Poll: Boycotting, yes or no?

[Spaghetti]

I don't really care if others boycott things. Good for them for having a strong belief in something.

But I never really boycott anything as I don't really care who makes a game or a movie. If it's good I'll buy it and play it. I like to treat things on a case-by-case basis. Don't know why, that's just the way I operate.

 

[thom_cat_]

I only boycotted L4D2.
But that was it.
A whole company? That's silly.

 

[daemon37]

Boycotting a large, corporate videogame company like EA or Activision is a lot like boycotting Hollywood.




ie. They're too busy doing this to care about you

 

[smudgey]

I don't boycott anymore. I just buy the games second hand. Nothing pisses a company off more than knowing someone is LEGALLY playing their game and they didn't get a cent for it. EA, for instance, have that whole "Project ten-dollar" thingy to try and get people to buy new instead of used.
So just buy second hand, cause it's legal, the company makes no money from it and you still get to play the game.

 

[Silva]

EA did not see a cent from me for almost 10 years, Atari no longer see a penny from me either.

I don't give a shit what games they make, until they clean up their act then I am going to protest in the only way that I can effectively... with my Wallet.

EA recently got lifted after there new take on DRM.

Ubisoft is on the shitlist for their current Online connect DRM Scheme.

Atari are on the list for their lack of standards, the Butchery of the D&D license their and poor customer support.

This is essentially my pattern as well. EA and Atari have both become developers of sludge releases, games that fill up the stores but never score high critically. Sports games, barely different racers, kiddy fluff and unnecessary DLC have been rampant in their practices for years.

My objection to Ubisoft's approach, however, is not limited to just their DRM. It's also based on how absolutely dry, repetitious, superficial and flat Assassin's Creed was despite the hype. I had a bad feeling that either critics had just plain gone soft in the face of the amount of hype that other media had already purveyed, or they had decided that getting a few extra bucks under the counter directly from Ubisoft for a good score was absolutely fine practice. Either way, that company is not going make any money out of me in the future.

I only boycotted L4D2.
But that was it.
A whole company? That's silly.

I think you have it backwards, my friend.

Boycotting a single game is a useless move if you buy other games from that company, but boycotting all of a company's products is effective.

Either way, you ARE making an impact by refusing to give your $100 plus away to that developer.

Yes, with big releases they will make a lot of money regardless of your boycott, even if it is a very successful, widespread movement in the gaming field. However, they are still making LESS money because of whatever you're protesting. This doesn't always fall on deaf ears.

The fact that boycotts exist in the gaming community means that there are lucrative prospects in pleasing all potential fans. This is a very good thing.

 

[Scabadus]

I've sworn to myself that I will never buy another CapCom game, for the simple reason that I just don't like them. Every SINGLE time I saw a CapCom game in the past I would think 'hey, this looks pretty good' and buy it, then it would turn out to be awful in pretty much every single way. Now, no matter how good they look (because they always look good) I don't buy them. I'm not trying to make a statement and I have no delusions that my particular £10 matters to them, I just don't like their games.

If they made a game that I played around a friend's house that I liked I would buy it, but I'm still waiting for that day.

 

[mechanixis]

Nah. Whenever someone cries boycott, I just want to facepalm. YOU AREN'T THAT IMPORTANT. YOU DON'T HAVE THAT MUCH INFLUENCE. Just buy games you like and don't buy games you don't like, don't act like it's the new Vietnam.

Oh, and in regards to torrenting:
"Visit any thread regarding the topic, and I mean any thread, and it won't be three posts until someone raises the Goddamned Jolly Roger and says they'll pirate the game as a gesture consistent with some comprehensive ur-morality they've ginned up, one where stealing things is alright provided they were very angry when they did it." -Tycho from Penny Arcade

 

[BytByte]

My simple stance is quality. If it's good, get it because the experience of the game should not have you thinking about the developers, but the game and its worth. In the entertainment industry, put entertainment above business.

 

[DustyDrB]

I'm done with 2K Sports because they make glitched out games with awkward and sometimes unresponsive mechanics. They burned me three years in a row with the MLB 2K series, but not again.

