We had a very angry year

[Erttheking]

I just watched Angry Joe's top ten gaming controversies of 2012, and the simple fact that there actually were ten gaming controversies in 2012 should tell you that it was a little bit of an angry year.


So, in hindsight, what do you think about these controversies? Do you think that they were overreactions? Do you think that they were justified? I may get some flak for this, but I still think that the controversy over the ME3 ending was well deserved, and I still think that the Tomb Raider controversy was undeserved, considering that it was just one idiot shooting his mouth off, and I'm a little saddened because I'm pretty sure some people are never going to buy the game because of that jackass. Still, what are your thoughts on these controversies? Do you think that gamers should get as angry as they do? I imagine that it's really not that different from what we do on this website, 75% of the posts we make on this website are complaints about games/developers/publishers/consoles/etc.

Oh, and fingers crossed that the Arma developers are released soon.

 

[Erttheking]

Yeah 2012 was an epicenter of bitching. Alot of it was justified some of it was hilarious (HAIL TO THE MOUNTAIN DEW BITCHES) just alot of hate.

Lets just hope next year we don't have as much vitriol. I'm sort of sick of it to be honest.

I can see where you're coming from, but during Moviebob's (REALLY STUPID) top 50 boring opinions list and an argument with another commenter on how gamers are just whiny brats that never deserve anything except to me mocked, I had a bit of an epiphany. I won't lie that gamer anger can get incredibly frustrating at times, but on the other hand, people have every right to get angry and voice their opinions, if they didn't do that then we would all be submissive little sheep for publishers to farm from. So really it's a bit of a necessary evil, even if I wish that people would, at the very least, tone it down a little bit and actually talk about nice things in the gamer community to balance things out.

 

[Atmos Duality]

I've been saying this since March.
I'm ashamed to be part of the gaming community this year. (and yes, I include myself in that shame, thanks for asking)

Mere recreation turned into a boiling pot of seething stupidity.
We're damn near as bad as sports fans.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

We?

No, that was other people complaining a ridiculous amount, I personally thought 2012 was a brilliant year for gaming.

 

[camerinian]

I feel like last year in general was a melting pot of negativity and changing attitudes. Not just in the controversies outlined in the video, but even in the overwhelming negative reception of many triple A titles, even here on these forums. And whilst it is great to see more gamers embracing indies as a result, most of the bad reception of blockbusters is seriously just whining and over-reacting on the players part, thinking that any game that doesn't perfectly meet their unfairly, exceedingly high expectations is a "broken piece of shit", especially in games like ME3, AC3 and even Dishonored. I too was ashamed at the behaviour of the majority of gamers last year, hopefully this year will be better.

 

[DustyDrB]

Whoa, an Escapist forum post [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.393997-Arrested-ArmA-3-Devs-Denied-Appeal-for-Espionage-Charges?page=2#15946762] was used in that Angry Joe video. Cool.

But yeah, 'twas a year of controversy. Number one on his list (the Bohemia devs being held in imprisonment in Greece) may be one that was among the least discussed, but it's the biggest deal. I too hope those guys get released.

I was surprised Anita Sarkeesian wasn't mentioned.

