Gaming Isn't Positive Anymore And It's Our Fault

For a lot of us, gaming is a pleasant getaway from daily minutia. We game whenever we get the time because, well, reality is pretty harsh and it's a great escape to have time to do something that isn't so productive. Some of us love gameplay, and some of us love a great story, stimulating puzzles, a great scare, an opportunity to be strategic, escape from reality, get competitive, or share our non-productive experiences with others. In the end, it's all about fun and getting away from our responsibilities for a bit (unless you're a self-described journalist, which I say conservatively with regard to some of the opinion pieces that somehow tumbleweed their way into the news articles).

Back in the day, that's what gaming was all about and, for many of my fellow 80s/90s era gamers, that's what it is today. Unfortunately, with the advent of the internet and, heck, even freedom of expression on the internet, we basically share the burden of destroying the experience for each other. Here's why I believe so:

First, thanks to the internet, gaming "journalists" can help us or hurt us. They can warn us about broken games well in advance of the release (embargoes withstanding) or, because everyone uses it and news gets out faster, it can completely destroy a game's image with sensationalist pieces on why a game will fail or disappoint. There were recent pieces on The Order: 1886 and Bloodborne suggesting they won't live up to expectations. It's always great to keep an open mind and consider alternatives to your own views, but we need to encourage developer efforts to really make the most of the hardware and make games that are fun and, above all in my opinion, positive experiences. The Order: 1886 might disappoint or flop. It might not. Either way, the gaming media has done a great job of hurting the game's image this past week alone with about 30 days to go before release. So much energy is spent on the negatives, which worries me as a gamer where the industry is going because at that point, it isn't news. It's the gaming media being sensationalist for hits, regardless of the damage it might do to a game that many people may actually enjoy more than they did. Heavens forbid that a game, not just The Order but ANY game, disappoints on the gameplay front, but ask yourself: what's worse, a bad game that takes off without a hitch...or a game that "would be a lot more fun if it wasn't broken"? Something to think about, especially where first impressions are involved...

Second, thanks to internet anonymity, it's much easier to be complete trolls and/or keyboard warriors whose sole purpose in joining a discussion board is to tell you why you're wrong and why their opinion should be taken objectively. Unfortunately, a lot of us have gotten bitter towards "the other side" of the gaming fence where there will be gamers who like specific platforms over your preferences. Maybe they just grew up owning one and stick to a trusted brand, maybe they had a bad experience with the rival platform(s). Honestly who knows? Either way, the repeated internet exposure to "the other side" I believe has created a division between gamers because we're exposed to something we otherwise would have in very moderate doses at worst in society. If you ask me, it functions a lot like sexism or racism: unless you're extensively exposed to something unfamiliar in an unpleasant way, you very likely have no quarrels with peaceful coexistence. If people of the opposite color or sex land themselves in something controversial and it comes back down to you, then we have a habit of developing an aversion for those people. We classify them, attribute behaviors, etc., just as we do with gamers of opposing thoughts--made worse by people spouting off because they're protected by anonymity. And if you don't think we can make that comparison, just look at how badly we stereotype people who aren't like us with games: "This site is run by Sony fanboys!", "XBots are always slamming PS4 because the XBOX One can't touch its numbers!", or "Nintendo fanboys are as bad as Apple fanboys because they'll eat anything Ninty throws at them!"

The last thing I want to say that I find painfully negative for gamers is that we're keeping score and it isn't healthy. Many of us, myself included, are guilty of drawing parallels to previous generations and calling each other out on hypocrisy, even if the person being chastised now had nothing to do with what was said back then by some other person (again, grouping). And we always seem to be under the illusion that a PlayStation 3 gamer would never buy an XBOX One as a primary console or that even a Nintendo Wii Owner would never favor the PS4.

