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[Mik317]

This is the Internet, bro.

There is no inbetween.
Only absolutes.

It is either amazing or complete shit.

This goes for everything,....not just games.

and yes it makes this place and others hard to read at times. I think it due to the fact that saying "it is ok" is a rather boring take even if you explain it whereas " IT KILLED MY DOG IT WAS SO BAD" gets a conversation going...even if only for trolling purposes because those who feel differently will defend it and those who agree will pile on.

It is easier to talk to strangers about things you feel strongly about...if you really like something, you can go on and on about it and if you really hate something, you can do the same...not so much with something you simply find ok...

I do think GAF/Internet do focus on the negative side too much but I do understand even if I rather not take part in those conversations because you aren't going to change their minds. This makes a lot of communities rather pointless and hard to get into unless you agree with the majority opinion.

 

[bennywhatever]

The internet = hyperbole. The loudest are the ones that get heard the most.
I don't let it get to me. Play games to have fun, ignore the hardcore masters of all games.

 

[JumpJeff84]

I find it entertaining more than anything.

And people are the same way with books, movies, sports teams etc. People speak with hyperbole when they talk about culture. Ever heard someone say "Oh, I can't stand Julia Roberts. Seriously hate her, she's like the worst actor ever!"?

That's just as hyperbolic as the shit people say about games, and it's about a real person.

 

[Octavia]

I actually feel more bad for the developers who worked their asses of just doing what they do when it's 99% of the time the publisher and game designers fault for most of the problems in a product.

People on gaf usually just throw the whole development team and the entire game under the bus though.

 

[NormalFish]

This strikes me as more of an indictment of the discussions you read and participate in than anything broader; it's perfectly possible, even sticking just to GAF, to overwhelmingly have positive productive conversations about stuff. But there is a strategy to avoiding gravitating to the sorts of threads given to produce hysterics.

This should be plastered to the top of the website. So much negativity could be avoided if folks just realized that they don't have to enter every thread and post whatever knee jerk reaction they have towards it.

 

[Constantine81]

I wouldn't say it gets to me so much as it confuses me. I don't get how people can so easily write something off as having no redeemable qualities even though most games do.

 

[cheesekao]

Yes it does OP and I find it highly annoying. I come into threads expecting people to discuss the topic at hand, not circlejerks and bandwagoning.

 

[SerTapTap]

However, when it comes to certain movies, games, etc that are MASSIVELY hyped, where we're bombarded with blatant lies and promises, where we're made to think they're the best thing that will come out on their release dates and then they drastically fall short in a large number of regards, the cynicism and hate is perfectly warranted.

And Destiny. The earlier trailers literally had content that was locked away in the game. The DLC area was stumbled into by a player months before it was released. Why shouldn't Bungie get shit for on disc DLC? Yeah it might not have contained all of it, but they also didn't have to release the game in the state they did. Not to mention all the claims beforehand of this massive galaxy that amounts to a few planets, and of this grand story that amounts to a few snippets and half assed characters

This is pretty much where I'm at. I give the Driveclub guys a break because they fucked up serve load, sure. They never promised to be super wizards with a billion servers, and they've made amends pretty quickly for people who actually paid money for the game (I now own it). But stuff like Destiny--straight up lies. Lied to my fucking face. $500 million dollar budget. And it's just...it's not a good game. It's a manipulative grind fest with always online, completely devoid of numerous things they said would be in there. They straight up lied and deserve a ton of shit to be slung at them for that. And the budget really should matter, because monolithic releases like this are killing creativity by killing risks and small projects, and if they can't even make a GOOD game to show for it, jesus christ, that's the worst possible scenario. They could have made 10, 100 actually good, interesting games with that budget.

This should be plastered to the top of the website. So much negativity could be avoided if folks just realized that they don't have to enter every thread and post whatever knee jerk reaction they have towards it.

An ignore thread function would be lovely too

 

[Triggerhappytel]

Yeah, same here pal. I think that's why the ridiculously overexcited hype threads are so fun; because it's nice to just speculate and have absolute positivity for a change.

