Poll: Do you buy videogames to be part of the crowd?

[KarmaTheAlligator]

I never did, because, back then and still now, I lack the sufficient funds to buy all the new shiny toys, so I'm usually at least a generation behind. Not that I care about mob mentality anyway, I play games because I like it, not because it'll give me something to talk about/do with my friends. If it does, it's a bonus, but I don't care if it doesn't.

Best example I have would be EVE Online. One of my friends recently started playing because he got a job interview with the devs and he wanted to know at least something about the game before the interview. I had already tried it some time back, and really disliked it. He really enjoys it, and plays with some other mutual friends, who also enjoy it. They've been trying to convince me to give it another go for a couple of months now. I still refuse.

 

[Tom_green_day]

Surely that happens on the internet too 'Pokemon is great buy it!' 'Bioshock Infinite is great buy it!' 'Pacific Rim is great watch it!' people let other people influence their decision of what they like.
I personally bought GTA V just because everyone else is- I wanted to be where everyone else was in terms of the story and I didn't want to play GTA online ages down the road where it was empty (it feels it anyway)

 

[Lieju]

I eventually learned not to care, but is this what videogames are for some people, now? To fit in with the crowd you have to play the popular games, otherwise you're out of the loop and you can't be one of the 'cool kids'?

Well, I grew up in the 90's and was bullied for liking Nintendo-games over GTA, Mortal Kombat and the latest FPS. Because the games I preferred were 'for kids' and didn't have enough blood and tits...

I do get it to some extent. If your friends and social groups are into a game, it makes sense to get it so you can all enjoy it together, but if it's a game you don't otherwise enjoy at all, I guess those discussions must really mean something to you?

 

[Terramax]

I actually feel alienated these days because the games I play are totally different to the games other people play nowadays.

Most gamers I know don't even know what a Sega Saturn is. $%£&s!

I do get how people will play a game because they can relate to other gamers though. It's a fair point, and it's understandable, so long as not every game you buy is for the reason of fitting in with the crowd.

 

[Sofus]

I only buy the games i'm interested in, and I couldn't care less if I ended up being the only one who wanted something specific. Some of those games usually end up with alot of hype and a pre-order option and so people who are just as interested in the game as me will usually end up on a forum.

Then again, I usually only buy games which have a strong singleplayer campaign and I usually end up ignoring any and all multiplayer aspects it may have.

 

[Spiridion]

The factors I take into account when deciding to buy a video game are as follows:

1) Can I afford it?

2) Does it look fun or otherwise engaging to me.

3) Have I been hearing good things about it?

For me 3 primarily has to do with making sure I'm not wasting my money. I usually look to a variety of sources including professional reviews, community reactions and sometimes friends' reactions. GTAV, for example, I had no real interest in playing at launch, and have yet to develop any since then since even though factor 3 has been fairly positive, factors 1 and 2 are not in my case.

 

[Yopaz]

I understand the feeling quite a bit and I think you are kinda misunderstanding the point.

It's not about buying a game because you want to fit in, it is to pick one game above another because you want to trade experiences and discuss it with people who might have different experiences. Buying The Last of Us or GTA V isn't about buying a game you don't want because everyone else got it. It's about deciding to get that game because you might enjoy it with other people.

Now it's been 8 months and 10 days since the release of A Memory of Light which is the most anticipated book of my lifetime. I was in love with the series and I really loved the thrilling conclusion of it. Now 8 months later and having read it twice I still find enjoyment in discussing the book with my sister. Pointing out moments of brilliance in it, pointing out things that I loved about the series as a whole. Having someone to discuss it with is part of my enjoyment of it. It's not as important as the book itself of course, but it's not insignificant.

Would I buy a game just to fit in? Well, in the N64/PSX era I bought the Nintendo 64. In the next era I bought a GameCube.
I bought the least popular console in two generations because I wanted it for the games. I don't regret it despite those who told me I should get a PlayStation. I don't buy Dragon Age, Mass Effect, Call of Duty or Battlefield, but I did buy Arkham City. I don't shy away from popular games, nor do I flock towards them. Both options are equally stupid.

 

[Uriain]

That's my sentiments exactly, but this guy, when I presented him with this similarity...

It's like watching football just to be able to talk about it, even if you don't like it.

He answered...

No. It'd be like having the option of watching two football games & choosing to watch the game your friends are watching so you can talk about it with them. Then watching the other game.

Was wondering how many guys thought the same.

To use this analogy I would have said "If I have two football matches to watch, I can always catch the highlights of the other match. You may want to watch all of the games on Eurocup but you will always have your favourite team which you pick to watch first"

 

[mitchell271]

I very rarely buy games at launch so no. If I do get GTA V, it'll be a ways down the road, and multiplayer will just be with friends. In the past 4 years, the only launch games I've gotten were Skyrim and Bioshock: Infinite. If something is an amazing single player game, I'll usually get it later at a lower price. Until then, I'm content with just working through my Humble Bundle backlog.

