Do you wish gaming was still "just for nerds"?
- Thread starter Ando85
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I don't really see anything positive in remaining an insular medium.
Grow, interactive arts! GROW I say!
Grow, interactive arts! GROW I say!
To be honest with you, it kind of still is, just in a different way.
All the "cool" people playing games. What do they play? CoD, maybe Halo or something. There's a far, far smaller amount of people who you could class as "gamers" in a nerdy sense, such as those who enjoy more hardcore titles.
As an example, Counter-Strike: Source is one of the most popular PC games in the world, alongside being pretty damn "hardcore". It currently has 62,000 people online. If you compare that to Black Ops on the 360 or PS3, they'd have a few hundred thousand online each.
There's a reason people are beginning to split up gamers into different groups - "casual", "hardcore" and so on. It's because it's becoming a necessity, and not because they're being prejudiced towards people. Yeah, someone who plays CoD is a gamer, but they're a different kind of gamer.
There's definitely still a classification of gamer that could be classed as "nerdy", and that's part elitism and part common sense. Some 14-year-old kid in a tracksuit looking at the latest CoD game in a game store and talking inanely to his friends is definitely a different sort of gamer.
To relate it to music, you wouldn't say that someone who likes dance music and someone who likes metal are in the same set of people.
All the "cool" people playing games. What do they play? CoD, maybe Halo or something. There's a far, far smaller amount of people who you could class as "gamers" in a nerdy sense, such as those who enjoy more hardcore titles.
As an example, Counter-Strike: Source is one of the most popular PC games in the world, alongside being pretty damn "hardcore". It currently has 62,000 people online. If you compare that to Black Ops on the 360 or PS3, they'd have a few hundred thousand online each.
There's a reason people are beginning to split up gamers into different groups - "casual", "hardcore" and so on. It's because it's becoming a necessity, and not because they're being prejudiced towards people. Yeah, someone who plays CoD is a gamer, but they're a different kind of gamer.
There's definitely still a classification of gamer that could be classed as "nerdy", and that's part elitism and part common sense. Some 14-year-old kid in a tracksuit looking at the latest CoD game in a game store and talking inanely to his friends is definitely a different sort of gamer.
To relate it to music, you wouldn't say that someone who likes dance music and someone who likes metal are in the same set of people.
I still don't have a girlfriend (and I think of myself as quite attractive, thank you), so I can't really see how it would make much difference in my case.
On the one hand, more people means less ridicule. On the other hand, more people means more idiots. I'm sure I don't need to elaborate.
However, I do wish more people paid their respects to fighting games, but that's another subject.
On the one hand, more people means less ridicule. On the other hand, more people means more idiots. I'm sure I don't need to elaborate.
However, I do wish more people paid their respects to fighting games, but that's another subject.
They dumbed down gaming thanks to consoles, so now it appeals to more people.
I miss pc exclusives.
I miss pc exclusives.
No, I'm glad that its branching out to a wider audience and like alot of people have already said, its getting more funding for games and systems and in general thats a good thing. Of course, the flip side of that is things are dumbed down for the same wider audience and we do get a fair bit of shit in the form of brown, cover-based FPS for nearly every single release.
However, more acceptance does mean less ridicule from so called "normal" people and even if someone's introducion to gaming is something mainstream like Madden or Call of Duty, it doesn't mean they can't be introduced to something less mainstream or classic. So yeah, I got no problems with the growing acceptance.
However, more acceptance does mean less ridicule from so called "normal" people and even if someone's introducion to gaming is something mainstream like Madden or Call of Duty, it doesn't mean they can't be introduced to something less mainstream or classic. So yeah, I got no problems with the growing acceptance.
In regards to the games you mention I'm not certain from my personal experience that these games were evolved to appeal to a wider audience (If they were it certainly didn't work, because most shooter fans I know either still don't like them or don't even know they exist). I believe it had more to do with trying to improve some inherent problems with traditional RPG's, for RPG fans.Ando85 said:
Take Mass Effect for example. In most respects I though that was a fantastic game. But the equipment swapping, oh dear god the equipment swapping! By the time you got past level 30 you were practically tripping over entire armories wherever you went, and if you wanted to keep up to date you had to pause the action every 10 minutes so you could sift though everything you picked up to find the few things you actually want, equip them to yourself and your squad, and then delete all the excess. This broke flow terribly and I fail to see how anyone could think it was good design.
In Mass Effect 2 they got rid of this problem (although that's not to say ME2 dis everything right. The planet scanning was, if possible, even more dull). Maybe ME2 and DA2 did skimp on the RPG elements a bit too much than was necessary, but in my opinion at least it was nice to see a company renowned for making old school RPG's experimenting and mixing up the formula to try and create the best of both worlds between action and RPG, rather than doggedly sticking to tradition. Not that traditional RPG don't have their fare share of strong points. But it is worth remembering that every genre of game has it's flaws, and their's nothing wrong with moving away from tradition in order to try and iron out these flaws.
