Poll: No One I Know Likes Good Games

[Nenad]

I've got an idea... give them ARMA II.

 

[Kanlic]

I don't need "constant head-patting," because for the most part it is understandable and acceptable why people have their opinions, but in this case, I am fed up with peoples dismissal of something I consider important

I play D&D, Warhammer and Magic: The Gathering. Finding someone who doesn't disparage my hobby is a challenge but I don't mind, why would I really care? It's only a hobby, what's the big deal?

Basically just chill out about your hobbies, I bet you've disparaged things other people like even if you didn't think about it so just let it go. In addition ask yourself whether you're over obsessing on gaming, if other people don't accept your gaming ask yourself if your gaming is acceptable.

Complaining about people not liking the same games as you is a sign that you have nothing legitimate to complain about. Be thankful.

There is no question that my gaming is acceptable. My frustration is not that people don't like the things I do, but more on the fact that they dismiss the things I like without knowledge of them. People like my gamer friend frustrate me even more because what they value is childish, mainly that they dismiss video games for having a stylized look when video games are inherently animated. Call of Duty is is just as animated as Katamari.

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.

ah, but there's a difference between "My friends have different tastes than me." and "My friends tell me my tastes and beliefs suck."

I was getting the latter from his description of his friends. It's one thing to have different tastes, it's another to tell people that what they believe in is stupid, because that only breeds ignorance and an overall worse perception of our Gaming Industry. To make video games (rather, interactive experiences) is to craft art, but people who just believe them to be toys are detrimental to people actually going ahead and giving developers this acknowledgement.

So yes, they have different tastes, but their beliefs are actually harmful to the perception of the gaming industry and we need to either educate them or badger them until they concede.

Ignorance is my pet peeve, and I try my best to destroy it by showing people there are games that exist beyond their electronic sports (I.E. FIFA and Cash-In of Duty). When the day comes that the crafting of video games is finally accepted as an art form, we know that those who sat around in their frat houses or mom's houses playing Cash-In of Duty convincing themselves that every other game in the world is stupid if it's not a bunch of shooting people down narrow corridors down a gunsight with an electronic sport to do afterwards are not the ones who helped, but actually slowed this process. The faster we educate them, the faster interactive electronic experiences can be taken seriously in the eyes of the public and become the accepted medium that it deserves to be.

I couldn't have said this any better.

 

[dosp5]

If this makes you feel any better, in my group of friends i'm not only the only one that doesn't play WoW, But i'm also the only one that plays minecraft. They all say the minecraft is addicting and boring. My response so far has been "Your playing world of warcraft"

 

[Tartarga]

"Another said that video games are for children"

Well I guess I should have let my 5 year old cousin play Dead Space after all.

 

[NathLines]

I know how you feel, mate. In elementary school, everyone hated on anime and manga and bullied me and my best friend for it(and 'cause of other reasons). My friend eventually changed school. I was also heavyily into F2P games and everywhere you looked on the net, there were WoW fanboys who just went around calling every other game shit.

Then I started upper secondary school, expecting 3 years of ignoring every other person there. Then I realized that pretty much everyone there watched anime (mainly mainstream stuff though, like Naruto) but there were some who were heavily into it, like me. Everyone was a WoW fanboy though but they weren't haters. So now I have loads of friends that are into the stuff that I'm into. People I barely even thought existed.

So, yeah. Depending on how much games means to you, I'd say that you try and find new friends. If a person is ignorant enough to claim that something I like is shit for no reason, I'd want him out of my life.

 

[Zarcob]

They're called "bullies", Kanlic. It's the only personality type that would actively begrudge someone for something they don't like (or secretly enjoy but are too insecure to admit).

Azaraxzealot's desire to educate them is admirable but I'd sooner tell them to shut up. Most bullies are deaf to anything but their own bullshit.

 

[RastaBadger]

I don't have (m)any friends but as a general rule of thumb people don't comment on the fact I do a lot of gaming. I can't tell whether this is because they accept it or because they focus more on me having seen every episode of Star Trek (I'm 16 so they consider it "old" and nerdy). Everyone I know who do play games mostly just play CoD or Fifa.

 

[thublihnk]

You're friends with twelve year olds. If you're an adult, turn yourself in at your local police station. If you're also twelve, as I suspect, just wait. You'll eventually find cool nerdy kids to hang out with.