In summary, maybe I'm old, but what would we all have to lose by trying to be more positive about the gaming experience? People will have different opinions and the internet is quickly becoming a utility we all frequently enjoy. May as well not use the powers of anonymity or journalistic clout to divide us, y'know? Sure, there's a component of jealousy, but you can always own more than one platform. It takes an open mind, but also a willingness to stand by your beliefs. Don't avoid buying a game you're really looking forward to because a journalist says it's easy/plays too much like Call of Duty/etc. We're getting there now since (A) Everyone pretty much agrees Bloodborne, based on people who've played it, is not too easy and know it's nerfed for public demonstration reasons and (B) Despite journalists saying Halo 5's beta is too much like Call of Duty, people enjoying the beta are having a ton of fun. That aside, we still need to work out our personal differences with fellow gamers on different platforms and not take past encounters with [insert platform] fans and generalize to the fans we talk to now. Let's coexist and cheer for games. Let's not put other people down saying, "the only reason this game is even hyped is because it's exclusive". At the end of the day, we all just want to have fun and are always looking for the next big experience. And we can do it without blasting each other for thinking differently.

As always, this is just an opinion piece written by a guy who grew up really loving the classics and holds on to the more positive aspects of gaming. Feel free to agree or disagree in the comments below and, as always, thanks for reading.

[getrektedmate]

Well said... But I will continue to be a fanboy... :)

[thorstein]

lol.

I don't quite understand it. If I become knowledgeable about something and then determine that one product is better than the other because of tech, I fail to see how that is "fanboyism."

That said, ponder this:

I buy the SONY line of consoles because I like their games and I like the system. I found the X360 to be a great console (as was the original Xbox) but the newest isn't on par with the current gen SONY system.

I also purchase Windows OS computers. They are superior to Apple. I know this because I have spent 16 years of my career using Apple products at work and MS OS computers at home. There is something to be said about the superior software and the ability for it to accept upgrades readily.

That isn't fanboyism. Fanboyism is buying into a product because it has a slick ad campaign and claiming it is superior in every way without ever articulating why it is better.

[freshslicepizza]

1. people used to complain back in the day as well, difference is social media has exploded since then so of course it appears to be much more noticeable now.

2. you talk about games like the order being blasted by the media but you also neglect other games they praise like splatoon. what you're essentially doing is what you're calling out the media for doing and that is focusing on the negative articles while ignoring the positive ones.

3. i do agree anonymity causes a lot of issues in regards to troll behaviour online.

4. you talked about competition and this need to always conclude there has to be a winner and a loser. i agree this ideology isn't good for anyone.

one thing everyone has to take into consideration when drawing parallels to history and how different we are is we all expect more now. those mario games back then in the 80's cost $50 to buy. what was the price of gas and a gallon of milk then to what it is now? how much do games cost now, $60? so do you not see how much pressure is put on game developers now to deliver? this is why we see such a rise in indie game development, costs just are no longer sustainable unless the aaa games are marketed as blockbusters. then when those blockbuster games come out there is added pressure to deliver something incredible. but because of time constraints, budgets and utilizing dlc tactics all we do is whine about the games when they come out because we don't envision the process, the money at stake and how high our expectations have gotten over the decades.

what i do see in forums that's kind of troubling is this underground movement to keep the commentary away from the experience and joy of playing games. this movement if you will likes to fester and keep the focus on the negative views. such as dlc or why game consoles that cost $400 that can do many more things than what a $200 game console could do back in the 80's don't perform as well as they want. more features, better performance, more exclusives. it's like we are never satisfied. then you have the trolls/fanboys who like to take things further and focus on the competition and spend most of their time making comments about why that systems isn't very good. this has all been done before for decades but since we are online now and connected around the world it's just more obvious.

at the end of the day gaming hasn't gotten worse. look around, we have more platforms than at any time in history to play games on. we also have a collection of games at our disposal that dwarfs what was available at any time in history. all with various pricing structures. so tell me again why people spend so much time complaining?

[DarXyde]

Thanks for the thoughtful comments, all.

@getrektedmate,

As long as you're not being asinine about your preferences, I've got no quarrels with fanboys. Respect for other opinions does us all some good. :O)

@Thorstein,

There's nothing wrong with making an informed decision, but it's about avoiding the negativity that can come with it. One might like to play shooters (which isn't my cup of tea) but I'm not going to go out of my way to tell you why I don't like them and why you shouldn't either. If I do tell you why I don't like them, it would simply remain an expression of my own reasons, not some campaign to sell you on my opinion or berate yours. That said, I can agree that you must make informed decisions on what's worth owning and what isn't, but we would be wrong to start a fire with people who think differently. Politics of gaming pretty much lol.

