Jimquisition: Defending Call of Duty

[Aureliano]

I hope the people who actually play CoD found this funny or entertaining. I neither play nor criticize the game or its players, and was ultimately bored by Jim's defense of the game and whatever accent he was trying to do.

 

[MAUSZX]

*sigh* Is his solution to each complaint about his overacting just to overact even more? Is he deliberately trying to try way too hard to be funny? Is his intention to come off as desperate "ironically?"

I think Jim doesn't try to be funny, if you don't like it don't watch it. I'm sorry but Jim is a critic of all the HARDCORE gamers and a lot of dumb things must of the gamers complain.




I personally don't hate COD games, but don't love them either, for me it is a copy/paste every year, it's a expensive game and it's not the type of game i like, this games are just worth the rent for me.... I'm more a single player lover than multiplayer

 

[Savber]

First, you gave The Witcher 2 a 6/10 and then defend Call of Duty on this show.

Oh dear... The shit just hit the fan. >.<

 

[MajorDolphin]

It's not the fact that it's a huge thing ALONE that makes it shit. It's the fact that (like you said) because it is so big, so many other companies try to emulate it. Often alienating their original fans in the process and making a poorer product. Example: Bioware and Dragon Age 2.

It's like a videogame version of the Shoe Event Horizon.

So true. I'd hate to bring up Socom yet again but it is the best example of this. Socom had a hardcore group of fans (maybe too hardcore, they hated the second best game of the series and the BEST game of the series, Combined Assault). So what does the Socom developer do? Try to emulate CoD and then fails horrendously.

If any developers are out there, XP messages, achievements and unlockable guns are NOT what makes CoD fun. STOP trying to copy that portion of the game... stick with what you know!

 

[HalfTangible]

*sigh* Is his solution to each complaint about his overacting just to overact even more? Is he deliberately trying to try way too hard to be funny? Is his intention to come off as desperate "ironically?"

I think you're just about right here.

What really gets me is how self-rieghteous he is, either intentionally to try and be funny, or *shudder* unintentionally.
Unfortunately, his wanky bullshit, which was supposed to rub off as ironic and taking the piss just rubs off instead as him being an unlikeable prick.
On top of the fact that he shows other arguments in a painfully sarcastic light shows up as him just being as big of a prick as the people who actually use those flawed arguments.

Anyway, on the topic of CoD, I always felt that the reason that it was despised by the general community was that it had a cocky fanbase, half made up (as the stereotype goes) of 14 year old kids who all slept with our mums.
I've honestly never heard of someone dissing CoD on the basis that it introduced an excellent unlock, level and perk system, let alone calling it superior to, or inferior to Quake or Halo, or any games like that with a more arcadey set-up.

Personally I really hope The Escapist pulls Jim Sterling's show, because after weeks of trying to warm up to him, he's just shown himself as a massive dick, which is not what anyone wants.

I got the impression he's acting like a self-righteous prick as a joke =/

 

[Knight Templar]

You really overplay the strength of the campaign, with the recent games at least.
You don't really address any real arguments against the game. Not saying you ignore them (being unaware or agreeing with such arguments) just that you're shooting fish in a barrel.
People who accuse others of playing cod as an insult are typically not likely to listen anyway. I mean how likely is it they have gone so long without the obvious being pointed out?

I think you're holding COD a bit too high, but I can't quite dislike your video because of how you mention liking more than one type of game. Too often things are painted in black and white, games are amazing or utter shit, fanboy or hater, etc.

 

[TFielding]

While I agree with Mr. Sterling's opinions on how the reasons some people hate Call of Duty are completely stupid, I do not share his high regard for the modern Call of Duty Franchise.

My main complaint about the newer Call of Duty's is how they have come farther away from the original theme in single player. I mean, the whole reason CoD exists is because the designers were fed up with the Medal of Honor style shooter where one or two special soldiers went out and beat the bad guys single handedly. The reason I bought it over Allied Assault was because of this and I quite enjoyed the teamwork in single player. While I didn't like Modern Warfare as much, my favorite moments were the single player moments where you worked with your team and played a regular grunt. When I got Modern Warfare 2, most missions were you as a highly trained Special Operator, acting like a character from a movie. As Mr. Sterling said in a previous video, Video Games are not movies.

