The Call of Duty issue

[Iwata]

Hello to all.

I understand this issue may have appeared before, but I am indeed curious.

I have been a gamer since the 80's. I started with the ZX Spectrum, then the NES, Genesis, PC and so on and so forth.

Gaming has always been my main hobby. I have hundreds of games for several different platforms. I play everything (except JRPG's and sports games) and enjoy it. From Okami to Turning Point, from Uncharted to Command & Conquer.

So can someone explain to me why the minute I say I like Call of Duty, a vast portion of the community acts as if I'm somehow a pariah? How I should turn in my gaming club membership card?

Yes, I do like those games, and they are good games! They're fun, they're exciting, and as shooters, they get the job done. I don't play the multiplayer, but I do enjoy the campaigns, and yes, I do buy them when they come out. And enjoy them.

So I am asking, out of genuine curiosity, why this immensely negative outlook on Call of Duty and the people who play those games.

 

[Iwata]

Because some people just don't like it and don't understand how other people could.

I understand that. But I think it goes beyond that. Some people are driven to systematicaly point out that they hate the games and the people who play them, whenever the topic or opportunity arises. It goes beyond simple dislike, I believe, it's an outright phenomenon.

 

[Zhukov]

Because it's popular.

NO, WAIT! COME BACK!

I don't mean that in the usual way of, "Ohh, people who don't like that popular thing I like just say that because they think it makes them look cool. Dirty hipsters!"

I mean that people who don't like a popular thing are simply more likely to say so. In addition, a popular thing is more widely played, so the gross number of "haters" will be higher.

Or, to put it another way, how often do you see someone declare their hatred for Alice: Madness Returns?

Oh, and a lot of other people hate the influence, or at least perceived influence, that it's had on the gaming landscape.

Personally I wish people would give the hate a rest. I don't care for the games, but it's just getting really fucking boring to listen to.

 

[Stormz]

I hate it because it shows everyone they can get away with creating a generic modern FPS game, re-release it each year and make a trillion dollars out of it. It doesn't promote innovation or creativity. People love it even though every single game is the same with a half assed campaign tacked on. If they just ditched singleplayer and made an mmo like they should it wouldn't be such a big deal.

and no, I don't dislike it just because it's popular.

 

[BENZOOKA]

I've only played the single player campaigns, from first one up to Modern Warfare 2. They were very enjoyable and some of them I ended up playing through more than once.

It's popular. Kind of how countless people are giving great free marketing for Justin Bieber and Twilight franchises, by hating them openly and making them a part of their everyday vocabulary, somehow being unable to completely ignore it, which is IMO the best thing to do. Call of Duty might be the gaming equivalent. You know, those things (these kids) think that is cool to hate.

Other reasons might include: Activision is evil. CoD franchise is an overpriced cashcow. It's not innovative, doing pretty much the same thing not bringing anything or improving on anything on the table. Their demographics include young people (that's often a good way to get to that cool-to-hate list).

I say it for the third time because I don't know a better way to sum this up: It's cool to hate, a bit like some pop artists.

 

[hobohazard]

for me, its mainly 2 things. 1, that cause of it many games these days (home front, battlefield, flashpoint red river, im shut i could thing of others if i put the time into it) are just clones of cod and while theirs plenty of games to play instead, its just bringing the industry down a bit. and 2, the sad, sad majority of its community (READ NOT EVERYONE) is so dedicated to the game that there even more passionate for it than anyone is against it (also it seams that it and its clones attract all the young, obnoxious gamers). you however seam like you play it for fun and even though treat it like its gold, you don't treat all other games like there shit in comparison.

 

[TheSapphireKnight]

As many have said before it is very popular and there will almost always be a push back when things reach that level of popularity. The CoD series is recieving the exact same type of hate as Halo did.

Another problem is that a loud portion of the community consists of the high school/college d-bag demographic that likes to spout out nonsense about how their particular game is the best and any alternatives that are suggested are for "fags." So despite the quality of the game that is being produced people will not be impressed by it after the loud portion just keeps going on about it.

I have my own set of problems with the series, mostly to do with the fact they abandoned any authenticity they had and went for pure transformers level bullshit over any actual evolution. Co 4 isn't what I would call realistiic but it is at least way more grounded than any of its sequels have been. In that sense I felt that MoH was in many ways more of a sequel to CoD4 in terms of being more grounded. It wasn't a great game by any stretch of the imagination but a lot of what they did felt more like it built off of CoD 4 rather than the actual Cod games which basically took the bas built on CoD 4 and threw in more bullshit.

That said I don't hate the series, people just need to learn to let things go.

 

[hobohazard]

As many have said before it is very popular and there will almost always be a push back when things reach that level of popularity. The CoD series is recieving the exact same type of hate as Halo did.

funny thing is, that i just realized that COD is the best thing that happened to the online gaming industry. NO! don't leave hear me out! take halo as an example. before cod got as popular as it is now, halo was the equivalent. clones of it every ware, a rabid and annoying fan base for the most part, ect. BUT, all those things stopped when halo lost that obnoxious audience to COD. the ones who were left rejoiced, and bungi, instead of appealing to a crowd that would buy the game regardless of weather it was a copy or not had to actually make the strive to make a big step up for each one, which i think they did quite well. and don't think that was an one time incident. any other game that had a fan base like that pretty much lost it and the ones who stayed had a clean, fun, if a bit more empty community to play with.

