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[Weevilone]

But let's be fair, traditional gaming was filled to the brim with equally low budget shit for years.

The people making shit games for traditional systems just moved on to mobile since it's even cheaper.

I think this is true. The worrisome part of this is that companies that make games that many of us want to see are also looking at mobile. Sometimes it's just an extension of what they're already doing, but it can also be a last gasp of sorts.

Konami is going to be a good example of this, as they're making their mobile push. It'll be easy to look back and say "geez, we didn't get those neat Castlevania games we wanted b/c they went mobile." The truth is though, we weren't going to get those Castlevania games anyways. Same thing happened with Cave. They have made a number of Android and iOS games over the past several years, and their arcade gaming division is dead. Blaming mobile is misplaced though, as it was going to happen anyways.

 

[FunkyDealer]

Mobile games used to be really good though, anyone who has tried Nokias N-gage 2.0 software will agree. Now they're filled with advertising and IAP.

It's not jealousy but a dislike towards the market trends. At least in my opinion.

 

[yami4ct]

PAD has fun design and I played it very similar to you, but it has a literal slot machine to prey on addicts and children that aren't equipped to make informed decisions on how much to spend. Any game that turns real $ into points/coins/in-game currency knows EXACTLY what they are doing.

Which is why I think there need to be more bars to stop people who can't control themselves or don't know better from going overboard. I don't think that should be an indictment of the model on the whole.

 

[Muffdraul]

I may have a bias against "mobile" games simply because historically, handheld games have been the bottom of the barrel. Back in my day, the ultimate form of video games was the arcade game. When you couldn't go to an arcade, the next best thing was a console or computer at home. And if that was out of your reach, then the last option was to play handheld games, which were always extremely shitty and pathetic compared to arcade and console games. I know that today's mobile/handheld games have come a long way since then, but I still see them as generally very inferior to console/computer games. I have a Vita that I never play. I have a 3DS that I play very, very rarely. I remember playing Mario Kart 7 a lot about a year ago, when I was hyped for MK8. And then I just played with it again about a month ago because I decided it was finally time to play Super Mario 3D Land, which I bought when it was released. Never touched it in between. About a year ago I finally bought a smartphone which I have never had any desire to play a game on and likely never will.

So no, for me it has absolutely nothing to do with "cool."

 

[Fafalada]

But let's be fair, traditional gaming was filled to the brim with equally low budget shit for years.

Mobile dev-budgets range from low-budget to lower-budget. Their marketing budgets dwarf other fields though.

 

[kirby_fox]

I've yet to meet an adult who didn't act like an immature ass in other aspects of life that would make fun of someone for playing games then turn around and play cell phone games. I've met a surprising amount of people who are into gaming but don't have the money for it playing games on their phones.

The hate for mobile gaming is the shift away from console and traditional controls. It's the same thing as people calling the Wii/Wii U controls gimmicks because they don't like them. Plus the shift of games to turn into "pay to win" models.

But because it's mainstream and others are playing now? I don't think so...I'm sure if everyone was playing games like they watched TV no one would care if women or "cool kids" were playing.

 

[Clefargle]

I never had any issues with stigmatization as a gamer. I found loads of people in high school that loved all sorts of games and we all got along fine. It was always "cool" to be the guy with the latest console or big RPG release. I also found lots of people that loved anime, so nerdiness wasn't an issue for most of the people at my high school.

 

[OniBarubary]

This is a pretty good reason to burn it all down.

Everything. Burn it all.

 

[DeadTrees]

Now, that's not to say anyone who dislikes the rise of mobile gaming is a jealous nerd,

But, I really think a lot of the dislike for it is rooted in insecurity and folks unable to let go of past slights against them.

"Not all, just a lot!"

and the people who mocked them in the past now carry a lot of sway in the industry.

I'll admit it, I cried myself to sleep last night in a jealous rage after Biff McFist spent $59.99 on magic stones.

