Magazine.

* According to the author, hardcore gamers (under the guise of Bungie employees) are incapable of interacting with regular people in a normal office environment.

* According to the author, hardcore gamers (under the guise of Bungie employees) are obsessive to the point where they become strung out and addicted to stimulants.

* According to the author, hardcore gamers (under the guise of Bungie employees) are self-admittedly insane to the point where they should be locked up.

* According to the author, hardcore gamers are under delusions about the artistry of video gaming; delusions which, of course, are clearly not true to normal people.

* According to the author, Halo is ghetto. (Sorry, but the connotations of this word are undeniable. Quote the dictionary all you want, but we all know the mental image you get when someone says the word "ghetto." Keep the audience in mind, indeed.)

* According to the author, Halo fans are out of the mainstream.

* According to the author, Video games are not "respectable."

* According to the author, Halo fans are geeks. (Again, the connotations of the word are undeniably negative)

* According to the author, Halo fans are not popular kids, but they could be if they would only submit themselves to the mainstream. (whatever that means)

You are, of course, free to draw your own conclusions about what the author is saying here. But the above conclusions are certainly possible to the biased or predisposed reader. Moreover, I doubt that you could successfully show that the author is trying to convince his audience that hardcore gamers are normal people -- students, athletes, musicians, doctors, mechanics, lawyers, carpenters, scientists, and so on -- who are just really into gaming. Yet it is easy to show how a non-gamer (the purported "audience") might see this article as saying "Here is the rationale behind hardcore gamers' devotion. Lol aren't they weird? Why won't they just be more NORMAL?"

Again, the way you read this article is completely up to you. But it is self-evident that the article could be read in a negative light by the author's so-called "non-gamer" audience. What's worse is that the author, throughout his piece, makes assumptions and assertions about the hardcore gaming/Bungie/Halo community that are completely unsupported by anything resembling a fact or source.

In conclusion, should you let this article roll off your back without taking offense? Absolutely, if possible. I am not personally offended, and neither are many of the posters in this thread.

But to say things like "there's nothing offensive in the article," "the article is not negative," or that somehow we should ignore or forgive the article's tone and implications because we are not the intended audience is both naive and wrong.

Holy crap, I love Halo as much as the next guy AND I enjoyed the article. You people need to take a deep breath.

Also, please remember that there is a difference between people who like Halo and people who play it a lot online (the Xbox Live community). People who like Halo may be part of the mainstream, but the Xbox Live community is not mainstream and is only marginally smarter than the YouTube community (which is to say, dumber than a bag of rocks).

So please, stop posting page long diatribes about how not offended you are.

Wow, that Terrence kid really needs to lay off the crack. Prime example of someone trying to hard which shows their psuedo-intellect. Someone needs to get laid and relax and stop taking things so literally.