That's like saying that you are an elitist for watching The Expendables or any other generic action title with a few dozen millions of budget. That's the opposite of elitism.
Elitism is what you mentioned. "Hurr, I'm better than you because I play Skyrim and you play CoD. What, chainsaws attached to rifles? Are you 12? Gears of War sucks, durr."
Sorry, I didn't mean for the video link to imply that I was attacking independent developers specifically, or that simply because the word "indie" appears in the title I had mistakenly assumed that it meant something other than independent development studio. I guess I just wanted to draw attention to that dude's epic mutton chops and Ray-Ban prescription lenses. The movie itself looks absurdly overwrought, though. Most of these guys are just screwing around in Game Maker rehashing dated platformers with a crappy physics engine thrown in.
The way you presented the post looked EXACTLY LIKE THAT: attacking indie games and their developers because they appeared "elitist" for some reason.
Just take more care with your opening arguments, and be more specific with what you're actually discussing; it's what distinguishes an inflammatory/troll topic from one that aims to discuss something rationally.
I was actually trying to express a creeping feeling I have that some gamers' attitudes towards games are changing into that of an exclusive club mentality. Gamers are taking sides, with CoD games on one half and Suda 51 fans on the other, to use but one example.
It will certainly come across that way because most of those "hipsters" are people who have played games for most of their life. Their degree of exposure to gaming is much greater than the random 15 year old who thinks Call of Duty 4 is the best game in history.
Today, there exists a great degree of friction between some of these "hipsters" and core mainstream gamers.
From my own experience the "hipster" you describe forms from one of two processes:
a) A retro gamer becomes discontent with the selection of new games; falls back and plays their old/retro games.(proceed to 'c')
b) The mainstream crowd (both gamers and publishers) hype the unholy sin out of current generation games, and they pick on the retro games (and in turn, retro gamers) as a point of comparison (proceed to 'c')
c) This in turn creates a reaction from the retro crowd: many who exaggerate how great their old games are and how they (absurdly) hold up to all of today's standards; they cite how many games they've beaten/played as if it were some silly form of "street cred". That is where you get the most obnoxious of "hipsters".
(And I would know this, because I've fallen into the same trap.)
So what do we do with these "hipsters"? And what do the hipsters do with their haters?
Do we continue on in this never ending war of marginalization?
Logically shunting and pidgeon-holing the others' opinions to the point where we can dismiss them based on how vague and ordinary they seem?
No. We really shouldn't. I have a better proposal: put them to work.
As absurd as this sounds right this minute, these hipsters are actually the BEST kind of people to have *making* games.
Think about it: These are people who are motivated beyond churning out paychecks and are experienced in the medium they would be working in. That's the kind of person you want working in a creative medium at its absolute barest: Discontent "creators".
If they feel that there is a void in gaming, they may try their hardest to fill it. Not always, as circumstances permit, but the tools available to independent developers have only improved as time has gone on. Even Modern-grade game engines previously reserved only for in-house AAA studios, are nearly within their grasp.
I'm actually following an alpha-stage game called Blockade Runner. Why? It's a starship construction game with a touch of minecraft thrown in (you gather material, and build ships).
You build ships, and then you and a crew of your friends duke it out with others and their ships.
Pretty cool, eh?
And yet I know with 100% certainty that this is the sort of game that AAA gaming would NEVER EVER consider creating. It won't please investors, and that's the first step to getting AAA fundind.
In any case: Welcome to the Escapist. Sorry for burying you in text. I just do that.
Yeah, it's like a totally relevant, serious issue that we are all discussing here, namely the proliferation of hipsters within the gaming industry, and how that exemplifies the infiltration of the aforementioned industry, with specific references to indie games and non-mainstream music as supporting points to illustrate the decline of said industry due to, you know, the hipsters, who are quite obviously infiltrating the gaming industry, by covert means and otherwise- it's all infiltration and subterfuge, regardless of motive and intent, don't you know?- fucking hipsters, you know, like as if even using the term "hipster" doesn't qualify one as a hipster by association, and like, you know, I'm, like, totally challenging your desire to source and appreciate alternative forms of entertainment, regardless of whether it be music, or appreciating the aesthetic- retro or otherwise- of indie games, and thus applying a blanket label to you, yes, you, the person that I am talking about, the hipster that is ruining it for the rest of us.
