Poll: No One I Know Likes Good Games

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

""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.

yeah alot is this, i do have friends that are as into gaming as i am, which proudly enough i'm the one who exposed them to alot of new stuff, but for the most part i also follow the "you don't bug me i won't bug you" philosophy, my parents don't really understand the concept of games beyond fifa and COD but my dad especially knows if he tries to say anything i destroy him with intelligence so mostly they keep their opinions to themselves in most cases, so i luckily don't have to deal with this.


plus i own up to just about everything, so when people do try to give me crap on it i basically go "so..your point?" and they shut up for the most part.

 

[Jamous]

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.

Wow. I want to throttle your friends. So badly. You, however, seem like a likeable enough guy. Prince of Persia HD trilogy.
Also, they seriously called the Orange Box shit? You know, the game with TF2, Portal and HL2, Ep1 & Ep2? Wow. You have friends that are either harder to please than Yahtzee or just have something against good games. I think they have something against good games personally.

 

[Raziel_Likes_Souls]

Your friends sound a lot like the people I know, considering I've probably been told games shouldn't have stories quite a bit. But not that they're shit. Still, Not much you can do, I'm afraid.

 

[gizunt]

My friends play ONLY FIFA we when we meet to play some games.....
"hey how about some Halo Reach?"
"NO THAT GAME IS STUPID FIFA IS AWESOME!!!"
"Ok.... how about Marvel vs Capcom?"
"YU RITARD FIFA IS OSOM"
"Dammit!!!! ok how about some NBA 2K11?"
"FIFAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!"
I hate FIFA :'(

 

[Kanlic]

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.

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.

They are all 19, really. As far as the story goes, it happened exactly like that. This is quite normal for me, the people in my life just don't think of video games as anything other than toys.

Why do you care what other people think?

Honestly unless you're a needy dog from the kennels you shouldn't need constant head-patting to live your life. If your friends don't accept your hobbies maybe, I dunno, just agree to disagree?

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.

What I wanted to see during this post is how other people experience peoples perception of their gaming. By the looks of it, I seem to be in the minority of people who are either dismissed or attacked for their gaming. Isn't it at least understandable that I feel anger because I am largely unaccepted in my life for my hobby? I'm sure I am not alone, but I wanted to use this post as a test to compare my situation with others.

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

 

[MassiveGeek]

Well, no I don't encounter much backlash, but just a TON of disinterest.

None of my friends play many games, and the one's that do usually don't give a snot about the story anyway, which is very frustrating because I like discussing stuff in general. They do not.

So yeah, while I have no problem being open about my gaming, I can't really do anything with it among my friends. -shrug-

 

[Sizzle Montyjing]

The games that he called shitty were [sub]Blazblue, Naruto 2, Prince of Persia HD Trilogy,[/sub] The Orange Box

Doesn't he know that he's a heretic for saying that?
And he's going to be arrested in every continent on EARTH for it!

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

Take no offence my friend, but your friends are monumental idiots!
But you seem alright.
But too put you at ease your friends are most definetly WRONG.
In every way conceivable.
SMILES ALL ROUND!

 

[Fusioncode9]

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.

Assassins Creed 2 is a great game. Anyways, what' the problem with him liking different types of games. Everybody like different stuff, they're just casual gamers.

 

[RanD00M]

Spoiler: The only thing I could read out from the OP

OT: People don't care what you do in your pass time here.

 

[Azaraxzealot]

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.

 

[Vykrel]

my brother jokes about the games i play that he isnt a fan of, but he understands that i like them. and all my friends accept the games i play too, even though i play a lot of games that most would consider mediocre, and a lot of games that most people havent even heard of.

tbh, your friends are tools. please dont introduce them to a great game like Battlefield 3, when it comes out. i dont want them in our matchmaking.

also, the one that said The Orange Box sucks, deserves to be shot. period -.- i didnt play HL2 until like 2009, and it is SPECTACULAR

 

[Thaius]

UGH, my ability to write a reasonable post is being destroyed by my strong desire to hurt your friends... argh...

...okay. Okay. I think I'm okay.

Nothing can really be said except that everything they've said is more than a lie, it's straight-up ignorance. Ignorance of the highest order, as it seems to be coupled not with simple lack of knowledge or even pride, but actual lack of intelligence. Nothing more can be or needs to be said on the subject.

