Keep Gaming For Gamers

[Good morning blues]

I could not disagree with the OP more. Gaming isn't a departure from the mainstream - it's more profitable than Hollywood, for god's sake. Additionally, claiming that Army of Two, Too Human and Ninja Gaiden are "intelligent entertainment" is completely absurd.

I welcome the new, casual gamers, because hardcore gamers just want the same thing over and over, and frankly I'm sick of it. It's time for diversity and a broader appeal. I've been running down tight corridors shooting small skittery aliens ever since Halo, and I've had it. Give me something that will make me think and keep me guessing for once.

 

[Perwer]

I'm getting sick of all this "hate-the-mainstream"-bullshit.
EDIT: the term "mainstream" is (not only but mostly) a marketing trick. Just like "emo" and the surrounding culture of being "alternative".

 

[alwaysrockon]

i try not to hate the wii but its just too hard,
they say there introducing GAMING for casual gamers, but there changing gaming as we know it. its like all those crappy new book series like twilight and eragon. they make something simple that every other artist frowns upon becasue it is a cheap easy money makign scam! i know that for sure many developers are pissed because they put years of hardwork to make a actual game and then nintendo releases some crappy minigame simulator and it makes millions.
it freakinlowers the standers of gamers and gaming

 

[bittman]

Or read a book?

Just gonna say Shiuz, I read Good morning blues comment more relevant to him hating the Halo series not that he is an old-hat at gaming because he started with Halo.

But yes, Story and the power of it is not always relevant to games. Not every game needs a story, and not every game with a story needs a good story. Gameplay is, and always should be, first, and this is where the differences between hardcore and casual really come about.

For reference I welcome more casual gamers too...unless they keep beating me at the games I own (which they do...man I suck...)

 

[jim_doki]

i try not to hate the wii but its just too hard,
they say there introducing GAMING for casual gamers, but there changing gaming as we know it. its like all those crappy new book series like twilight and eragon. they make something simple that every other artist frowns upon becasue it is a cheap easy money makign scam! i know that for sure many developers are pissed because they put years of hardwork to make a actual game and then nintendo releases some crappy minigame simulator and it makes millions.
it freakinlowers the standers of gamers and gaming

I'll tell you why developers are pissed, its that they didn't think of it first. we ALL laughed at the wiimote when it came out, we all thought it was rediculous, but then it outsold the competition. Nintendo are the first company in a long time to make games accessable for other people, and for every person who descovers games and enjoys them an angel gets it's wings. Nintendo haven't ruined gaming in the slightest, they've turned it back into a fun thing people do when they want. its called a hobby

 

[Good morning blues]

I could not disagree with the OP more. Gaming isn't a departure from the mainstream - it's more profitable than Hollywood, for god's sake. Additionally, claiming that Army of Two, Too Human and Ninja Gaiden are "intelligent entertainment" is completely absurd.

I welcome the new, casual gamers, because hardcore gamers just want the same thing over and over, and frankly I'm sick of it. It's time for diversity and a broader appeal. I've been running down tight corridors shooting small skittery aliens ever since Halo, and I've had it. Give me something that will make me think and keep me guessing for once.

You seem like a guy who is atleast 18 so if you've only been playing games since Halo you're opinion doesn't meant crap to me. And those games you talk about that seem like the same thing those are the games that gamers love, so if you want to keep guessing about some crappy storyline watch a movie.

Well, thanks for the condescension. Just so you can get your assumptions correct, I'm two weeks from 20, I've been playing games since the mid-nineties, and the first game that I really got into was Space Quest III, which was released in 1989. So yes, I've been playing since well before Halo, and yes, that's my whole point - modern first person shooters are almost all carbon copies of Halo and Half-Life. I welcome casual and new gamers because the industry will have to start making original, inventive, accessible, and genuinely enjoyable games, rather than churning out remakes of the same templates twice a year.

 

[666thHeretic]

I say let those who believe we are all GTA psychopaths continue to believe exactly that.

...And then they become politicians, and since we're viewed as elitist assholes nobody tries to stop them when they ban pretty mcuh anything that makes a game fun.