I'll never understand doing something you don't like to appear classy or become part of a crowd. Do something you enjoy and you'll find other people who enjoy that as well, even if it's only online. For example, my roommate drinks Hennessey cognac on occasion. Not to get drunk and he despises the taste, so why? Because it's classy. Fuck that.

 

[AnthrSolidSnake]

If I did something like that, I'd be doing it for nothing. I don't have a lot of friends that play video games, and even if I do they don't play nearly as much as I do. The only time everyone played games as much as I did was in elementary school. Everyone was talking about Ocarina of Time and Crash Bandicoot. In middle school that disappeared, fast. Which was a shame because the PS2 was out with so many great games.

Now I'm down to just my brother, my girlfriend, and two other friends, which sounds like a nice circle of friends, but one friend only plays console, the other doesn't have a gaming PC yet (he will in two weeks), my girlfriend mainly plays MMOs and strategy games, and I can't always afford two copies of a game for my brother and I to play. Everyone else I know either doesn't play games, only plays COD, or ignores me. It's quite frustrating for someone such as myself who plays games everyday (or whenever he gets the chance) and only has maybe three people to play with, which mostly only boils down to one person at any given time.

 

[TehCookie]

I understand his point of view, he has two games he wants and he picked the one he can talk about during release. I don't think he's buying someone he's not interested in to be part of the "in" crowd, but rather wanting to join in the hype about a game he enjoys instead of being late to the party. TLOU hype train has passed, so playing it now or months from now won't make a big difference.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I don't buy games at launch. I don't even buy games that came out on whatever year we are. I only become part of the crowd retrospectively, playing GOTY editions of cult/great games. Arkham Asylum. Red Dead Redemption. Etc.
This is of course because I only more or less recently got a PS3. If I could coast the money, then by all means I would be playing Far Cry 3 and BioShock Infinite and The Last of Us and GTA V. But I can't, so I won't, though I should, and I might... in the future.

 

[Joccaren]

No, though I tend to invoke that sort of reaction in some.

I buy games because they sound fun, and generally if friends are getting them I'll decide not to as I know I'll be bugged into playing them again and again when I don't want to, and that just annoys me.
However, I'll buy a game, and talk to someone about it, and suddenly a few of the more 'dudebro' people I know will want to buy the game simply to have something to talk about with me.
I don't know why. But it happens. I am probably single handedly responsible for the 2 to 3 'dudebros' at my school who play 4X games like Galactic Civ 2, or RPGs like DA:O, as opposed to GTAV, CoD and LoL - though they play those too. IDK. Its weird.

 

[KOMega]

Luckily my friends and me have similar interests, so the games that I can talk about are usually games that I want to play anyways.

That being said, generally I can't afford to just buy a game so that I can participate in a conversation. Gotta make sure I will enjoy it.

I don't have many friends that play Armored Core, and I have some that play Skyrim.
I picked up Armored Core.


I believe this problem is more widespread in those communities where people have enough money to buy a game on a whim. I'd probably like to have a life where that is a problem XD

 

[Ashadowpie]

i play whatever the hell i wanna play. popular or not, if its a good game to me im gunna freakin play it.

 

[purplemonkey555]

For me, I'd probably make the same choice. TLOU has multiplayer, but that's not really the focus of it. GTA on the other hand, at least for me, was almost all about the online. That's not to say I didn't have fun with the single player, in fact the only other game I played after the GTA V launch was when I played Injustice for a night with a few friends of mine. I bought the game at launch, not because it was the cool thing to do, but because it looked good. However, If I'd waited to get GTA in, lets just say, 6 months, I doubt as many of my friends would be playing and it just wouldn't be as fun. Yes there are other players on it anyway, but whenever I see a white dot on my map I just instinctively get my gun ready, and 9/10 times that instinct is correct. Playing with my actual friends is just so much more fun.

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

No. I play games i want to play. Mostly play games when im not going out any where. Also dont play games online so dont have that "buy game x so i can play online with friends" issue.

 

[Arslan Aladeen]

No. I go after games that look fun, or even mildly amusing to, ME and ME alone. Probably the best example I can give is my purchasing of Anarchy Reigns (Look it up if you don't know what it is.) It was relatively unknown to my group of gamer friends and as a result no one but me bought it. I had more fun on that than I ever did on Battlefield 3.

I bought an extra copy of Anarchy for one of my friends just so I can have a guaranteed coop partner to play with. It's not Platinum's best game by any means, but it's certainly unique and fun under the right conditions.

 

[MrHide-Patten]

A little, but not quite. Seeing as how most of my friends are gamers and game developers it doesn't feel too out of place to talk about current games.

It's a good feeling to be able to connect and just chat away, as opposed to most cases where conversations just feek weird (hows about that local sports team).

But generally no. Like Pokemons realky trending now, but the part of my brain that thinks is telling me that it wouldn't be worth buying a 3DS for.