Games like Gone Home existing aren't taking anything away from you. They are, however, helping to legitimize gaming as a pastime similar to reading books or watching a movie.Genocidicles said:Normally I'm one to just stick my fingers in my ears and pretend everything is fine when discussions about diversity get brought up, but with all these articles about how the 'evil dudebro gamers' are dying off and how gaming will become more diverse and move forward as a medium (and how that's a good thing) have made me wonder:
Is this a good thing, for me? From where I'm standing, all diversity in gaming has brought us is shit like Gone Home. How can I get on board with 'diversity moving gaming forward', if it just means more crappy games I won't play on Steam? How is this a good thing exactly?
If you're an action film fan, why would you give a flying monkey shit whether or not someone made a foreign documentary on dung beetles as long as you still get your action films? Does it somehow detract from your action film viewing to know that non-action films exist? It shouldn't. No one should be so insecure as to get mad if someone produces something they don't like.
An expanding industry means more money is getting sunk into it and more fans are consuming the product. This means higher production games and a larger variety. Sure, there may be more gone homes but that also means we get more Bastion's and Chivalry's and the Stanley Parable's.
Now, as far as the 'dudebro gamers dying off' side of the equation. Those are the people on the other side of the spectrum who are upset that you like action films (to stick with my analogy). They are every bit as guilty of insecurity as anyone who would be mad that they exist or that games get made for them. That they would dismiss gamers as just dudebro [insert insult here] does nothing but de-legitimize whatever point they're trying to make about equality at the moment. Some people like to try to pretend that equality means that minority groups have the same voice as majority groups. But that's not equality. Equality means each individual person has 1 vote and so a majority group still wins out because that's the most people voting that way. Inequality is giving any group a louder voice (more votes per person) or dismissing groups altogether. I think these groups have the best argument that their voices aren't being heard at all. Some just go a little far and demand that they be catered to as if they were 90% of the consumer base.
But the fact is that the dudebro games are still the top sellers. COD and GTA, these are the games that show up as the top sellers of the year for the past decades. Not only that, but the top sellers in multiple versions of the same game.
For example, last year: http://www.vgchartz.com/yearly/2013/Global/
GTA V and COD: Ghosts took four of the top five best seller spots by themselves (ps3 and 360 versions).
So unless people stop buying these games, they aren't going anywhere. What you've got to see this as is an opportunity for a wider base. Not for people to actually lose things. No need to be afraid of it. Consider that the movies already went through than transition and people still get the movies they want.