Do Gamers Have Principles?

RA92

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I've been gaming for quite a while, but it was just about 5 years ago that I joined any gaming community. The first instance I remember of gamers taking a stand against anything was the Modern Warfare 2 boycott. At first I was like, gamers boycotting a well-established franchise because they are charging console prices for a PC game and taking away dedicated servers? Cool!

Then MW2 launched with barely a dent in PC sales.

http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/18j48weujcgewjpg.jpg

And I've seen the same thing happen over and over again. When Diablo 3 was launching as an always-online game, every forum was ablaze with internet hate. We were flooded with Error 37 jokes, how the Auction House affects drop rates, etc. But at the end of it all? Fastest-selling PC game, with 14 million+ copies sold. Same with SimCity 2013. That PR nightmare of a game ended up selling 1.2 million+ copies in the first 2 weeks.

In fact, gamers seem to care enough about EA's exploitative practices on both consumers and developers to vote them as the worst company in America twice in a row, but apparently not enough to avoid buying the next Battlefield, Mass Effect, Dragon Age or FIFA.

Considering how gamers have recently taken it up to be the arbiters of principles and ethics, I think it's a pertinent question. Do gamers at large abide by their own principles? Or are gamers hypocritical and just predisposed to hopping on bandwagons? Perhaps, principle-espousing gamers are a loud vocal minority and don't really matter?
 

tippy2k2

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As a community? No because we can't; there's too many of us.

That's seriously it. The term gamer applies to so many people now that there CAN'T be an umbrella principle that covers everyone. There's so many of us that we are too diverse.

There are gamers who refuse to buy EA games due to their business practices. There's plenty who don't care about that as long as EA pumps out good games.

There are gamers who care if their games run at 60 FPS and has 1080 and maximizes the gigajewels on their whatzazappas (I...don't really know tech stuff). There's plenty who don't care as long as the games run.

There are gamers who feel that the sexual treatment of women in games should be stopped. There are plenty who argue that a little eye candy never hurt anyone.

We're too large and too diverse to be able to say we all have principles. I have my own principles that I stick with and you have your own principles that you will stick with and Gamer #24662321 has their own principles that they will stick with.
 

Shadow-Phoenix

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Like Tippy said there's too many of us, those that won't buy out of principle tend to be in small numbers from what I've seen the past 6 years, there's even a tweet campaign that PS4 users are trying to stage against Ubisoft over the parity clause yet they incite the One holding them back which knocks their legs right off since PC would naturally have to be chucked into that argument and even then I still believe those users are going to cave and just buy Creed Unity anyway, I've seen it happen for many a game and it'll happen again because there are just too many of us and not everyone is going to have and hold the same principle or ideals as another.

I stick to my own principles and I don't expect myself to follow others or have theirs override mine.
 

Johnny Novgorod

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I think it has less to do with games and more to do with online connectivity. On the internet, everybody is vocal.
 

Danny Dowling

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you do realise you're talking about human beings, right?

being a gamer doesn't suddenly make you a different breed of person. so chances are, yes, gamers have principle.

however, does a small portion of video gamers that talk to each other on forums etc. make up the majority of the video gaming public? no.

It took a lot of communities to create an impact like Gamergate, and that's still not a known thing outside our little world, so even if "everyone" is getting upset about something, it's still a small fraction of the consumer populous. the rest, they just buy their games and do their thing.
 

Windcaler

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If you talk about an entire community of gamers, and lets be sure to indicate that these are the large number of enthusiats that stay informed about such issues, then maybe. However out of all the gamers out there? No not at all. Lots of people just buy what they think looks good, play it, and go on with their lives. They dont stay up with journalism, they dont watch the big events like PAX or E3. They also outnumber enthusiasts by a huge margin.

