Poll: Conservative and Liberal Gamers

[ChupathingyX]

No matter how in depth or detailed you put it, trying to put all gamers into just two categories will always fail.

I like some aspects of both and I hate some aspects of both.

 

[Kevin7557]

No matter how in depth or detailed you put it, trying to put all gamers into just two categories will always fail.

I like some aspects of both and I hate some aspects of both.

Another good point.

 

[Kimarous]

I'm Canadian through and through; I view such politics exactly like current Canadian politics. Conservative side is as strong as ever, and the Liberal end is losing favour, a third option rising up as the official opposition, one unable to stop the Conservative majority yet capable of voicing reasonable arguments and melding the ideas of the Conservative and Liberal wings.

But that's a roundabout answer. Mostly Conservative with some strengthening Liberal tendencies.

 

[Burningsok]

this is pretty one sided.

I'm open for positive change that moves this medium forward.

I'm conservative btw.

well, what would you consider moving the medium forward?

Creating games that are not only fun to play but are engaging as well. I want games that focus on story to give me that same feeling I get when a great book keeps me on my toes and wanting more.

Simple, I know. It's been done before, but I want to experience it more video games.

 

[Fox242]

Change is good, but I'm not into crazy gimmicks such as full on motion control with waggle quick time events and 3D. I love what works and what I love is a standard controller and a console with alot of gigs. But I do give indy games a chance when they deserve it.

 

[Zakarath]

I'm more Liberal; even though I kind of hate motion controls and 3D (they're gimmicks, and not moving the industry forward), I really enjoy indie games, and Although I once followed them, I've stopped caring about many big sequel-factory franchises like CoD and Halo. I've tasted the stagnant waters of the AAA industry and gone looking for moving water instead.

 

[Tratchet]

Oops. I voted before I read the opening message. my bad, I would change my vote if I could. Politically I'm a conservative but when it comes to gaming I guess I'm a liberal. Go figure.

 

[Tim_Buoy]

like my politics im a middle of the road guy with conservative leanings

 

[Mausthemighty]

I'm a Conservative gamer: I play only on PC.
Although I like some changes to the gaming environment, I hate 3D and motion control. Those things are nothing more than another cashcow for the industry without contributing anything really good. I love Indy games though and nice graphics is not the most important thing for me.

 

[Android2137]

...I... should have read the OP first... Oops. I marked conservative thinking that this was about politics instead of gaming preferences. I love indy games.

 

[Kevin7557]

This also doesn't take into consideration how Liberalism is basically Marxist and Socialist in disguise which is counter to the stated definition to Liberalism (which just rips off Libertarianism). Also considering that our founding fathers were Libertarian Conservatives are also looking to preserve the definition of Liberalism. Which is actually quite amusing when you think about it.

Also when you think about it Liberalism isn't really an ideology but a mishmash of other ideas (mostly socialist and Marxist today in America) where as the Term Progressive, Libertarian, and Conservative would all have better meanings and more easily relate to gaming.

The final problem in this lies with the fact most people despite their insistence don't fall into on category or another but have a mishmash of ideologies. Along with who decides what is what with gaming. Motion Controls are actually old school so supporting them would be more Conservative rather than Liberal since the Arcade and Nintendo used them long before Wii, Move, and Kineck ever rolled around. Also 3D is old as well, anyone remember the failed Nintendo Virtual Boy so again Conservative in nature. Again Liberalism has almost no meaning in relation to games, being a mishmash it doesn't really represent anything. Progressive would have worked way better along with actually flushing out these ideologies in an intelligent and divisive manner but then again it is doomed to fail because political ideology has little to do with gaming or what you prefer.

This also doesn't touch on the progressive nature of ideas where as what is liberal today is conservative tomorrow.

 

[Febel]

Where do Libertarians fit in?

Regardless, I'd say that politically, I'm more conservative, and that as a gamer, I'm also the same.

Libertarianism is a political philosophy focused on freedom. Freedom is not really an issue in this context.

Well, you have conservatives and liberals, why can't you let us in?

If I had to say, gaming Libertarians enjoy all forms of gaming, but detest "innovation" that comes from the top without practical application.

They want gaming to be free to evolve, but without the "suits" messing things up

If that's the case then I guess I'm a gaming libertarian.