 

[Sydle]

Yeah, it got to me last year with the Xbox One lynch mobs and then again with the overreaction to DriveClub and MCC issues. It was hard for me to believe that grown men were acting like spoiled 10-year old brats. It's over the top and I no longer bother to read anything that's non-constructive.

I'd like to see more online communities delete posts or temporarily ban members for non-constructive posts. It would cut down on the number of posts, but it would raise the quality of the community many times over and make it fun to discuss games. Places like Youtube just need to remove comment capabilities all together, there's nothing useful in them.

 

[Anung]

This is actually one of the reasons that I distrust many online reviewers and publications as numerical scores don't seem to match what critics actually say/that scale. The video game hype culture seems to be a void where something being a 5/10 means it is an awful product instead of just being an average one. I think I'm more likely to take someones opinion on here more seriously at face value than anything with a number slapped on it.

The perfect recent example for me was probably Resident Evil 6. I'll defend to the death my love of that game in spite of its numerous flaws. Then again I think Resistance 2 is a very bad game but I'd offer up my reasons for that.

It doesn't bother me really though. People are passionate about games so are naturally going to be defensive. If somebody hates something I like I don't assume its a personal attack.

Guess the Gaf > Media relationship is like a self-perpetuating hyperbole. So the hate machine is going to be strong when expectations are unrealistically high.

 

[Clear]

Dear OP, a word of advice for your consideration from somebody who's felt the same things:

Give internet culture and particularly internet gaming discussion a short break.

Decompress.

If its causing you stress, disengage and you'll discover that it will dissipate quickly like the memory of a bad dream. In the grand scheme of things its really quite unimportant, and in the end its only the games -and the pleasure you take from playing them- that matters.

 

[CecilRousso]

I wouldn't say it gets to me so much as it confuses me. I don't get how people can so easily write something off as having no redeemable qualities even though most games do.

Most games though, but considering the amount of good games we get, we can afford to be picky. And must be, because otherwise we would all buy too many games. I have nou doubts that the Ubisoft games could entertain me for hours, but I don't really need games that have enough redeemable qualities to justift their price. I'm only looking at the absolutely most interesting games, because I don't have the energy or time for more then that. I'm only looking for games that in my book is at least 7/10, preferably even higher then so.

When people say that games like Watch Dogs have no redeemable qualitites, they have just raised the bar very high, and are really not wrong to do so.

 

[Junior Mint]

I actually felt like Destiny wasn't THAT bad of a game at launch. After TDB, Destiny deserves all the hate it gets. $20 for that shit content is a slap in the face and $80 all-in for the entire experience is one of the biggest ripoffs in gaming.

 

[semiconscious]

being up here a number of years has convinced me that there're a number of people playing games that actually shouldn't be, & would benefit greatly from finding something else to do with their time. to a large extent, i just sorta feel sorry for them more than anything else...

 

[GiantEnemyGoomba]

It doesn't really make me that mad, but it does kind of bum me out how so many people are so negative about everything

 

[Razzorn34]

There is some truth to this as well. This is an industry dominated by hype. And the more we buy into the hype, the more we want to tear it down when it fails to meet our expectations.

This is the truth. If there was less lying and hype around game releases, there would probably be less dramatic negativity. As is is now, the gaming industry flat out lies to us on a daily basis. On top of that, there have been a large number of extremely broken games at release this year. It can be hard to sift through the comments to see if these games are actually worth getting. But, these games also definitely deserve all of the hate they get.

 

[vesvci]

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.

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.

Agreed. There have been many times where I think that there's more than just brand loyalty, I swear, sometimes I think I'm reading astroturfing posts in forums. Online reviews hold little value to me as well, since too much conflict of interest involved (sponsorships, ads, etc).

 

[KuroPyonyo]

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.

May I introduce you to Sturgeon's law.
Nearly everything is overhyped shit. If you want my money and more importantly time you damn well deliver a perfect product and not some shit that might maybe somewhere have redeemable qualities.

