TWITTER IS TEH EEEEVIL!!!!

Perhaps I have drunk too deeply of the Kool-Aid, but I find myself ever-more bemused by the rabid hatred that some folks have for Twitter. The micro-blogging social media tool is either (a) stupid, (b) idiotic, (c) a waste of time and bandwidth, (d) an active force for evil in this world, or (e) all of the above.

There’s a new article at Ars Technica about the use of Twitter in online games, specifically auto-Tweeting from the games. The case study is about Uncharted 2.

Uncharted 2 was created with a feature Naughty Dog seemed rather excited about: the game would tweet your progress in the game automatically. That meant that your friends would know what you were playing, and how far along you were. It seemed like a good idea, until review copies were sent to the gaming press.

Soon, if you followed the industry, the entirety of some Twitter feeds consisted of messages about their progress in the game. This created something of a backlash, as other gaming writers—which may have included this one—took to tweeting about their progress in random boardgames. A consensus seemed to be reached that allowing a game to take over your Twitter account was a bad thing. Naughty Dog noticed the negative publicity, and very quickly pulled the plug on the feature.

The rest of the article is all about how gaming companies are trying to figure out the right use of Twitter, but that auto-Tweeting is definitely Not It.

The comments are just as bad, if not worse. Not only is some of the anti-Twitter rhetoric even more pointed (“The root of Twiitter is ‘twit'” and “I just don’t get it” (as if that answered everything)), but even the Tweeters make the point that auto-Tweeting is always, categorically, summarily a Bad Thing. (Oh, and a “waste of bandwidth,” as if all the Tweets in a 24-hour period came close to one downloaded movie in bandwidth usage.)

I beg to differ.

Interestingly, Champs Online, as a brand new game with Twittering (and Facebook and something else, too) capability doesn’t get a mention. But it’s story arc parallels that of Uncharted 2. The Twitter feature went live with go-live, and it was immediately clear that it was waaaay overkill. Not only did the updates overwhelm Twitter, but people simply weren’t expecting them to be as frequent as they were (thanks to the standard CO dearth of documentation). A patch later, and things got throttled way back. 

And now?

Well, I make use of it, but I’ve also been careful to create a separate Twitter account to do so. But within those bounds, it works pretty well as a way to track the progress of characters in the game. If nothing else, it makes for some nice fodder when posting here is light on the ground. I’ll be able to look back at some point and say, “Hey, I remember that character” or “Who was I was running who defeated Foxbat?”

It’s not perfect (as if anything in CO) is, but it has potential (just as so much in CO does). I’d like to see some serious control in the Tweeting interface beyond just simple checks on/off. E.g., rather than every 5 levels announcing it, allow someone to make it a number higher than 5. Allow the level of Perks or whatever to be eased back as well.

Offering some guidance, too, would be helpful for users. As would letting the social media settings be set globally for all characters or just for individual ones. And, honestly, there should be some sort of identifying text or hashtag in the Tweets that are made, so that it’s clear what they’re for/from. Even better, as suggested, if a Tweet is going to go out, allow for a prmopt to come up about it to confirm (if not even edit) it.

But the big thing to remember is that this is all voluntary. Everything about Twitter and the reading of same is. Not interested in hearing someone Tweeting about their gameplay? You don’t have to follow them. Wow. What a concept. You never actually see stuff on Twitter unless you explicitly follow someone. And you can easily stop at any time.

Let me repeat that. If someone is Tweeting about their game, and you don’t like it, unfollow them. Better yet, if you’re really interested in what they were saying earlier, but you think the game Tweets are drowning that out, let them know that. 

Yes, I know it’s much more self-amusing to make snide comments about how stupid Twitter is and Twitterers are, or how sophomoric it is to auto-Tweet your game achievements, and to make broad generalizations about What Should or Should Not Ever Be on the Web, like an Internet Mister Blackwell. On the other hand, it’s very difficult to take responsibility for your own reactions to things, to not turn them into universal verities, and to tune your Internet access to just see what you want, rather than demand that everyone follow your particular bliss. 

But, y’know, it might be worth giving it a try.