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[Team Filler]

I get the point behind the letters, but at the same time it should be acknowledged that there are times when the furor/complaints are justified (Xbone DRM, pretty much everything EA does to their franchises over time, etc.). I feel too often those two are lumped together and dismissed equally.

 

[Always-honest]

Haha, yeah, must be hard reading all that shit when you're a dev.

 

[Otsukare]

lol, so reminded me of the crazy woman from Misery how she got the guy to re-write the whole book cause she didn't agree with the ending, mental.

 

[Spring-Loaded]

SuckBag huh? I may have to use that for the future.

Those letters are likely actually pretty tame compared to what some people really send developers way. People have gotten to a point where they will threaten developers, and their families, throw out all kinds of names, and obsenities. "Gamer" culture has a fairly negative perception placed on it because of the attitudes, and reactions the community has to even the slightest thing they dont like.Combine that with how many speak to othet people over multiplayer games, and comment sections, and its really not all that surprising why many devs do not want anything to do with community interaction.

I would love to know why this is; what's the source of this ridiculousness that seems unique to video game culture?

lol, so reminded me of the crazy woman from Misery how she got the guy to re-write the whole book cause she didn't agree with the ending, mental.

If there was ever a remake, the author could be a writer for a fake Mass Effect trilogy.

 

[kurbaan]

Yeah, I got that. At first it sounded like a real letter, but then it became so exaggerated that it just undermined the point I assume it was trying to make. (Gamers are spoiled, "entitled", self righteous.).

What's wrong with demanding stuff from a game and project that will demand 60$ from you? If they were giving them away for free, or if the creators/producers/publishers had reasons for making/funding the game beyond making a profit (Artistic reasons.) then it'd obviously be a different matter.

It's entertainment, and these games aren't aimed at 1 person, it's aimed at as many people as possible - is there anything wrong with some of those people making demands?

I was just arguing that gamers deserve the right to complain, and be heard, since they expect us to buy their games. If you find out that a game that's currently being advertised "to you", trying to get you to buy it, to pay 60$ for it, is actually really bad, of course you should be a bit upset.

Or if it's a franchise you're fond of - if the "remake" or sequel turns out to be extremely bad, it will retroactively taint the previous games. The reputation of the games will suffer, another sequel or remake is very unlikely, etc.

The retail gaming industry is extremely greedy. Gamers are wary. e.

The whole point of the letters is that the dude has not EVEN bought the game yet nor has it been released or has the person even played it. No one is forcing any gamer to spend $60 on a game, no one is forcing you to pre-order etc.

The kind of complaint thats being made fun of in the OP you can see in almost any thread or game announcement on this board. Hell look at the DriveClub thread where the dude said they are targeting 60. People start complaining its too late in the cycle and the devs are lying and that the game will now suck because of this.

Look at the history of TLOU on this board people see one trailer start disecting it and going on about how "it looks like the game will not be that good because it looks too actiony etc". I can bet you the moment they show TLOU2 people will already be labeling the game off track.

 

[Satchel]

I swear that sounds like a decent chunk of GAF members.

 

[Muku]

My.. how things have... changed stayed the same. Sounds like a lot of gamers even to this day.

 

[ElectricBanquet]

I get the point behind the letters, but at the same time it should be acknowledged that there are times when the furor/complaints are justified (Xbone DRM, pretty much everything EA does to their franchises over time, etc.). I feel too often those two are lumped together and dismissed equally.

So how exactly do you tell if a complaint is justified or not? I would guess that the vast majority of people who take the time to write to a game developer to complain would tell you that their complaint is justified. If you disagree, then what makes you right and them wrong?

 

[Kouriozan]

So true!

 

[truestatic]

My attitude towards Diablo 3 prior to its release looked a lot like this. I was bothered by the AH, the RMAH in particular, the overwhelming blandness of loot, and the enjoyability of an endgame that seemed to pride itself on its sadism just a bit too much.

In retrospect, I feel entirely vindicated.

 

[G-Fex]

What do you expect from the userbase of the lowest form of entertainment.

Please tell us more distinguished sir

 

[ArjanN]

I would love to know why this is; what's the source of this ridiculousness that seems unique to video game culture?

The only unique thing is there's a lower bar to being an asshole online, because it's more anonymous. But that's not unique to gaming at all. The exact same thing happens with music/movies/comic etc.

My attitude towards Diablo 3 prior to its release looked a lot like this. I was bothered by the AH, the RMAH in particular, the overwhelming blandness of loot, and the enjoyability of an endgame that seemed to pride itself on its sadism just a bit too much.