For those who don't want to watch the video (and whether I think the rage was justified or not):
10. Lara Croft and the whole "rape" thing. Ehh, the dev chose his words poorly. But I don't think it was rage-worthy.
9 . Diablo 3's always-online and auction house: Justified. It's a horrible trend. It's very clear that many people play Diablo as a single-player experience, and this practice very tangibly affects them adversely.
8. The War Z: Justified. Blatant lies, black-listing, copyright infringing, and so on. I can't see an argument that the rage against The War Z was unjustified.
7. Bayonetta 2, Wii U Exclusive: Unjustified. The game wouldn't have been made without Nintendo. It's as simple as that. Be annoyed all you want, but don't rage at Platinum or Nintendo. This was the only way, apparently.
6. Capcom's persistent use of on-disc DLC. Justified. It's more blatant lies and exploitation of their customers. I believe I remember reading they were rethinking this practice after Dragon's Dogma, though. And they made the on-disc DLC for Resident Evil 6 free. So we'll see how this pans out.
5. The 38 Studios fiasco. I don't remember much rage from gamers, honestly. But it really does seem like Curt Schilling massively mishandled the situation, leading to his employees being blindsided by the downfall of the company. And the new Rhode Island governor did seem to want to sabotage the project, not caring about the employees. Just an overall bad situation
4. SEGA's censorship and legal action against Youtubers: Justified. Taking down content for an old game and threatening people with legal action? It's almost cartoonishly villainesque.
3. Doritogate and the GMAs: Justified. The ugly side of games journalism was shown in clear light. It should piss off gamers who may have been misled by these people. It should piss off legit games journalists who do things the right way and other get overlooked or have the shadow of doubt cast on them for the corrupt actions of others.
2. Mass Effect 3's ending: Unjustified. OK, it was a crappy ending and was going to be discussed. And it was going to be discussed vehemently. That was inevitable, and I'm actually with you on that. But the Better Business Bureau filing, the cupcakes, the threats, and all that other shit? Unjustified. There were other things about Mass Effect 3 to be more angry about (on-disc DLC, offline play restrictions). We hardly hear people talk about those.
1. Bohemia Interactive Devs Imprisoned in Greece: Justified. This is just downright tragic. I feel for these two guys. And the Greek government deserves every bit of anger it gets over this situation.

So overall, I think it's good that people are angry about these things. Hell, I even prefer the ridiculous Mass Effect 3 cupcake response over ambivalence relating to these issues. I'm glad people at least question whether they're being taken advantage of, as opposed to the behavior of acting like shills for companies like was more common just a few years ago.

 

[Erttheking]

Whoa, an Escapist forum post [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.393997-Arrested-ArmA-3-Devs-Denied-Appeal-for-Espionage-Charges?page=2#15946762] was used in that Angry Joe video. Cool.

2. Mass Effect 3's ending: Unjustified. OK, it was a crappy ending and was going to be discussed. And it was going to be discussed vehemently. That was inevitable, and I'm actually with you on that. But the Better Business Bureau filing, the cupcakes, the threats, and all that other shit? Unjustified. There were other things about Mass Effect 3 to be more angry about (on-disc DLC, offline play restrictions). We hardly hear people talk about those.

Yeah it was kinda cool.

I'll give you the death threats and people wanting their money from the charity back as going too far, but I actually thought that the cup cakes were clever, and I have kinda mixed feelings on the Better Business Bureau, because the advertising was pretty misleading. In summary, the retake movement was some good some bad in hindsight. But hey, it's not like it destroyed artistic integrity in gaming and made people afraid to take chances, I mean look at the Walking Dead and the massive positive reception it got.

 

[skywolfblue]

I think that most (Bayonetta and ME3 exempted), are very deserving of the backlash they got. I'm really glad that he put the ARMA situation first.

ME3 is a matter of not making the ending some fans wanted. Bayonetta is a matter of "The game wouldn't be possible if it weren't for Nintendo pitching in".

Stuff like:
People not being able to play the game they bought. (D3)
Journalism caring more about their ads then their readers. (DoritoGate)
ARMA situation.
Sega censorship.

That's all stuff that people SHOULD be angry about.

 

[Another]

I agree with every point made in the video except Bayonetta 2. If Nintendo is funding it, of course it will be exclusive! I'd rather it be made at all, than never existing. Plus it's kind of fulfilling the point of an exclusive isn't it? I sure as hell am more interested in getting a wii u now. It may have caused rage, but as far as I'm concerned, Nintendo picking this up was a stroke of marketing genius.

I also slightly disagree with the Mass Effect controversy. I was disappointed in the ending too but there was no rage in it for me, and some fans went to far. I liked the cupcake thing though, that was pretty cool.

