Sweet Lord

I finally got through the application process for the Shadowrun beta. One part of the criteria they're using to pick applicants is 'willingness to participate in forums'. Now, I've never liked forums for the most part, as giving people license to say anything in an almost entirely anonymous fashion seems to bring out the very worst in the vast majority of people. People have claimed the increase in blogging, friends sites, etc is the main reason the signal:noise ratio of the internet is ever-worsening. It's not. Huge, huge sprawling forums (where by law, at least seventeen participants must have Dragonball Z-themed names), rapidly filling with the worst sort of tripe imaginable are the cause.

All of which is a roundabout way of saying: if wading hip-deep in nerd spray is the cost of participating in the beta, then I don't want to do it. Today it was revealed that the Halo 3 multiplayer beta would have a similar process. The idea of playing Halo 3, lets face it, anything up to a year and a half early is appealling. Dealing with a rabid Halo 3 forum: good lord no. I can wait, thanks all the same.