In our columns section we ask various local gamers for their opinions on certain topics. These articles are meant to create lively debate, and the opinions expressed therein do not necessarily reflect those of MyGaming. Are you a decent writer with a cool idea for a column? Let us know in the comments section.

Internet trolls the world over have had a busy week. The Playstation Network fiasco has given the hordes of pre-pubsecents a mammoth-sized outlet into which they can channel their outrage and entitlement; the “Geohot” drama apparently wasn’t quite enough to empty the tanks.

Finding a gaming news site that’s not talking about Sony is more challenging than opening a Sunday Times without seeing Julius Malema’s face. It seems every week there’s some kind of new troll fodder, and this week is no different – everybody is talking about the PSN coming back online, or, more importantly, what kind of compensation they’re giving us. As it turns out, not very much.
Sony’s “welcome back” package was revealed to be two free games (from Sony’s selection of 5). This has left most feeling pretty underwhelmed, and many more outraged. In fact, most are acting like they were accidentally shot by Airport Security and sent home with an SAA T-shirt. In the wrong size. With a hole in it.

The internet has been flooded with opinion pieces bemoaning the loss of opportunity for all kinds of awesome free stuff. Comments sections and forums haven’t seen so much rage since dedicated servers were cut from Modern Warfare 2. Most people, columnists and trolls alike, have their own opinions on what Sony should have done with their consolation gift. Unfortunately, all these opinions are stupid.

 
I’d get shot for one of those bad boys, hell yeah.

Surprised? Really?

What the hell did people expect? They’d all receive copies of Mortal Kombat in the mail? Of course they’d all still complain, because they probably already have it.  Let’s look at some of the most common complaints, and laugh at their stupidity:

I already have all those games!

You have them because they’re good games. If Sony had offered crap games, you’d complain then too. Sony chose these games because they’re popular in order to please their customers.

Sony should give everyone store credit instead.

What’s a reasonable amount of store credit to give everyone for 2 games? 100 dollars? That translates to, literally, billions of dollars worth of credit given away. Sure Sony wants to please its customers, but not at the cost of a small country. The amount they lose in outraged people who will actually never buy another PS3 game is a lot less than a billion dollars, about a billion dollars less. If you don’t believe me, look at all the people who bought Modern Warfare 2.

They should give physical discs, not just offer digital download.

This is the same issue as above. The cost is enormous, and the request is a little preposterous. Sure everyone would prefer physical copies, but when you think of the amount this would actually cost Sony, it’s not even approaching a reasonable demand.

I think the thing that actually irritates me the most, is there probably would have been less of a fuss raised if Sony had offered nothing at all, not even mentioned it. Just put it back online with an apology.

Would you rather they offered you this? Hey, at least you don’t already have it, right?

The Big Picture

The point of all this is this: Sony screwed up. Badly. They allowed people’s personal information to be stolen due to poor security. They’re a huge corporation with massive resources at their disposal, so this kind of vulnerability is, of course, inexcusable.  The PSN may be a “free” service, but its cost is built into the price of your console; the fact that there is no subscription does not take away from the fact that having it offline for three weeks is unacceptable.

The problem with this is that Sony’s mistakes are so monumental that there is no real “welcome back gift” (within reason) that they can offer to make up for it. You’re not going to get back what you lost, and Sony quite frankly can’t make it up to you. All they can really do is apologise, offer a small gift that isn’t going to bankrupt them, and hope to keep you as a customer. It’s a bit like your spouse cheating on you – you can forgive the mistake, or take the kids and go. There’s no “consolation” that’s good enough.  Sure, Sony maybe could have done a little better, but not enough to satisfy you, me or anyone else.

If you feel Sony has wronged you so badly, jump ship. I hear Microsoft makes consoles too.  In these situations all you can do is vote with your wallet. Except 99% of people will keep on handing over their cash, because they like their Playstation and they like playing games. There’s nothing wrong with that. Companies screw up all the time, and while it’s easy to compensate for an individual, 77 million individuals is a little more tricky.

The important thing is that the Network is back, so go have fun, and stop worrying about what you can get for free.