Enthusiasts can make some change if we stick to our guns though. Battlefield 3 stopped its pre-order gun exclusive because the enthusiasts stood up against them. EA got worst company of america 2 years in a row (something it doesnt really deserve IMO) because enthusiasts spoke up. Ubisofts recent lack of diversity and PC port problems got pointed out because of enthusiasts. We're the ones to call for boycotts, were the ones to point out consumer unfriendly business practices, were the ones to call someone out on shady business deals and we can effect change if we stick to our guns. However the problem is many enthusiasts dont stick to their guns. I do (I boycotted ME3 and still do to this day and I outright refuse to pre-order anything or take marketing hype as representative of the product) but Im just one man. I can tell people what my opinion is on something but its very much a case of "you can lead a horse to water but you cant make him drink". People will believe what they want to believe and do what they want to do regardless of what I say. The best I can do is give them information so they can make informed decisions and hold true to my own principles.
 

xPixelatedx

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RA92 said:
Considering how gamers have recently taken it up to be the arbiters of principles and ethics, I think it's a pertinent question. Do gamers at large abide by their own principles? Or are gamers hypocritical and just predisposed to hopping on bandwagons? Perhaps, principle-espousing gamers are a loud vocal minority and don't really matter?
That "vocal minority" out-tweeted a 500Million dollar game it's first week on twitter... That's a pretty impressive minority!

But to be a bit more serious, boycotting a video games because it doesn't do something you like is quite silly when you really sit and think about it. At the end of the day, it's just a game, and it really doesn't speak volumes about anyone's principles one way or another. I think a lot of people realized this was dumb initially after they decided to do it, which easily explains why no one bothered to keep to their goal.

Of course, when the shat really does hit the fan, then it's a good time to test what people are really made of, and recent events that transpired 5 weeks ago (and still are) show shat definitely did hit the fan. Whether you think they're right or mistaken, it seems like they have principles to me. People without them would have shrugged this off as easily as the MW2 boycott and just went back to goofing off in videogames. You have to actually believe in something to keep at it for 5 weeks straight.
 

Imperioratorex Caprae

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A gamer can have principles, gamers as a whole can never share the same principles nor will all of them have principles. The difference is one vs. a group, and a group of people are always going to be diverse enough to where some won't share the same traits and views and some will be radically different.
Hell we can't even agree on what games are the best (which isn't a bad thing because subjectivity makes diversity awesome).
 

AcropolisParthenon

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Right thing you have to understand about this is we live in an age where for the most part, it seems big gaming companies never get punished take Electronic Arts for example, it took us a year to even get us to get them or Maxis or whoever it was, to admit that the DRM was a colossal mistake and that they never needed it, when they finally let it go it was a year later and you know what people still bought the game because trying to go up against companies who have near invincible amounts of money seems impossible to people and you can't really blame them because nothing we ever do seems to pack enough of a punch at least from some people's perspectives.
 

Colour Scientist

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Of course we have principles.


Gamer Principle #1:

If you disagree with us, we will get very annoyed and shout at you!
 

Rob Robson

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My principles:

-Never pre-order
-Never buy assembly-line deep-sequeled games
-Never crowdfund an established publisher who are just abusing it for budget cushion, usually also boycott their game for trying (looking at you Trion, Sony Online Entertainment and Stardock)
-Never buy bad ports
-Try to find a way to give more money to developers who put soul into their games or push the medium's boundaries, like I've done with The Secret World (life-time sub), Star Citizen (over $1400 spent so far) and Dreamfall: Chapters (going to buy gift copies to give friends who wouldn't otherwise play it) and Subnautica is pending hype too.
-For "normal" games, never pay more than $1 per hour of play time expectancy.
-Never buy from Ubisoft, never buy from EA unless for extremely good reason and definitely not without deep research.
-Never buy an always-online DRM primarily single player game.
 

