Poll: Do you prefer mainstream or Indie games?

[Xerosch]

I just like video games. I don't care if they come from an independent developer or a big money spending publisher. As long as I enjoy it. Doesn't matter to me.

Yeah, I feel the same way. In the past years I found that it's much easier for me to enjoy my hobby, if I just stay away from negative gamers who write their toxic opinion all over the Internet. As long as I'm entertained by whatever happens on screen, I consider the game a success.

I'm not sure if you are mocking me...or if I should be saying "Get out of my brain"...

Definately not mocking, but happy to see there are gamers who are able to break down this industry and all the opinions people scream at each other into I'm entertained' and 'Just not for me'.

 

[Tilly]

It's a false dichotomy. Mainstream is about how wide the appeal is. Indie is about whether it's funded by a big publisher or not. I'd say Minecraft counts as mainstream. Rocket League counts as mainstream. Whereas Shin Megami Tensei 4 probably doesn't.

 

[babinro]

Mainstream edges it out for me.

I'm not sure you'd call my current gaming habits all that mainstream though what with playing Trials Fusion, Marvel Puzzle Quest and Magic Duels. These titles don't exactly scream AAA but they aren't Indie either.

Current gaming aside, the reason I prefer mainstream in general is because of the hype that surrounds a games release and launch. I'll be completely invested in Diablo 4 or WarCraft 4's launches. Meanwhile, hearing about a Don't Starve or Rogue Legacy sequel wouldn't build a lot internal hype but I'd buy and enjoy the games just the same.

 

[fenrizz]

I just like games.
Don't matter to me who developed/published them as long as they are fun and engaging.

 

[Summerstorm]

At the moment the indie-titles have the advantage for me. Most of the games i have played the last year or two have been kickstarter/greenlight projects.

Hard to say why though. Maybe:

1. I myself crave weird and innovative things over grand production values. (25 Years as a Gamer -(a REAL ONE, hehe) i am harder to please and look to very specific types of games?)
2. "making Games" become so broad and accessible that after the sturgeon-law still there are more "good" games than ever. And those are more easily promoted and easier to find and buy.

Could be more though. (Likely is)

 

[duwenbasden]

What's the difference. If a game works for me, I'll play it. SimCity 4 to Cities Skylines, Skyrim to Kerbal, GTA to Besieged.

 

[Kae]

More mainstream. As much as we harp on AAA for being dicks, at least the games they release work. And yes, Arkham Knight blah blah blah. Thing is they're working on fixing it! Even pulled it from Steam until its ready. Dickish? Yes. But reasonable? Absolutely.

How many terrible indie "games" are there that literally do not work? Steam's riddled with them and the Devs couldn't care less! I spent a week trying to get Dead State to run on Steam and eventually the Dev just said that sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't but thanks for buying anyway.
Say what you will about EA, they couldn't release a game that only works on half the Xbones out there, shrug and say deal with it. They'd be crucified! But Indie devs are small and weak and its not fair to hold them to any reasonable standard.

Having said that, generally I think Indie devs have better ideas and intentions behind their games. AAA companies want to make money, and that's all well and good, but making a fun game seems secondary. Indie devs on the whole seem like they want to make a fun game and that's respectable to a degree. But given the choice I'm still going to go mainstream because its simply easier to trust their games work.


TL;DR Indie devs have better ideas, AAA devs are better at actually making a game that works.

Considering that Arkham Origins is still glitchy as fuck and WB refused to patch it because they were working on DLC instead I'd hardly call that a good defense, then there's Dark Souls which is still hard to get running properly, GTAIV which is still hard to get running and some games like FUEL which don't work at all because the DRM they used is dead, yet they still sell it, if you want to play that shit you have to jailbreak it and it's a huge hassle.

I'm pretty sure Indie games are like that too but I have more AAA games that don't work at all than Indie games.

 

[Batou667]

I also think the line between "indie" and "mainstream" is too blurry to define. I mean, two of my most-played games are Minecraft and World of Tanks; both games that could be described as indie-turned-mainstream.