Poll: No One I Know Likes Good Games

[Kanlic]

It's really strange, but everyone I know either thinks video games are stupid, or they just like your standard popular ones like FIFA and Call of Duty. I don't understand it, there are so many good games out there, but for the most part the people I know are quick to call them shitty.

Case and point, my only friend that I would consider a gamer cam over to the apartment that I just started sharing with two friends. He started looking through my game collection and started rating my games, "Shit, shit, shit, shit, good, shit, good..." It just went on. The games that he called shitty were Blazblue, Naruto 2, Prince of Persia HD Trilogy, The Orange Box, and the God of War Collection, he pointed out more games but I think you get the point. The only games he called good were Black OPs and Assassin's Creed 2.

My two other friends in the apartment jumped in, one said, "Thank you, Alen (that's me) won't admit that his games suck. They are so boring," then the other said, "Yea video games aren't supposed to have stories, it's stupid."

At this point I get mad, I ask them why they think my games are bad. One said games are just toys not art, so they shouldn't bother us with any story telling. Another said that video games are for children, so why am I playing them in the first place. The worst offense of all came from the gamer, who said that anything that has cartoony graphics or is Japanese must suck, and when I pressed him on whether or not he played any of the games he called shit, he said no.

This is the world I live in. I wish I could say this is the exception but no, I have to get into arguments all the time defending myself because the people I know are ignorant about games. This is why I have always been a single player guy, I know nobody who sees games like I do.

My question is how do your peers, parents, essentially the people in your life treat gaming? For me, besides the point I stated above, it is perceived as a negative thing only children do.

 

[Woodsey]

""Yea video games aren't supposed to have stories, it's stupid.""

Oh how I weep - and that came after just saying Assassin's Creed 2? Anyway, couple of friends game, most play CoD/FIFA, I don't mind beyond that. They don't say stuff's shit, they're just not interested beyond shooty shooty and kicky kicky.

 

[cryogeist]

Maybe you should get new friends...

And as an answer to your question my friends (the few that i have)like games for story, gameplay that sort of thing
my mom also likes games....she currently has more gamerscore than me...it's pretty close to 20k

 

[LobsterFeng]

Hmm wow, I had sort of a mild aneurysm reading that. Well even if they're terrible and ignorant opinions, they're still opinions. And even if you try to make them understand that those are good games you have there, they'll still hate them. Yes I know some people like this, it's as silly as being a console fan boy. They won't accept that anything is good except for stuff they're familiar with.

 

[Drall]

"Yea video games aren't supposed to have stories, it's stupid"

I'm sorry, but I hate that guy already.

As for me, most of my friends are gamers, and they're all a lot more understanding of different tastes. I have one friend who's the self-proclaimed adventurer of the group, and spends his days climbing trees and basically looking down on us because he thinks we spend too much time inside, but we choose to ignore him for the most part. My dad is one of those believers of "Violent video games create violent tendencies", so I pretty much only play Mature games when he's asleep.

But, yeah...I feel bad for you, dude

 

[standokan]

We'll just have to accept that games aren't fully accepted as media yet and that most non-gamers (or your friends) probably won't accept it as such.

And even when gaming will be properly accepted, there'll always be people like that.

 

[TheAceTheOne]

For me, people understand I like it. Oddly enough, the arguements I get into about gaming aren't so much with non gamers about story and gameplay and stuff like your friends made a case about as they are with gamers about why they like particular games and what merits a good game in their opinion and whether the industry is doing good or bad to cater to the interests of gamers of a particular genre, stuff like that.

Peers: 90% of them are gamers. 8% Don't get it. 1% is my girlfriend, who understands and supports my gaming, who plays games a little but, but who's less involved with gaming than the 90% of my peers who are gamers.

Parents: My dad sees them as a budding art form, I think, while my mom couldn't care less.

Overall: People in my life are generally positive, seeing gaming as a medium which is basically a movie, but more interactive.

 

[garjian]

...you certainly do need new friends... if theyre that ignorant about one thing, theyre likely to be just as ignorant towards everything else.

either that or you need to have a good argument with them, like i do with people i meet... make them understand why theyre wrong. ^^

 

[DEAD34345]

My friends used to be like that, I remember the looks I used to get when I suggested a game where you play as an @ symbol can in fact be fun. Luckily I converted them, mainly by telling epic stories from Dwarf Fortress. Now, although we sometimes disagree on whether certain games are good or not, my friends are generally open to trying any kind of game.

 

[Michael K]

I miss the option "I don't care about other people's opinion about my gaming."

I don't like FPS games or Assasins Creed. I like games like Fallout 3, Civilization and Ratchet and Clank. Dragon Age 1 Rules and Dragon Age 2 does not.

Now, you probably have an opinion about those 3 sentences. And if you reaction is "Mwe" or "Good on ya, mate" you'll like me as a friend.

I have a whole lot to say on this topic, but i'm limited to the space left on the internet.

 

[Staskala]

If you can't understand that different people have different hobbies and tastes, then I'm afraid it's you who's ignorant.
There's nothing magical about video games that make them the universally accepted best thing ever.

