Maybe it's because gaming is also a lifestyle for some people. Not many people would claim that their life would be almost pointless without TV or the cinema, but a relatively large number of gamers would.
What is it with gamers and doom?
- Thread starter Vault101
- Start date
Recommended Videos
People have been bemoaning how everything is going to the dogs since time began. Language, etiquette, decorum, morality, the quality of video games, none of it is ever going to match up to the idealised memories of years ago, when people were politer, the weather was nicer and the apples tasted better.
The best cure is to look at the chain of people bemoaning how it's always so much better (n - 50) years ago compared to today. People claim today how much better the English language was in the 1940s and 1950s, but in 1946 Orwell wrote "most people who bother with the matter at all would admit the English language is in a bad way".
But then, in 1848 August Schleicher dismissed English as the most "ground-down" of the Germanic languages. Another century or so prior, in 1780 Thomas Sheridan (father of the playwright Richard Sheridan) claimed that "the greatest improprieties [...] are to be found among people of fashion; many pronunciations, which thirty or forty years ago were confined to the vulgar, are gradually gaining ground". He estimated that English was at its most perfect during the reign of Queen Anne (1702-14). Jonathan Swift, in 1712, disagreed rather strongly, venting his frustration in a "Proposal for Correcting, Improving and Ascertaining the English Language".
For German the chain of bitching stretches to Goethe and Schiller to Grimm ("six hundred years ago every common peasant knew [...] perfections and niceties of the German language of which the best language-teachers nowadays can no longer even dream"). For French we can follow a trail from Serge Koster to Victor Cousin and Victor Hugo to Cicero.
The best cure is to look at the chain of people bemoaning how it's always so much better (n - 50) years ago compared to today. People claim today how much better the English language was in the 1940s and 1950s, but in 1946 Orwell wrote "most people who bother with the matter at all would admit the English language is in a bad way".
But then, in 1848 August Schleicher dismissed English as the most "ground-down" of the Germanic languages. Another century or so prior, in 1780 Thomas Sheridan (father of the playwright Richard Sheridan) claimed that "the greatest improprieties [...] are to be found among people of fashion; many pronunciations, which thirty or forty years ago were confined to the vulgar, are gradually gaining ground". He estimated that English was at its most perfect during the reign of Queen Anne (1702-14). Jonathan Swift, in 1712, disagreed rather strongly, venting his frustration in a "Proposal for Correcting, Improving and Ascertaining the English Language".
For German the chain of bitching stretches to Goethe and Schiller to Grimm ("six hundred years ago every common peasant knew [...] perfections and niceties of the German language of which the best language-teachers nowadays can no longer even dream"). For French we can follow a trail from Serge Koster to Victor Cousin and Victor Hugo to Cicero.
I think it's sort of a natural thing. Every generation thinks that the end of the world is going to happen within their lifetime. It's only natural that they extend that to other things.
I think it's stupid, but we do have a tendency to focus on the negative things in life.
Increased gas prices? World's gonna end. People fighting a war? World's gonna end? Some radio dude says the rapture is just around the corner? By Jove, he must be right! ...Oops, doesn't look like it this time, pal.
If anything affects society in a way that some people view as negtive, they'll always criticize it and try to say that it's a problem and things need to be done about it. Sometimes though, it's not the people, but the companies themselves.
With a smaller number of smaller companies putting games out because of mergers, buyouts, and other things, a lot of games have a same-ish feel to them that's allowed a lot of gamers (myself included) to be unenthused about many recent games. Marketing games to a larger audience makes those niche gamers (again, including myself) even less enthused about the gaming future.
It's not just games, either. Look at some of the major company problems in the last few years.
Toyota's car problems, the off shore drilling problem, skyrocketing gas prices (thankfully that seems to have stopped for a bit), recalls by tons of toy manufacturers because of health concerns, recalls of cribs because of baby deaths, and a great many others.
Life's tough, sure, it'll end some day, but there's not a whole lot we'll be able to do about it, so why worry? XD
I think it's stupid, but we do have a tendency to focus on the negative things in life.
Increased gas prices? World's gonna end. People fighting a war? World's gonna end? Some radio dude says the rapture is just around the corner? By Jove, he must be right! ...Oops, doesn't look like it this time, pal.
If anything affects society in a way that some people view as negtive, they'll always criticize it and try to say that it's a problem and things need to be done about it. Sometimes though, it's not the people, but the companies themselves.
With a smaller number of smaller companies putting games out because of mergers, buyouts, and other things, a lot of games have a same-ish feel to them that's allowed a lot of gamers (myself included) to be unenthused about many recent games. Marketing games to a larger audience makes those niche gamers (again, including myself) even less enthused about the gaming future.
It's not just games, either. Look at some of the major company problems in the last few years.
Toyota's car problems, the off shore drilling problem, skyrocketing gas prices (thankfully that seems to have stopped for a bit), recalls by tons of toy manufacturers because of health concerns, recalls of cribs because of baby deaths, and a great many others.
Life's tough, sure, it'll end some day, but there's not a whole lot we'll be able to do about it, so why worry? XD
Looks like this thread is... Doomed.Sapient Pearwood said:This thread will never last, you can see it's declining. Not a single post in the last 10 minutes, it's obviously coming to an end.
*Puts on shades*
[HEADING=2]YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAH![/HEADING]
Have you not noticed that the entire world is doom mongering about everything?
The world ended somewhere last month and will end again in October, next will be 2012.
After that 2020 and then some more 2060.
Welcome to a world of drama and pessimism.
Grab your ''I hate hello kitty'' mug and join the party.
The world ended somewhere last month and will end again in October, next will be 2012.
After that 2020 and then some more 2060.
Welcome to a world of drama and pessimism.
Grab your ''I hate hello kitty'' mug and join the party.
The same reason people complain about music being worse recently.
All of the amazing classics have been picked from about 30 years of continuous development, but people choose the crap ones from the last 6 months or so to back up their doom statements.
All of the amazing classics have been picked from about 30 years of continuous development, but people choose the crap ones from the last 6 months or so to back up their doom statements.