Bill Dungsroman wrote:

Bodybag wrote:

I never saw the original reference, to my knowledge. I first saw it in a post referring to "Operation: Throbbing Nigger-Cock" in Afghanistan, and thought to myself "what a magical combination of words that is." In my review, I lifted the statement as a metaphor for battleships, because I thought it was funny to liken a big killing boat to big black dick. My bad, it not only didn't occur to me that it was a well-established in-joke, but that someone could actually find it offensive. Rest assured I never planned to go to the well too often, and specifically in the case of TNC, probably not again in another review. I actually anticipated some hate-mail for the review, and while I hope every criticism doesn't necessarily lead to new policy I see the concerns here for the content; the message is received.

It's not your fault per se. As the site says, "We're still working out the kinks." We're trying to see what sticks, what doesn't. Interesting that you weren't aware of the joke, yet found the phrase engaging. We all did back on OMM, for sure. I guess part of it is that that particular phrase might work if amid one or more other references along that vein, pussy and smaller white dick metaphors and the like. Without those, the phrase is isolated and the context is lost.

Bodybag wrote:

On newer reviews: I spend enough time with the games I like to write volumes of gay prima-esque strat guides for each, much less review them; however, the trend generally seems to be one of chastisement rather than reccomendation. Which is good, as long as crappy game=funny review. My concern is this: are positive game reviews going to be less attractive based on the merit of not being "scathing" enough? There seem to be enough sites that specialize in just that, and Caltrops already has other content besides reviews, so I'd rather not see it pigeon-holed as another "we hate j00 game" site. It's tougher to squeeze TEH FUNNEY out of the games you like, but I think it's a worthwhile endeavor, both for the integrity of the content in general and a legitimate alternative to the IGN's and Gamespot's in particular.

That said, if I ever get around to finishing The Thing, I should have no trouble hating it enough to review it.

Yeah, The Thing sucks. As far as reviews go, we've got "positive" reviews up - ICJ's Freedom Force and my BG2, really. If you loved a game enough to play it inside and out, something's got to come up that was gay about it. You can tell I played the hell out of BG2 - and I have - which means I must have liked it. Thing is, not everybody is going to like it as much as I did. In being an amateur authority on the game as I am, having logged so much playing time, I felt that I should focus on the stuff that annoyed even me. That's the kind of stuff that would prompt someone from rightfully not buying the game. BG2's spells are some annoying shit, and even though I kind of dug them, many may (and have) not. Get it? You may recommend me to go to your favorite bar, but maybe you should mention that it only has one urinal in the bathroom and they don't sell Bass.

BDR