Pebkio said:
You want to talk about "in context" and yet quote something Rubin said about a different topic (females in games)? "Huge part of our fanbase" isn't the same as "average CoD fan". In fact, one could reasonably point out that YOU are going out-of-context in order to have the most toxic opinion about this statement.
"Huge part of the fanbase" would tend to imply, to my mind, anywhere from one-quarter to as many as half of the fanbase. But what you may be missing is my original comment in quotes- the "toxic opinion"- wasn't my
personal feelings about what he said, but my estimation of how they were likely to be interpreted by a) portions of the fanbase aggrieved at not being thought "worthy" of a "hardcore" description and b) console manufacturers who might feel their next generation consoles weren't getting full-voiced "support" from the makers of a major franchise.
I hold to that opinion; neither console marketers nor the so-called "fanboy" demographic have a reputation for tolerance for slights against the things they hold dear, whether that thing is the bolstering effect of a truly "next gen" experience for the console they're marketing or a view of themselves as extreme and elite. If you find this view of either group mistaken, I'd be happy to provide examples.
So I am: You are going out-of-context in order to have the most toxic opinions about his stateent. You like quotes? Here's one:
"It's kind of a weird, ironic thing to say," says Rubin. "They aren't hardcore gamers, or even gamers, but they play Call of Duty every night."
Yeah, that's specifically him trying to avoid labeling CoD fans as "casual gamers". Why'd you choose to ignore the on-topic in-context quote that was right in the article? Is it maybe because only you, and people like you, want to reach as far as you can and misinterpret in the most vitrolic ways so that you can just to turn any opinion into verbal battery acid?
...Sigh.
Look over that statement again.
What does he say? He says "they're not hardcore gamers, or even gamers."
Yes, he says that's a weird, ironic thing to say; he probably intends it with greater nuance that appears in the quote. That's not how a lot of people are likely to interpret that statement. They're just going to get that he said Call of Duty fans "aren't hardcore gamers". Anything further- such as your supposition that he's going out of his way to
avoid calling them "casual" gamers- is just that, supposition. You may well be correct that that was his
intent; that's not what's going to come across, because the mollification isn't apparent in the statement.
Hell, for that matter, the entire
article is lines taken out of context from different interviews. It's possible that within the greater interviews, a much more sophisticated picture is painted.
Someone who works in PR- however indirectly- should still
know better than to make such a comment.
So in long... you aren't interpreting what's "likely" for the rest of us... you're being an average CoD fan.
...oh crap, it just occured to me: Are you a CoD fan?
I kind of have to laugh now.
No, I really am not. I have no skin in the game whatsoever. The last
Call of Duty game I played was called just that:
Call of Duty, no numbers or subititles. I have absolutely no personal stake in how anyone thinks of the CoD fanbase, whether they think they're hardcore elite gamers, the backbone of gaming as a whole, devotees to one franchise who rarely look elsewhere, or part of the "casual" market, whatever that means in this day and age. I do not self-identify as a CoD player, let alone a "fan", and I don't own stock in Activision.
The most I can say is that I have some nearly academic interest in how
CoD influences and affects the rest of the gaming scene: the expectations placed on "blockbuster AAA" titles, the aesthetic and interface choices that end up getting imitated in other titles, and how such a major franchise might or might not actually influence sales and expectations of the next generation of console hardware.
My observation was this, and only this: For someone heavily involved in the series to make comments that
could be interpreted as pigeonholing or trivializing that series fanbase, and minimizing its likely impact in the market of the next generation of consoles (at a time when said next generation is very much on people's minds) seemed to me a strikingly thoughtless and ill-considered move.
