'Hipster' gamers.

[Arrrgh_Bruce]

I did a search for the above term in the forums to come across multiple threads dealing with "gamers are the new hipsters" but what im talking about is a subculture within the gamer community. Let me explain a little first so you get my problem.

As with any culture, religion, way of life or whatever you would like to call it, there comes a point where the general group splits into its many factions, for lack of aq better word, due to differences of opinons. Politics and christianty are the obvious examples being in that while they all share a common bond they all take their own approach to it. This often leads to conflict between the 'factions' which in turn degrades the group or ideals of said group. Now dont get me wrong I'm all for differences of opinon, its what drives intellectual development, but the problem arrises when people take it too far, isolating themselves or demeaning others for their ideals which are infact basically the same.

Now back to my issue, I see this happening within the gaming community. Im not talking about the age old console debate, that's just a stupid non-issue, I'm focusing on these 'Hipster gamers' or I guess 'Elitist gamers' in some instances. These 'Hipsters' will claim to only play abstract indie titles, imports from overseas, games from 20 years ago that are 'classics'. There are infact people who do this and are perfectly normal about it and I'm cool with that but its when they start to degrade other gamers for their choices in what they play that it becomes a promblem, hense the Elitist tag.

With that in mind I want to ask: Do you see this happening more often now that the gaming culture has grown in popularity? Do you think that its a bad thing? Do you even care or are you just happy to play games how ever you want? For that matter do you even want to be grouped into the culture of 'gamers'?

 

[thenamelessloser]

This is true probably for all forms of entertainment/art I can think of from novels, movies, to music. It is inevitable and silly thing to complain about. It is almost as silly as complaining that people complain about that people liking indie stuff can sometimes be annoying elitists. =)

 

[Frotality]

i thought hipster meant someone who always has to have the newest, cutting edge thing just because.

well the weird, have to be different hipsters arent widespread enough to be a problem, but the "always gotta have top of the line" hipsters are a big problem. because the evolution of gaming has been so closely tied to technological evolution, some people fall into the same trap of wanting the next, new leap before the last one has even landed; its creates alot of pressure for console and game devs to constantly be upgrading and making something new. it causes shorter development cycles, causes publishers to pressure devs into using the latest 'trends'; and generally just adds more pressure for devs than they should have to handle.

 

[Suarga]

Bound to happen with growth of popularity in anything. Its not a bad thing, its just a thing. I think a many games should be made to meet many people's desires, no reason to hate on someone because they like something different. Whenever someone is grouped into some group without seeing what type of person they really are, you are getting the wrong impression, or at least a very generalized impression. If you have an interest in games, avidly talking, researching, and playing them, you are a gamer. If you don't want to be part of that culture or what it stands for, either A) stop caring B) stop doing it or C) redefine the culture. A is much easier, so most people do that.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

oh god yes, i know a good 15-20 of friends/acquaintances who are heavily heading down this road...it's almost aggravating to see them become more and more in the ways of the hipster, and i'm generally accepting of all and anyone, but when you go into hipster mode and have to be a snooty brat about how big your indie penis is, i'll probably knock you down a peg or two about it.


especially anytime a hipster is mixed directly with gaming..good god they blog/post/flame the shit out of everyone for being a sheep mainstream peasant.

 

[DustyDrB]

Only playing indie games? Yikes. Indie games are 99% recycled suckness.

This coming from a guy whose 40GB of music on his iPod consists of 70% Indie music or punk.

 

[dyre]

yeah, a lot of people on the internet and one or two (maybe one and a half) people I know IRL pretty much only play indie games and have sort of a smug attitude on our lamestream AAA games.

But I'll be goddamned before I replace my Eidos, Bioware, and 2K Games titles for some dull indie games. Not that I don't enjoy the occasional Machinarium or Amnesia.

As for old games, I take that to be more of people who loved certain qualities of old games that are less present in newer games. It's more of a fear of change than a rebel thing.

 

[ZZoMBiE13]

Well I would answer your question, but I'm way too hip to get involved in your non-elitist commoner thread.

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

To me, hipsters are people that like certain niche/lesser known things just because it's cool to like them, not because they really do like them more than stuff that's more popular. Every game, movie, album, etc. I that I like, I like because I really do like it. I definitely find myself disliking a lot of extremely popular things; most of my favorite TV shows get canceled during season 1 or struggle to get renewed. However, I love shows like House, Fringe, Hawaii 5-O, Castle, and a few others and those shows are popular. Just like with games, I really don't care for the CODs of the world but I can't wait for the new Batman game and Uncharted 3.

Liking something just because it's cool to like is not cool, same as disliking something because it's popular. The popular stuff I don't like I could literally write a essay for the reasons why I don't like them. And, a lot of the niche/less known stuff a lot of the "hipsters" like is pretentious bullshit.

 

[mirror's edgy]

Only playing indie games? Yikes. Indie games are 99% recycled suckness.

This coming from a guy whose 40GB of music on his iPod consists of 70% Indie music or punk.

I don't think that the resources available solely determine whether a game will be good or bad. Good design, writing and originality can make even a game produced on the cheap worth playing (see Portal, Minecraft, Braid.) Games that are produced by big studios and publishers can be hurt by pressure from publishers to make it have more mass appeal, but "AAA" games can turn out just as well as low profile games if the designers have talent along with their resources (see MGS, Resident Evil 4, Biochock, Persona 4...) My point being that some people have money and reputation to spare while making a game, and some don't. Good developers will put their resources to good use, or make a worthwhile game without them.