What are you talking about. All "hardcore" gamers are hipsters. Hardcore is the equivalent of hipster. "I like it because I know the real value of games" as opposed to just playing it as a distraction like those "dirty casuals". Everyone on this website is a hipster. Look at tall the people denouncing games for being popular. We're all hipsters.
Shoot, does that make me a hipster since I help develop and do art for indie games? OH MAN I ALSO WEAR THICK PLASTIC GLASSES!
In actuality, I know I'm not a hipster, and really, I don't think they're involved with gaming enough to effect my favorite games. Most hipsters (in my experience) don't play anything but silly internet flash games and big titles like Halo, which they like ironically.
Yahtzee isn't a game hipster. Popular games, he says, are popular for a reason (hint: because they usually have something really good in them). I hate hipsters with a passion, I really do, but indie developers aren't hipsters. Making the AAA games that we are used to playing takes millions upon millions of dollars, an amount not everyone can afford. "Hipster" developers usually have to sacrifice graphics and resort to the retro style because it is easier to program and draw than full 3D objects and animation.
Okay, admittedly the film and indie developers have little to do with my original, poorly expressed point. I'm not even sure I had a point. Nevertheless, the trailer does look like a complete load of self-congratulatory wank. Why do we need to see Mutton Chops McRay-Bans seated at a bar, circling the rim of his cocktail glass with his finger in forlorn contemplation? And the SNES controller dangling from its cord at the end-- WHAT THE FUCK?
Are Mega Man games really obscure enough to count? I played all the NES, SNES, and Game Boy Mega Mans. Not because I'm elite, but because I'm now 30 and loved the Mega Man games.
Well, I'm convinced. You're a bloody hipster, alright.
...Crap, I think I am. I make retro rock music, wear thick glasses, and listen to a lot of bands nobody's heard of. Not to be elite, mind, but because I live in a small town with a lot of musicians. But still, I must be a hipster.
I only really count it as elitism when the magic box of exclusivity gets drawn. I've played all the NES Megaman's (and was incredibly pleased with 9 & 10) as well as the NES Final Fantasies. I will readily make the claim that the 90's was the greatest gaming decade. But I won't close the door on that and say that they are some sort of perfect collection that can never be improved upon and nobody should try.
Elitism is some sort of curdled appreciation where the appreciating becomes greater than the thing being appreciated. It's a kind of calcification of criticism. It's where the mark of the master is to sneer at things simply because they are different. There gets to be a canon of titles that must be kept sacrosanct.
The only hipster in that video was the Fez guy. The rest were various shades of crazy(but then to be an indie game developer you have to have a little bit of the crazy) but not actually hipsters.
I fail to see anything "hipster" about the video in the OP.
Are you perhaps feeling inadequate you have NOT played certain games, that you need to lash out at people who love them still out of having been meaningfully touched by them in a way that has shaped their life and probably attributed no small part in their current choice of profession? Cause that's rather immature you know.
I fail to see anything "hipster" about the video in the OP.
Are you perhaps feeling inadequate you have NOT played certain games, that you need to lash out at people who love them still out of having been meaningfully touched by them in a way that has shaped their life and probably attributed no small part in their current choice of profession? Cause that's rather immature you know.
No. I'm saying that it's nerds' domain, and that art school kids should stick to plundering every other aspect of pop culture for credibility amongst their peers (i.e. films and books to name-drop on their Facebook page). I don't care if they bought a Master System on eBay to decorate their apartment with.
And I mentioned earlier that my decision to post that particular video was, admittedly, not carefully considered. I guess I spotted the Sunn O))) t-shirt and got confused. I mean, if you wake up knowing you are being interviewed for a film that day, of course you are going to carefully select your attire. That dude made the decision to be seen in the documentary wearing the shirt of a band that is revered by alternative music fans; like all people who wear band t-shirts, he is a pretentious, image-conscious show-off.
You do realize that nerds are lower on the social stratum than art school kids and hipsters, right?
And that "art school kids" are often the types of people who get into computer design and design cg for your favourite video games, do you not?
And Sunn O))) is amazing music. If you don't see that, because it's not nerdy and video game related, you're way too prejudiced in favor of video game culture I think.
Because of things like this, when it comes between so called "hipsters", and super elitist "hardcore gamers" that don't like sociable people in other subcultures taking part in their hobby, I think I'll have to side with the hipsters.
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