 

[Kevin7557]

Also why would Conservatives not like indi games made by home grown developers. The mom and pop operations which Conservatives protect. Also remember Conservatives grew up on older graphics so graphic quality would also not be a problem so they would put less emphasis on it where as Liberals (meaningless) would put more on it rather than less.

 

[Smooth Operator]

I don't constrain myself either way, I just want good games.
I don't like the problems old games have, also don't want the stupidity that new ones embrace.
I hate motion controls but I will love them when they are good, same with 3D, hate QTEs and button-mash, hate DRM because it is useless, would like all games to be at the highest possible graphics level but it will hardly affect my judgment of them, indie games are as essential if not more as triple A titles.

I want progress, just not in stupidity.

 

[Kevin7557]

IN the case of real world changes one would think that all conservative gamers would be d-pad users. (again this fails to take into account personal preferences).

Since Liberals by definition are freedom lovers I can't imagine someone who loves freedom liking the idea of DRM and not owning what they just paid for. That litterally makes no sense.

Also polarizing the two haves was a mistake since real world politics are often intermingled rather than dead opposites (despite what the news might make out).

 

[Saulkar]

I am so back and forth that between individual points that I cannot fit into either one! Is there such thing as a Libertarian game?

 

[Kevin7557]

Also even progressives (which should have been an option) might not even like 3D (again Virtual Boy), or motion controls because they may find them lacking or just not very progressive. Also this brings up an interesting philosophical debate about what is progressive and if it is progressive in which way have we progressed and is that a positive or negative change.

Also disposable income should have also been factored in. It doesn't matter how much you are whatever if you can't afford the motion controls, 3D TVs, indi, or triple A title.

 

[zerobudgetgamer]

I'd have to say I'm sitting on the fence with both feet on the side of the liberal, but not quite ready to jump down yet.

I certainly have nothing against innovation, I have to say I certainly hate where gaming is right now with its heavy focus on FPS and Multi-player, but a lot of that is my own personal bias. I grew up with video games being a purely single-player outlet. I only had a handful of friends until...well, I've always only had a handful or two of friends in my life, and very few of them could hang out after school to play games, if they played at all, so I was typically alone with my RPGs and Platformers for most of my life.

As for all the other points, I don't really want to try to be on one side or the other. I never begrudged the Wii and it's motion controls, but I didn't think the Move and Kinect were the right way for Sony and Microsoft to go. I own a 3DS, but with only Zelda to play on it currently (And I must say the "brief" periods I played with 3D were, in fact, enjoyable, but a strain on my eyes nonetheless) It's kind of hard to base an opinion. I have no opinion on DRM, I've never really played any Indy games that came with a pricetag (see username), but I will admit to playing PC games with lower graphics, but that's mainly because I don't have the best PC out there. However, I'm immediately skeptic of games that deviate from a given control scheme, and constantly strive to set up the controls into something familiar, with recent games being played solely on my Logitech PS2 Controller.

For the most part, I think this week's Extra Credits sums up my opinion perfectly: the one thing I'm afraid of most for gaming as a whole is if it gets into the hands of "pure" businessmen with no love of the medium, whose sole concern is making money, even at the cost of "art." Do I want all games to be "Art?" I don't know, since the only other comparable thing they had to debate "Art in media" was movies, and I've watched a grand average of about 3-6 movies per year in my lifetime, so I don't know how good "art" films are, or how they've benefited other types of movies, and thus can't really have an opinion on the same scenario in games.

 

[Kevin7557]

Then we have to get into the matter of content. Being Progressive or Conservative the content will also have an effect on your decisions as well adding yet another dimension and further complexity to this already ever expanding labyrinth.

Then there is also tolerance and varying ideologies among the various factions of the various ideologies which would contradict each other.

What about issues where every party is unanimously agreed on the answer such as slavery then most people this will boil down to again individualism and personal tastes rather than political ideology.

There is also the undecideds or the regular voters who don't alline with any particular ideology so any political discussion lacking this option is already a failure since it is the most important since the vast majority of people fall into this catogory.

Then lets not even get into the fact that some ideologies don't even play video games but I suppose those ones are rather irrelevant to the conversation at hand but they deserve a nod as well since politicians on both sides of the puppet show use video games to serve their agenda.