JohnnyDelRay

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Yeah, if your question refers to *people* having principles about *gaming*, then shit yes, obviously they do, that's why forums go ablaze about any minor (or major) disagreeance. Is that even a word? So, while I'm sure you'll have some who couldn't give a damn and just play games for the outlet regardless of what's going on in them, I think there's quite a vocal majority who would put their foot down on various stances. Too many things to put into example, so to save you the trouble and contribute to the thread I'll lay down my own:
1) I don't buy games from Ubisoft, it's a little late but the always-on thing is just a joke, I thought it would disappear but it's alive and well. Rainbow 6 Vegas 2 was awesome, so that makes me very sad. I played FarCry3 with a friend and loved it, so that also made me sad.
2) I've stopped buying from EA due to their stance on 'consumer 1st'. I loved the Sim City series and Need for Speeds since I was a kid so that made me sad.
3) If I pirate a game which didn't have a demo available, and I actually enjoy it and keep playing it, I pay for it.
4) I heavily support companies like GOG and CD Project Red with my wallet because of their stance on non-DRM, and free DLC.
5) I don't play games like torture, rape, and mass murder where that's simply the sole, glorified objective. Sure you can do all kinds of heinous things in GTA and Hitman but that's not what the game's really about, and I don't resort to sitting around doing that (much).

Gamers will disagree on lots of things, but as OP pointed out, rarely do they actually stick to their guns. This has been quite difficult as you can see but I think it's the least I can do. And give a few bucks to saving the pandas and rainforests, of course.
 

Fappy

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Colour Scientist said:
Of course we have principles.


Gamer Principle #1:

If you disagree with us, we will get very annoyed and shout at you!
I think you just described the entire internet XD
 

JagermanXcell

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Yeah we do, but principles are subjective. And as long as you're not a cynical monster man/woman when it comes to video games (rare), than have at your principles and i'll have at mine.

But who am I to say, I only have two principles, and one that might be a bit too controversial for this thread:

-Praise Platinum Games above even Jesus.
and my most controversial principal...
-Play video games.

*flame shield up. bomb shelter built. personal records burned.*
Come at me.
 

CpT_x_Killsteal

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Yes, all agree on the same things and have a strict moral code.
We also have wings and tentacles.
We all attend the same things and agree on the same things, like which games are bad and which games are good.

For fuck sake people, stop generalizing.

In short, "gamers" aren't a bloody movement. You could ask the same question of people who like picking flowers, or people who play scrabble and the question wouldn't be any more or less ridiculous.
 

Gunner 51

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On an individual level, I'd say "yes."
But on a collective level, I'd say "Not generally."

The reason for this, I feel is that gamers as a whole are over-stimulated. Not by the games themselves, but rather by gaming media with it's constant advertisement, distraction and information overload. With this being the age of information, it's all readily available instantly at the click of a mouse.

All this information is accessible all too easily and it's given us the attention span of gnats. We're used to having everything now and we are unused to waiting for long periods of time for anything - such is the way of twenty first century living.

Gamers aren't stopping to think about their actions, because they cannot stop to do so because our attention is always elsewhere on the next shiny, new game coming out. (Holy cow, I sound like an old man when I'm typing this.)

The best thing gamers can do if they want to improve themselves is to take a day off away from the internet and have a wander around their towns and blow away the mental cobwebs. Get together with a few chums down the local pub or for a kickabout in the park or something.

Because if you're with your friends in real life, you aren't contributing to a flame war or providing the likes of Anita Sarkeesian the proof she wants that gamers are sexist, or being price-gouged by large publishers. And come the next day, your mind is refreshed, ready for anything and you'd be a more level-headed person for it. But best of all, you'd be able to stick to one's own principles a lot better.
 

xPixelatedx

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Fappy said:
Colour Scientist said:
Of course we have principles.


Gamer Principle #1:

If you disagree with us, we will get very annoyed and shout at you!
I think you just described the entire internet XD
Yeah I was about to say, that would actually be a good summery of humanity itself. Outside of some religious monks, most groups of people would respond the same if the disagreement was definitive enough.
 

Drathnoxis

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RA92 said:
http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/18j48weujcgewjpg.jpg
To be fair, that picture would have been extraordinarily easy to photoshop in various ways to make the people in the boycott look bad and is virtually impossible to verify.
 

Elijin

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Principles were a pre-order bonus once. And since we know how people who like to boycott things feel about pre-order bonuses, they unfortunately missed out.