Too Much Hate. Too Much Drama.

[Arnoxthe1]

I've been reading this forum for a while. One of the key things I keep seeing on here is people arguing about games in general. And not always in a good, professional way. People care too much about what the public thinks of something. They always want to discuss what's wrong instead of what's right. They always want to discuss how the industry's screwed them over in some way. And I know saying that sounds hypocritical since I'm writing a topic that's pointing out what's wrong but in my defense, I don't do this often at all. And I feel if I don't say anything, no one's going to give this any thought for at least a very long time.

Nowadays, nobody wants to talk about the games themselves. What they liked. What they want to see in future games, etc. None of that. Why?

I know what you guys are gonna say. Yes, I have seen topics that aren't all negative but honestly now, which topic get's the most hits, hm? A topic about how the industry wants to suck away all our monies or a topic about a cool new feature or features of an upcoming game?

Who've we become? This whiny kid who complains whenever things don't go their way for any reason? Why can't we just 'chill'? For example, yeah, it sucks that the Kinect is bundled with the Xbox One but people would just NOT let it go for a while. Way too many needless impassioned arguments there. Too much unneeded drama.

Anyway, hope some people will read this with intelligence instead of saying the equivalent of 'lol no'. Be honest with yourselves.

TL;DR:

 

[Tom_green_day]

I think the thing to remember is that while it may seem everyone is complaining, this is because not everyone is saying something. The complainers are a vocal majority but actual minority.
And I agree with you OP, I am tending to spend less and less time on this website because of the negativity.

 

[Arnoxthe1]

I think the thing to remember is that while it may seem everyone is complaining, this is because not everyone is saying something. The complainers are a vocal majority but actual minority.

It's kind of weird though that game companies like to use forums to listen to complaints if they ever want to listen them at all. But then, what else can they reliably use that gives them ideas on what to improve on since a lot of consumers won't take the time to tell them?

 

[Guy from the 80's]

The negativity-meter exploded when the Xbox one aka xbone was revealed. This in turn led to the typical MS hate threads. Ten threads about how dumb MS is and how stupid/immoral (I kid you not, people called it immoral) people whos buying it are

 

[Soopy]

I agree entirely. It's not just this forum though. Anything gaming related is filled with the same diatribe.

 

[Tom_green_day]

I think the thing to remember is that while it may seem everyone is complaining, this is because not everyone is saying something. The complainers are a vocal majority but actual minority.

It's kind of weird though that game companies like to use forums to listen to complaints if they ever want to listen them at all. But then, what else can they reliably use that gives them ideas on what to improve on since a lot of consumers won't take the time to tell them?

Well that reminds me of the Bioware Social Network after ME3 was released and how someone working for Bioware called it 'toxic' (which is likely true, I didn't spend much time on there) but a while after everything had cooled down they did some surveys on the website regarding the multiplayer, so I think when there's no commotion forums can be relied on to be helpful.

 

[Keoul]

People are always talking about games and how much fun they are.
It's just that you have to look at recent events, if the new console generation is coming out then obviously people are going to talk about it.

I took a screenshot of the current top topics over at "Gaming" and put either a plus or cross next to the topic. A plus indicates something positive, a topic just talking about games, future innovation, or positive things about gaming in general.
Crosses indicate complaints or basic whinging.

Spoiler

The pluses outnumber crosses 2:1
Or at least that's how I perceive those topics, the one about harvest moon and underrated weapons could be debatable.

 

[SonicWaffle]

People care too much about what the public thinks of something. They always want to discuss what's wrong instead of what's right. They always want to discuss how the industry's screwed them over in some way.

This is a discussion forum, where we come to discuss things. When people have strong feelings about a topic - a terrible game, the ass-backwards Xbone announcement from E3, political drama - they are more inclined to talk about it. That's your basic reason right there; we're more interested in things that affect us than we are in things we don't care about, and so we talk about them more. It really is that simple.