But, I have to say, most peoples experience comes from the multiplayer and I prefer single player games (Except Battlefield, TF2, and L4D2) so I should have no say in the matter of what makes a good multiplayer.

 

[kroldok]

Because you're not funny and especially not funny when you praise yourself.
And fat. Work out.

.... And wears a stupid tie. Buy a collar.
And wears stupid shades. Get a bandana.
And is white. Plastic surgery, here we come.

This is actually what he talks about for most of the video, arbitrary hatred towards groups of people, like people who hate other people for enjoying CoD, or because they are fat, or because they wears shades, or because.... well you get it.

He never actually states that all people who dislike CoD are wrong, he states that he likes it, and an unfortunate amount of people who dislike it do so because it is popular and thus do not base their opinion on the merits of the games themselves (from my experience i would say there is a decent chance this is true).

And with that comes the people who not only hate the game, but extend this hate towards the players themselves, actual people who in no kind of way deserve being treated like garbage because they play CoD, at least not more than you or I deserve to be treated like garbage because we play videogames, wether it's CoD or Braid.

No, he's not just saying he likes it, he IS saying it's actually good and the people who don't like it have no good reasons. I played CoD4 and gave my reasons why I didn't liked it then I went on giving only very few of the reasons why I don't like this guy. Want more reasons I don't like CoD? I'm not an online-multiplayer fan.

I am perfectly fine with you hating CoD, but this:
'No, he's not just saying he likes it, he IS saying it's actually good and the people who don't like it have no good reasons.'
Is just outright wrong.

Quote:
"Call of Duty is popular, and that means it's shit. That appears to be the common sentiment among gamers"

This one is tricky, because it is a fairly vague statement, it is practically impossible to seperate true disdain from flaming as someone who wants to flame can simply ignore swearing and form arguments without really making a claim to be scrutinized, he could however be right, it would hardly be the first time making a splash by kicking upwards is on the menu.

Quote:
"I find the sneering disdain for it quite ignorant and ludicrous most of the time"

Note most of the time, meaning not all of the time, and not all of the arguments.

Quote:
"Call of Duty is not perfect, Activision may soon be running the series into the ground if rumours of spinoffs are true, and $15 mappacks can go f*** themselves"

Obviously he does not completely invalidate people who dislike the game, anyone making these arguments for instance would find him quite agreeable.

Quote:
"If you have a legitimate argument against the series or it's players other than simply 'DURRH, It's stupid' I am more than willing to listen.

This also makes for an interesting quote, he does in fact not say that all arguments are of the DURRH variety, most of the arguments in this thread are not(boring maps, boring scenery.. and so forth).
He simply asks that you provide him with more than DURRH (once again, as in this thread), as such he is making a push for constructive critizism.

The core argument he makes is still that people dislike him personally for playing CoD, much like you dislike him personally for being fat (at least your post makes it seem so).
And just like you he states his opinion, his opinion being that he likes the game, but tends to get s*** on when he makes this known to other people, people who then assume he is a brain-dead moron based solely on his choice of entertainment, in this case CoD, and that is just as bad as being assumed a brain-dead moron for prefering videogames to the theatre.

 

[Hypertion]

ive been trying to figure out this weird thing since it started here.

ive come to the following conclusion.

I see a fat nerd trying to be king nerd by means of terrible parody and poor attempts of humor,
and nothing more.

As such of this observation, i can not credit this show as it does nothing at all. At least Zero Punctuation mentions a game and talks about it a bit. This guy however is what i would expect to see trying to win "king of nerd-con" at a convention for obsessed nerds.

Perhaps a better title for the series would be Nerdquisition, or Fanboy Rant.

Him defending Call of duty makes me sad i like it.

 

[Negatempest]

Oh boy. Well, my personal reason to dislike modern warfare is not because of the game play, story or multiplayer. It has EVERYTHING to do with the weapons and maps. They have not been fixed or balanced in a very long time. So you have easily exploitable weapons used almost every other match. You also have people who have memorized the map so well they know when and where to fire their weapon to get an easy kill.

Speaking of maps, half the maps in COD have been exploited up the whazoo. Players go to locations that give them easy access to kills and lowers their chances to be killed. So yeah, multiplayer killed my interest in COD because it is not fixed after awhile. So I do not expect COD3 to be fixed when it comes out either.

