Why do people buy the same games?

[Zidantas]

It's hair-wrenchingly annoying to see people say Black Ops is "Amazing","Awesome" and "Epic". While it is technically all of those, that's because it has been virtually cloned. Four times. Modern Warfare set the bar quite high for FPS's, it was quite unbelievable and I loved every second I played it, but in doing so, Infinity Ward created a monster/franchise.

World at War came out and was in all honesty, Modern Warfare with a world war 2 skin thrown on it. I kind of liked that, but only because of the innovation of Nazi Zombies. Then Modern Warfare 2 came out. I absolutely hated that game. It was a very slightly polished version of MW1, but they managed to make it even less tactical and more noobish. Now not to brag, but I consider myself quite good at CoD, but in that game my K/D fell below 0.6 simply because of spawn-camping, hacking and noobish idiots who ruined everything and made me rage-quit numerous times. There were a million and one balance issues and glitches with which to ruin the game further, and the short campaign and couple of customization options didn't help.

Obviously I traded it in after a few disheartened weeks and bought Left for Dead 2, a fantastic and fun game which gave me endless fun. I vouched never to buy a single Call of Duty again, and I stuck to my word, I did not buy black ops and do not intend on buying Modern Warfare 3, no matter what. What I am buying though is the far far far far better games: Gears of War 3 and Battlefield 3 which I cannot WAIT to buy and play.

Needless to say, I played Black Ops at a friend's house. Within minutes he was being a douche and saying how great it was, while I was sitting there playing Modern Warfare 2 with a slightly darker theme and thinking "This is bullshit". Each game is sixty euro, which comes to a grand total of two-hundred-and-forty euro for what is essentially the same game with crappy mods added on.

It has come to be now that I hate the majority of money-sucking franchises and have vouched to not buy from these. Call of Duty, FIFA, Madden, NBA, PGA, Lord of the Rings games, Final Fantasy and of course Guitar Hero. It just annoys me endlessly when games are cloned, and the millions still keep on buying and STILL managed to masturbate over the purchase.

There are certain over-pursued franchises I object to a little bit but can still like, i.e. Pokemon, Assassin's Creed and Battlefield. Though I have full respect for developers who take leaps, indulge in innovation to give those who buy their games the best result possible.

Anyhoo I'm done ranting...for now, anyone else want a go?

 

[Wayneguard]

The position that the CoD franchise sucks because they're all clones of each other and yet, despite that, CoD4 was still a good game makes no logical sense.

 

[icyneesan]

Because people are afraid of change. Also you forgot Dynasty Warriors.

Personally I don't need innovation. If I enjoyed it once I'll probably enjoy again. Though I rarely spend full price again for a game thats basically the same. It's fine with Pokemon as those only come out once maybe every 2 or 3 years. Same with Dynasty Warriors. Most of the time you can just rent it if your a console player, or borrow it from a friend. Hell, you could probably just stay at your friends house to play it if its a game you can get through in one sitting like Call of Duty.

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

You know, I really wouldn't mind CoD and all its samey sequels....If said sequels didn't all come out pretty much 1.5 years apart.

It's the same trap Sonic and guitar hero fell into. When you try to release a new sequel every year, you are milking the cow so hard that you are milking its lifeblood instead of milk.

There's nothing wrong with a series having samey sequels. What IS wrong is when a samey sequel is put out almost a year later, and then it gets tons of positive accolades and everyone buys it, making shareholders of other companies DEMAND that they get that kind of money.

We need to STOP buying the same cash cow same-as-last-year games for two reasons. One, to promote innovation among other companies. And secondly, to preserve the series itself.

Halo did it right. They waited a while between each sequel. THAT'S how you continue a franchise and make it long lasting.

(/me personally finds CoD boring as heck, BTW)

 

[Katana314]

Ew...aegix, you gave me a mental image of a cow bleeding into the bucket...

Call of Duty makes me somewhat realize how the Madden people fall into the trap. I won't deny that playing MW2 felt very much the same as COD4, but it was still a lot of fun with some fresh innovations. Plus, even when going to other FPS's of the same style, there were always tiny niggling things about the controls or movement I didn't like.

Really, little has changed. There are probably many people that will buy MW3, and that's fine by me. I'll be playing whatever indie title I've heard about most recently. Just focus on what you like, not on what you hate.

 

[Gill Kaiser]

Because the majority of people don't care to think, and just follow the crowd.

 

[Wuffykins]

Though I agree with the $60 Roster Update/Change of Setting argument of WTF, for the most part I just don't care because I just don't play them. Hell, Borderlands is the first FPS I've played since System Shock 2 (thanks in part to it being Cheap and having a few Roguelike mechanics), and though it's fun I'm not considering myself a born-again FPSer. So really I don't bother them with complaints, they don't bother me because I won't give them my money.

Because the majority of people don't care to think, and just follow the crowd.

Especially when the crowd moves on so there's barely anyone left in Multiplayer.