Since when was it "uncool" to have opinions on games?

[Octorok]

I've noticed a recent trend (well, when I say "recent", I mean "the past year or two") wherein people will say, "Oh, here come the Call of Duty bashers! Look! Let's all roll our eyes at how many people dislike a game series! They obviously only dislike it because other people dislike it. Whereas, I do like Call of Duty, but despite the fact that other people like Call of Duty, I have perfectly reasonable opinions and am not on any kind of train, wagon or enormous pile of sheep."

I'm not trying to insinuate that people who do like a game series (using Call of Duty because it is the most used example, but there are similar arguments to be made for a few other titles) are simply "sheep", but why is someone having reasons for disliking a game on a bandwagon, but someone having reasons for liking a game has an opinion?

Since when was it NOT perfectly reasonable to have your on thoughts on absolutely anything? Certainly, some things are not open to interpretation, however many aspects of videogames are subjective and will appeal to totally different people.

I happen to dislike Call of Duty, at least, in general. I adored 4, and thought Black Ops was OK, but heavily flawed, and I am not looking forward to Modern Warfare 3.

But why am I suddenly labelled, by a series of massively irritating sarcasm junkies, as being on some kind of anti-CoD pilgrimage? I didn't sign up to a league, or a cult, or "attack" Call of Duty because I'm trying to be "cool", I just have opinions.

Just like everybody else.

 

[Radeonx]

Because people like to find justifications for stuff that makes them seem more right, when it doesn't really matter at all.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Its been uncool since the Dragon Age 2 debacle.

 

[putowtin]

Ok I'll go first,

It's the internet,
It's a games forum,
People gonna disagree!

Join in or flee!

 

[lobster1077]

If you can justify your claims then anyone with even the slightest bit of rationality wouldn't be upset about it. Anyone who is, I must say would be an utter twatpot.

 

[DementedSheep]

It?s because if some people don?t agree with you're they just try and find a reason to dismiss you opinion as shallow and wrong. This is hardly new.

 

[badgersprite]

Opinions aren't bad, especially not the way you present yours. You get the fact that opinions are subjective and people are likely to disagree. It's just annoying when there's a sudden influx of seven thousand people who have the exact same opinion and never shut the fuck up about it.

After you've seen the first 20, "Why is COD popular when I think it sucks?" threads, it becomes really hard to care about the next hundred people who don't grasp that people don't like what they like. So, effectively, what happens is you get a cycle of backlash against a certain game because people resent the popularity of a game they dislike, and then you get backlash against that backlash because other people are sick of the backlashers never shutting up about how much they hate said game, but then you get backlash against the backlash against the backlash where people hate the game again...

Yeah, welcome to The Escapist. That's basically how it works, haha.

 

[Terminate421]

The moment you like anything popular over either a Valve game or an indie game.

I fucking love Halo and cannot stand half-life.
I love Dead Space and don't like Amnesia as much as it.

Watch how many people hate me.

 

[Lawlhat]

It probably has to do with the fact that so many people confuse 'not my taste' with 'bad'.

 

[LarenzoAOG]

Because people like stuff, let's say giant eagles were flying around snatching up kids and eating them, if everyone hated them they would all agree that that was the proper thing to think and wouldn't argue about the Eagles.

But let's say the Eagles were beautiful giant creatures that many people enjoyed watching with binoculars, however they also took giant eagle shits on our cars, some people would love the eagles for their beauty and some would hate them for their shit.

The two groups would obviously argue about the eagles, some would make rational, well thought out arguments on their side of the eagle debate, others however would take the eagles way to seriously even though they were at best a luxury to be enjoyed and at worst an inconvenience, they would get butt hurt that someone else didn't share their opinions on the eagles and want to make those people look stupid, they might say the eagle lovers were immature kids with ADD who spent too much time looking at the eagles, those same people might say that the eagle haters don't really hate the eagles because they shit on things, but rather because someone they knew also hated the eagles and they wanted to be popular and sound smart like that person.