 

[theultimateend]

While not very subtly put, I completely agree with what he's saying. People will always be hating on what's popular, because that's what the 'cool kids' do, but a bit of sense seldom goes amiss.

To be fair, part of popularity comes from not taking risks or doing anything niche. Popularity stems from a group of generic qualities in something.

Well MASSIVE popularity does. Admittedly in the beginning many things become popular because they are high quality. They become massively popular because they remove all the things that made them unique.

It's not evil or anything its just the sacrifice that must be made if you feel that the only positive game sale is the 300 millionth one.

 

[lovest harding]

*sigh* Is his solution to each complaint about his overacting just to overact even more? Is he deliberately trying to try way too hard to be funny? Is his intention to come off as desperate "ironically?"

You sir, seem quite frustrated, maybe it was the subject of this episode that made you so?

Anyways, I welcome this new show and its counter-opinion to what is essentially the ethos of many gamers (and that includes members of the Escapist), that is, complete generalization of people based on something as unfounded as taste in video-games.

But isn't the what this video is doing to two different groups (complete generalization):
A) The people who dislike CoD, who may very well have valid reasons (I've never played them, so meh, just not something I'm interested in).
B) The 'games are art' crowd. I firmly believe games can be art. But I certainly don't go around complaining about games that I don't consider art.

It's one thing to point out the fallacies of generalization, it's another to play into them while trying to counteract them.

Anyway. The video was fine enough. I guess since I haven't really dealt with the CoD games, I just have never seen this (honestly, I can't think of a single time where I've heard/read someone complain about the games because they aren't art, as a matter of fact, I've heard plenty of people tout the story lines as on par with war movies like Saving Private Ryan, a realistic and sobering view of violence and war).
I didn't like the way he was treating the 'games are art' crowd, though. Maybe I'm just being a bit too sensitive (as I understand he wasn't poking fun at the whole movement, just the people who complained about CoD not being art). But that probably stems from my lack of knowledge too. xD

 

[Trishbot]

When someone acts like a pompous, self-important jerk and you know he's just doing it for show, it's funny. When someone acts like a pompous, self-important jerk and you don't know if he's serious or not, I struggle to laugh.

I routinely disagree with Jim's bloated views and think his straw-man logic is getting a bit tired. He seems very contrarian for the sake of being contrary and to troll for page-views and attention while not actually saying anything any of us haven't heart before from other, more sophisticated, funny, and knowledgeable critics and humorists.

COD is not hated for being "popular", and those that don't like it aren't all grouped into the same pretentious camp. Most COD-haters used to BE COD-lovers, but the game was diluted, diminished, and ultimately ruined from iteration to iteration.

"Call of Duty" is currently the most popular shooting game, and possibly franchise, in the world, and I struggle to see why it NEEDS "defending". There are so many games that need awareness, defense, and discussion, ranging from the artistic merits of L.A. Noire, to the untapped potential of the Enslaved franchise, to the jarring changes made to Dragon Age 2, to the bold originality of Mirror's Edge, to the emotional resonance of Okami, Limbo, Silent Hill, ICO, Shadow of the Colossus, Beyond Good & Evil, Psychonauts, and even games as brilliant yet divisive as Brutal Legend, Assassin's Creed, Bayonetta, Deadly Premonition, and Castlevania: Lords of Shadow.

The merits of those games are worthy of discussion, debate, focus, awareness, and consensus.

"Call of Duty" is as worthy of being a talking point as "In defense of the health of McDonald's Happy Meals". Even if you love those Happy Meals, Jim, talking about them without something legitimately worthwhile to say is a waste of my time, no matter how much of a self-parodying and insensitive jerk you act like to make the topic "funny".

 

[mfeff]

Thanks for this video, its a refreshing mouthwash from the shit sandwich that was "gun myth" over at extra credits. COD still sucks though... Battlefield 3 for life!!!! (It's a gameplay/mechanic thing) you understand.

 

[lovest harding]

COD is not hated for being "popular", and those that don't like it aren't all grouped into the same pretentious camp. Most COD-haters used to BE COD-lovers, but the game was diluted, diminished, and ultimately ruined from iteration to iteration.

