Hogarth wrote:Who are/were the "goons"?
Gypsies, tramps, and thieves, the scum of the Hearth and all-around blackhats.
Or some guys who paid five bucks to join some forums.Depends on who you ask.
In all seriousness though, the term basically denotes people from Something Awful. They joined the game sometime in the summer (late June? Early July?) thanks to a certain fellow who had basically pissed off every player already extant. Tensions ran high as people assumed he was assembling an army of assholes, leader guy got killed, misunderstandings were had, and the entire incident had such an impact on the game's political landscape that this topic cropped up.
The term 'goon' practically became a catch-all for anyone who did anything bad ever, regardless of the actual truth behind it. The fact that they had become the largest faction in the game probably had people on edge, too. Then came the Second World and evidently there were quite a few shenanigans perpetrated by a high-profile forum-going goon that generated lots of drama and generally makes me glad I took a brief hiatus from the game during that time. (Obviously I am not terribly qualified to remark on this period!)
I don't believe they've ever truly been a monolithic entity and there's plenty of asshole goons and plenty of perfectly peaceful goons. The perception of the forums has always seem to be otherwise, though, and that generated quite a bit of discussion/drama.
I have no idea as to their present status nor does it much concern me. There is the Red Invasion to worry about, after all.
