Perspective is a funny thing. It’s entirely unique to the individual, and is formed by several factors which play a prominent part in our daily lives. Something that you undervalue could be something that another person would give a limb for, and this is a capacity that not everyone has the benefit of.
Although admittedly hard at times, the reason above should dictate that the utmost appreciation is shown for your every possession, however irrelevant and expendable they may seem. Who hasn’t felt agitated over a malfunctioning electronic in their time, or cursed at the freeview box for not recording your favourite program? This being said, I do think that some members of the internet have shown a considerable lack of gratitude when it has come to discussing the issue of the recent PSN downtime.
[drop] Before I continue, I’d like to highlight that everyone has a right to feel somewhat aggrieved. At the end of the day, you have purchased a product which an online service is a part of, and currently you aren’t receiving it. Sony may be offering a generous “Welcome Back” program, but it doesn’t change what is a poor state of affairs that debatably shouldn’t have been allowed to happen in the first place.When you put your trust in a multinational company such as Sony, you expect your confidential information to be protected up to the hilt. In this case, Sony has failed to deliver and I accept that thousands (including me) are upset with the situation, and will naturally post a brief comment or two to voice our concerns.
However, recently I have read a variety of comments that portray the Playstation Network downtime to be akin to the apocalypse. As previously mentioned I understand the annoyance, but at the same time feel that some people need to put the downtime into some serious perspective. It’s a period of time without the Playstation Network; go outside, do some work, or check out this list. You don’t even need to go without gaming; why not pick up a title that’s been collecting dust for a second playthrough? The opportunities are endless, but I can’t help but think that some are making the worst of a bad situation.
As we sit in our centrally heated homes populating the internet, it’s easy to forget that whilst some are moaning about the lack of Call of Duty, soldiers are out on the front line in places such as Afghanistan, taking cover from sniper bullets without a respawn.
It’s also easy to forget that poverty rages across the world, and in this day and age, it is beyond belief that millions are still without access to a clean water source. The media coverage may have diminished but two months on, Japan is still picking itself up after suffering one of the most horrific natural disasters seen in decades. How many loved ones were never seen again after that fateful morning on the 11th March?
The problems don’t end in this country, either. Unemployment is at an all time high, and the people that are lucky enough to have houses are being forced to push every resource to its limit, as prices skyrocket from fuel to food. The size of the population is increasing, and with government cuts hitting every part of the country, public services are feeling the strain more than ever.
Even though we have one of the most advanced health services in the world, incurable illnesses continue to rip families apart, cutting innocent lives short before they even have a chance to prosper. All of this contributes to a society where children grow up without a sense of right and wrong, and the love and attention that humans at that age so desperately need.
I don’t deny that I am also guilty of lacking perspective at times, but with the heartbreak, terror and sadness that haunts our world on a daily basis, does the Playstation Network downtime really matter?
The decision is yours, but I know exactly how I feel.
Greek-BBQ
I have exams coming up so im not even bothered about PSN going down. Infact its probably doing me a favour. But I hope its back on once I finish my exams in June.
(Havent read article btw so I could be talking about something off topic, if I am, sorry :D)
Roynaldo
I have been very patient with all of this downtime stuff and my moto on life in general is ‘it could be worse’.
Ive had this perspective on life since finally growing up and seeing the world for what it is.
I digress that at times I find myself infuriated that I cant do exactly what I want with my hobby, but I then pull myself back to the real world an hour or two later.
The PSN is not a big deal, its a fraction of my life that is nothing more than a comfort that we could all happily live without. Noone actually needs online gaming, we want it!
Perspective is something the mature generally obtain through experience.
A nice article Toby, glad you wrote it.
cc_star
Good article, although I agree with drnate86 on previous page.
Personally I used my ps3 to play an online only game (Warhawk) about 80%+ of the time, although I do buy loads of games particularly digital, but now I don’t have access to it I’m hardly on my ps3. I played the game for entertainment, escapism etc I’d convinced myself that doing other stuff was mundane or not as good as the buzz of Warhawk, but now I’m in the habit of doing them, the other aspects of life & all there is to do I don’t think i’ll go back. The longevity of the outage has lost Sony & the gaming industry a keen, almost obsessive, profitable gamer. No biggie, in fact the outage has sorted me out and i’ll probably be grateful – one day.
hazelam
it’s a valid point, but i think it’s abused by people far too often as a cheap way to win an argument.
that to me shows more disregard to those suffering i believe.
unlike people who use that argument cheaply, most of us can care about more than one thing, we talk about our complaints with gaming issues on a gaming website, and talk about our concerns about world poverty and natural disasters in the appropriate places.
is a games site the best place to campaign on issues like poverty and starvation anyway?
just look at how the gaming community has responded to the disaster in japan.
i think most gamers have a clear perspective about what really matters, but they also have a sense of when it’s appropriate to talk about what issue.
there’s a quote i think kind of applies here.
“grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference”
Roynaldo
My question to you is who is really suffering? The fact is gaming is a pleasure and not a necessity. I like to game but only addicts can claim they have been harmed by an online downtime.
Not only do we not /need/ gaming we do not require its online aspect further.
hazelam
well there are people worrying about their bank accounts being emptied by some hacker, that’s not as bad as the possibility of dying of starvation or in some natural disaster, but does that mean we should ignore it?
some people cant get in touch with friends, some people’s only social contact is through online services like this.
and a hell of a lot of people’s livelihood rely on this a service like the psn.
if we aren’t allowed to make any complaints about anything while there are worse things going on in the world, well then there’s only ever going to be one person in the world able to complain at a time?
is the possibility of dying the only way somebody can suffer?
and i don’t believe there is anything wrong with talking about gaming issues on a gaming website.
do we have to append every single complaint with “but compared with people dying round the world”
i don’t like the implication that because i care about this and other gaming issues, i don’t care about more serious issues.
but i know a gaming website is not the place to try to end world poverty or stop the government closing my local hospital.
like i said, i believe those who just bring up tragedies round the world just to win an argument are cheapening their suffering more than those complaining about lesser issues.
that’s my opinion anyway.
not that i’m implying this article is doing that, this article is making a valid point, it’s not using the deaths of people round the world as a bullet point in some argument.
The Lone Steven
This is an excellent article Toby. I shall give you 10 gold stars:OP. Some people have overrated to PSN being down and seem to think it is the end of the world. IMO i don’t think it matters. Sony have had a lot of damage done to them and will suffer from it over the next 6-9 months.I have a excellent colllection of single player games so i rarely used PSN except for the weekly meets.I can understand why some people may be upset if they have paid for PS+, but it is a free service. Surely they should be upset that some git has stolen personal details of 77million people. I hope Sony does recover from the hacks and the people/person is caught.I agree with your article Toby.
Toby M [Dexter17]
Firstly, if you feel that I have abused the points being made then I apologise. That certainly wasn’t the intention, and a lot of thought was put into the wording of the article, trying to make it sound as balanced and as fair as possible.
I wouldn’t say I was campaigning against the issues, just highlighting a point that has been at the forefront of my mind for several weeks now. Refraining to bring the issue up would show a disrespect to the members of the site and the gaming community in general. The maturity of the existing comments on here provide outsiders (if you’ll pardon the term) a view that highlights that we aren’t all square-eyed and sit in seclusion all day, and that we care about matters firmly grounded in reality, too.
Finally, you have to remember that only a minority responded in a negative manner to the situation in Japan. Many others approached it with the same maturity and attitude that is being shown throughout the comments section here.
Toby M [Dexter17]
Sorry, this is in reply to the comment made by Hazelam further up the page.
mynameisblair
Great article, Toby.
I agree people overreact to silly things like this – I’ve been (most) without PSN since last September because of my Uni halls’ network, but I simply found other things to do and laughed when I saw people complain about PSN being down for maintenance (back when it only went down for hours, not weeks).
It’s stupid, really… we can still play games, can’t we?
enroene
Good article.There are other things that people can do during the downtime which are more beneficial to them.Try out new things.I hope its back up soon.peace.
Slevin
IMO, you couldn’t have said it any better than you have. I take my hat off to you, well done mate!!
DeathlyCrane
Something to consider, some people do videos and such on youtube, people like me, i may not be letting down that many people but there are people out theres with tens of thousands of viewers that they cant provide relevant entertainment for.
The outage is yes an annoyance not the end of the world but, it is halting a lot of people hobbies and maybe even a source of income.
Some people deserve to be pissed a little more than others and nothing anyone says will change that.
Toby M [Dexter17]
I certainly don’t deny that, and sympathise with anyone who has had their salaries / wages cut due to the outage. There is no doubt that certain portions of the gaming community are more upset about the situation than others, and rightly so.
They have a right to feel aggrieved, but I’d just encourage anyone to keep the above thoughts in their head before making out that they are one of the unluckiest people in the world who is being unfairly treated.
DeathlyCrane
Yeah I totally agree, I havent once gotten upset about this, I have an exam in 2 days and its kinda good that theres no PSN for me, keeps me from gaming too much.
Can’t help to think, “Hmmm a nice game of Free For All would really hit the spot right now” =)
Toby M [Dexter17]
I think every regular PS3 player has thought that during the downtime, and as long as they keep things in a degree of perspective, it’s fine.
I’ve got exams fast approaching too, so I wish you good luck and good grades come August!