 

[DustyDrB]

Only playing indie games? Yikes. Indie games are 99% recycled suckness.

This coming from a guy whose 40GB of music on his iPod consists of 70% Indie music or punk.

I don't think that the resources available solely determine whether a game will be good or bad. Good design, writing and originality can make even a game produced on the cheap worth playing (see Portal, Minecraft, Braid.) Games that are produced by big studios and publishers can be hurt by pressure from publishers to make it have more mass appeal, but "AAA" games can turn out just as well as low profile games if the designers have talent along with their resources (see MGS, Resident Evil 4, Biochock, Persona 4...) My point being that some people have money and reputation to spare while making a game, and some don't. Good developers will put their resources to good use, or make a worthwhile game without them.

I'm not even talking about resources. Most indie games I see are laughable on the concept level. There are exceptions, but the indie games market is flooded with copycats and all-quirk-but-no-substance titles. They are just like the AAA games people, except they are totally transparent.

 

[thenamelessloser]

Only playing indie games? Yikes. Indie games are 99% recycled suckness.

This coming from a guy whose 40GB of music on his iPod consists of 70% Indie music or punk.

I don't think that the resources available solely determine whether a game will be good or bad. Good design, writing and originality can make even a game produced on the cheap worth playing (see Portal, Minecraft, Braid.) Games that are produced by big studios and publishers can be hurt by pressure from publishers to make it have more mass appeal, but "AAA" games can turn out just as well as low profile games if the designers have talent along with their resources (see MGS, Resident Evil 4, Biochock, Persona 4...) My point being that some people have money and reputation to spare while making a game, and some don't. Good developers will put their resources to good use, or make a worthwhile game without them.

I'm not even talking about resources. Most indie games I see are laughable on the concept level. There are exceptions, but the indie games market is flooded with copycats and all-quirk-but-no-substance titles. They are just like the AAA games people, except they are totally transparent.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturgeon%27s_law for the win

 

[AyreonMaiden]

I see it happening a lot now, and I say it's due to two things:

1) Our being in the adolescent stage of development. Gamers see what indie devs can do, and it's so fresh and new that they can't help but obsess and proclaim superiority for having discovered such gems...much like real adolescents when they discover a cool new band no one's heard of, for instance.

2) The differences between gaming communities. I don't see it nearly as much in Destructoid as I do here, for example. Different sites cater to different gamers, so I don't think it's fair to say that hipsterism is rising all around. You might just be hanging out in places where it's in full force.

 

[Sinclair Solutions]

Well I would answer your question, but I'm way too hip to get involved in your non-elitist commoner thread.

I see what you did there.

I think SOME (NOT ALL) of the hate of Call of Duty and Halo is a very mild form of hipsterness in the gaming community.

 

[Drakmeire]

Being an elitist isn't a bad thing, it means that you are sick of being pandered to by companies who see everything as a statistic. Low Risk-High Reward.
I personally hate the wave of gritty military shooters because they have nothing inherently "special" about them and feel like they were made entirely from demographic research to create a game that will do nothing but sell. I understand wanting to make money but I can tell when a game doesn't have heart behind it.
Indie games make it easier to find this since the creators of these games aren't expecting to be paid they will tend to make something personal and interesting.
I will freely-admit that I'm one of those "Games-are-Art Hippies" but I'm proud of the fact that I try to support unique, personal, artsy games. I play mostly mainstream titles but there is a certain warm feeling you get discovering a hidden gem and recommending it to your friends to help out an up-and-coming developer.

 

[dOrOrOwait]

At the risk of being flamed.
Its the "casual gamers" you have to worry about, the elitist's are the only reason good games are still being made, if we had more of them and less casual's maybe the Wii would put out a game thats not just for 5 year olds.

I agree that there are those who have a sega rammed up their butcrack so far they cant agree that games need to progress but then isnt it just the same with PC vs Console gamers..Those ones that think just because they play it on the PC its the "original". I hate those guys.

 

[Canid117]

I thought hipster meant someone who always has to have the newest, cutting edge thing just because.

No a Hipster would say something along the lines of
"Pshhh I was part of the Escapist back before it was filled with these new people who joined after 2010."
What you were thinking was the First Adopter mindset. Hipsters find things that they believe is counter to mainstream culture and then arrogantly assume they are superior to you because of it.

 

[twistedheat15]

Gaming is too mainstream, I'd tell you guys about the new thing I'm playing but I'm sure you've never heard of it.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

I do import but I'm an anime fan sto it's not out of some sense of superiority or something, a lot of the games I love never leave Japan so I don't really have a choice. As for being an elitist about it, that doesn't do that....though I do advertise stuff I love so that people will give them a shot which people can misconstrue as me flaming everything else by not also recommending that too.

I do have a thing against casuals though
Not casual gamers specifically, just.casual people in general. I think we all should have something we're really serious about. If you do have that and games are just a distraction and you acknowledge that then I'm fine with you but there's too many people going through life being casual about absolutely fucking everything and I can't fathom an emptier way for one to be.

 

[Eacaraxe_v1legacy]

When I run into a "gamer hipster", I ask them if they've played Ico and Marathon. If they answer yes, I might take their opinions seriously. If no, or better yet meet it with derision because the titles aren't "old school" or "indie" enough, then it's a pretty safe conclusion they're just an idiot. Most of the time, I get a "what are those?" response vaguely cloaked in hipster style by deflection.

That's just me, though.