Why do people care if Yahtzee disses a game they love?

[MC K-Mac]

I love Zero Punctuation. It's the first feature on The Escapist I started watching, and it's definitely my favourite. However, I often see in the comments (and elsewhere on the web) people bitching and moaning because Yahtzee disparaged a game that they personally liked. I am genuinely puzzled by this behaviour, for two reasons:

1. I would think this would be blindingly obvious, but people do realize that Zero Punctuation is only partly a game review, right? The other part is straight-up comedy. If you're coming to ZP for a fair and balanced review of a game then you're really not too bright. ZP spews bile and vitriol on a regular basis in order to balance out the reams of fanboy bullshit spewed by corporate shills everywhere else on the web. And also, to provide dick jokes. Lots and lots of dick jokes. Humour generally relies on a certain amount of exaggeration, and ZP is no exception. If you want to find out what Yahtzee really thinks about things, read his column.

2. Why would someone take a negative review of a game personally? I can see that you would disagree with the person giving the review and want to point out what you disagree about, but this whole "grrah Yahtzee you dissed my game I'm so mad" seems misplaced. You didn't create the game. Very likely the people involved in the game's creation aren't friends or relatives. Why do you feel the need to ride into battle, trumpets blaring, in defense of some corporation who's never heard of you and doesn't care to?

I guess my point is, calm down and don't take things so personally. You'll live longer.

 

[The Rockerfly]

Because people take information from people who are smarter then them and pass that opinion off as their own to appear smarter. The amount of people who proclaim they love a game after Yahtzee says he does is so funny, just watch the popularity of a game on this site after Yahtzee says he loves it

 

[MiracleOfSound]

Because it's an internet forum and people always feel compelled to voice their opinion, especially when they disagree.

 

[LawlessSquirrel]

I'm not sure, I don't at all. I find it hilarious when he picks up tiny issues and blows them out of proportion with games I like, as he so often does. Even better if he does that to an issue I had in the game, as he did with Fable 3 (exact same situation). I guess it's people taking pride in what they like, and feeling compelled to protect it at any given threat; which a criticism, even a comedic one, can appear to be.

You know, if I released a game that Yahtzee reviewed, I'd love to watch the review. Knowing me, I'd love it at first, but obsess over it and pick it apart afterwards, despite knowing the nature of the show.

 

[Vampire cat]

Because people take information from people who are smarter then them and pass that opinion off as their own to appear smarter. The amount of people who proclaim they love a game after Yahtzee says he does is so funny, just watch the popularity of a game on this site after Yahtzee says he loves it

Something along the lines of this...

People that have been a fan of a game or a series for a long time will often defend even the worst of releases under that title with teeth and claw, so I guess thats what happens.

Personally I can think of nothing funnier than Yahtzee talking about a game that I enjoy. It's nice to get the issues that I may have missed pointed out, and amusing how some of the things I find really great about it causes him a lot of grief.

In his "mailbag showdown" he talked about how some had ranted angrily to him in e-mails after his SSBB review, and I think that what he said about there being some voice in the back of the players head telling them that maybe they aren't having as much fun playing the game as they think they are and so on (go watch it if you haven't in a while).

Keep em angry Yahtzee!

 

[Harmondale2]

Simply because they are looking for people to confirm their own feelings for a game, as in "oh you enjoy *said game here*, wow your totally right to love it because it is the most amazing thing ever and everyone loves you now because you share our opinion, welcome to the hive mind friend". Of course then he hates it and they throw a hissy, because anyone disagreeing with their opinion is a demon and must be destroyed.

 

[geier]

You gave the answer in your question:

Because they love the game !

When you walk the street and you see me bitchslaping a random women, would you care ?
But when you see me bitchslapping your wife/girlfriend, you would care because (i hope so) you love her.

 

[Mittens The Kitten]

Whenever he picks on a game i love, his criticism always seems to be aimed at things that i don't really care about for that particular game. For example, he was harping on the character and story of Devil May Cry 4, and I agreed completely but still loved the game for its rhythmic and harrowing combat.

 

[Arehexes]

I love yahtzee dissing a game I love.
wish he would do pokemon....

