Why are gamers happier when complaining than when playing?

[Anton P. Nym]

Start a thread about games people enjoy, and it'll peter out.

Start a thread about games people hate, and it'll explode.

The question is partly rhetorical, but it is a valid one... one I still really haven't answered to my satisfaction.

-- Steve

 

[DaxStrife]

Probably because it's just easier to espouse hatred and anger than it is to gush love and positive thoughts.

 

[soladrin]

because gamers like to whine and rant (i know i do )

 

[J-Val]

Because whining and arguing is so much fun!
That, and it's a lot funner to make fun of a game than say how good it is.

 

[The Irrelevant Gamer]

I like to rant about things. I also think better ideas com from discussing what is wrong in a game than discussing what is right. I started my supremely negative thread to see what gameplay mechanics people didn't like, but also why. The why is very important, and leads to possible solutions.

Gushing about everything a certain game has done correctly just leads to trying to copy that experience, and there are too many derivative games as it is.

 

[Arbre]

Start a thread about games people enjoy, and it'll peter out.

Start a thread about games people hate, and it'll explode.

The question is partly rhetorical, but it is a valid one... one I still really haven't answered to my satisfaction.

-- Steve

This is not limited to games.

When you loved a game, do you really feel the need to go on t3h internet are pour joy all over the keyboard?
When you're happy, you're "complete". You don't really need to add more to that.
When you're unsatisfied, you go compensate by doing something else, generally shouting on some random board.

 

[beoweasel]

Hell, you can say that about society in general.

 

[Rjak]

I'm one of those morons who DOES gush when I love a game.

I think in general people don't gush because loving a game puts you in a *defensive* state and hating them puts you in an *offensive* state, and healing is NOWHERE NEAR as much fun as DPS.

 

[Katana314]

Tearful plea heard, leniency granted. Don't let it happen again.

/mod.

 

[Chilango2]

As a general rule, unhappiness is more easy to convey than happiness. There are a thousand torch songs or songs generally about love going wrong for every "yay! Happy fun time relationship!" Same thing with games. Generally, if you like something, it boils down to "Oh wow! This was great! And this part here, it was awesome!" That's not per se bad, but it doesn't leave much room for *discussion*. The only way to positively discuss a game in depth is to start meta-analyzing its plot or its details, something that doesn't tend to work well in an online conversation type forum. Basically, in that quick sense, a good review amounts to "you have to play this!" whereas a bad review, or a rant, can often be funny, and debating the faults of something is easier on several levels. That, and failure tends to be more universal than appeal, people like diffrent things, but by and large agree about certain core *bad* things, its just a question, often, of if the universal bad things actually apply to the game in question.

 

[Liam Wolfy]

I think it's because lots of us people like to insult, annoy, irritate, rip off, any game that's possible for us to get our hands on.

It's fun to rip out games, like my unpublished Armored Core Silent Line review. Even though games are challenging to kick the a*se of a Golden War Golem, this doesn't mean you can't beat it out of it's face for the fun of it, honestly I have more fun annoying games than I do playing them.

 

[laikenf]

The age of the bitter gamer is upon us.

 

[Selka]

Because gamers are bitter at the current state of gaming. Honestly, the gaming industry now-a-days are giving many more reasons to *****. For example, what absolutely amazing games have come out this year so far that will stand the test of time and forever be considered great? We got Bioshock and The Orange Box. That's about it. Metroid, God of War, Call of Duty and Halo got their sequels, none of which lived up to their predecessors. Another Mario came out that ultimately will be seen as another disappointment in the light of Mario64 and Super Mario Bros 3. Anything else?
Right now I am 20 years old, turning 21 in a grand total of 11 days. I still have more fun playing games when I was 10 or 11 than I do now. Let's look at games that came out in 1997, as opposed to 2007. We got GOLDENEYE! the first great console FPS. We got Final Fantasy 7, one of the most influential games of all time, not to mention one of the greatest stories told in any medium (gaming or otherwise). There was also this little known side-scroller called Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Just the greatest 2d action game of all time (or second greatest, depending on how much you liked Super Metroid). I'm assuming some of you out there have played a game entitled Fallout, have you not? The Curse of Monkey fucking island!
Point-being, the rise of gaming as an industry has been met with a subsequent decline in gaming as an art form. Therefore, our generation (I assume that you all are around my age, give or take a few years) which grew up playing Zelda: OoT, FF7, Chrono Trigger, FF6, Super Mario Bros 3, Fallout, Starcraft, Shining Force, Goldeneye, Marathon, Lufia, Metal Gear Solid, and such have a damn good reason to be bitter. Every now and then we get a Bioshock, a Twilight Princess, Odin Sphere, or something, but overall the quality of games have been in strong decline. Now if you excuse me, I should get back to training Lenna so that she becomes a lvl4 red mage so she can learn x-magic. Good day to you all.

Note: When I mentioned Call of Duty not living up to it's predecessor, I meant it's not as good as Call of Duty 2. I think a piece of shit in a box would be an upgrade from 3.

 

[The Irrelevant Gamer]

The age of the bitter gamer is upon us.

I almost choose The Bitter Gamer for my name on this forum.

 

[Final_Assassin_42]

Because we gamers are sheltered anal retentive shut ins who only feel happy when others are suffering.

It's a fulfilling experience.

 

[rhizic]

becuase we have no lives and love to vent and show hate to all the creative things. bah to them

 

[RPJesus]

Well as for the lonegvity issue, part of it is due to a frenzy of sorts, I imagine. Namely, when you start a thread saying {game} is awesome, basically all people can do is agree (I suppose they could disagree, but then the thread turns into a negative one of sorts anyway). But when somebody points out a games flaws, everyone else can jump in and point out their personal issues with the game and it sort of snowballs.

 

[Weimdog]

Selka said it. Thanks for saving me a lot of typing.