 

[Disgraced]

Well, I'll tell the truth. I've known "cool kids" in the past who joshed me for liking games while themselves played things like Clash of Clans, Angry Birds, Facebook games and whatever, similar to the example in the OP. Myself, I don't dislike mobile games but I am skeptical of them and today as things are I don't see the same potential I see in games on the TV, and I also prefer the latter sort to a large degree.

I don't believe the "cool kids" have any bearing on my opinion on mobile games. I can repeatedly tell you I don't really play them because I'm skeptical, I don't find enough of them fun, many of them feel like cheap, second rate experiences to me, I believe many of them to be developed for fraudulence, et cetera, but there were those "cool kids" in my life who hypocritically joshed me, and I'd be an ignorant fool if I completely dismissed the possibility that those people have an effect on my opinion on mobile games as a whole.

I don't believe they do, but they could. The mind's a crazy thing, man.

 

[Green Wiggly]

Mobile games used to be really good though, anyone who has tried Nokias N-gage 2.0 software will agree. Now they're filled with advertising and IAP.

It's not jealousy but a dislike towards the market trends. At least in my opinion.

This. There are some really good mobile games out there, but when it comes to the top lists on the play store or wherever and the core game mechanics are based upon monetizing players, why willingly subject yourself to that?

 

[Alchemy]

Nah, a lot of people just don't like seeing this:

Whether you agree with it or not there is a big stigma against F2P games and whenever you open up the mobile app store you're basically swimming in them.

Spoiler

And no I don't play those games anymore, just wanted to give them a fair shake.

 

[thelastcrusader]

No, I think people just see a distinction between real games and mobile games because mobile games are generally low budget, have bad writing (if any), have cheap and heavily recycled mechanics and are generally boring as all hell.

I think 2nd post nails it for me. They're also made to milk your wallet like crazy constantly reminding of you how you can speed things up or refill by buying magic gems with not so magical usd...

 

[Corto]

There's no need for cheap pseudo-psychologising. Most publishers are slowly but steadily focusing on different target audiences and platforms from the ones that were catered for decades by them. Some people will migrate to those new platforms and embrace them, some won't do so and will be understandably upset that publishers won't be so prone to invest in platforms with less potential to grow and support them less going forward.

 

[JustenP88]

The type of gaming experiences I enjoy aren't really possible on mobile today.

Mobile game development is currently a much more profitable enterprise than the development of games I like to play.

Many of the big name publishers I grew up with are shifting their focuses over to mobile game development. This is not paranoia. It's happening.

Call me selfish, but don't conflate this with some sort of "bigotry." I see that all the time in threads like this and it's fucking ridiculous (gamergate? Get the fuck out). Mobile gaming is having an effect on the gaming experiences that I, and a lot of the people who take the hobby to the point where they want to spend inordinate amounts of time chatting about it on the internet, have enjoyed most of our lives.

I had no problem with it when I saw it as a supplement to my daily entertainment. They were never good enough to hold my attention for more than a few fleeting moments and they never had to be. Now we're seeing a huge bubble in that market that's going to crowd the industry. It's got nothing to do with "cool kids" and everything to do with a concern over the health of our hobby.

 

[Northeastmonk]

I imagine a guy playing Angry Birds on a iPad or a cell phone trying to impress a lot of girls when I think of the "cool kid" or you're playing CoD and you get 10 kills in the first 3 minutes. I think about being at the arcade and the guy just jumps on board to beat you then walks away after his group leaves. All that happens and I'm still not into it. Video games are used for things other than enjoyment. It's a conversation piece or it's just something trendy to talk about. That idea is just something you have to live with mobile or not.

I think there's just an area of gaming where we haven't necessarily found our nish. A new player is going to find ways of making their console or game stand out. I wouldn't be jealous other than the industry wants to spend more time on mobile because they make money.

If I completely stop because of the market then it's not my fault. I think the industry is at fault.

 

[Watch Da Birdie]

I don't mean that people who play mobile games are cool kids because of it, I think rather it's that they can play mobile games with complete ubiquity and not have to worry what the average person thinks of them.

I mean, I myself won't think twice about seeing someone play Candy Crush (I mean, yeah, it upsets me when they do it on the clock, but any game would do that), but if I saw someone playing a 3DS in public, I would think differently of them.