@moldybread,

On the first point, in my opinion, the issue is sensationalist media. I'm not saying games can't be criticized; some of them really deserve to be, but given the recent string of popular articles, I think it's fair to say there's an intentional theme where hits are trying to be made, y'know?

On the second point, I don't mind articles highlighting why games are looking great. People operate in an interesting way: let's look at Splatoon--there will be people interested and people who aren't as well as those on the fence. A positive article would generate responses from the interested and the skeptics which is fine. You'll get a few negatives, but those people are often dismissive trolls. Now if the article is negative, the skeptics might take a backseat and observe, but the interested and uninterested would likely lambaste each other and it creates hostility. We're all here because we love games and I don't see much meaning in the negativity. I think we should be passionate about this industry and express our differences in less destructive ways, but sensationalist articles don't exactly make that a practical scenario. Your other points, I can agree with.

@Kalkano,

You're right about that; it isn't about just the consoles, but it's an industry wide division over so many things. For me, it depends on my mood that day. Personally, I love Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross, Fire Emblem, and Final Fantasy VII through X, but I also love Kingdom Hearts, Zelda, and the Souls series. For me, I just love the RPG genre and the action genre, so if it's an action game with RPG elements, I'm probably gonna jump all over that. It is bad how dismissive the oppressive opinions in the industry are, and I sympathize with that completely. Sometimes, I get angry private messages because I love retro games too and other people want to argue with me personally. I don't mind, but we do need to be better than we are as a whole with how we view competing opinions.

[Chard]

It's really as positive as you want it to be. You can completely ignore the elements you don't like. It baffles me that people get caught up in things like gamergate, or caring that someone doesn't like a game they like (especially when that game hasn't even released).

[DarXyde]

I agree where we can always ignore what we don't like, but if everyone followed that philosophy, no one would be in conflict and everything would be positive!

The thing is, we've lost pleasant discourse and journalist integrity over the years. The gaming community now feels too political with division and blatant bias coming from sources we count on for news. We can always ignore the people who attack us, but it's sending a gloomy message when we look for unbiased opinion pieces or objective news articles and turn up short. It's all so negative. I think, as a community, we try too hard to estimate the many reasons future releases will fail or disappoint. I find negativity and positivity to be contagious so, while the people who attack me aren't a big deal at all, reading about the industry from unqualified or biased journalists has gotten pretty depressing.

@ DefenderOfDoom2,

A fair point, mate. Either that, or people like the game more than they let in on. Everyone I know complains about Call of Duty and somehow it's pretty much the biggest annual franchise.

Someone is being brutally dishonest with me lol.

[DefenderOfDoom2]

Well take Destiny for example , the gaming media was negative towards Destiny , yet millions of people play Destiny every day .

I believe over 70 percent of people who play video games, do not read articles about video games .

[Blacklash93]

Depends, I guess. On one hand, this is the internet: People tend to be drama queens. They like to dwell on things they don't like and they make stupid and biased assumptions and present them as substantiated facts. In addition, they can say anything they want without any consideration for ethical conduct or communication. It's no surprise that the online world is where negativity and verbal wars thrive. If you're on the internet, positivity should be the last thing you expect. It applies to gaming and gamers, but extends much further.

So it is there, but mostly on the Internet. I absolutely agree that it is frustrating, but if you can't tolerate it then you might as well get off and leave the childish cesspit to bother itself. That's what I would do, and I won't blame anyone else for it. (Or, alternatively, you could find a discussion community that you like and abandon the insufferable ones. Less popular online communities tend to be overall more positive, reasonable, and respectful if you ask me.)