As for me, it happens, but not usually among gamers. For the most part. It's only younger boys I know that tend to be like that for the most part, but my gamer friends my age are mostly at least accepting of games as a narrative art, even if not all of them appreciate it as I do. And it's mostly just older people that flat-out don't accept the allegation that video games have artistic value.

One of the best things I've ever done was develop a friendship with one person who thought exactly as I do on the subject, and we would get together and play through games. Not just co-op games; we would sit together and pass the controller back and forth on single-player, story-based games like Final Fantasy X and Beyond Good and Evil. It was absolutely amazing. If you can find even one person like that, do.

 

[Thaius]

I'm sorry guys, but I feel the need to point this out: Games fail UTTERLY in the narrative department. Not because games necessarily need to fail at telling a successful narrative but more because they aren't ... actually being given proper narrative.

Thus far, the best a game can hope to have is the narrative of a B-movie.

So maybe before jumping on them for not enjoying "fine arts" you should realize: Maybe an enjoyment of fine arts is why they don't take video game narrative seriously? Maybe enjoying a game's awful narrative intruding on your game play doesn't exclude you from being a gamer? I for one would rather the awful narrative of a game stay the hell AWAY while I'm trying to enjoy it.

...I question which games you've played. You've really never played a game with a halfway decent narrative? No credit is going to any of the Final Fantasy games, or Mass Effect, Beyond Good and Evil, L.A. Noire, Red Dead Redemption, Chrono Trigger, Shadow of the Colossus (which doesn't have much of a story, but it presents itself in an amazing way only a video game could), Bioshock, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time... how can you actually say that no game has reached a competent level of storytelling?

 

[Palademon]

This is why being on a Games course at Uni is great - instant common hobby.

That said, they still won't admit what a great game Prototype is..

I liked Prototype. Certainly wasn't the kind of story they were trying to make it, but it reminded me of the fun of things like Destroy All Humans.

Also, insert obligatory rage to people mentioned in OP here.

One of the only people I know who don't laugh at me when I mention games is a nice looking girl in my philosophy class. She only plays her N64...and she didn't know that Ocarina of Time 3D was a remake...

 

[Lt. Vinciti]

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

Time for new Friends:
1. Stand Up
2. GTFO
3. ???
4. Profit

 

[Kanlic]

Assassins Creed 2 is a great game. Anyways, what' the problem with him liking different types of games. Everybody like different stuff, they're just casual gamers.

My gamer friend likes games like Demon's Souls and Castlevania: Lords of Shadow. Those aren't casual in the least bit, adding to the frustration.

My friends play ONLY FIFA we when we meet to play some games.....
"hey how about some Halo Reach?"
"NO THAT GAME IS STUPID FIFA IS AWESOME!!!"
"Ok.... how about Marvel vs Capcom?"
"YU RITARD FIFA IS OSOM"
"Dammit!!!! ok how about some NBA 2K11?"
"FIFAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!"
I hate FIFA :'(

story of my life

I'm sorry guys, but I feel the need to point this out: Games fail UTTERLY in the narrative department. Not because games necessarily need to fail at telling a successful narrative but more because they aren't ... actually being given proper narrative.

Thus far, the best a game can hope to have is the narrative of a B-movie.

So maybe before jumping on them for not enjoying "fine arts" you should realize: Maybe an enjoyment of fine arts is why they don't take video game narrative seriously? Maybe enjoying a game's awful narrative intruding on your game play doesn't exclude you from being a gamer? I for one would rather the awful narrative of a game stay the hell AWAY while I'm trying to enjoy it.

Admittedly they have NO taste in games, due to never really playing them.

I'll concede that games are at their best when gameplay is used to convey a narrative, but the notion that games themselves are not a valid form of expression that can have a message is absurd. When I explain to them my experiences with games and how they have enriched my life, they always just say "there are always exceptions, for every one of those good games you play, there are 20+ games that don't achieve what you are saying." This to me sounds like they are comparing porn to Fracis Ford Coppola films.

 

[One of Many]

Well, time to set those neanderthals on fire and find some new friends.

 

[Staskala]

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.