 

[User 479360]

I don't care about being a cool kid. I just hate the F2P trend.

 

[Skelter]

Are you still in high school OP?

 

[Maintenance]

You say this:

I think for a lot of us traditional gamers, we've always sort of experienced a marginalization in part due to our hobby. Most of the popular kids I knew in school grew out of gaming by Middle School more or less, and while gaming wasn't a totally death sentence for your popularity, admitting to playing anything other than like sports games or shooting games usually didn't go over well.

And yet you do this?

I mean, I myself won't think twice about seeing someone play Candy Crush (I mean, yeah, it upsets me when they do it on the clock, but any game would do that), but if I saw someone playing a 3DS in public, I would think differently of them.

 

[Disgraced]

Are you still in high school OP?

Social hierarchies don't crumble after you graduate high school.

 

[IvorB]

Is being mocked and ostracised for playing video games actually a thing that happens?

 

[Watch Da Birdie]

Are you still in high school OP?

No. I'm an adult.

And as an adult, I'm capable of realizing that I have certain unfavorable biases due to various insecurities and coming to terms with them rather than trying to suppress and pretend they aren't there. If anything, I'd say I'm quite mature in how I'm handling this topic.

You say this:

And yet you do this?

Well, I'm human, and like every human I have the tendency to judge others based on first impressions.

And I didn't even say I thought anything negative about them, just that seeing someone playing a 3DS in public gives me a different impression from someone playing a mobile game---and most mobile games are discreet enough I likely don't even realize it unless I'm right next to them.

 

[FluxWaveZ]

Well, I'm human, and like every human I have the tendency to judge others based on first impressions.

And I didn't even say I thought anything negative about them, just that seeing someone playing a 3DS in public gives me a different impression from someone playing a mobile game---and most mobile games are discreet enough I likely don't even realize it unless I'm right next to them.

I'm also human, and when I see someone playing a 3DS or Vita in public, all I think is, "Oh, there's someone playing on a 3DS/Vita." When I see someone on a mobile phone in public, I think the same. I don't judge people for something so basic.

 

[Panajev2001a]

It is NOT the same at all. The signal to noise ratio of Quality Vs. Crap in Mobile Gaming Vs. Every Other Form of Media Ever Made in the History of Mankind is completely incomparable. That's not a hyperbolic statement. That's just how absurd the number of shit being thrown at the App Stores every single month is.

I think the total number of iOS App Store apps is something like 1,400,000+ and the store has been there for about 7 years meaning about 22.8 new apps per hour with dumb math applied. This is not just games though.

 

[Nickle]

Mobile games are designed to extract as much money from it's customers as possible. This is also partially true of many AAA games, but I don't support these games.

 

[Sakura]

The kind of gaming experiences I enjoy are not possible on mobile devices.
I have nothing against mobile games per se, they are fine as time wasters when you don't have anything else. But the idea of developers or games I like going to mobile and not coming back is what bothers me.

There is no jealousy at "cool kids", all the people I know played games in high school and still play games now. I never felt it was "uncool" to play games.
I think it is silly for you to assume your experiences were the same for most people, OP.

 

[Disgraced]

I'm also human, and when I see someone playing a 3DS or Vita in public, all I think is, "Oh, there's someone playing on a 3DS/Vita." When I see someone on a mobile phone in public, I think the same. I don't judge people for something so basic.

That's a broken comparison. There's obviously at least slightly a difference in interests between someone who owns a 3DS/Vita (which only millions own/and only thousands likely use daily & publicly) and someone using a mobile phone (which nearly everyone owns). It's okay to assess people based on their possessions and interests, everybody does that, it's natural. You're not being a 'judge.'

 

[LUFTRAUSER]

It's because traditional games are hard to play on mobile and people who have grown up loving traditional games feel threatened that they may go away. And they don't want them to go away.

Yep.

 

[Tal Shiar Agent]

No. Its touch controls. Hate them.

