1 note gamers that think they are game critics, anyone else tired of it?

[leningrad]

Alright so I'm sure every gamer like me has run into a few discussions of this type. About twenty minutes ago I had a friend who is an outstanding player of counter strike tell me that counter strike was the single game that started video game addiction. Granted I don't have anything against counter strike(except for moronic firearms logic)and think its a fairly decent online competition game, But to say that it started game addiction is just plain ignorant. Like the title suggests, the individual that stated that to me, pretty much plays counterstrike, and only counterstrike, and is making a big deal that he isn't going to be playing counter strike for awhile because hes actually purchasing a copy of Call of duty 4 right now. So whats my main point? is anyone sick of people that play one game, and one game only, then, they try to act like they are a video game critic, and say that gamers like me, who play a wide variety of games, and judge games by their own merit, don't know anything, and that I'm biased, although I told him about four times that I enjoy counter strike, I just don't think it had anything specifically to the start of video game addiction. Games like pac man addicted people while the makers of counter strike (as I understand the first CS mod was created by college students) were at the most in elementary school. The fact that a lot of people play a game doesn't really mean its good, it just means they like it, or are playing to to review or something.

By the way I'm not a game critic, I'm just saying I think I have more merit in judging a game because I play a variety of them and I judge games by their inherent developer-given merits and their ability to entertain as opposed to a simple definition that lots of people play it so it must be good which was his main defence,I notified him that the first time I was playing call of duty 4 earlier this week, call of duty 2 was still one above it on Xfire's today's hottest game(or whatever it is)yet he thinks call of duty 2 is a bad game because he doesn't like it, then I exposed him and asked him why he doesn't like it? in not so many words, he doesn't like it because its not counter strike. Really is anyone sick of people like this? he apparently isn't going to be satisfied with me saying its a good game, I think he won't shut the hell up about this until I go give a counter strike box a blowjob.

main point, if you like a game, play it an enjoy it, but don't try to say its the best game in the world because its the only game you play.

 

[GeeDave]

Ooh dear, I can just see someone coming in now and saying something along the lines of Halo 3, and their best friend who plays it, and something to do with it being the best game ever and blah blah blah... and then... then the flamewar begins.

I'd like to stay on topic, and I have a similar story of my own, unfortunately it is to do with a friend who only plays Halo 3. But I refuse to go down that road, instead... I will vaguely try and stay with you here, whilst trying desperately not to start up a tantrum with other members.

You say your friend is wrong... and yes, he is. I thought perhaps you meant to say that Counter Strike started his gaming addiction, and I didn't see a problem with this. Then I realised that you did in actuality mean to type what it is you typed. And so yes, your friend, is blind. But for the love of god, just drop it... these people, they can't be argued with, they're fools... and you should never argue with a fool. (for people might not be able to tell the difference, in case anyone was wondering why).

You say you judge games by their ability to entertain, that's good... and you should leave it at that, seriously. Counter Strike entertains your friend... it's obviously working for him. Good... great... let it go! We all have our opinions, and if you can't argue your opinion (in the case of your friend, where CS is the answer to all of his questions) then he's lost. Your friend has lost... you, being able to raise other points in relation to why your opinion makes more sense, wins. You win! Congratulations!

I do feel your anger though, and it is anger that you feel. Stand on a rooftop with me and we can yell "This World Is Full Of Twats" over and over again. Not to the point where we look stupid though... no no, that would be bad.

I have more to say, but i'll pick up on someone elses points later. I imagine there will be a lot of them to pick from.

 

[J.theYellow]

Yeah, your friend sounds like an idiot, and you would be justified in smacking him around. Gamers of many different knowledge levels tend to treat their knowledge and opinions as both gospel and cudgel, however, so while I sometimes gripe that gamers typically don't have an opportunity to talk knowledgeably in person with fellow gamers about games, the rest of the time I'm glad I don't have to suffer through what most other people think about the culture of games.

Counter-Strike is a pretty awesomely popular game. Anyone using Steam should check the nightly play stats. It's pretty jarring. Once I swear there were like 100 times as many CS (not Source) players as there were any other game in the lineup. Granted, I think I checked it at 3 a.m.

 

[LordOmnit]

Hm... I'd say that you are partially right, in that if someone is all fanboy/girl-y about a particular game, then I tend to put their opinion on a lower level, considering that whether of not thier opinions are well founded, the representation is like that of a coin standing on its side. When someone says a game is good because they like it, that's kind of like saying that sharks eat because they are preditors. No, sharks eat because they are hungry, just as a game is not good because you like it, it is good OR BAD because of other factors, such as gameplay, story, blah, blah, blah. Although these factors are not constant across games, they tend to show up over and over again.
If someone says they don't like a game, fine, whatever, but if they are saying that the game is bad because they don't like it, then that's more than a little wrong. I can honestly say that I don't prefer the Halo series of games, but they are moderately well done in terms of gameplay, and I never really played the single player campaign, so I can't say much in terms of story, but then I'm not complaining about something I don't know about. Something like that is acceptable, because I'm giving an honest opinion about a game, but if I was going to say, "Halo suckzors! RAR! ANGER!!!" then I'd be in the wrong.