Now replace "eagles" with anything that anyone has ever argued about ever and it still holds up, unless the thing in question was something that could actually affect somebody's life for better or worse. And at this point the metaphor is seeming silly and broken, so I hope all that made sense.

 

[chadachada123]

The moment you like anything popular over either a Valve game or an indie game.

I fucking love Halo and cannot stand half-life.
I love Dead Space and don't really like Amnesia

Watch how many people hate me.

...I don't hate you, I just think that you're a shi- wait a second...

But really, how do you not like Amnesia? Were you playing in a well-lit room with a bunch of friends around, or were you playing it the correct way? I'm quite interested, because I've never met someone in person that didn't absolutely love it.

 

[Robert Ewing]

I've found 10,000 people to quote on this thread.

Basically, all gamers are pricks.

People have different opinions.

People have means to express and radicalize their opinions via major keyboard warrior struts.

People like to piss people off.

 

[Terminate421]

The moment you like anything popular over either a Valve game or an indie game.

I fucking love Halo and cannot stand half-life.
I love Dead Space and don't really like Amnesia

Watch how many people hate me.

...I don't hate you, I just think that you're a shi- wait a second...

But really, how do you not like Amnesia? Were you playing in a well-lit room with a bunch of friends around, or were you playing it the correct way? I'm quite interested, because I've never met someone in person that didn't absolutely love it.

Actually I am quite fond of Amnesia. Believe it or not I picked it because I wanted to see how long it took for a response.

Sorry, kinda trolled but it wasn't for enjoyment. It was sort of an experiment.

 

[-Samurai-]

Because when you come around saying "Modern Warfare 3 is shit and stupid and is copy paste same as other games lolzors", your opinion is incorrect, because you don't know what you're talking about. Unless you've taken a time machine to the future and played the game, you don't know what you're talking about.

At least that's how it is with your CoD example.

As for everything else; Everyone is stupid.

 

[nothingspringstomind]

I myself have opinions that seem to contrast with "popular opinion".

I see what you're talking about everywhere, and, personally, just believe it to be people attempting to justify their own opinion.

Humans, naturally, dislike views that oppose their own. I mean, if your ideas are wrong, what does that say about yourself? People like to be right, and some will take it to the extreme to "prove" the rightness of their own opinion.
And with the anonymity that the internet brings, this is easier than ever before.

That's just my thoughts on the matter.

 

[Octorok]

Because when you come around saying "Modern Warfare 3 is shit and stupid and is copy paste same as other games lolzors", your opinion is incorrect, because you don't know what you're talking about. Unless you've taken a time machine to the future and played the game, you don't know what you're talking about.

At least that's how it is with your CoD example.

As for everything else; Everyone is stupid.

I never really accepted "You can't criticise a game if you haven't played it" as an argument though. I need to have a certain degree of prediction, based off past experience and data I can gather from external sources.

I cannot buy every game, on the off chance it will be good. I must make a reasonable series of evaluations, and decide if I want a game or not. My reasons for my decision will form the basis of my opinion.

Based on all information I can gather and experience, I have decided not to purchase Modern Warfare 3. My reasons for this are, basically, "It's the same game as the last two, and I didn't like those either." Coupled with a bit of, "This game has had a disturbed development, switching dev teams, and that rarely makes for a good game.".

My problem with it being "the same" as the last few isn't hatred of a game that won't change - far from it, I like a good formula. It's just that the things that annoyed me in MW2 and Black Ops will almost certainly rear their ugly heads in MW3.

I have decided that I liked playing Saints Row 2 and Batman : Arkham Asylum (games I bought on recommendation from others), and as such, I will be purchasing Batman : Arkham City and Saints Row 3.

I would like very much if both of those games were like their predecessors, but better, and with new content. I don't want games to radically shift design every generation, and to drastically alter themselves on the altar of "variety". I want Call of Duty to be a shooter, and I want it to be extremely similar to Call of Duty 4, but better.