 

[jpoon]

Just tell your friends they are morons that obviously don't have the ability to look beyond their lame preconceptions and see how good game X is.

 

[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.

ah, but there's a difference between "My friends have different tastes than me." and "My friends tell me my tastes and beliefs suck."

I was getting the latter from his description of his friends. It's one thing to have different tastes, it's another to tell people that what they believe in is stupid, because that only breeds ignorance and an overall worse perception of our Gaming Industry. To make video games (rather, interactive experiences) is to craft art, but people who just believe them to be toys are detrimental to people actually going ahead and giving developers this acknowledgement.

So yes, they have different tastes, but their beliefs are actually harmful to the perception of the gaming industry and we need to either educate them or badger them until they concede.

Ignorance is my pet peeve, and I try my best to destroy it by showing people there are games that exist beyond their electronic sports (I.E. FIFA and Cash-In of Duty). When the day comes that the crafting of video games is finally accepted as an art form, we know that those who sat around in their frat houses or mom's houses playing Cash-In of Duty convincing themselves that every other game in the world is stupid if it's not a bunch of shooting people down narrow corridors down a gunsight with an electronic sport to do afterwards are not the ones who helped, but actually slowed this process. The faster we educate them, the faster interactive electronic experiences can be taken seriously in the eyes of the public and become the accepted medium that it deserves to be.

See, the thing is, me and my friends actually tell eachother that what we like is crap all the time. Its not a big deal for me or them. To us its just how we are. I don't know anyone who's gaming sphere is just Fifa and COD (wonderful replacement of the name there by the way, by passively telling everyone COD is bad, if you can't tell that its sarcasm, well BLEH) and that's even with the most stubborn story hating game ignorant people I know.

You speak about it becoming an accepted medium, yet if we force games that they don't want to play down their throat, surely we'll just drive them away. Not that I really care on the whole "games must be accepted" debate, but its a fun counterpoint.

 

[TheLoneBeet]

My friends and I like the same games for the most part. Although I play more diverse games than they do. The way it usually works is I get whatever I'm actually interested in for myself (Assassin's Creed, Fallout, etc.) Something singleplayer with a good time investment. Then I buy whatever they're interested in for multiplayer (Bad Company 2, Red Orchestra, etc.) So generally speaking they accept what I play because if they complain I'll just stop getting the games they like, because mine come first. =)

 

[drisky]

They sound like judgmental frat boy assholes, not because of there opinions of games, because they can't keep form belittling people different form them.

I mean seriously the whole, "shit, shit, shit" line makes him look like this.

 

[Noswad]

Yep I know exactly what this is like my friend laugh at me for playing Deus Ex and Freespace 2, whilst absolutely insisting that fable 3 was a good game. Admittedly I am the gamer of the group but they all play games and refuse to even touch anything that isn't current gen triple A.

 

[dragonhunter21]

Correction: "No one I know likes games I like."

Just because they don't like the games you like doesn't make them casuals. It means they have different tastes. Sophisticated, flexible FPS games are my favorites- Fallout 3/New Vegas, STALKER, that sort of thing, because I'm usually best as a medium-range sniper. However, I'm no stranger to a couple hours sprinting around knifing people in MW2 or BLOPS. Most of my internet friends are RPG nuts- they're all excited about Skyrim, but I couldn't care less. But they'll still pop into L4D2 or TF2 and play a few rounds as a group.

It's a matter of tastes. Just because someone doesn't enjoy the games you like doesn't make them any less of a gamer than you. It makes them a different gamer.

/rant off

Although your friend is kind of a jerk for the whole "shit, shit, shit, good" thing. Just ignore it and play games you both enjoy when he's over, then go back to your more preferred genres when he's out.

 

[Kanlic]

Sorry for the double post

People always bound around the phrase "opinions are never wrong," but if you are the kind of person who prefers "Dogs Playing Poker," to something by Monet, then your opinion is wrong. More accurately, a lot of people are quick to say something is shit, but many aren't able to verbalize why. That to me also counts as wrong because their reasoning is flawed, namely that it is non-existent.