Also why would you care what other people think about X? Videogames don't have feelings, it doesn't matter.

Finally happy people are quiet, angry people are loud. What point does it have to go into a thread and write "Yeah it's good, I enjoyed it"?

 

[Naughty_Doge]

Because this is a forum specialized in video games. I'm sure you could go to other forums about other entertainment media and you'll find very similar behavior patterns. It's not a "GAF" thing, it's a "human" thing.

 

[jesu]

I just ignore it and their opinions.

 

[Give War A Chance]

welcome to the internet. it happens on EVERYTHING. read news story comments, sports message boards, iphone/android comparisons. everyone hates everything.

Even this statment... hyperbole rules the internet with an iron fist.

 

[Mik317]

May I introduce you to Sturgeon's law.
Nearly everything is overhyped shit. If you want my money and more importantly time you damn well deliver a perfect product and not some shit that might maybe somewhere have redeemable qualities.

Also why would you care what other people think about X? Videogames don't have feelings, it doesn't matter.

Finally happy people are quiet, angry people are loud. What point does it have to go into a thread and write "Yeah it's good, I enjoyed it"?

There is no such thing as a perfect....anything. Sometimes a game can have a lot of great things going for it...but a couple of flaws too. Its all about weighing if those flaws ruin the entire package for you...and that will be different for everyone.

Screen tearing and bad framerate for example isn't a problem for me but it might make a game unplayable for someone else. So for me the game (if that was all that was wrong with it) is great but for this other person it is shiiiiit.

Perfection doesn't exist..and never will. Some of my favorite games of all time have some flaws...it is just that they don't ruin the whole thing.

This is the exact type of hyperbole the OP was talking about. "overhyped shit" is waay too strong to be used for every or most games. In reality, these games simply did not meet YOUR expectations...that is all.

 

[On Demand]

Understatement of the year.

So much BS has been said this gen; PS4 has no games, the consoles are weak, PC's shit on consoles, console graphics are a dissapointment.

Just to name a few. If you're not happy with gaming just stop then. No need to repeat the same crybaby nonsense over and over.

Whine, whine, whine, whine, whine.

 

[Kai Dracon]

Internet hysterics rarely actually get me angry or emotionally strung out. But it does get a bit exhausting at times, watching the parade of persons who seem to be incapable of understanding subjectivity. And who approach everything with much as trumped up drama as possible.

People say "just ignore it, it's internet" but when the hysteria becomes particularly thick, it starts to become more trouble than it is worth to sort through the junk. It's a quality of life and time issue, so sometimes yes you have to take a break from it.

 

[Fracas]

Doesn't bother me much: there are a LOT of straight up dirty things in this industry that people are passionate about.

 

[On Demand]

Because this is a forum specialized in video games. I'm sure you could go to other forums about other entertainment media and you'll find very similar behavior patterns. It's not a "GAF" thing, it's a "human" thing.

No dude. It's not just on GAF, it's everywhere.

 

[Bl@de]

NeoGAF or: How I Learned to Stop Playing and Love the Hyperbole

 

[LDAF]

Yep, a lot of the strong negativity has started to get to me the past few months. GAF is definitely the best source when it comes to game news, rumors, etc. though, making it hard to leave. I'm hoping to have a career in the industry in the future (animation related; working on a Animation/Illustration degree right now) and I know that I'll have to leave GAF before then for my own good. To work on something for countless hours, days, weeks, and months, pouring your soul into it, only to have people shit on it is not something healthy to have to deal with. There's good criticism, and then there's a lot of what I see on here, unfortunately. That's not to say there aren't good discussions though! They happen fairly frequently, where you have someone giving an incredibly detailed account of why they like/dislike a game. Unfortunately, it's often drowned out.

 

[Bumhead]

I love how passionate the games industry is.

I love how diverse our community is, and I love how forums like GAF facilitate and cultivate that passion and diversity.