While I highly doubt that your friends are people who have more than a casual interest in the fine arts, perspective is key here.
To someone who's very invested in classic literature, the attempts at having a complex story in video games seem awfully hammy and possibly downright childish.
To someone who's an expert in, say, landscape painting, the artificial environments as well as the atmosphere in video games will be more than just repelling.
Compared to the hundreds, if not thousands of years other mediums had to evolve, yes, video games are indeed immature.

On another note, do you like going to the opera?
Now, I think operas and some musicals are the shit, yet most people consider them boring and snobbish, even calling them retarded and gay seems to be popular.
Do I think they're all uncultured buffoons? Well, holders of the latter "opinions" yes, but otherwise no, they just have a different taste.

Or, to summarize:
Grow a pair of balls and accept that people will more often than not have a different opinion than you.
That opinion will not always be well-founded, not always be reasonable, not always be logical, not always be tolerant, but it's just that: an opinion.

 

[Nenad]

...you certainly do need new friends... if theyre that ignorant about one thing, theyre likely to be just as ignorant towards everything else.

either that or you need to have a good argument with them, like i do with people i meet... make them understand why theyre wrong. ^^

Yeah, explain to them via a long honest in-depth talk. At least so they understand that you gaming is as their [insert hobby here]. I've even translated a part of Planescape: Torment to give out to people... Here try printing this: http://torment.sorcerers.net/unovel/html/index.shtml#anchor2260

Let's spread gaming awareness, people!

 

[CoffeeOfDoom]

My family are pretty supportive - my sister is a big PS3 gamer, my other sister is a Wii and partial Xbox gamer, I play MMOs all the time with my step brother and my uncle was a massive PC gamer; he was the reason I got into gaming in the first place (bought me my first console and built my first PC).
The only person in my family who really doesn't like me playing games is my mum and stepdad, they both hate it and think I should do something more productive (even though most of their free time is spent watching TV and movies, go figure).

Most of my friends are gamers as well, and even the ones who aren't don't think it's strange. And my boyfriend is an even bigger nerd than me.

 

[ZeroMachine]

All of my close friends accept my gaming and don't dare say anything about "video games not being art" or "video games shouldn't have story", because they know they'll get an earfull from me. But it's also because I've shown most of them that games can and do have amazing stories.

As for my parents, I'm slowly showing them what I mean, and as for now I think my dad gets it. My mom, on the other hand, needs more convincing.

 

[shrekfan246]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that's just plain weird. I think some age (Edit: And hobby) references would help put things into perspective? Because I can't really understand how anyone under the age of 40 would consider games to still only be for children or that any game made with a purpose or story is bad and boring.
I mean, hell, I lived with one of those party-all-night-sleep-all-day types back in high school and even he still liked games such as Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy while also liking Mortal Kombat and Need For Speed.

Oh, I know what it is.
"There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call the Twilight Zone."

EDIT: Just to clarify for everyone defending the friends in this picture, I'm okay with people not being gamers, but these people are out-right bashing every video game ever made without having even played them. I'd be a hypocrite if I said I had never bashed something without trying it, but saying that the entirety of the video game industry is made for children or is stupid and useless is just plain ignorant. Unless the OP paraphrased to make the story sway in his favor, in which case...eh, live with it.

 

[Simple Bluff]

Most of my roomates only played FIFA and CoD games I've never really liked FIFA and haven't been that intersted in CoD in recent years. I didn't mind though, they can be really good fun playing with friends on splitscreen, especially if you make drinking games out of them.

As for my own gaming, I keep it to myself mostly. I wouldn't lie about it if someone asked me about it, but I wouldn't bring it up. To be honest, I doubt people care about what you do in your own time.

EDIT: I notice a lot of people saying stuff like "get new friends" and the sort - isn't that a bit rash? Dumping them because you argued over a hobby that doesn't seem to bother them in the first place? They must be decent enough people if you're friends in the first place.

 

[GrizzlerBorno]

It's fine for people to not play game because they have stories. But it's NEVER right to call something shit without never having even experienced it for a fraction of a second.

It saddens me to see how the basic edict of "Just because you don't like it, doesn't make it shit", which seems like common sense, is so depressingly rare. (not ONLY referring to OPs friends)

At this point I get mad, I ask them why they think my games are bad. One said games are just toys not art, so they shouldn't bother us with any story telling.

Just ask him/her: "Who are you to decide what gaming Should be? When did we elect you to the position of High Councillor of Gaming's Destiny? Seriously, Head out of ass. Now, please!?"

 

[Howlingwolf214]

"Yea video games aren't supposed to have stories, it's stupid."

P-people like this actually exist?!

If you need me I'll be hiding in my cupboard away from society in order to get away from people like this.

Good video games need good stories. A video game without a story is just you pressing buttons to make your screen flash.


Most of the people I know that play games either just play CoD repeatedly or stick to games like Fifa. Every time they talk about CoD I have to hold myself back from calling it shit so as not to insult.

I'll probably snap one day.

 

[Dogstile]

I read this and you're pretty much saying this. "Guys! My friends have different tastes in games to me, that sucks!".

My advice good sir, is to deal with it. People have different tastes.