Feeling less individualized for liking a popular game

[bitCrusher]

This has been on my mind for a while. It might have just been me, but did anyone else feel less....individualized when you liked a certain popular title? I used to be this way myself and I wanted to see if anyone else shared these feelings (either then or now). I'll take Final Fantasy 7 as an example. I beat the game 3 years ago the night Obama got elected as president (haha), and I enjoyed the game. I like the story, I like how sarcastic the main character was, and the gameplay was just fine.

The weird thing was that, considering how popular the game is, I never wanted to touch the game again because I felt like I would be lumped in with the other fans who only play FF games or something. I think back then, I had a bit too much pride as a gamer and felt that playing mainstream titles would make me LESS of a gamer. I liked the fact that I enjoyed more obscure games like SMT: Devil Summoner or the Wild ARMs series because I felt I was the only one who liked those games. But then I figured, if I could swallow my pride to even play FF7 in the first place and treat it like a normal game, why can't I do that for every other game?

I play games like Halo and COD and I have a blast playing them. Popular or not, games are games.







I still don't like sports games though

 

[ZeZZZZevy]

Being part of the mainstream market isn't necessarily a bad thing. A good portion of the time popular games are actually good (there are exceptions)

Besides, I always thought that it doesn't matter what games you like, rather that you play them in your own way and if you're online, you're playing with a good amount of sportsmanship.

 

[Radeonx]

I don't really care either way. I love sports games, I love popular games, I love obscure games. Individuality doesn't really mean shit to me (In terms of games), honestly.

 

[Armored Prayer]

Me felling less special for liking a popular game? Hell no!

The concept of lowering a person or a group just because he/they play mainstream games is dickish in my view. This is why I have an issue with indie/obscure games as many(or the more vocal) of its fans ridicule those who enjoy the more mainstream games.

Screw what others think. Let them ***** and rant while I'm having fun.

 

[Discon]

I think you should stop thinking about whether a game is popular or not and just judge a game on its own merits, not by who plays it or who developed it.

 

[Susan Arendt]

Me felling less special for liking a popular game? Hell no!

The concept of lowering a person or a group just because he/they play mainstream games is dickish in my view. This is why I have an issue with indie/obscure games as many(or the more vocal) of its fans ridicule those who enjoy the more mainstream games.

Screw what others think. Let them ***** and rant while I'm having fun.

Well said. Why should I ever feel bad about enjoying a piece of entertainment simply because a lot of OTHER people enjoy that piece of entertainment? That's insanity. That other people liked it too doesn't diminish my enjoyment one bit.

 

[Nudu]

You were not special in the first place. There's no glory in liking something unpopular.

I see more people bitching about people who like mainstream games then people bitching about obscure or indie games.

 

[Ace of Spades]

I actually prefer being part of the majority because I don't enjoy having to qualify my opinions every time I mention I like a game like, say, Dragon Age 2, and am forced to listen to the legions of people who think I've committed some kind of crime against RPGs by not joining the DA2 lynch mob.

 

[GodofCider]

I need to continuously feed my overinflated ego; so I don't do 'mainstream' as I run the risk of feeling less special.

 

[DeadlyYellow]

You were not special in the first place. There's no glory in liking something unpopular.

I see more people bitching about people who like mainstream games then people bitching about obscure or indie games.

Everyone bitches about something. Play what you want and to hell with what others think.

If you need validation from an internet forum, you may want to take a closer look at your life.

 

[2HF]

I've always thought of things this way...

Fuck everyone else. Why should you care what they think?

Being yourself doesn't mean being different from everyone else. Being yourself means liking what you like and doing what you do regardless of what everyone else does or thinks.

 

[Outright Villainy]

I don't have any aspirations to be a hipster, so no, not at all.
Zelda is my favourite series, which is huge, and look at all the fucks I give.

[sub]Hint: it's none.[/sub]

 

[Jonny49]

Enjoy what you enjoy, play what is good, leave out what is bad, regardless of how popular it is.

 

[TheHappySquid]

I'm just happy to see you calling FFVII a mainstream game. So many annoying fanboys still insist it's a hidden gem and that only their precious 'tiny' fanbase truly understand it. It's sad how many I've come across.

OT: I play a lot of new and old RPGs, as well as popular games liek COD, Assassin's Creed, so when I'm playing something like Breath of Fire IV, rather than feeling special I feel sad that none of my friends like this kind of game.

 

[teisjm]

No, i don't.
I play games for the sake of playing the games and to have fun, not for the sake of trying to define who/how i am to everyone else.

 

[GameMaNiAC]

I absolutely love the Modern Warfare series, and yes, I feel the same way... as if people are going to categorize me as a "FPS fan with no real taste in games".

 

[Chibz]

There's no glory in liking something unpopular.

Because, of course, only GOOD games get to be popular. There's no such thing as a "hidden gem" or a game that simply doesn't deserve how popular and beloved it is. /sarcasm

 

[Nudu]

There's no glory in liking something unpopular.

Because, of course, only GOOD games get to be popular. There's no such thing as a "hidden gem" or a game that simply doesn't deserve how popular and beloved it is. /sarcasm

Yes it is, but that doesn't mean obscurity makes a game good and popularity makes a game bad. Generally speaking games get popular because a lot people enjoy playing them. If you disagree with most people, then okay, that's your personal preference. But liking unpopular stuff doesn't make you a unique and beautiful snowflake.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

Most of the time there's a reason that something is popular, and that reason tends to not be that every person who likes it is a driveling nincompoop (although this can be said less frequently about movies and music).

If something is popular it doesn't mean that you've sold out as a gamer for liking it, it just means that there's a good reason for it to be popular.

 

[galdon2004]

Liking a popular game doesn't mean you are less of a gamer; it just means you happen to agree with the 'majority' in the case of that game. It doesn't make you less of a gamer to like games that a lot of other people like; if anything it makes you less of a gamer if you refuse to give a game a chance based soley on it's popularity.