Why do you think so few people enjoy fighting games?

[krazykidd]

Not to say that no one plays them , that would be a ridiculous claim , but the fighting genre has become quite niche since the arcade days . Yes people still play them and you won't find too hard a time finding a online match , but fighting games don't seem as popular as it once did and i am wondering why .

My guess is that it's not very newbie friendly outside the cpu fights. They are games that require a lot of time and effort just to become okay at the game and a great amount of dedication to become good . Time effore And dedication that a lot of people can't affort to put into a game .

Although the strange thing i have notice is , even though it is competitive , the fighring game crowd are very good sports, unless their opponents are exploiting a weakness in the game design that gives them an unfair advantage ... Or spaming fireballs , people hate fireball spammers .

Anyways why do you thing so few people ( compared to other genres ) enjoy fighting games ? And if you are one of those that don't enjoy them , why not?

 

[])rStrangelove]

You're talking about Tekken/Mortal Kombat i take it?

Because

1. there are hardly any fighting games on pc
2. they have evolved into fighting-games-with-big-worlds like AC / Skyrim

 

[Fappy]

Actually Fighting games have risen in popularity substantially since Street Fighter IV and show no signs of slowing down any time soon.

 

[renegade7]

The reason I don't like them is the lack of depth, mostly. If I pay $60 for a new game I want it to last a while.

 

[MickyD47]

The reason I don't like them is the lack of depth, mostly. If I pay $60 for a new game I want it to last a while.

I think I know what you mean. But depth is the wrong word for it I would say so prepare for people telling how much depth there is in them.

Fighting games are just hard to get into I've only recently got into fighting games myself and I don't know at some point it just clicked so I don't know...

 

[Fappy]

The reason I don't like them is the lack of depth, mostly. If I pay $60 for a new game I want it to last a while.

I think I know what you mean. But depth is the wrong word for it I would say so prepare for people telling how much depth there is in them.

Fighting games are just hard to get into I've only recently got into fighting games myself and I don't know at some point it just clicked so I don't know...

Yeah, there is a lot of depth to be had in fighting games. Sadly this only applies to the game mechanics with little emphasis on story and the like.

 

[Swyftstar]

Probably because it is so hard to get the balance right. Some of them seem too concerned with looking flashy and such and not concerned with gameplay. There is also the online factor which we know for a fact removes a lot of the motivation to be a decent human being. When I was playing SFII Championship Edition in arcades, corners stores and pizza shops, people were less likely to play like jerks because you never knew how the guy you were playing might react to it. Now people go online, find the cheapest move available, run it into the ground, call you a newb and laugh at you.

 

[DustyDrB]

It's hard to be a casual fan of them. You'll get destroyed online or will have to relegate yourself to playing alone (if you're like me, that is, and your friends aren't gamers). But the arcade and challenge mode content will get stale pretty quickly as you just fight the AI over and over.

 

[GeorgW]

They're too hard. The difficulty curve is a wall and the only help most games give is a list of names of moves and a bunch of symbols. There's a market for it, and I've tried to get into them, but there's a reason the SSB series is the best selling, they're the simplest.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Well asking $60 for those minimum content games is always a stretch, not to mention there is just about a hundred out right now and a thousand old ones that are near the same.

And personally I only pick them up as a party game, getting drunk and whooping people up is fun as shit, but I have absolutely no interest to play on my own.

 

[Fappy]

They're too hard. The difficulty curve is a wall and the only help most games give is a list of names of moves and a bunch of symbols. There's a market for it, and I've tried to get into them, but there's a reason the SSB series is the best selling, they're the simplest.

That and Super Smash Bros. has all the most famous Nintendo characters in the same title. I'm sure that has SOMETHING to do with it

 

[trooper6]

As others have said, fighting games aren't that niche...if you want niche, talk about the Adventure genre.

As for fighting games, I don't like them, personally. It is not that they are too hard. I mean, I was playing WoW for a while and spent many an hour trying to wring every bit of DPS out of my Subtlety Rogue...this included spreadsheets and lots and lots of study...and in game a lot of work. I've also played some point and click adventures that were very difficult. Or some Roguelikes. Or Ninja Gaiden.