 

[FluxWaveZ]

That's a broken comparison. There's obviously at least slightly a difference in interests between someone who owns a 3DS/Vita (which only millions own/and only thousands likely use daily & publicly) and someone using a mobile phone (which nearly everyone owns). It's okay to assess people based on their possessions and interests, everybody does that, it's natural. You're not being a 'judge.'

Guess this might be another area where my thoughts differ from most. Whether they're on a mobile phone, a Kindle or a 3DS, literally nothing of my assessment of who they are will change aside from what they're using at that moment. I'll usually interpret a bit past a surface level if I see what they're doing on those devices, however, but the fact that they are using them literally tells me nothing about them.

 

[Javin98]

Personally, I don't like mobile games in general because touchscreen controls are fucking awful for most genres. Also, with mobile gaming becoming increasingly popular, more devs are moving to the mobile, which means less AAA games.

 

[Älg]

I though "cool" and popular kids were a thing that only existed in American high school movies.

I personally don't hate mobile games as a concept. I don't enjoy playing them, but I don't care if others enjoy it. Besides, I don't think we've reached the point where traditional video games are at a risk of disappearing just yet.

 

[Waylon Drums]

It's because traditional games are hard to play on mobile and people who have grown up loving traditional games feel threatened that they may go away. And they don't want them to go away.

This is really a very good explanation. Depending on the person, you see a certain degree of immaturity with regard to the actual sentiments shared, but that sums it up nicely.

 

[Camoxide]

We just fear the Canadian devil

 

[stan423321]

Is being mocked and ostracised for playing video games actually a thing that happens?

It's usually more along the lines of "here is the cool stuff: (...), anything else is lame as hell" when it happens and you really try to analyze it. So yeah, it sort of happens in the wrong neighborhoods.

 

[Davey Cakes]

I just don't have much fun playing mobile games. Only a select few titles feel "right" on the platform.

 

[Bumhead]

Eh.

Even with the narrative about "cash cow" games, I feel even this is often overblown a lot of the time.

I've recently started playing Clash of Clans as a bunch of my friends play it on their phones, and as the only "gamer" (for want of a better term) in the group it's nice to be able to play a game with them, even at a basic level or one I wouldn't normally do.

And you know what? I'm enjoying it. The game seems fine to me. Not one of us has spent a single penny on it, and the game looks nice and works just fine for what it is. It's a pretty solid, streamlined experience. Right now I'm generally picking it up a few times daily to set resource gathering or building tasks, then coming back to it later to check my progress or set new tasks etc. So basically, almost exactly the same as how I used to play Animal Crossing.

 

[JudgmentJay]

I can't say I've experienced any of what's described in the OP. My graduating class had 52 kids, and I'm pretty sure all the guys played video games. There wasn't much else to do where we lived. That said,

It's because traditional games are hard to play on mobile and people who have grown up loving traditional games feel threatened that they may go away. And they don't want them to go away.

half of this is true for me. I'm not scared that traditional games are going to go away, but traditional games are hard to play on mobile, and most mobile-centric games are bad in my opinion. Especially the free to pay garbage that dominates the top of the charts.

 

[redcrayon]

It doesn't help that on handhelds they already have gone away to an extent. Western third parties aren't doing anything on handhelds anymore.

Since when did western games on portables provide a decent amount of the 'traditional' gaming on portables? When I think of 'traditional' portable titles, I don't think of the minority of western spin-offs and ports that only started popping up on PSP, or all the licensed tat on the GameBoy, I think of the series designed from the ground up for portables of which the Japanese ones probably outnumber every other country put together.

We can talk about the lack of GTA/God of War/western shooters on Vita if you're defining that as 'traditional gaming' on a portable, but it seems that you're defining 'traditional' only by what is popular today. Nintendo has held the lions share of the 'traditional' portable market for a long time, and western support for their portable devices has rarely meant much.

Just looking at my GBA/DS/3DS/PSP/Vita collection, western titles make up about 20% of it, and I wouldn't say that the rest of them are 'non-traditional' gaming. I was playing Megaman, Zelda, Street Fighter, Dragon Quest etc etc long before Killzone, God of War and GTA existed. There's still plenty of 'traditional gaming' on portables, it's just not the same console fare that Sony originally said would thrive on the Vita.