 

[Burntpopcarn]

DON'T TALK TO ME ABOUT MW3!!!!!!!!! My copy didn't work... WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!! NOW I'LL NEVER KNOW HOW IT ALL ENDS!!!!!! FYI people, my copy was bought off of amazon, brand new. Also, my PS3 is prone to several malfunctions and faults. Whenever I put the game into my PS3, I am told "Had trouble completing the registration for the trophy information. this game will quit". Also, if I ever make it past that and I start up the campaign, A cutscene plays but the level itself won't load. Thank you, PS3, for not letting me play one of the biggest games of the year. "continues crying"

 

[Weealzabob]

I think the disdain for CoD has been blown way out of preportion is because of it's very wide fanbase, and being critical darlings despite the very sizeable flaws in the games.

Now I'm not the CoD fan I was a few years ago, I'm not fond of the multiplayer, and I think the single player has been stunted and quickly growing stale for the past couple of games, but to say the games flatout suck is pretty ignorant, and some of the arguments against it are ridiculous.
I saw this guy arguing that because the engine is based on the Quake 3(?) engine it wasn't worth playing. That guy was almost certainly trolling, but it shows what you're dealing with. Trolls, and people looking for something to hate.

 

[Surpheal]

I don't hate it per say, I just really don't like it. Now that is just my view of it which includes reasons like that it is repetitive, boring to look at, you have a limit to what you can put on your gun, it is repetitive, It pushes ver few new boundaries, and it is repetitive. BUT it is also fun to play when you get used to it, and is a game that is a blast to play with friends. I don't play it because I don't want to, but I don't try to get anyone who does exiled.

In short, yes it is a fun game, yea it can be one of the best game franchises in recent history, ey it did set many long standing trends in gaming. But I just don't like it.

 

[wooty]

I get exactly the same reaction when I say I dont like Half Life 2. Its all down to personal taste, so play whatever the fuck you want.

 

[dogenzakaminion]

DON'T LIKE WHAT I DON'T LIKE!!

That's basically the gist of it. I will also admit to liking the CoD series, except a few iterations. There are many haters out there probably because many people play it, so more haters. The companies involved also have bad reputations and with the current indie trend this means more hostility to the big bad corporations. I just think people should respect other peoples likes and dislikes regardless. Debate and argue sure, but without being mean.

 

[Right Hook]

I hate it because it shows everyone they can get away with creating a generic modern FPS game, re-release it each year and make a trillion dollars out of it. It doesn't promote innovation or creativity. People love it even though every single game is the same with a half assed campaign tacked on.

This right here, I think when it comes down to it THIS is why the people who dislike it actually dislike it. It is certainly why I dislike it, it's also probably the reason people are vocal about their dislike because if this model gets adopted by others than we start to lose actual creative games and the problem grows instead of staying static.

 

[Tahaneira]

Guitar Hero. Also, Madden.

I personally don't like the CoD games that much, but I don't judge those who play them. What worries me is the release pattern. It irritates me that one is released a year with, to my eyes at least, no significant changes to the game itself. Some new settings, some new skins, a couple of guns fiddled with, but that's what I hear it boils down to.

I'm worried that if this continues, shooters will go the way of sports and rhythm games: once viable genres before the market drowned in cheap clones pumped out year after year. I would view CoD with much less dislike if they just paced themselves and put some effort into real innovation between games.

So yeah. I really don't like the games themselves; maybe I even hate them. But I try not to let that translate into hating those who play them. Unless it's the guys who scream n******fag and ragequit when the match isn't going their way.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

Because it's popular.

NO, WAIT! COME BACK!

I don't mean that in the usual way of, "Ohh, people who don't like that popular thing I like just say that because they think it makes them look cool. Dirty hipsters!"

I mean that people who don't like a popular thing are simply more likely to say so. In addition, a popular thing is more widely played, so the gross number of "haters" will be higher.

Or, to put it another way, how often do you see someone declare their hatred for Alice: Madness Returns?

Oh, and a lot of other people hate the influence, or at least perceived influence, that it's had on the gaming landscape.

Somehow I think those comments are aimed at me.

 

[Bvenged]

I give my hatred of call of Duty a very similar expression as my hatred for the iApple products. Initially, they were very good, very innovative, very ... community binding and fair as a product; and in some aspects they are still that to this day. But it's early success gives the impression of warping the founding companies into something I hate.

The next thing you know the products keep getting little things added to them, but are treated as a whole new product; and like sheep, their consumers follow blindly with cash-in-hand - but you get that with all products, just not on such a large scale.

Most of all, some of these newer variants of the product are actually working unlike how they should be, off the shelf. See: iPhone 4 signal leak. iPhone 4S battery drain. Call of Duty's warped idea of "balanced" multiplayer (videos ALL over the internet offering insights/solutions). "new" perks are actually re-jingled old perks(just compare the damn perk lists between MW1, 2 & 3) Etc. Etc.

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So, they're cash cow products at what I would say are overinflated prices that've degraded in functionality right off the shelf over recent adaptations whilst still claiming to be "new" and yet only adding a few new features each time (which I suppose qualifies in some unfortunate world [ours]); and are still selling well at extortionate prices with a hardcore following who ignore any flaws and critisism.

So thats my opinion as to why I hate the game right off the mark, though I also personally think the multiplayer is one of the worst balanced MP of any recent game and its lack-luster story and "walk forward and shoot" SP just doesn't entertain me in the slightest any more (WaW, MW2, MW3 - BO, you're off the hook for an actually good story). I've done this "classic FPS" run a gajillion times already, I don't want to get any more brain dead! Give me something intuitive to do!
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Now, it is completely fine to enjoy CoD. I'll admit I used to but can't stand it any more. But many people do still find it fun. But the moment you start praising it as a game / series for it's most recent accomplishments, I will tare you a new one.

Oh, and C&C is a very, very good game series pre-4.