A lot about modern gaming really grinds my gears, from inaccurate assessments of sexism based on clothing (PROTIP: the conservatively dressed Princess Peach is about seventeen times more sexist than Street Fighter's Cammy or any of Skullgirls' cast) to the hordes of angry "casuals" and "hardcores" at each others' throats (insert shameless plug here). But nothing gets the ol' blood boilin' like overly defensive devotees, whether of a particular series, set of characters, or country's games.

Phil Fish -- look him up -- rather curtly told off a Japanese developer at GDC, claiming modern Japanese games were garbage. Rude? Yeah; hey, I think modern Japanese games suck too, but I'd be much more tactful, and give reasons, if a Japanese dev asked me about it. But racist? Biased? No; just Fish's thoughts on modern gaming, and specifically what Japan contributes.

The backlash on internet forums and social media was sadly predictable: hordes of angry fanboys (read: fanboys and fangirls, abbreviated for space, and no that isn't sexist) getting unnecessarily defensive and making gamers as a whole look like the socially backwards and intolerant group too many a conservative soccer mom have unjustly painted us as over the years.

And the quality of anti-Fish criticism portrayed gamers as something else too: really, really dumb.

Logical fallacies? By the truckloads. Fish was told his opinion didn't matter because he hadn't yet released Fez, the expected hit he's been working on for... however long he's been working on it (when I'm fuming I get lazy, sorry). Because that makes boatloads of sense, especially when more than just a few really insightful fans and gaming journalists critique games all the time despite having developed none.

Accusations of racism? You bet. Somehow, saying that a country's video games are trash is equivalent to hating that country's people. I saw one Twitter user actually tell Fish he was racist against all Asians. All Asians! Because he plays Japanese games and doesn't think very highly of them! Wow. I wonder what these same folks would say if I explained I'm not a big fan of Asian culture (I'm really not). That's not racist either, but if Fish is one, I must be some sort of Galactus-Level Intolerant Bigot (GLIB).

Blanket assertions about intelligence for not name-dropping specific well-liked Japanese titles? Naturally. Because not giving two licks about anything with "Final Fantasy XIII" in the title makes you dumb, right? Hell, I ripped on Sonic CD not once but twice, and by the logic these gamers are parroting, I'm really surprised I can form sentences, let alone use commas. Or comprehend language.

Fish could have been much more tactful and constructive in his criticism, no doubt. But instead of engaging in pointless white-knighting, gamers could have -- should have -- instead countered with reason. Or, Flying Spaghetti Monster forbid, even consider that maybe Japanese games really have gone downhill (PROTIP: they totally have, though please prove me wrong Persona 4 Arena, please oh flippin' please, because I want to make mad sweet love to you).

Even if you disagree, call Fish on his lack of grace, not on the laughable nonsense his current detractors are doing. It makes us all look bad, and that's something we really just don't need.