 

[abadguy]

It's because traditional games are hard to play on mobile and people who have grown up loving traditional games feel threatened that they may go away. And they don't want them to go away.

In a nutshell. Though i don't think they are in danger of going away anytime soon, the thought of mobile touch screen controls being the only option for gameplay is pretty much the worse case scenario.

 

[Saint of Killers]

No jelly here. I'm not into mobile gaming (be they traditional games or F2P) nor do I look down at those who are. However, elements of mobile gaming that are creeping into full priced games I hate with a passion, and want to see an end to.

I also look at the ridiculous amounts of money some mobile games make, and I wonder how long before Sony, MS and some of the big publishers will want in on it and what, if anything, that will mean for traditional games.

 

[lensoftruth]

It's only the vocal elitist nerds that hate mobile gaming. Games are games, no matter the platform.

 

[Bumhead]

Personally, I don't like mobile games in general because touchscreen controls are fucking awful for most genres. Also, with mobile gaming becoming increasingly popular, more devs are moving to the mobile, which means less AAA games.

Devs moving out of the AAA space is a problem with the AAA industry, not because of mobile games. Mobile is just one avenue that has opened up in recent years to provide an escape for people trapped in that broken loop.

 

[Kyou]

The majority of games are not good. Period. It's the same with all media.

I dunno, I'd say the majority of console games are good, even if they're not always something I'd want to play.

 

[angrygnat]

It's because traditional games are hard to play on mobile and people who have grown up loving traditional games feel threatened that they may go away. And they don't want them to go away.

Not at all. I think mobile and console based gaming fill two completely different spaces. I think the only limitation either platform places on the other is how they are someday going to integrate the two. How cool would it be to call in air strikes in a console game using your tablet? Or being able to play Plants VS Zombies against console players? Mobile gaming will only enhance the future of console gaming. And vice versa.

 

[Man God]

It doesn't help that on handhelds they already have gone away to an extent. Western third parties aren't doing anything on handhelds anymore.

Western developers rarely did anything good on handhelds even in their prime.

 

[Disgraced]

It's because traditional games are hard to play on mobile and people who have grown up loving traditional games feel threatened that they may go away. And they don't want them to go away.

This really isn't a good explanation and it's totally oversimplifying the issue. Not everyone who isn't interested in mobile games isn't interested in them for the same reason.

Guess this might be another area where my thoughts differ from most. Whether they're on a mobile phone, a Kindle or a 3DS, literally nothing of my assessment of who they are will change aside from what they're using at that moment. I'll usually interpret a bit past a surface level if I see what they're doing on those devices, however, but the fact that they are using them literally tells me nothing about them.

Your thoughts are good-hearted, it can be good to be able to not instantly deeply asses people for basic things. It's totally good to not jump to conclusions. On the other hand, I think you're at a disadvantage if you're not thinking things about people even a little bit when you see things like this. It's good to know your surroundings, you know, but sometimes, it's better to wait it out for more accurate knowledge. There's pros and cons to both sides, really.

 

[Version 3.0]

I don't mean that people who play mobile games are cool kids because of it, I think rather it's that they can play mobile games with complete ubiquity and not have to worry what the average person thinks of them.

I mean, I myself won't think twice about seeing someone play Candy Crush (I mean, yeah, it upsets me when they do it on the clock, but any game would do that), but if I saw someone playing a 3DS in public, I would think differently of them.

Then you have issues, not the rest of us.

Mobile gaming is looked down upon because it's bad. Period.

It's not jealousy, and no, it's not even fear like the oft-quoted reply claims. We're not running out of good games to play, now or ever.

This forum has plenty of members who hate mobile games generally, but still play a few gems that have turned up. But the platform as a whole is a new low in most regards. It's all-around awful, and acknowledging that is just being reasonable. It's not some repressed personality disorder.

 

[Baron von Loathsome]

It's because traditional games are hard to play on mobile and people who have grown up loving traditional games feel threatened that they may go away. And they don't want them to go away.

Yeah, pretty much.