Same, I'm ready for him to tear black and white up

 

[MC K-Mac]

You gave the answer in your question:

Because they love the game !

When you walk the street and you see me bitchslaping a random women, would you care ?
But when you see me bitchslapping your wife/girlfriend, you would care because (i hope so) you love her.

Oh boy I sure hope you were joking about that bitchslapping comment, 'cause that was disturbing.

But at any rate, here's an example: I love Borderlands. Yahtzee put out a ZP slamming Borderlands. I watched it, had a laugh, agreed with some of his points, disagreed with others, then went back to playing the game. What I did NOT do was post some whiny comment bitching about the review.

 

[bushwhacker2k]

Yahtzee has made it pretty clear (I think) that he has a particular gaming view and many things outside of that view don't appeal to him (RTSs) and thus he won't find too much to compliment there. Also he isn't a reviewer, he's a critic.

 

[yamitami]

You gave the answer in your question:

Because they love the game !

When you walk the street and you see me bitchslaping a random women, would you care ?
But when you see me bitchslapping your wife/girlfriend, you would care because (i hope so) you love her.

In spite of the marriage between that one Japanese guy and his DS dating sim character, games are not people.

 

[The Wykydtron]

Damn it he's a critic not a reviewer!

I'm still not sure if i want him to review critique Dragonage 2 though i'm sure the comments will rapidly devolve into a glorious flame war of epic proportions when he does though.

I want him to review Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney (not happening)... Just to reaffirm to myself that it is indeed the best game ever

[sub]Oh shit[/sub]

 

[NickCooley]

Because they have an insane, perverse love of software?

 

[yamitami]

Okay, if you haven't seen Videogame Recaps then you should. Their recaps are full of juvenile nicknames for the characters and the word 'penis' at least every paragraph. When they posted the new recap for Phoenix Wright I was THRILLED and linked it on a PW community, thinking I would share the immature giggles with people who hadn't seen the site before.

I got back a lot of crit about how it's not a very accurate review. For context, let me give you an excerpt from the very first page of the completely serious review that failed to be accurate:

Seriously, imagine Squall and Seifer, Twink, and the entire male cast of Suikoden gathered around a DS and watching someone (let's say McDohl) playing through Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. I can guarantee you that the phrase, "Holy shit, this game is really fucking gay" would be uttered more often than "Is someone's hand on my ass?" or "Where did you get that cute little leather jacket?"

It's that gay. I only hope I can do it justice. Get it?!

Yeah. I can see why people would mistake this for serious business.

 

[geier]

@yamitami

And your point is ?
Of course a game is software ans a girlfriend/wife is a person, but you don't understand the point of what i wrote:

Because they love it !

If Yathzee gives a bad critic about some other game they don't care, but when it's a game they like, they start whinning.

I used the girlfriend/wife metaphor because i thought you would understand that easier, my mistake, i overestimated some people here.

 

[XShrike]

There are people out there that get emotionally invested in the products that they buy. A diss to their beloved product is a diss at them. Yahtzee is now well known so when he disses something there are a great deal of people that will hear it. So then these people now are being disses by someone popular as well as the other viewers that agree with him.

 

[MC K-Mac]

Yahtzee has made it pretty clear (I think) that he has a particular gaming view and many things outside of that view don't appeal to him (RTSs) and thus he won't find too much to compliment there. Also he isn't a reviewer, he's a critic.

I wasn't aware of the distinction, so I read a couple of articles about it. Interesting - thanks!

However, the two articles didn't really agree on what the distinction was. One said that a reviewer judges a game (or film or whatever) based on whether they personally like it, while a critic will judge it based on how it measures up to other examples of a similar genre. Based on that definition, I'd say Yahtzee's more of the former, as he makes his personal biases clear and allows them to colour his judgement of a game. Not that I think that's a bad thing.

The other article said the distintion lay in the knowledge the person had about the craft: basically a reviewer is a layperson whereas a critic is a professional. In this case I would definitely say Yahtzee is a critic as he is very knowledgeable about the subject of gaming, not just the end product but the process of creating games. Heck, he's designed games himself.

Incidentally, I think it's the second distinction which is the most valid.