"Call of Duty" is currently the most popular shooting game, and possibly franchise, in the world, and I struggle to see why it NEEDS "defending". There are so many games that need awareness, defense, and discussion, ranging from the artistic merits of L.A. Noire, to the untapped potential of the Enslaved franchise, to the jarring changes made to Dragon Age 2, to the bold originality of Mirror's Edge, to the emotional resonance of Okami, Limbo, Silent Hill, ICO, Shadow of the Colossus, Beyond Good & Evil, Psychonauts, and even games as brilliant yet divisive as Brutal Legend, Assassin's Creed, Bayonetta, Deadly Premonition, and Castlevania: Lords of Shadow.

The merits of those games are worthy of discussion, debate, focus, awareness, and consensus.

Just want to say that is beautifully worded and I support this idea 100%.

 

[captaincabbage]

*sigh* Is his solution to each complaint about his overacting just to overact even more? Is he deliberately trying to try way too hard to be funny? Is his intention to come off as desperate "ironically?"

I think you're just about right here.

What really gets me is how self-rieghteous he is, either intentionally to try and be funny, or *shudder* unintentionally.
Unfortunately, his wanky bullshit, which was supposed to rub off as ironic and taking the piss just rubs off instead as him being an unlikeable prick.
On top of the fact that he shows other arguments in a painfully sarcastic light shows up as him just being as big of a prick as the people who actually use those flawed arguments.

Anyway, on the topic of CoD, I always felt that the reason that it was despised by the general community was that it had a cocky fanbase, half made up (as the stereotype goes) of 14 year old kids who all slept with our mums.
I've honestly never heard of someone dissing CoD on the basis that it introduced an excellent unlock, level and perk system, let alone calling it superior to, or inferior to Quake or Halo, or any games like that with a more arcadey set-up.

Personally I really hope The Escapist pulls Jim Sterling's show, because after weeks of trying to warm up to him, he's just shown himself as a massive dick, which is not what anyone wants.

I got the impression he's acting like a self-righteous prick as a joke =/

Yeah I do get it, but either way, it's just alienating his potential audience because it's just not really funny. Would Extra Credits really be any better if the main speaker was a massive tool?
Thing is, even when he does make good points, it just seems to me like it's still veiled behind a wall of obnoxiousness. I just don't think it's helping his show.

 

[jamesbrown]

he makes a good point, COD has changed FPS forever, and with MW3 coming out, from what I can understand it will be an amazing story. MW2 and Black ops had good stories that I enjoyed replaying, but MW2 felt more like a transitional story in the series then a story to stand on its own merit. This website seems to have the most intelligent people in gaming working for them.

 

[Still Life]

Well MASSIVE popularity does. Admittedly in the beginning many things become popular because they are high quality. They become massively popular because they remove all the things that made them unique.

Are you speaking on the level of 'genre' or specifically on COD? All the things that made COD unique, are still there in subsequent releases. The formula has become widely popular because it simply works, and very well at that. I would argue that no other developer has been able to emulate the formula as well as Infinity Ward or Treyarch, however many of the elements that made COD great have been successfully implemented into games which try to put a new spin in their FPS games.

I think COD is a great franchise and its recognition is well deserved for the most part. Personally, it has become a case of 'too much of a good thing' with the annual release schedule; COD has become stale for me and not through any lack of quality.

 

[charlest92]

simply put cod as a franchise needs to decide NOW as to whether it wants to be a great exculsively single player franchise, a great exclusively multiplayer franchise or a mediocre multiplayer game with single player tacked on.

 

[JourneyThroughHell]

Thanks, Jim. Thanks a lot.

It's good to see that since you don't actually seem to care about the reception (which isn't good), at least you can address topics far more interesting than Extra Credtis does every week.

But, on CoD. Yeah. I don't get much hate for having the series as my favorite... right until I try to defend it, because then everyone can incidentally link me to the CoD community he despises and then insult all of them for being little kids who don't know better.

But, then, look at most of the comments in the thread, no more complex than just saying how shit MW2 and BO, probably because of the gun and perk imbalance (not that any of that was in WaW and MW, oh, wait), removing the coop campaign (as if one in World at War was sooo fucking good), and being badly-paced and far-fetched.

It's perfectly acceptable to not like CoD. I know a plethora of people who don't and I'm mostly okay with that. However... if your only reasons to hate it are that its American propaganda or doesn't encourage teamwork like TF2!!!11!1 , rethink that.