 

[leningrad]

Yeah, you all make good points, but GeeDave, its not like I'm going to lose any sleep over the matter, I just can't stand people like that and I decided to ***** about it on here rather do something petty like change his steam account password. And when it comes to the halo series I've been in the same position, it is a good game, but its nothing really ground breaking and I think thats what confuses fanboys, because they are arguing against someone that agrees it is a good\decent game, but not the best, and that makes them go ape even still..............and that is really what annoyed me. (I'm sure I'll get a few letter bombs for saying that about halo but whatever) As GeeDave suggested nicely:


THE WORLD IS FULL OF TWATS! - I think yelling it once is sufficient to look like an ass.

and I apologize for any English prose errors in both posts, I've spent most of my day writing an 8 page paper on use of the taser, which was surprisingly boring.

but anyway GeeDave, you're right, it does entertain him, and he clearly has no basis of argument, so I've pretty much let it go as a result of writing this, and now I'm just dreading this doesn't turn into a "omg HAlo iz the W1n" Vs. "Its good, but not the best" thread. Anyway, anyone who has been in the same position feel free to rant, thats what the internet is for.

 

[Demeth]

It's all dependent on personal preference, I try to make people realize this. Most of the time people will agree with me, they're just really really freaking excited about whatever game because they just love it so damn much, which is fine as long as the find someone else to talk about it with =/.

 

[jezcentral]

I'd like to stay on topic, and I have a similar story of my own, unfortunately it is to do with a friend who only plays Halo 3.

What's wrong with that? It's only been out for a very little while, and I can see why someone would still be playing the same game.

And saying a friend ONLY plays a certain game that has been out a couple of months, is a bit of hyperbole on your part, isn't it? I bet he played different games before it came out.

J

 

[Saskwach]

Ooh dear, I can just see someone coming in now and saying something along the lines of Halo 3, and their best friend who plays it, and something to do with it being the best game ever and blah blah blah... and then... then the flamewar begins.

Actually what I saw coming straight after reading this thread's title was someone making a reference to Halotards.

As for 1 game ponies, yes they're goddang annoying. I played Counterstrike. I play Halo even though it's shine is fading. These games succeeded because they had polished multiplayer that was simple to learn (yes CS is different but that's because most CS gamers play it too damn much...) and deep. But they aren't the second coming.
I agree with leningrad. It's not an issue that phases me but that's probably because all my friends are omnivores and I've somehow never met a halo or cs fanboi online.

 

[Sinharvest]

Video games are similar to music and food. Everyone is a different person and has different tastes. You say chocolate is the best food in the world and i say pizza. Who is right? Nobody is right because its all their own opinion to what they have experienced. Tell your friend to be a little more openminded. Im like the OP i try to enjoy different genres and types of video games. Even though i have my own favorites.

SOUL CALIBUR IS THE BEST FIGHTING SERIES EVER PERIOD!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Arbre]

I can't see how one could be anything but sick of that kind of claims... It's obviously ridiculous.

 

[GeeDave]

And saying a friend ONLY plays a certain game that has been out a couple of months, is a bit of hyperbole on your part, isn't it? I bet he played different games before it came out.

Yes, Halo 1 and 2. Seriously, he's a nut job.

 

[Dark Wingstalker]

Everyones entitled to opinions, i play a wide variety of games, but i tend to come running back to a nice team shooter online when i need to kick back

when i judge a game, i judge it on my merits.
You cant ask someone to judge the game according to someone else, because frankly, gamers only consider whats relevent to them.

 

[krysalist]

Sooooo...

Who's excited for Assasin's Creed?!?!

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEME.

 

[J.theYellow]

Assassin's Creed looks like an inverse Thief, or Thief crossed with Moon Knight but with a lot shallower gameplay and a lot more free-running.

It'll be shit.

 

[sergeantz]

I'm gonna paint with a few broad strokes here. All of the game critics are gamers, but not all gamers are game critics. This doesn't mean that all game critics are good or right all the time.

Game by themselves can only really be evaluated subjectively; it's the nature of the beast. Even a game critic can't break free of this, because just like every other for of media you are presented with a few basic questions:

Did this entertain ME?

How entertaining was it?

What were MY likes / dislikes about the game?

I think that the difference between a game critic and a gamer is an ability to itemize and articulate the various details that make up a game. At least that's what I look for in most of my reviews (excluding Zero Punctuation). If a game that I'm interested in or thinking about playing gets a low score from somebody, I want to know why. Sometimes, you can tell that they just put the wrong person on the game. You shouldn't give the Crysis review to someone who hates shooters.

