I Think

by Alex Weitzman

I've been reading a lot of these editorials in a debate that I THINK is about Square's artistic right vs. consumer opinion. I've heard it from both sides, and I've seen it branch off into many other debates, like FFVII: Good or Bad, or The Most Important Part of an RPG. However, I'm about to take what I THINK is an impartial spot here and try to describe my feelings about it.

I THINK that both sides accuse the other of hypocrisy. I THINK that both sides are guilty of hypocrisy. Really. Because I THINK that everyone involved here reads the other side's posts and barely accepts any of it. I THINK that's why most of these editorials rant heatedly then end saying that everybody ought to listen to everybody else.

You know what I THINK is missing from these editorials? The "I think" is missing. I THINK everything in this debate comes out with the "I say", or the even worse mutation, "I state". Because I THINK that what these opinions lack is the opinion part of it. I THINK it's no longer an opinion to them, but rather a truth that one side disagrees with.

How about some facts? Square is a company. We are the buyers whom they must appease, or they lose profits. FFVII made a lot of money. RPGs are generally owning a much larger market in the U.S. nowadays than before. The Japanese still have it better off than we do in video gaming. These are facts. But your opinions are still opinions, and I THINK that if you add more "I think" to your opinions, the debate could go from a mudslinging attack to an intellectual challenge. A battle of the minds, if you will.

Who am I talking to? Everybody. Yeah, everybody. Both sides of this debate, I THINK, need to hear this. I THINK I've taken no sides.

Um, except for the fact that I would like to address Roehl Sybing. Roehl, if there's anything I can't stand, it's a bad analogy. And that's a fact. I THINK that the one reason your hamburger analogy falls flat is because you can complain to the managers and get a new meal, but you can't complain to the game makers and get a new game. Your burger's just for you, but that game is for everybody. If you're complaining about the game itself, then I THINK you've got a right to tell them, as long as you accept their right to listen, then disagree. If you're still unsatisfied, then I'm sorry, but I THINK that the "don't play it" idea is all that stands. I THINK boycotting's a very effective method, but only if you really have enough people to do it with you to make a statement. And, BTW, an opinion is nobody's fault. And I THINK that the "don't play it" statement upholds that.

Well, that's how I THINK that's how an editorial should sound, just without the capital letters. All I'm asking is that your opinions should be opinions in your eyes, because I THINK that if they are, then they'll be opinions in our eyes, too. And I THINK it's much easier to respond to an opinion than a forceful statement. After all, we're thinking beings.