[DefenderOfDoom2]

To DarXcyde , forgot mention in my first bubble, great blog!
Speaking of Call of Duty video games , i guess i am in the camp of , i used love COD MW , BO, MW2 , BO2 . After that, i just had enough of COD . Now i am hooked on Destiny. I think reviewers of last COD mostly said, COD Advanced Warfare is the same ole COD, with Kevin Spacey and a "double jump". Most reviewers also said , it is still a great PVP twitch FPS.
That is why i always pay no attention to the number scrore . I will read or watch the entire review, to get the info i need to know about the game . But yet still people go crazy over a number score .

I agree that their is a lot of negative articles and comments on the Internet these days. But none of it can take away my passion for video games . Cheers!

[AKissFromDaddy]

The issue that extracted in anonymity. People become their bravest and write hurtful, negative or mean-spirited comments because of the internet's veil of anonymity. It's cumbersome.

As long as anonymity exist, specific people will be trolls.

I've had civil and downright friendly discussions with people on N4G in private messages and public comments where we just disagree, even when we share supporting evidence, and that's cool.

Nonetheless, even among a sea of friendly discussion(s), disagreement(s) and banter(s), it's the horrific comments and trolling that stand out like an open wound on a face and it's not just a gaming issue. Go to any comment section on any website and anonymity has ruined human interaction. YouTube has trolls. Yahoo has trolls. Twitter has trolls. Steam Discussions has trolls. People are emboldened to write hurtful or trollish words and comments because those words will never link to their real identity, where it has real world consequences.

Anonymity is best served for haters, sexist, racist and horrific people among us.

In addition, it's even leaked in some of the submissions on here. Pieces just recently passing the submission process that feeds into negativity: "When The Legend of Zelda Wii U Comes Out, IGN Will Call It the Best Zelda Game Ever Made"; "Resident Evil HD did wonders for Jill's jiggle"; "4 Reasons Why “The Phantom Pain” Will Be Disappointing"; "PSN, Qriocity, and SOE customers - Eligibility for settlement benefits"; "If gamespot were 100% honest with us – game journalism is broken"; "Five Games for People Who Hate People".

Nevertheless, unless most sites force RealID upon people, nothing will change. On the hand, I post my real name and picture to display that the internet isn't scary and using one's real name is normal. Once real names on the internet becomes normalized or even desired, trolling dies and online human interaction gets better, if not what you'd desire.

[Kavorklestein]

Excellent points made sir.
Kinda reminds me of the tone I miss from gaming.. like we've lost touch with what makes video games so fun, and we're trying to critique games with numbers or scores.
I touched on most of these concerns in my Blog I wrote last year. It's my one and only blog so please read it if you'd like.

Personally, I think if games and movies are going to be scored, then that's half of the problem right there.
Think of a woman, some guys go looking for "Perfect 10's" others take whatever they can get, and some try to find a balance between looks, personality, and attitude.

Sure, some girls are more pretty than others, but that doesn't directly translate to the quality or the experience you will have while spending time with a girl.

Some girls are downright hot, but their attitudes or personalities make them disgusting wenches.
Some girls are extremely fun to be around, but they don't cut the mustard for you sexually, or they aren't attractive enough for your "standards"

To me, the secret is finding the right functional balance between what you WANT, and what you know you NEED.

So in gaming, if we are always looking for the media's definition of 10 or perfect, we will always be arguing about what is better. When, in reality, we are all subject to subjectivity. The solution to ceasing the issue is in the hands of the persons discussing the issue, there are somethings that we can never change. Some people simply LIKE to be assholes. Some people like to paint themselves as so neutral or unbiased, that they actually cease to have an Actual opinion, the the key is finding balance.

Each day is just another chance to prove or disprove our maturity, and the ones going around slinging feces the most, are usually negative and unpleasant elitists in their daily lives as well.

Usually the last person anybody wants on their team in an online multiplayer match is the obnoxious loudmouth who is trolling or talking crap or team killing, AFK on purpose etc..