I'll spend the time to get really good at Ninja Gaiden, but I won't on Fighters. Why not? I find them boring. I like my games to have stories and character development/arc is also important to me. Or at least some sort of long term strategy/advancement like a good turn based strategy game...which I'll also play the heck out of (Go Europa Universalis!)

But fighters? You just fight. You only advancement is that you go higher in a tournament--maybe you unlock more combos. That isn't enough for me. I find fighting games really boring and samey. But I also found them boring back in the day as well. When people where playing Street Fighter in the arcade I'd be playing Rolling Thunder or Spy Hunter or something like that.

 

[The Wykydtron]

Probably cuz the probablity of you getting destroyed online is 100% and you need to stick with it to have any hope of getting good. And sometimes the AI is worse (curse you Alpha 152!) not the case with UMVC3 though, they just stand there unless you crank it up to the hardest difficulty.

I like UMVC3 myself, it's definitely the crossover part that keeps me going, the burning desire to get good with Phoenix Wright. I mean i can fuck up Magneto with a lawyer... Who's Pringles now *****?!

 

[everythingbeeps]

1. They're often twitch-fests which require absurd amounts of memorization and then are just nothing but inputting button sequences really fast.

2. Not much variety, and not much innovation.

 

[Aurora Firestorm]

1. Where's my plot?
2. Where's my character development?
3. Why do I have to dedicate my life to this to actually be good at it? (Same applies to RTS's, actually)

I'm also defining "fighter game" to be "PvP arena games" like Soul Calibur, Killer Instinct, Mortal Kombat, all that. I don't count Devil May Cry, Skyrim, and whatever other games aren't this.

 

[Faladorian]

1) Everything but Super Smash Bros. requires a lifetime of dedication.

2) Only Super Smash Bros. where skill matters AT ALL is Brawl
-2a) Brawl is still bullshit because of overpowered items, gimmicky stages, and cheap-ass unbalanced characters.

That's why.

 

[F-I-D-O]

Well, for the common competitive games (Tekken, Street Fighter) it can have a huge learning curve. For a new player, you need to learn button layout, combo timing, block timing, special moves, other characters special moves, special move tells, ups and downs of characters, super moves, how to block super moves/can a super move be blocked, and range of some attacks.
That's a little intemidating to a new player.
Personally, I have MvC 3, and it's fun to play with friends. We button mash (most of my friends stay in simple mode), and I'm the only one with a relative strategy. Same with MK. Those games are easier to approach (MvC simple mode and MK's allows button mashers to make their own combos), but they still have a big learning curves.
Kind of like how sim games (such as the PC MechWarriors or that flight sim that was very much a sim on PC but arcady on Xbox(I can't believe I don't remember that name)) have gone away. When almost all the keyboard is used, a new player is put off by having to memorize the standard commands, 20-30 hotkeys, and then they have to react in a split second. It limits the audience.
That said, fighter games have gotten a bit of a resurgence as more people buy UMvC, MK, or SSFIV. Those have become a little less memorization heavy when just playing with friends.
Honestly, moving away from arcades was the best move for the genre. I never played MvC 2 or Tekken in an arcade because there was always that one guy who knew every move and would destroy you. But now that I can buy the game outright (don't have to spend quarters), set up a private online party, and play with my friends, I'm more likely to play the game.

 

[Something Amyss]

Yes, the main reason is they're not newbie friendly. They have a steep learning curve outside of often easy CPU fights. Not to mention, the communities are very unfriendly.

 

[Raddra]

Only modern one I tried was SF4

And even though I used to be good at fighting games, no matter how hard I tried I couldn't beat normal.. I got beat so badly every time I eventually took it back to the store in disgust. I just kind of came to the conclusion that this game was made for the elitists. Additionally I was cursing the lack of balance.. the character 'Abel' I think? Was able to instantly pick up and throw my character with no counter (and believe me I tried everything). It was insane, not fun and just turned me off the entire genre.