 

[Dr Spaceman]

I totally agree with the above poster jim_doki: the Nintendo Wii made video gaming real to many people that had really never played a game before. The Wiimote makes it accessible to anyone, it makes the games fun. As much as I love big complex RPGs like Baldur's Gate, I could never get my parents or non-gamer friends to deal with it for more than five seconds. And yet, my mom and I had a lot of fun squaring off in Wii Tennis.

I think this kind of attitude is hugely detrimental to our shared hobby and passion, just as it would be to any other pursuit which people enjoy. You think bird watchers would be upset if bird watching became mainstream? Sure, some would but you would think they're weird people who for some reason don't want to share. Let's invite people IN, rather than kicking them out.

I believe that any insecurities people may have about gaming becoming mainstream are due to the fact that they want to remain unique and maintain a hobby that only so many people have. That's bullshit. Gaming is about fun. People are fun. Misanthropic tendencies that drive people away from gaming makes the rest of us look bad.

 

[Random Argument Man]

I don't know if anyone made this argument already, but here it goes.

If we open the door to new gamers in this world, we would give them a taste of the video game experience. If they have that taste, they would want more. If they would want more, they will become gamers. So Mainstream gaming is like the foot-in-the-door experience.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[sidhe3141]

Yes, I agree that the percentage of utter suck has increased. Yes, making games for Joe Public takes some of the development money away from Qarth Gamer. No, these two phenomena are not directly related, but inversely.
Heresy, I know, but just hear me out. The biggest reason behind the increase in suckage is that the industry rarely ever comes up with any new ideas. The market that the industry aims for is mostly 14-22 year old males who already know how to play their favored set of games and don't feel like trying anything else. As long as they try to sell to that group, they don't need new ideas; all they need is Halo 4.3E5 or Final Fantasy CXVII. So there are no new ideas in that direction.
The only source of new ideas, at least currently, lies in expanding the market. Games aimed at small children, or at women, or at mature adults (I don't mean the porno titles; I mean games that address complex issues and actually make the player think), or at other "n00bs" are really the only escape the industry has from stagnation.
In an ideal world, this would not suck titles away from the hardcore gamers (as these groups would already be represented among hardcore gamers), but the reason it does so is that the industry only recently started seriously trying to tap the casual market. As a result, there is an established audience that starts crying bloody murder when they find that they no longer have the exclusive attention of the developers. Personally, I consider the industry trying to expand to a market that didn't really exist until recently to be an act of unusual courage for such a conservative business, as well as a sign that the quality of games could soon improve.

 

[The_Deleted]

I think the guy who mentioned the Halo clones has a very good point. We are swamped with FPS based in space & WWII and it would be awesome if developers and publishers would stretch themselves, which you could counterpoint the Wii is doing, it always takes a while for consoles to really 'find thier feet'. But let's face it any game that has tried something different is usually ignored in favour of what's familiar.

Another issue is Broken Games. Those games that should let you do X,Y or Z but the programming is so shoddy that the game does not react as it should. Surely this is a dangerous precedent to be setting as those New Gamers could well be put off, believing all games to be one and the same and not risking another £40 on something that doesn't work.

 

[drivel]

I've already written at great length elsewhere [http://pur3driv3l.wordpress.com/2007/08/22/metroid-prime-3-corruption-or-why-my-wii-sits-idle-whilst-daily-i-pleasure-myself-with-other-systems/] on this topic.

Essentially, I think more gamers is good for the gaming industry overall, even if they play casual games. More money in the pockets of developers/producers means more money to (hopefully) make games that I want to play.

I do worry about more and more of that dough going to make games that I do not want to play, though.

 

[Imitation Saccharin]

Yes, making games for Joe Public takes some of the development money away from Qarth Gamer.

YOU ARE JOE PUBLIC YOU SELF IMPORTANT COC.....

Ahem. Sorry. 4 pages of this kind of made me full of unhappy. I'm gonna go kill virtual bunnies to vent steam.

 

[Cyclomega]

I say let those who believe we are all GTA psychopaths continue to believe exactly that.

...And then they become politicians, and since we're viewed as elitist assholes nobody tries to stop them when they ban pretty mcuh anything that makes a game fun.

QFT. LISTEN to this man.