However, I have a strong feeling that it won't be.

 

[Vault101]

because somtimes its really really annoying

also I hate "counter" trends, like the legions of people hating on games that "gritty" or "gritty" reboots

ok, we get it, youre sick of it, but for fuck sake thease elements are not bad on their own AND hating them doesnt make your opinion any "better"

 

[Something Amyss]

I've noticed a recent trend (well, when I say "recent", I mean "the past year or two") wherein people will say, "Oh, here come the Call of Duty bashers! Look! Let's all roll our eyes at how many people dislike a game series! They obviously only dislike it because other people dislike it. Whereas, I do like Call of Duty, but despite the fact that other people like Call of Duty, I have perfectly reasonable opinions and am not on any kind of train, wagon or enormous pile of sheep."

I'm not trying to insinuate that people who do like a game series (using Call of Duty because it is the most used example, but there are similar arguments to be made for a few other titles) are simply "sheep", but why is someone having reasons for disliking a game on a bandwagon, but someone having reasons for liking a game has an opinion?

Since when was it NOT perfectly reasonable to have your on thoughts on absolutely anything? Certainly, some things are not open to interpretation, however many aspects of videogames are subjective and will appeal to totally different people.

I happen to dislike Call of Duty, at least, in general. I adored 4, and thought Black Ops was OK, but heavily flawed, and I am not looking forward to Modern Warfare 3.

But why am I suddenly labelled, by a series of massively irritating sarcasm junkies, as being on some kind of anti-CoD pilgrimage? I didn't sign up to a league, or a cult, or "attack" Call of Duty because I'm trying to be "cool", I just have opinions.

Just like everybody else.

So...You're asking when human beings became biased and hypocritical?

 

[-Samurai-]

Because when you come around saying "Modern Warfare 3 is shit and stupid and is copy paste same as other games lolzors", your opinion is incorrect, because you don't know what you're talking about. Unless you've taken a time machine to the future and played the game, you don't know what you're talking about.

At least that's how it is with your CoD example.

As for everything else; Everyone is stupid.

I never really accepted "You can't criticise a game if you haven't played it" as an argument though. I need to have a certain degree of prediction, based off past experience and data I can gather from external sources.

I cannot buy every game, on the off chance it will be good. I must make a reasonable series of evaluations, and decide if I want a game or not. My reasons for my decision will form the basis of my opinion.

Based on all information I can gather and experience, I have decided not to purchase Modern Warfare 3. My reasons for this are, basically, "It's the same game as the last two, and I didn't like those either." Coupled with a bit of, "This game has had a disturbed development, switching dev teams, and that rarely makes for a good game.".

My problem with it being "the same" as the last few isn't hatred of a game that won't change - far from it, I like a good formula. It's just that the things that annoyed me in MW2 and Black Ops will almost certainly rear their ugly heads in MW3.

I have decided that I liked playing Saints Row 2 and Batman : Arkham Asylum (games I bought on recommendation from others), and as such, I will be purchasing Batman : Arkham City and Saints Row 3.

I would like very much if both of those games were like their predecessors, but better, and with new content. I don't want games to radically shift design every generation, and to drastically alter themselves on the altar of "variety". I want Call of Duty to be a shooter, and I want it to be extremely similar to Call of Duty 4, but better.

However, I have a strong feeling that it won't be.

Well the problem with a prediction is that it's a prediction. You can't exactly use past experiences with something like a game to make your prediction on the next, because they're not the same thing. No matter how similar they are, they're not the same.

I could say that I don't like Call of Duty 27 based on past experiences with current and older games, but that would be stupid, because I obviously haven't played it, so I have no way of forming a proper opinion about it.

So I guess a more simple way of saying it would be that you can't form a proper opinion of something unless you've had experience with exactly what you're talking about. Not the past versions of it. The only way to know if you like something is to try it.