The people who are able to accept wins and losses and can practice good sportsmanship are the kind of people I like to be around and pkay with. So if we are gonna apply this to gaming media and news, there's a difference between letting people know that you are personally disappointed, and going to the max and trying to purposefully discredit things just because you were somewhat let down.
I personally think if we had more trailers/gameplay/screenshots with less "reviews" we'd be doing better over all. Reviews aren't explicitly BAD, but some reviews just aren't in depth enough to actually make it clear that the reviewer has beaten the game.
It would be cool to see more reviews that are a work in progress like Day one with Skyrim- 10/10. Day 2- 8/10, day 3- 9/10.... until they beat main questline or whatever- Day 24- 8.5/10 them give their thoughts about things along the way and then average out the scores they gave it on each day and that is the overall score. They could even mention things that were particulary frustrating with a game on one day, give the overall daily score a 5/10 and then the things they loved on another giving it a 9/10
The final results would balance each other out according to how many days it took to beat the game, or if the reviewer is very thorough, he could also add additional days when trying out new DLC, maps, or game modes and features.

[Kavorklestein]

Continued-
As far as the negative nancy articles, I would like to see things like "check out these cool screenshots!"
Instead of:
"10 screenshots that prove Driveclub is better looking than project cars" etc.. etc..

If the media can just do more of the SHOW and less of the TELL, perhaps the classroom wouldn't be fighting so much during show and tell.

People also need to look at what's worth thinking about in their own minds, and what's actually worth typing out in the comments.
Don't blow your reputation fighting Billy the Bully... when he gets what's coming to him, then he can just sit in the back of the class on a stool, with the dunce hat on.. the the dunce of a troll he is, cool thing is everyone can just ignore him and move on with life, enjoying things the way they like to.

Sometimes I think there are people who literally get off on trying to upset others, and I think the key is to have enough foresight to dodge bullies like these, and save the big discussion for people who ACTUALLY wanna talk, not just argue.

Thanks for the Great blog!

[Pillsbury1]

I am as much of a Sony fanboy as the next guy but as I get older I am starting realize that everybody just wants to enjoy what they like. I loathe microsoft because of when they had all these problems like Xbox Rrod and charging just to play online. But now I am realizing that people are fans of what they like. I will not try to undermine others preferences just to make myself feel superior. As long as humans have the need to undermine others choices, there will be console wars.

[DarXyde]

Great comments, everyone. It's my last bubble, so I'll try to make this count:

@Backlash93,

I'd like to treat this more as an open letter to the gaming community; it isn't that I take personal offense to the state of the industry, but something to observe and become cognizant of where we were and where we are now--gaming used to be such a positive experience about games. Back then, gaming felt like someone who dreams of traveling the world, exploring everything and being optimistic about what's to come; now it feels more patriotic where you have pride in what you have and it basically tenures what you're used to and disregards a lot of what else is out there. It could be different, but not bad. The media has probably damaged the reputation of the Iraqi people to Americans, for example. I'm sure the gaming media have damaged quite a few reputations themselves.

@AKissFromDaddy,

That's interesting; anonymity does protect many a troll and I find your stance on transparency to be very bold. Personally, as long as I'm here, I see it as "we're here to talk about games--don't worry about who I am, you either agree with me, somewhat agree, disagree with good discussion, or disagree because you love being antagonistic". I'm not about to out myself, but I can respect you being the change you want to see. :0)

@Kavorklestein,

I enjoyed reading your blog. Thanks for reading mine and I appreciate the compliment! :0) I think you feel as strongly about it as I do and you're very right in saying that a degree of foresight is necessary to dodge trolls and such. And you're very right to say it isn't just gaming. Usually when popular games are announced, there are so many articles from journalists claiming unbiased assessments that entertain the idea of why a game will fail, possibly just for hits. In that case, I usually do a media shutout where I ignore all articles related to that game unless the headline tells me something I should know like install size or developer updates on progress/release dates. Either way, we need to stop considering all the bad from internet trolls, the media, and even adjust our own perceptions of gamers with different tastes. The opinion pieces before a game comes out are the worst, if you ask me. Early impressions are fine, but if you see one trailer and the media goes nuts on why it can/will flop, that's just looking at the worst case scenario, and the worst case scenario can deter sales. I love this industry and want to keep it as strong as I can for as long as I can.

@Pillsbury1,

Very well said, mate. I'm perfectly fine with anyone being a fanboy. Personally I like variety in my life, but if you can like what you like without the totally aberrant behavior of putting down other products or people, that's fantastic.