I want to love gaming, but I can't.

[MysticSlayer]

These days it feels like people go out of their way to hate games, even ones that are not even released. Dishonored was my favorite game last year and people have gone out of their way to talk about how horrible it is and how anyone who dares to like it is an idiot. BioShock Infinite has been the best games I played in quite a while and yet again people said it was a piece of dumbed down, overhyped, pretentious crap that doesn't deserve to exist.

Keep in mind, these two games released to incredibly positive reception. In BioShock Infinite's case, it took about a week before the first "neutral" critic review came out (and that was Quarter-to-Three, which isn't necessarily a great site for video game reviews), and it took just about that long (sometimes longer, depending on the site) before people on YouTube and forums were starting to come out and point out the game's problems. However, those of us who weren't necessarily fully behind the game are inevitably going to comment on what we don't like and do so rather passionately, simply because we don't want to see it again or are hoping we can at least get discussion going about how they can improve on it. I can understand being a little upset that there is quite a bit of negativity revolving around a game you love, especially in Infinite's case where most people take things way too far, but also remember that those disliking it are just a vocal minority and most people actually love the game. Even I think the game was decent and a must play, but that's another discussion for another day.

Pretty much the same thing can be said about Dishonored. There's a vocal minority that comments on its shortcomings, but most people really love the game, and I'd imagine many of the people being negative still like it, but it's just better at this point to point out what could have been improved. Just remember, especially as someone who wants to go into the game design industry, that a lot of the negative comments aren't necessarily because people hate the game, though that can be the case at times, but because people want to see improvements made to what the game did wrong, even if they loved the game as a whole. The positive reception around Dishonored and BioShock Infinite speak for themselves at this point, now all that's left is to ask how can they be better, and a lot of negativity has to come out for that to happen.

Games used to be something that outsiders like myself could go to feel like we were worth something, where game designers were encouraged to try and raise the bar to deliver better experiences. But as time has gone on it has mutated into something viscous and uninviting where the outsider is shunned and where game designer that try an create more inclusive experiences are branded as traitors for letting the filthy causal into the fold. I want everyone to love games, but some people just want games to belong the them and to them alone.

While some people dislike "watered down" experiences simply for elitist purposes, there are times when people genuinely just don't like it because the experience has changed too much. Firaxis with Civilization V and XCOM: Enemy Unknown might have streamlined those respective franchises, but they kept the core essence of what made the experiences great to begin with, even bringing vast improvements in some areas. The end result was that many long-time fans of the franchises loved the experience, regardless of it being more streamlined. Sure, some would prefer the older games, and there are some elitists that complain about it simply for being streamlined, but reception was overall positive.

What people don't like is when what made the game good to begin with is changed. We saw this in Dead Space 3 and Battlefield 3 (and the Bad Company games). Sure many people (especially in Battlefield's case) love those games, but a lot of fans felt jaded after the experience for a game they had been waiting for was changed into something other than what they appreciated about its predecessors.

Ultimately, it isn't that people dislike streamlining, unless you're talking about the most hardcore of elitists. It's that developers often try to streamline and go more mainstream in ways that changes the very nature of the experience that made the older games good in the first place. It's not that people don't want casuals to be included. It's that they don't want to be excluded in the process, and, unfortunately, that happens far too often, which leads to the incredible negativity towards casuals that we are seeing quite a bit of lately.

I know that their are a lot people out there that love games as much as I do, I know that there are people with high hopes for the future of games, I know that there are people out there that want to let more people into the fold, and I know there are people that can judge games on their own terms and not chain them completely to the past. I want to love gaming, but I can't right now because I see is cynicism and hate. I need to see optimism and open minds. I need to know that I am not alone.

Don't worry, everyone has their positive moments, but it is situational. I may be the most negative person you meet when it comes to talking about action games and FPSs (even those I like), but get me talking about platformers and RPGs and I will be filled with positivity, where most negativity is done for comedic purposes. I'm pretty sure a lot of people are the same. Get them in certain settings and all they can say are negative things, but get them in another one and they find it hard to bring up the things they don't like except in a more lighthearted fashion.

 

[Mcupobob]

I worked as a QA tester at EA for a little while, and for a year at a small gaming company. I talked to a lot of designers and they have really cool ideas and fun at their job, but they still want to make money and there is not a lot in that profession so theres a lot of comprising your creativity. Also office politics, and constantly getting screwed and back stabbed. Oh and the constant threat of being laid off. Not that I ran into any of that at EA, that place was fine. Most of the workers didn't seem that happy though.