People who just say things like "I don't like (insert artistic medium here)," are wrong too, because chances are those people haven't had enough experience with it to make a valid claim. Things should be judged on their own merit, not just based off of what the person thinks the medium should be. This is my main problem, most people who say video games are shit never played video games, so their point is invalid. The issue here is that is how most people are like in my life. The ones that do play games only stick to the popular ones without ever giving anything else a chance, this close-mindedness is not something that we as a society should tolerate.

Now you almost make it sound like people disliking video games is some sort of pressing social issue.

First of all, I totally subscribe to the "never talk about things you've never experienced" line of thought, but that particular dogma doesn't hold up when it comes to entertainment.
People are completely able to judge what things they'll enjoy or not without ever having experienced it, saying otherwise is plain arrogant.

If the idea of reading a novel, the plot of which can be summarized in like 2 pages, where the entire experience is less about what's actually going on and more about how it's written, sounds unappealing to you, then feel free to dismiss almost all non-modern literature for you won't enjoy it.
If the idea of looking at a canvas or photo sounds boring to you and if you couldn't care less about (shot) composition, brush technique, the lens used or whatever the creator was thinking, then yes, you won't enjoy it no matter how many galleries you visit.
If the idea of playing a guy running around in the Middle Ages killing dragons and stuff doesn't interest you, you can freely disregard fantasy RPGs without ever having played one.
Finally, if you consider video games to be nothing more than a way to waste some time, if you're far more invested and interested in other things, then you'll never enjoy a "more complex" game, because it just isn't what you want from a game in the first place.

Now, I don't know your family and friends and I'm well aware that there are more than just a few people around who've only seen like 3 trailers and then dismissed the entire medium without a second thought, but that doesn't mean everyone's like that.
Neither does it mean that they're all just sheep waiting to be shown the glorious light of video games, because if they had even a remote interest in gaming they wouldn't have instantly dismissed it in the first place.

Since you've already talked to them about it and since they're still not interested in the slightest, I'd assume that video games just aren't their thing and that all further debate is pointless.
Maybe they're just boring, biased and ignorant, but maybe they are just average humans, freely able to determine what they enjoy or not without taking an 8 week introductory course.

The basis of anybody's judgement is past experience. I won't see a movie that features head trauma (i.e. bonked on the head) in the trailer, because without fail, those movies turn out to be insubstantial comedies that I deem a waste of my time. There is no judgement people should make without some past experience. Those that do are considered ignorant, this much I think we can agree on.

I can also see the point if someone is not interested in playing video games because they are so focused an passionate about something other than games. That's fine, go do that thing you do, but to flat out attack them is where I draw the line. There is an important difference between having no interest and dismissal. I am not trying to lead people into the holy light of gaming, I just want them to understand that they not seeing the potential of video games and what they do achieve. I am also not saying that people should take an eight week long introductory course, but if their only experience with a game is from what they saw from a youtube video, they are missing the point.

 

[ultratog1028]

"video games aren't supposed to have stories."
WHAT?! I guess video games have been wrong sense the late 80's. Challenge your friends to find a video game without a story. And Multiplayer modes don't count.

 

[ChildofGallifrey]

The way I see such matters is simple: "If you're criticizing something that you've never personally experienced, then your opinion doesn't matter." There's no politeness or respect of other peoples opinions here. If you've never played the game, then you literally don't get to comment on its quality. Some people have said it already, but I would literally find some new friends who aren't quite such massive pricks.

I'm surprised they said the God of War trilogy was shit. It seems like something that's right up their....oh. That has a STORY doesn't it? Like, y'know, every game released in nearly the last 2 decades.

"Yea video games aren't supposed to have stories, it's stupid."
^This guy especially does not get to comment on anything, ever again.

 

[StBishop]

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.

I don't like fighting games, Naruto, or god of war. I also think the orange box outside of PC is blasphemy.

The only decent PoP game was the first one in my opinion.

So I pretty much agree with him that soem of your games are shit. But that's the whole point, people don't like the same stuff.

I consider myself a gamer but I don't like the same games as you. (although I'm sure we both like some games that are the same).

I get what you're saying, but I think what it comes down to is that what you like is good, to you. And you don't need to defend gaming to others, if they say it's a kid pastime tell them that you disagree and it's the biggest entertainment industry around worth more than film, music, and print combined (in Australia at least) and if they don't like it they're in the minority.