I didn’t think that I would have anything to post about today but I came across this pile of trash; this obviously lazy writing attempt to get clicks on your article and site so that the whole internet can see ignorance in all of it’s glory.
I want to point your attention to the two articles below. Both of them cover the unfortunate death of Liang Weiming, a 67 year old gentleman who often played Pokemon Go and suffered a heart attack after catching a Lapras and a Granbull.
http://www.complex.com/life/2017/03/man-dies-after-catching-rare-pokemon
http://nypost.com/2017/03/01/man-catches-rare-pokemon-only-to-die-moments-later/
Let be me clear. My beef is not with Pokemon Go. My beef is not with the gentleman who passed away. My beef isn’t with the site Complex. My beef is with Natalie Musumeci and the New York Post with this abhorrent, yet successful, attempt at flame starting clickbait.
Good job.
I’d give you a cookie if I wasn’t worried about you writing a piece about how “Cookies from gamers hurt teeth, sources say”.
But let’s break it down to brass tacks, shall we?
With the Complex piece, it was clear that point of the article was to inform the readers of the gentleman’s passing with mentions that he often played Pokemon Go. When I read it, I didn’t feel like Trace William Cowen, author of the Complex piece, was trying to say that Liang died because of Pokemon Go. He died because of heart complications as reported by the Asia one article here.
Not quite sure how something like that was missed in the New York Post piece. Maybe they were too busy counting the different people that they could piss off with this article. Maybe they were wondering how few words they can put in a article for it to be qualified as an “article”.
With the New York Post piece, it was clear from the first sentence the direction the writer wanted to go with it.
Really, New York Post? That’s how you want to open this piece. I know that I have to “consider the source” with most things on the internet like giving credit to anything written by Kotaku but still..really?
“Trying to “catch ‘em all” led a Pokémon-loving retiree to suffer a fatal heart attack.”
Excuse me. Led what to what?
I did have to read that sentence twice. No one can explain to me how that sentence makes sense because, in no universe I know of will it ever make sense.
I’m about channel Billy Mays because you would think that’s it…
Fourth paragraph in the NYP piece and we hear how Liang caught the legendary Granbull.
Legendary? Granbull is a lot of things; a fairy type Pokemon with a better Pokedex entry that needs to be changed to the “Underbite Pokemon” and definitely not a legendary. And don’t even start with “maybe she just had a different word choice” or some crap like that. In Pokemon, there are clearly legendary Pokemon. A simple google search can illuminate that fact but I guess I’m asking for too much.
“But Mr. Gamer, why are giving her so much crap? It’s article written by someone who doesn’t know much about what they’re writing about. What’s the big deal?”
I’m glad you asked Billy. This article brings up a larger problem; the existence of these “click-bait” like articles against video games.
I actually hate how this article was slanted to make it look like Pokemon Go caused this man to die, like the game somehow had a hand in his death, from the start of the freaking article! Pokemon Go didn’t and if writing an article like this counts as journalism, then I know I am doing at least 20% better than they are. Pokemon Go already has stupid notifications each time you open up the game to not trespass or drive while playing. Because for some unfortunate and idiotic reasons, people think that Pokemon Go is responsible for where the player goes while you play.
It isn’t.
But I know I need to calm down. This article isn’t going to make the author not write another piece like this. She already made her money and probably gives less than two flying farts about me and that’s fine. I will even the playing field. Often, news outlets like to take shots at video games because it’s easy and most readers don’t fact check.
I will be Phoenix Wright in this case and show the truth. And the truth is, the NYP piece on the Liang Weiming passing was crap and though I have no say in what is posted on that website, the Complex piece on the gentleman was much better.