The overwhelming majority of games we talk about, no matter how much you dislike them, are not garbage, shit, the worst game ever, and so on. I'm really getting fed up with how causally people can just call something shit, or even worse, dismiss those who may have a differing opinion than your own. I can't think of another medium aside from video games that generates this kind of hostility and cynicism towards the very thing people love. If I go into off topic and enter a book thread, there aren't countless dismissive posts that are just nothing but people shitting on something, or telling someone they are wrong for an opinion. If there's an Assassin's Creed thread, a Destiny thread, watchdogs thread, or pick any 'hated' game I can almost guarantee at least half the posts will be nothing but hyperbolic and grandiose shit talking and it's getting on my nerves. I know why people do it, it's easy and it gets noticed. It's much easier to just call something shit than it is to have a well thought out opinion on why a game is simply okay, disappointing, or maybe even just not for you.
There are ways to be critical without simply saying something is garbage or has no value, it just takes a little work. It's why, contrary to many here, I will value professional reviews and metacritic far more heavily than I will user opinion or neogaf users. There's only so many times I can read a game is awful garbage before I just tune it out and don't believe them. I guess the easy response is "well just don't come on gaf", and I may very well just do exactly that. Which would be a shame because for all of the shit talking and hostility, there can be great discussions to be had about games that you wont find anywhere else. I don't have many real life friends that talk about and care about games like I do, so gaf is really the only outlet I have to have conversations about games I would never be able to otherwise. I just wish I didn't have to wade through pages and pages of shit to get to an interesting post or stumble upon a conversation that isn't just a gang pile of "lets see how much awful shit we can say about 'x' game or 'x' company. I don't even think people mean or set out to do it either, because I've caught myself partaking in the very thing I'm talking about. Sometimes we get caught in the culture and it's hard to break free from it or notice you yourself are contributing to it.
Perhaps it's just something that is natural given how young video games are, and will be something, given the time, will naturally go away.
There are ways to be critical without simply saying something is garbage or has no value, it just takes a little work. It's why, contrary to many here, I will value professional reviews and metacritic far more heavily than I will user opinion or neogaf users. There's only so many times I can read a game is awful garbage before I just tune it out and don't believe them. I guess the easy response is "well just don't come on gaf", and I may very well just do exactly that. Which would be a shame because for all of the shit talking and hostility, there can be great discussions to be had about games that you wont find anywhere else. I don't have many real life friends that talk about and care about games like I do, so gaf is really the only outlet I have to have conversations about games I would never be able to otherwise. I just wish I didn't have to wade through pages and pages of shit to get to an interesting post or stumble upon a conversation that isn't just a gang pile of "lets see how much awful shit we can say about 'x' game or 'x' company. I don't even think people mean or set out to do it either, because I've caught myself partaking in the very thing I'm talking about. Sometimes we get caught in the culture and it's hard to break free from it or notice you yourself are contributing to it.
Perhaps it's just something that is natural given how young video games are, and will be something, given the time, will naturally go away.