 

[SpaceBat]

We?

No, that was other people complaining a ridiculous amount, I personally thought 2012 was a brilliant year for gaming.

Agreed, I was too busy enjoying Journey, The Walking Dead, Spec Ops, Thomas Was Alone and Dishonored to really care.
Still though, the amount of bitching this year was insane. What makes it worse is that so many were unjustified.

 

[StupidNincompoop]

Agreed with most of the points in that video. The only one that i disagree with is the "bayonetta 2 exclusive" issue, there's many games that are exclusive to consoles such as littlebigplanet. It's not like the WiiU has no games either, there's already a couple of them that would be worth picking up when the console and the games actually drop to a reasonable price.

Also think that the complaining of ME3 and diablo 3 went overboard- i was able to connect to the diablo 3 servers just fine the day after it came out, and while the entire game was just generic, i don't really think that the marketplace had such a negative impact on the game that there was no way to beat the game without it. As for ME3, i've never actually been slightly interested in the mass effect series, but i think people were right to complain about the ending, simply because they failed to deliver on one of the most important aspects of the game, the ending. That's all i really want to say on that.

 

[Vault101]

I've been saying this since March.
I'm ashamed to be part of the gaming community this year. (and yes, I include myself in that shame, thanks for asking)
.

as somone above said...as annoying as it is voicing anger is a good thing...somtimes

 

[Vault101]

.
2. Mass Effect 3's ending: Unjustified. OK, it was a crappy ending and was going to be discussed. And it was going to be discussed vehemently. That was inevitable, and I'm actually with you on that. But the Better Business Bureau filing, the cupcakes, the threats, and all that other shit? Unjustified. There were other things about Mass Effect 3 to be more angry about (on-disc DLC, offline play restrictions). We hardly hear people talk about those.
ago.

but it made them do somthing....you cant deny that

 

[DustyDrB]

.
2. Mass Effect 3's ending: Unjustified. OK, it was a crappy ending and was going to be discussed. And it was going to be discussed vehemently. That was inevitable, and I'm actually with you on that. But the Better Business Bureau filing, the cupcakes, the threats, and all that other shit? Unjustified. There were other things about Mass Effect 3 to be more angry about (on-disc DLC, offline play restrictions). We hardly hear people talk about those.
ago.

but it made them do somthing....you cant deny that

I'll never say threats are justified. No matter how empty they may have been and no matter how commonplace they are on the internet, it's still abhorrent. The cupcakes may have not been so bad. But there was that group who used Child's Play to try to get people in their favor, which even made the Penny Arcade guys uncomfortable.

I'm perfectly fine with complaining about the ending (hell, I take part in it myself), even now after months and the dead horse being well-beaten. Some people took it much too far, though. That's why I can't say the rage as a whole was justified, even if they released the Extended Cut later.

 

[DustyDrB]

We?

No, that was other people complaining a ridiculous amount, I personally thought 2012 was a brilliant year for gaming.

2012 was indeed a brilliant year in gaming. It's my favorite year, actually. I played a ton of games and only disliked one (that one being Kingdoms of Amalur). Mark of the Ninja (my GOTY), FTL, Awesomenauts, Tribes: Ascend, Spec Ops: The Line, Darksiders II, XCOM: Enemy Uknown, Natural Selection 2, Hawken, Sleeping Dogs, Mass Effect 3 (despite my issues with it), Torchlight II, Assassins' Creed 3, Guns of Icarus, and Orcs Must Die 2. That's a ridiculous amount of goodness for one year, and there are still some games I haven't played that sound right up my alley (Crusader Kings II, Journey, Xenoblade Chronicles, and Dishonored). We also had the Kickstarter movement really take off and reinvigorate niche genres and beloved franchises. There was a lot to be happy about.

But you still can't deny there were a lot of things to get justifiably angry about. They mostly weren't even cases of baseless nerdrage, either.