In retrospect, I feel entirely vindicated.

To be fair, even if a game does turn out bad, it doesn't mean someone who assumed a game was bad based on too little information was actually right.

 

[foxuzamaki]

That article is extremely exaggerated and silly. Sure, they meant to convey the opinion of the gamer", which is a multitude of opinions, but no one really talks like that. It's just a bit much. If they meant that the naysayers are the most vocal, that's probably true, but that's just a small amount of people.

Fans tend to go a bit overboard, indeed, but we're talking about the gaming industry here - what do you expect, it mixes creativity with business, and is an entirely demand based, luxury business/hobby?

Games cost money. (Retail.) Games are specifically advertised and even developed for certain groups - they designed the game with the expectation that you were going to buy it.

They intentionally mislead with advertising, previews and such - so, of course you have the right to be upset if it wasn't exactly as advertised - or how you thought it was going to be (Due to the lies of previews and advertising.)

ive lurked on neogaf for a long time before i got an account, enough to see that this isnt exaggerated, these type of stuff is said alot phrased in one way or anohter

 

[Screaming Meat]

That article is extremely exaggerated and silly.

That'll be because it's satire, sir.

 

[Acosta]

That was fun to read.

And I have seen worse than that in forums. Sometimes satire fall short to reality.

 

[zoukka]

Please tell us more distinguished sir

Games contain the least amount of meaningful/important/sophisticated/refined/impactful content of all available entertainment mediums at the moment. Games are purely "cheap thrills" still though of course very well executed thrills.

So in light of this I am not surprised that the core audience of games are brats.

 

[xk0sm0sx]

Reminds me of Sonic games, lol

 

[ReaperXL7]

I would love to know why this is; what's the source of this ridiculousness that seems unique to video game culture?

Well I dont personally believe its unique to gamer culture, I think one of the reasons why the perception of it being worse with gamers is that we are a primary internet based audience. "Gamers" on average probably spend more time on the net then most other types of fanbases, so its easier to go to a place like Gamefaqs, N4G, 4Chan, etc see the way they behave, and react to game announcements and assume that its the way all gamers react.

It does not help that most people have first hand knowledge of the bigotry, misogny, and general attitudes on services like XBL that seems to go unchecked far more often then not, and devs coming out recently with emails and such from "angry loyal fans".

Hell when Shahid Kamals super secret non port, non indie game did not show up for Vita at E3 people threatened his family, called him a sand ni**ger, and generally harass him on a regulat basis. We should embrace community interaction from the industry in a constructive manner, but gamer culture often presents itself as too immature to do that.

 

[KimonoNoNo]

Another thing about message boards that makes matters worse, is that whenever you read something patently ridiculous you are never quite sure if the poster is serious or just trolling.

 

[abadguy]

When i saw the title i thought to myself "shit, another Ryse thread".

 

[LeBoef]

op sounds like 90% of the gamers!
enjoyed the read

 

[Stumpokapow]

Think maybe presenting this as a generalized argument when it was written specifically in response to the traditional adventure genre dying and the weird transition that happened around the time the article was written is maybe unfortunate because some of the specific points seem to be tripping people up because they weren't here at the time.

 

[Team Filler]

So how exactly do you tell if a complaint is justified or not? I would guess that the vast majority of people who take the time to write to a game developer to complain would tell you that their complaint is justified. If you disagree, then what makes you right and them wrong?

Actually read/listen to what people are saying and weigh their argument before dismissing it. It's perfectly fine to disagree and say a persons complaint has no merit, but it's another thing to ignore them entirely under the assumption that they're just acting "entitled", or that they are being whiny. This seemingly happens more with the enthusiast press and their readers than developers and gamers, and an awful lot of people complain about things prematurely, but all I can really say to that is that these people are passionate about their hobby, and when they think they see a pattern forming it's very easy to assume the worst, especially after this past generation and the actions of many publishers.

 

[Exploding8]

Haha, reminds me of the e-mail Greg Kasavin got for his Fable review

I've never seen that video, that was amazing.

 

[Stet]

What on earth is an "adventure game"?

 

[Screaming Meat]

Games contain the least amount of meaningful/important/sophisticated/refined/impactful content of all available entertainment mediums at the moment. Games are purely "cheap thrills" still though of course very well executed thrills.

On the whole, perhaps, but I think there are some special exceptions where cases can be made to the contrary.