I see a lot of positive threads around here, but I don't tend to bother with them because as a general rule they don't have a lot of discussion value. "Hey guys, what's your favourite game/weapon/masturbatory fantasy?" threads just turn into lists, as every poster drops their preference and leaves the thread. Without disagreement there's nothing to spur conversation, and the thread becomes about validation. When someone tells you their favourite game was Ocarina of Time, what can you do but nod and say "yeah, what an awesome game"? Whereas if they say their favourite is Daikatana, you at least have something to say to them beyond "your opinions are good, and you should feel good"

We argue because we care about games. Rarely on these forums does an argument descend into an actual fight, beyond the occasional troll. We bicker, argue, plot murderous purges against one another but at the end of the day for most of us it's just a discussion.

 

[Andy Shandy]

Oh yay, another thread whining about whining!

Let me get you some more!

But yes, as somebody has already pointed out, there are more positive threads than negative ones with more responses in them too.

So I would say that you're wrong, for the most part. And also good luck finding, well, any forum that doesn't have at least some people whining. People will always find stuff to complain about if they try hard enough. But luckily, not as much here as in countless other places.

 

[CannibalCorpses]

I'm not with you on this.

I've been watching the decline in modern gaming for far too long to just sit back and not say anything. They diluted the gamer pool by making games accesible for people with no real ability or attention/interest and then used the watered down pool to benchmark new games. As a consequence of that i am struggling to find any difficulty in the modern games i play and breeze through almost all games in 1-2 days on the hardest difficulty. The people who got their games watered down for them, they still don't play a game through start to finish but they boost the sales and profits of the campanies they buy from without the company having to do much of anything extra...money for nothing.

So i'm losing my hobby because the industry cares more for the people who don't use their products than for the people who made their companies succesfull in the first place. If that isn't reason enough to tear every fucking graphics-over substance game that comes out to pieces then i don't know what is. Would you rather i nod and smile and pass no comment? Or would you rather i give you a counterpoint to argue against, maybe learn something in the process (not just about me but yourself aswell). If your going to compare us to whiny kids then at least don't talk about the subject like you are a whiny kid yourself.

 

[ItouKaiji]

I tend to like to read negative threads even about things I like. When I want to see a movie I don't ever read positive reviews, I read all the negative ones and give them a chance to change my mind. I think that's because I learn more from criticism than I do from praise. Sure, not all criticism is something I can learn from as some people just post mindless venom, but I still think there is a lot of value in negative opinions. Not to say that positive opinions don't have value, it's just from my personal stand point most of the time when I read something positive it's "I like this" without giving me a good idea of why. Even the worst negative posts usually give some malformed idea of what they don't like and I can at least try to figure out what they mean.

Oh and ranting is fun. It's a good release and I love to argue about things so there's also that. Holding hands and singing praise can only be interesting for so long.

 

[Casual Shinji]

People like to complain. Not just about games, but in general. It's how it's always been.

And for every "Most hated/overrated something-or-other" thread there's an equal amount of "Favourite/most underrated whatchamacallit" topics.

Bad things just stick out more

 

[Smooth Operator]

We complain when it has to be done, bending over and getting shafted doesn't do shit only gets you shafted more next time around.

But hey I understand that is something many people do enjoy so by all means don't let our standards spoil your fun.

 

[SonicWaffle]

I've been watching the decline in modern gaming for far too long to just sit back and not say anything.

You lost me already. Then again, people usually do when they complain about the supposed "decline of modern gaming" when we live in a time where there are just too many cool games to play that nobody has the time for them all. After splurging at the Steam sale, I'm not looking at my library and thinking "oh no, look at how far gaming has fallen, I wish I could go back to playing cheap NES games designed to fuck me over", I'm wondering which of the awesome games I want to play first.

They diluted the gamer pool by making games accesible for people with no real ability or attention/interest and then used the watered down pool to benchmark new games.

And I'm lost again. What "gamer pool"? Gamers are just people who play games. Whether it's some twitchy CoD-addict freebasing Red Bull or some kid playing Kirby games on the DS, they're still gamers and still a valid portion of the market. It is not an elite class that one must earn the right to belong to; the only requirement for entry is, y'know, enjoying video games.

As a consequence of that i am struggling to find any difficulty in the modern games i play and breeze through almost all games in 1-2 days on the hardest difficulty.

So the worth of a game is dependent on how difficult you, who are claiming to be in the very upper register of skill, personally find it?

The people who got their games watered down for them, they still don't play a game through start to finish but they boost the sales and profits of the campanies they buy from without the company having to do much of anything extra...money for nothing.