I just think you have to choose your battles and what you read and expose yourself to. There are outrage threads created on GAF thousands of posts and replies long that have me rolling my eyes, but I just choose not to read those threads. I don't think gaming has ever been more diverse than it is now, so inevitabily different people are going to react to different things in different ways. Some of the stuff that gets people the most irate and frustrated are things that I find incredibly miniscule and not worth a second glance at. Likewise, stuff that infuriates the shit out of me might be small fry to someone else. Sometimes, there are wheels of change set in motion by communities like GAF that benefit all of us as consumers regardless of if we are a part of it, or agree with it, or not.

There is a lot of positivity for gaming on GAF and beyond. Sometimes I think you just have to search harder or be more selective about what you read and who you listen to to find it.

 

[SlasherJPC]

It's one of the reasons why I quite my youtube channel after 8 years. I've had enough and my life is actually a hell of a lot better mentally because of it. It's true in keeping yourself away from the negativity, in whatever capacity that entails.

 

[sora87]

I've stopped going to pretty much every video game site because of it. People in the community really thrive on creating a toxic environment and sucking the fun out of gaming.

 

[TheSlySoul]

A little bit with Sonic games, but people will be negative more often than not.
It is like a human characteristic.

It is also why I stopped making game commentary because people like to pick apart things you make for fun.

 

[Air Zombie Meat]

It does at times but then I remember I shouldn't let some strangers opinion over the internet rustle me.

People force each other to extremes.

People that go out of their way to defend bad games probably force people to make their criticisms more extreme, while people going crazy with their criticism probably makes people who like a game get hyperbolic in their defense.

I feel like this sums it up well. I know I'm guilty of getting caught up in this cycle at times.

 

[cyberheater]

Because this is a forum specialized in video games. I'm sure you could go to other forums about other entertainment media and you'll find very similar behavior patterns. It's not a "GAF" thing, it's a "human" thing.

I go on some music making forums. Folks who spend their time and effort creating music and there is nothing like the level of hyberbollocks there is in the average Gaf thread.

There is a huge difference in mindset between folks who create product and folks who use it.

I would go on to say that Gaf is the worse forum I use when it comes to this behaviour. Not helped by the stupid thing of folks constantly trying to come up with a witty 'first post' that often derails the whole thread. I don't know why it's tolerated.

 

[jon bones]

I ignore nearly all gaming websites, and a good deal of posts here on GAF. I mute everyone on every online game.

I'm not sure what it is about the hobby but the nastiness, elitism, misogyny and racism that it breeds is awful. It does appear that many internet-kids enjoy being pessimistic more than actually enjoying the games.

 

[Naughty_Doge]

No dude. It's not just on GAF, it's everywhere.

That's exactly what I said, lol.

I go on some music making forums. Folks who spend their time and effort creating music and there is nothing like the level of hyberbollocks there is in the average Gaf thread.

There is a huge difference in mindset between folks who create product and folks who use it.

Well, you're right about that being an exception because those people know what it takes to create music. But, as you said, people who only use a product will generally have different behaviors because of their limited perspective. Music is a medium plagued by the same shit that happens here on GAF, maybe even more so; people are attacked for the sole reason of liking a genre or group instead of another. What I'm saying, I guess, is that these behaviors are not exclusive to GAF or the gaming community, it happens anywhere where people are given enough freedom, anonymity and encouragement to express their opinion to the point of dismissing and even becoming hostile towards other people's opinions and/ or efforts without apparent consequences. (i.e. the internet)

 

[TheSlySoul]

There is a huge difference in mindset between folks who create product and folks who use it.

Pretty much, many game developers I know are pretty cool people.
Like I met the guy who did Battle Kid and he was really down to earth.

I would not worry too much about what the internet thinks of you or something you love.

 

[balohna]

I used to get caught up in it. Now I just stop reading.

 

[JumpJeff84]

It's one of the reasons why I quite my youtube channel after 8 years. I've had enough and my life is actually a hell of a lot better mentally because of it. It's true in keeping yourself away from the negativity, in whatever capacity that entails.

You quit your Youtube channel? Too bad to hear it got to you. Why not just turn off the comments?

