It's almost as ironic as making several comments about the vacuity of other people's comments on a given topic.
I believe that none of this is serious or hostile, and that on the contrary it can lead to substantive discussions that are not necessarily uninteresting, for example on people's relationship to 2D video games, and on the standardization of what is supposed to be "important" in cultural fields.
I'll admit, I personally had a lot of fun hijacking Dring's original message, but that's mainly because I found the gimmick and its possible variations amusing: "now that Totk is out , Nintendo will devote itself to the production of plastic bowls". There was nothing aggressive about it, especially as Dring has always been open to discussion.
However, I don't think it's futile or pointless to dwell on the evolution of the comments made. The initial statement was that Pikmin 4' wasn't a "heavy hitter", which we can agree with or not, but was refering to some sales ands some facts. The problem is that this comment has become "Mario Wonder isn't a major game because it's 2D", which is already a lot, lot more polemical. And I've just learned from this thread that it's now become something like: "Mario Wonder isn't a major game, even if it will sell, because it's made by a C team";
Each successive reaction shows that it's less about having an analysis, and more about imposing one's own personal standards as an objective norm willfully ignoring factual objections.
I can admit that it's ironic that I made multiple comments in a funny sense, because it keeps the topic more active. However, I still think that's a false equivalence you're drawing. This thread wouldn't exist or at least be active without people genuinely being upset with Dring's take, which isn't true for comments saying people should move on from being upset with Dring. I also didn't say that people's takes are stupid or dumb, so the "vacuity" wording is a bit weird. I did say sad but I genuinely meant that, the fact that a lot of people are bothered by Dring long after is weird. I'm not upset that they're upset, I just think it can poison the well for Nintendo communities a bit, as I suppose people think my comments are doing by saying it's weird to be hyper fixated on Dring. The only reason I made more than one post is I just read Spo's post, and just saw Dring's twitter reply, which I thought was genuinely interesting. The rest were responses to responses to me.
Regardless, this isn't really a fair reply in some sense, no? If I don't respond to it, I can't clarify some of the points you made against my comment, if I do, you get to double down on the "wow you said this discussion gets too much attention but then reply, CURIOUS!". Maybe for now it's better to get rid of the metatextual "does Dring get to much attention" part that I brought up, for the sake of good discussion?
I thought your comment was fantastic overall, though. I definitely agree with making fun of the "serious" issue of the day by making memes out of it. Big fan of that. I also agree that the overarching discussion of what is considered a big game is good and interesting. My problem with that is I don't think most people see that as the central discussion. I don't think it's being discussed because it's an interesting avenue for debate (even though I think that was OP's intention maybe), I think most people would get more frustrated at discussing subjective takes over what "big games" constitute more than anything, which is why even sellers that are small in Nintendo's catalogue often get included in posts as to why Dring is wrong if they at least pass a million.
For me personally, there is a bit of irony in the fact that there is probably only one or two super big games after Tears of the Kingdom at this point, so Dring's comments while completely wrong (especially about the Mario C-team), are not without some merit. I think there's a bit of a distinction to be made. Pikmin 4 is absolutely an AAA game from my perspective, with it's 4-5 million lifetime numbers being pretty big. But I don't think that's the same as it being major in the way this discussion calls for. Basically the only games left are Wonder, and maybe a new Pokemon game if that comes out on Switch. I could actually see Peach game blowing up and selling 10m+, though. Again, I think being an AAA game or a 4-5 million seller in this context is a bit different from being "major" in the way Dring might have originally meant it, Nintendo has so many big sellers that there has to be some room for categorization.
But hey, now that I've responded, I'll probably be spammed with "THE IRONY" and "comment too long", right?
I do really appreciate your comment, unironically
