M-E-D The Poet said:
There comes a time when we have to say STOP to a community
That time is now, because some things ruin the mood in society
Your lesson for today is this :
Your opinion is the most important thing in the world , but your opinion is irrelevant.
Allow me to elaborate, A lot of people on the escapist think that games like COD or HALO are worthless pieces of tripe (Note : The modern presentations of them)
Then in every thread about anything closely related to these subjects they start spewing their hatred and start offering up alternatives to them in a state of grandeur.
The thing is however, the threshold by which we determine whether something is good or bad is not noted down by the amount of hatred for said subject, but by the threshold of likeability.
Now this may be tough to fathom but I'll give you an example
Mozart and Shakespeare we both consider masters of their craft and kings of their era, but for each Mozart there was a minor greater artist of whom we know nothing. Perhaps Mozart was the justin bieber of his era, we can't ever be too sure of that, what we can be sure of is that enough people liked his music to make it last through the years and be relevant today.
And yes ladies and gentlemen, you read that right, artists like Justin Bieber may be the only thing left of our present generation in 200 years, it's sad but it's the way it goes.
Now a bit more to the point, yes for example Deus ex might be a masterpiece of gaming, but that becomes irrelevant when 99% has never heard or given a crap about it. Yes CoD might be meaningfully shite but if 30% of the world knows about the COD franchise and likes it that franchise becomes GOOD in the eyes of society.
You can argue against it but every mature man and woman at some point has to learn that that is how the world works
M-E-D The Poet out.
Well, yes and no.
You are correct that the negative opinions don't matter much to the gaming industry, or any major industry for that matter, since they are increasingly concerned with making as much money as possible, as opposed to putting out a good product, improving the medium within which they work, or anything else. It's a very rare situation today where a business remains content to simply make money, as opposed to demanding constant growth and increasingly monsterous profits. This is what people are talking about when they complain about the "corperate" mentality, which is a bit differant from someone being anti-capitalist. Few have a problem with people making profits, but rather with the pursuit of them beyond everything else and the product as a whole.
Opinions that aren't reinforced by action are meaningless when dealing with corperate bureaucrats. Those complaining over the internet about video games will rarely, if ever, actually put their money where their mouth is and refuse to buy a product, and thus the opinions become irrelevent. It's like a Junkie complaining about his drugs being cut with baby powder more and more, what does the dealer care if the Junkie keeps coming back and giving him money?
This is also why there is a huge amount of conflict between REAL gamers, and casuals. In theory there could be games for both groups to be happy, in practice everyone aims towards catering to the casual market because it outnumbers the real gamers substantially. Crapping out another deritivive shooter might not do anything to further gaming, or even present a solid, and intelligent product, but it WILL make money. Even if the real gamers complain, what does it matter when they are out numbered? The "Bros" and "Frat Boys" will line up for their shooters and pro-sports games (which are like the equivilent of Farmville, but for a differant audience).
That said, your opinion might not matter so much when you direct it at the companies and developers themselves (when dealing with the gaming industry), but it is possible to perhaps adjust the other fans, gradually, over a period of time. I have seen opinions change a bit here, sure radical fanboys might rally behind say "Call Of Duty", but at the same token given time, some of them can be persuaded, especially when they eventually have the arguements drilled into their heads enough times and realize they don't like what they are seeing in the mirror (metaphorically speaking).
Dealing with a corperate enviroment and a massive number of casuals is an uphill battle, but not an impossible one. It's important keep their opinions and criticisms going because over a period of time they can make a differance. Seeing someones message on an internet forum is not going to cause a ray of light to shine down over a meeting of CEOs and cause them to change their ways overnight, but over a period of time these things can lead to change. Right now I think that gradually chipping away at the casual/mainstream audience and bringing them to a degree of self realization can slowly change the numbers, which will in turn put pressure on the industry.
I could say more, but this is long enough. The point here is that I disagree with you, especially in the context I believe your speaking in.
I lack the online charisma to make any kind of differance, but I kind of suspect a decade or so down the road I might very well be able to say "yeah, I was there fighting for this before it was cool" with a straight face... at least when it comes to gaming.