I acknowledge it's just my opinion for the reasons stated above that Mass Effect 2 was better than Mass Effect 1. It still wasn't perfect, and I hope Mass Effect 3 will try to find the perfect middle ground between the first two. But the way I see it they kept most of what was good about Mass Effect (and the RPG genre in general), epic story, interesting environments/races/cultures, well characterized cast etc. While at the same time smoothing out a lot of the tedious micro-managing that had always got in the way of the good stuff.
I can't really say much because most people I know play video games like everyone "cool" people and shut ins.
Nice of you to jump the wagon and calling us console gamers retards (as usual).player3141 said:
Let one of us call one of y'all "elitist jackasses" and all of a sudden we fucked up.
I personally wish that games be open to every one, but was still being built by the nerds.Ando85 said:
Now let me qualify that statement.
The ones who orginally created the classic amazing games we all know and love weren't simply in it to make cash, but because they were the true gamers, a term I personally use to describe people who live for all things gaming. They eat, breathe and sleep with games in their minds. They think of games not as entertainment but as a culture which they love and embrace, and that love made them want to push the limits of what they could do with the technology and their imaginations.
We wouldn't have gotten the Mona Lisa if Leonardo Da Vinci was some random dude in it for a paycheck. The Beatles wouldn't have been so popular if they were driven by a committee. All the greatest artisans of our history poured their souls into their works, and that is why they were great.
So I say, let those who want to make games greater than ever be the ones who define what games are made. Let those who truly are gamers be the force behind games, not those who simply do it as a day job.
Well this thread depresses me somewhat, gaming has never just been for nerds, in my many years of playing video games I've always seen a huge variety of people playing games. Even games like World of Warcraft where the players are all assumed to be huge spotty teenage nerds but even since the start it's just a huge mixture of people.
I fully agree with this. If anything, I wish it was even more socially accepted. More gamers and a bigger audience means more games.Legion said:
I wouldn't say I am a "Hardcore" gamer in a nerdy sense, but pretty much all of the games I like are what people would class as hardcore, and very few from the casual. So in my eyes if this exclusively to the nerd culture means more hardcore games and less casual a-la "Dance Central" for an example, then I would be Ok with that.
In short, I suppose yes, I do wish gaming was just for nerds
In short, I suppose yes, I do wish gaming was just for nerds
A lot of the games I play are about as far from mainstream as one can get so while I do benefit from not being viewed as a nerd by everyone just cause I play games, I also get the benefit of not having every tool around spouting nonsense about things they don't understand regarding my games...since these types haven't heard of, much rather played things like Disgaea or Agarest war or cross edge.
Your post reminded me of the newest Catherine trailer from Atlus. The one where they asked a bunch of people about marriage and such. One of those dudes looked like your typical Tapout-loving jock, thick arms, tight Affliction brand shirt, everything...and he was sounding off on marriage for a trailer for ATLUS' CATHERINE.NinjaDeathSlap said:
It's not worth having these bullshit misconceptions. All gamers are great. I have no bitterness towards the fact that they're now "cool" where they once "weren't." This is the best time for videogames that I can think of. There are games for EVERYONE. How can this be bad for anybody?
People are afraid of old ways fading away, from what I've seen...but think of how popular pixel art is nowadays. In the NES and SNES days, that's as good as you got, glitches and all. Nowadays, the same graphics and glitches are FEATURES in games like Megaman 9. Look at how many people bitched about Nicalis' handling of Cave Story because it wasn't as rough-pixeled on the Wii or 3DS. Look at the popularity of games like Minecraft and Dwarf Fortress; complicated games that require a serious investment in order to learn them, inspired by pixels and ASCII.
You really think our industry is gonna let our gameplay roots fade away like that? What once was the only way will now become an artistic styling. How is that horrible?
That is nice to see gaming has its growing acceptance.
However about the girls working in the game store thing, in my opinion, I will consider this is a business strategy.
The owner of game store hires girls to work in the store to attract more male customers since most of the games are made for males.
However about the girls working in the game store thing, in my opinion, I will consider this is a business strategy.
The owner of game store hires girls to work in the store to attract more male customers since most of the games are made for males.
Well, I've been playing The Witcher 2 recently (no, I won't shut up about it), and it has made me think about how fucking basic and shallow other games are.
I mean, there should be a huge number of games over the past decade that aspired to be and build upon Deus Ex, but there's been virtually nothing until later this year with Human Revolution.
And from that point of view, he is right. Obviously if he is just calling you all retards he isn't.
I mean, there should be a huge number of games over the past decade that aspired to be and build upon Deus Ex, but there's been virtually nothing until later this year with Human Revolution.
He could just mean that since consoles are considered cheaper, more people buy them, and given the hardware limitations of consoles, games often have their wings clipped to get on them. And obviously as there is a wider audience, its generally going to want things to be simpler.SageRuffin said:
And from that point of view, he is right. Obviously if he is just calling you all retards he isn't.