 

[On Demand]

I've stopped going to pretty much every video game site because of it. People in the community really thrive on creating a toxic environment and sucking the fun out of gaming.

PS4 and XB1's graphics are not a big leap from last gen.........waaahhhhhh!

That's exactly what I said, lol.

lol. Yes you did. Sorry.

 

[Syf]

It is hard to read some of the threads. I've just started ignoring the worst offenders.

 

[soultron]

I've stopped reading a lot of threads, adding posters to my ignore list, and so on.

It's not that I don't want to read negative stuff, it's that I want to read thoughtful criticisms that are well-written, not just drive-by shitposting. Same goes for hype and positive thoughts. If you're simply going to say, "it's the best," without qualifying that statement, you're adding nothing to the discussion.

 

[The Elite]

This should be plastered to the top of the website. So much negativity could be avoided if folks just realized that they don't have to enter every thread and post whatever knee jerk reaction they have towards it.

If you could just avoid certain threads the problem would be easy to solve. But hyperbolic and negative discussion tends to pop up in some form in a lot of gaming threads these days. It's more about avoiding the specific posters than the threads themselves. If a thread gets out of hand, I just leave.

There have been games I was looking forward to these year that had threads filled with non constructive hyperbolic discussion that I just had to avoid them. It's a shame because I usually still want to talk about those games.

 

[jaaz]

There is some truth to this as well. This is an industry dominated by hype. And the more we buy into the hype, the more we want to tear it down when it fails to meet our expectations.

By personally attacking the people who happened to enjoy the hyped game? Not saying you do that personally, but others definitely are. Hardly a day goes by without a Destiny thread where some members will compare those who like Destiny to crack addicts or gambling addicts.

These are your fellow gamers and had nothing to do with the development of overly hyped games. They just happen to enjoy them, and most admit to the game's shortcomings.

 

[Scrabble]

I actually feel more bad for the developers who worked their asses of just doing what they do when it's 99% of the time the publisher and game designers fault for most of the problems in a product.

People on gaf usually just throw the whole development team and the entire game under the bus though.

This is probably the crux of why I get upset. Do people not think the team behind Unity didn't desperately wish for another six months? I feel for the guys who put their heart and soul into a project for 3+ years, only to be met with the response they got for all the work they put in. I encourage people to take issue with Ubisoft executives and higher ups for the way they hastily pushed out a game, but just take some time to give some credit every once and a while to the actual people who worked on the game. I mean from an artistic, and even architectural standpoint, Paris is a pretty amazing achievement that it makes me wonder why people even get involved in game development if the only thing to show for it is message board posts about why something is absolute shit or the worst thing ever. It would do everyone good to remember that actual people worked on these games.

 

[Astral Dog]

Its part of the videogame culture for better or worse, mostly for worse.

What bothers me is that a game can't stand on its own, it always has to be compared to something, be it a similar game, or a completely different one on another system, if a game isn't the best at something specific, its garbage or doesn't deserve to be on the market.

As games become more expensive to make and more risky, this is a huge problem to me.
They need that AAA advertising to survive.

 

[Kelegacy]

I tend to appreciate negativity vs overwhelming positivity when it comes to gamers. We get enough spin and hype and pr that it sours me when gamers help further the cause, at least when it isnt due.

And as consumers I think being critical and listening to criticism is a positive for all of us.

 

[Hoje0308]

Yes, it does. I've heard perfectly serviceable games referred to as garbage by people that really couldn't list many flaws, just subjective reservations and dislikes. Irritating, to say the least.

Still, that's not nearly as bad as the folks who have no trouble spewing venom at the individuals that worked on a game they don't like. Sickening behavior, that.

 

[DoubleTake]

Sometime I just scroll on by those horrible posts and let mods handle it when someone "attempts" and fails to add something of worth to the discussion. Other times I just laugh at the ridiculous statement. Sometimes I find its myself making those poorly thought out statements hah.

Human nature + internet equals black&white with very little grey in between. Its there it just takes a bit more effort on your part.