Anyway, if I can read a review and tell that maybe I'd like the game regardless of the score, I might pick it up or at least scour around for a second opinion. It's a lot easier to draw a conclusion from "clipping, framerate, system requirements, replayability, graphics, storyline, etc." than just "it's great / shitty"

 

[phulcrum1984]

I hate people like your friend too. I love Guitar Hero but I'm not going to tell my friend he's an idiot because he doesn't like rhythm games. I hate Gears of War but I'm not going to tell people who love the game they are idiots either. To each their own.

I played counterstrike for a while because I was too broke to pay for an MMO or buy new games and it was fun, for a while. For me it's all about who I play with not what game I play. I HATED playing on a public CS server because I was only an average player and would get the shit kicked out of me. But I found a great clan and had a great time joking around with them on vent while I got my ass kicked on our private server.

Anyways, for me it's not what I play, it's if I have fun playing it and have fun people to play with.

 

[Hengst2404]

Yeah just look at one of your friend's main points "CS was the first game to lead to addiction?" What does that even mean? What about the legions of crazy folks that still play Ultima Online? What about Duke Nukem 3d, Doom and Quake? What about the coin-op arcade games that people spent hundreds on?

I think that gamers are just as capable of judging a game as critics, sadly critics at least "pretend" to be trying to evaluate something objectively while many gamers devolve into fanboyism in their gaming zeal.

 

[Maurog]

Remember when Tetris hit it big?

You don't get addictions now like you had back then. Counterstrike-shmounterstrike, Tetris has what, 2 colors, 5 shapes (okay, 7), catchy music, no plot and no multiplayer. And yet it caused thousands of grown up men to think, live and breathe Tetris.

Sure, I will judge games and say things like "this one's good" or "this one's the best". But I played hundreds of 'em. I can compare, analyze, criticize features and suggest new ones. There is no perfect game - my most favorite game is PS:T, and what can I say, the combat sucks. The graphics are dated. There could be even more depth, and the plot could be much less linear. And yet it's one of the best games ever made, and I could talk about the good stuff in it for hours.

Saying "this game's the best, it's perfect and nothing else can compare" is always, always wrong.

 

[Demitri Omni]

As much as I hate people like that, I seem to find myself actually ACTING like that person far too often. I don't play a huge, wide variety of games, since unemployment doesn't really give me enough net gain to purchase that many. I do, therefore, make sure I enjoy the games that I DO invest into, and as a result, I sometimes love them rabidly so, since I don't have a lot of options as far as multiplayer games. And, again, as a result, I have a tendency to tenaciously badger my friends into playing those few games. It was almost an insult to me when a friend of mine got Team Fortress 2 for the X-Box 360, when he knew full well that I had the PC version. This was, of course, neglecting to remember the fact that at the time of purchase, he was not fully aware that the different versions were not cross-compatible.

So, the short response is, yeah, he's a prick, but unfortunately I somewhat understand where he gets his rabid fanboyisms.

As far as 'reviewing' games, I try to both keep myself from buying into hype, and at the same time, not try to go in like a skeptic attorney attempting to gather a reason to yell 'Objection!' at the first sign that the game isn't quite perfect. A lot of people I know that talk about the games they play usually latch on to a select two or three features or even small-scale game elements when they come to a decision on whether or not they like the game. I personally enjoy a game a lot more (or, when I do NOT like a game, I have more reason not to) when I look at all of the game's mechanics as a whole. It just doesn't pay to get all worked up over a few things. And also, 'comparing' games is completely moot unless it is the EXACT same setting and the EXACT same goal in design, otherwise they're just two completely different games, and there's no 'better' or 'worse' about it.

 

[jampot]

I have to say I agree with you the people that go on about halo and CS are extremely annoying the reviewing was the main reason I posted here though.

Yes people review things based on the own standard but as with anything else it helps if you back up your argument with something that can fall into the same category an opposite of this would be the people that compare Runescape to World of Warcraft yes there both MMORPGS and they play on the internet but the point is Runescape does very well at what it does with minimal errors and is coded in java and is difficult to make an awesomely fantastic game this way so arguing that the graphics on World of Warcraft are better is true but the chances that Runescape could have graphics like that are minimal unless they decided to go to installer games, so yes if people review a game in this fashion is silly although they can be compared by storyline wise but lets not get into this my main point is if people argue something like "these graphics are freaking awesome" yes fine but say why they are otherwise they come across as silly as one of us shouting the world is full of twats.

To end my rambling argument if they refuse to give on there position then just leave them to it and play some nice educated choice of games.

I would like to point out I am not saying that peoples opinions are wrong what I'm saying back them up.