Gaming companies making money, which is generally spent on more games, is a bad thing? Why does it matter whether someone played a game from start to finish anyway, so long as they had fun?

So i'm losing my hobby because the industry cares more for the people who don't use their products than for the people who made their companies succesfull in the first place.

Good lord, it's like we live on different planets. You're losing your hobby? Have you tried to call the police? Maybe you could manage to articulate how what you love is being stolen from you by other people having the audacity to have fun with it?

This kind of attitude is ridiculous with a capital RIDICULOUS. Nobody stops you playing challenging games, nobody forces you to play easy games, and nobody is forcing you to play interesting games which are about something more than the number of times you die trying to beat the last boss. This has the unpleasant stench of elitism; just because you are apparently pretty good at games, everyone else ought to be or just get the fuck out of gaming.

 

[DoPo]

Nowadays, nobody wants to talk about the games themselves. What they liked. What they want to see in future games, etc. None of that. Why?

Well, I [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.822425-Beyond-Good-Evil-2-is-probably-coming-for-next-gen-consoles] try [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.402591-Pleasantly-surprised-by-Mark-of-the-Ninja] my [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.402889-May-I-have-the-Cliffs-Notes-to-the-Halo-franchise-I-expect-spoilers] best [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.379208-So-gamefly-has-VtM-Bloodlines-on-sale-why-havent-you-played-it-yet] to talk about games positively. However, with that said, to be honest, I don't come here to talk about specific games - I come here mainly for the games and the game industry in genera, I prefer going to a dedicated board/forum for a specific game, if I prefer to discuss it.

 

[AidoZonkey]

Actually I find these forums to be some of the best, I haven't been shouted down when I raised my opinion, the moderators have a visible presence and I have often had genuine discussions about games which have not been hostile. I mean I guess there are some problem threads out on the escapist but I honestly haven't run into them, and yes there are a lot of non gaming threads but since this site is all about gaming, games often appear in the conversation

 

[Zeh Don]

I always find this type of thread very interesting, because it's essentially some kind of "Stay Calm and Obey" kind of message. If negativity is spreading throughout the video game community on a massive scale, one might stop to wonder why.

Is it the spread of gaming to the "casual" gamers? One would argue that they wouldn't visit the forums.
Is it the spread of unethical business practices to the gaming community? Seems reasonable.
Is it the anti-consumer behaviours of the largest players in the industry going unchecked until the internet based gaming community organises twitters bombs, mail-in campaigns and hate mongering that shakes the very pillars of the information super highway? I'd say we're getting pretty close.

The gaming industry has become one of the largest and least ethical entertainment industries on the planet, and people are wising up to the fact. Video game companies are moving away from actually focusing their efforts on making video games people want to play. Virtually every major franchise is in quality decline due to over-saturation. Micro-transactions, over-priced piece-meal DLC and anti-consumer practices are rampant. Did you think this wouldn't consume virtually every major method of communication available to the public?

Captcha: beg the question. Indeed, Captcha. Indeed.

 

[Nazulu]

Ugh. Yeah, we all want things to go our way. Thing is, if you don't want to see so much anger then you either ignore it or you try to point out the positives, not make the usual mistake and say everyone is whining because it isn't what you want to see. That's just petty. Also, I shouldn't have to point it out, but a lot of people like to voice their opinions because it's FUN! Or they just need to get it out of them. What ever works for everyone because we're all different and like to do things our own way.

If you are wondering why there is so much 'negativity' it's because gaming has changed and some people have been left out of it. Also, a lot of people find it hard to trust some of the big devs at the moment because of what they're trying to force, standing up for what they believe is right by avoiding their games and shooting down their reasoning. There is reason to be disappointed and who are you to tell them otherwise.

This is a forum to discuss anything that is appropriate in the given thread. That is where I don't get you, because you must be looking into too many angry threads. I can find 'positive' threads all the time, and even then I could start my own.

Nowadays, nobody wants to talk about the games themselves. What they liked. What they want to see in future games, etc. None of that. Why?

Are you kidding? Every time a new game is released there is many threads that want to discuss them. Hell, some people actually start complaining that there are too many threads for certain games.