 

[SJS]

I mean, the internet does enable dumb people to some degree, but there's nothing wrong with being "entitled" and wanting devs to not sell out; this is especially the case in today's market where casual gamers are focused on with a visible exclusivity. It's merely a matter of elevating game criticism to higher standards and becoming mature about it.

Frankly, I don't know this can be achieved on GAF or other boards (Polygon is headed in the right direction, but its editors aren't without biases and its userbase can still be immature). Even GameFAQs' Reviews of the Month (which I have written for before) doesn't have as much promise as it should.

A community or culture of people can't be altered overnight and change has to be a gradual process. I think a great starting point in this regard would be the review system; we need harsher reviews from the perspective of lifetime gamers who can clearly explain the quality of games as games and not hyped products or cinematic experiences. We currently have reviewers who are casual gamers that hand out 8/10 to anything that simply looks good, and that doesn't set a proper baseline for maturity in game criticism.

 

[onilink88]

Having been the subject to the TLoZ fanbase's toxicity and stupidity for well over twenty years, this comes off as incredibly tame satire. We're looking at a fanbase who'd publish ten page diatribes declaring their discontent if Link so much as ran in a way they didn't like. Far and away the worst, most pedantic, and obnoxious nerds in the industry. Didn't have to make up the bits relating to adventure games, just had to look up a few of their exploits.

 

[zoukka]

On the whole, perhaps, but I think there are some special exceptions where cases can be made to the contrary.

Maybe, I've surely been moved and affected by certain games but would I recommend them to adults seeking meaningful entertainment? Games offer me satisfying feedback via game mechanics, all the other areas lag behind severely.

 

[GuardianE]

I would love to know why this is; what's the source of this ridiculousness that seems unique to video game culture?

It's not unique to video game culture.

Maybe, I've surely been moved and affected by certain games but would I recommend them to adults seeking meaningful entertainment? Games offer me satisfying feedback via game mechanics, all the other areas lag behind severely.

But why isn't this "meaningful" or "impactful"?

 

[inm8num2]

What on earth is an "adventure game"?

The greatest type of game you've never played.

 

[ElectricBanquet]

Actually read/listen to what people are saying and weigh their argument before dismissing it. It's perfectly fine to disagree and say a persons complaint has no merit, but it's another thing to ignore them entirely under the assumption that they're just acting "entitled", or that they are being whiny. This seemingly happens more with the enthusiast press and their readers than developers and gamers, and an awful lot of people complain about things prematurely, but all I can really say to that is that these people are passionate about their hobby, and when they think they see a pattern forming it's very easy to assume the worst, especially after this past generation and the actions of many publishers.

I see. That is sensible, then. Your original post read more as "some things are okay to complain about and some aren't", but I understand better what you're trying to say and I agree. Any complaint shouldn't just be dismissed simply because it's a complaint.

 

[G-Fex]

Games contain the least amount of meaningful/important/sophisticated/refined/impactful content of all available entertainment mediums at the moment. Games are purely "cheap thrills" still though of course very well executed thrills.

So in light of this I am not surprised that the core audience of games are brats.

of course. I play games to shoot at Imps and demons, not oscar calibur performances.

I agree with you they are mostly 'brats'

 

[Spring-Loaded]

The only unique thing is there's a lower bar to being an asshole online, because it's more anonymous. But that's not unique to gaming at all. The exact same thing happens with music/movies/comic etc.

It's not unique to video game culture.

The same type of idiocy might occur elsewhere, but I honestly don't see it happen to the same degree/frequency as with gamer culture. We read about shit like this in the news:

Hell when Shahid Kamals super secret non port, non indie game did not show up for Vita at E3 people threatened his family, called him a sand ni**ger, and generally harass him on a regulat basis.

on a weekly basis. While the avid movie-goer crowd on GAF is smaller than the video game one, there's still no amount of serious flamewars about movies that's comparable to the ones you see on gaming side. Same with books, comics or music. I neve see people take the same amount of offense to their favorite movie being trashed as with video games.

I haven't done any painstaking research or conducted any studies on the matter, yet there's something that sets the video game community apart. I've had the theory that because video game experiences are more personal because of interactivity, people develop an inherently stronger attachment to them. That might extend to other facets of the industry which leads to the existence of "console wars."

 

[Shaanyboi]

I would like to include "suckbag" into my daily vocabulary...

 

[zoukka]

But why isn't this "meaningful" or "impactful"?

Because me playing with a yo-yo isn't either. Unless I train myself to be the best Yo-Yo'er ever and perform to people.