 

[Infinatex]

Nope, I'll buy it if it's good. I'm not going to suffer missing out on an awesome title for some petty problem with a developer. Like they even know if I don't buy the game.
Most people are all talk when it comes to this sort of thing anyway. I had friend who said that MW2 would not be an addition to their collection and a week later they are on my PSN list playing "Search & Destroy in Sub Base"

 

[Tdc2182]

No, there is no game extremely stupid enough for me to do that. I also dont want to be put in the same category as the whiny MW2 boycotters

 

[smudgey]

Nah. Whenever someone cries boycott, I just want to facepalm. YOU AREN'T THAT IMPORTANT. YOU DON'T HAVE THAT MUCH INFLUENCE. Just buy games you like and don't buy games you don't like, don't act like it's the new Vietnam.

It's not about being important, it's about having your say, just like voting. You may be just one person with one voice, but that doesn't mean you can't achieve something.

 

[Georgie_Leech]

Boycotting shouldn't be about quality. Boycotting is for when you strongly disagree with their practices, so it really doesn't matter about the quality of a game. For instance, I won't buy Nike products.

 

[Sarahcidal]

if a game looks good i'll play it.. end of story.. however that being said, i have never enjoyed a tom clancy game

 

[natural_fighter64]

If a game is good I'll buy it.

[HEADING=3]To the boycotters:[/HEADING]
If a game makes a lot of money then the company will see that they made the right decisions with that game and try to make their games better based on that example.
So you will help the company make better games if you buy their good ones.

I very much agree with this and this was the point that I was trying to get across to him. I mean it would make since that if they got more money for there good games and not there bad games then they would up the quality of there future games. I may be wrong though, I'm not sure.

For those that say you wont buy certain games, that's understandable. Boycott or not, I'm sure Sneak King didn't get to the top of most gamers To Buy list.

 

[WendelI]

Yes, absolutely. I will never spend money ever again on a game from Codemasters.

^^^ OMG THISSSS
they killed my RF online man..

What about buying multiple copies to support the company? my roommate has 2 copies of halo 3 and he doesn't have an Xbox360... oh and im not kidding either.

 

[ottenni]

Would it be funny if i boycotted this thread? I cant decide.

OT: Nah im not that dedicated. Not that i can afford games at the moment anyway.

 

[Skinny Razor]

Boycotts are like all the bullshit about voting. As long as the entity in question is getting enough votes (or money) to satisfy them, they could care fuck-all if you, the individual, are not sharing your votes (or money).
Besides, how would some giant corporation know that you, just one person, are NOT giving them money? A marketing analysis of non-sales?

 

[Therumancer]

The problem with a "boycott" is that it's pointless for just one person to do it, you need to get enough people together to have it matter. When it comes to gamers we mostly whine but then buy a game anyway. Also it's progressively getting to the point where once you buy a game and know it blows chips it's already too late to make a differance since your money already went to the company.

What's more current policies on used games are going to make it increasingly difficult for people to take a "I will only buy a game used" stance as a compromise to playing something but not letting the company see any money...

So far there are only a handfull of games I have refused to buy. One of them was Silent Hill 2, which I refused to purchuse despite it's rave reviews because the game was massively censored. Back when the PS-2 was coming out it was a big deal because there was this demo for the game that got a bunch of censors all upset due to it involving a lot of blood, gore, and bludgeoning of dead children, all of which was removed from the final game. I just got the game recently since people were STILL reviewing it positively after all this time, but I got it used because I refuse to put money in a company's pocket after they bow to censorship.

I admittedly have a similar policy when it comes to Atari nowadays and I've been leaning towards avoiding their games. I was unhappy with the censorship job they pulled on "Temple Of Elemental Evil" (forcing the game to be released with an earlier build and a lot of the content locked out due to 'adult' material being present) and also the cuts they did with Nevwerwinter Nights 2 which was allegedly the same basic story, cutting out entire romance options in the main campaign and so on.

That said any company can be hit or miss, and they can change policies. Mostly the only thing that will get me to turn against a game I would otherwise buy, is knowing that it compromised heavily with censorship. I also plan to not purchuse any Ubisoft games as long
as they run this DRM scheme.

I will point out though that just because I don't boycott a company does not mean I nessicarly have nice things to say about a company I buy products from. It's like a decade later and I'm still rather POed with Atlus for not releasing "Soul Hackers" or "Innocent Sin" in the US. One of my favorite game companies on a lot of levels, but also one I have a hard time vocalizing a lot of support for given some of their desicians through the years.

The bottom line though is that if gamers want to be taken seriously, I think we need a bit more self control when it comes to buying products. Buying something and whining does not help (or pretending otherwise while screaming Boycott), but actually not buying a product and being vocal about why, does.

 

[jubosu]

My brother is boycotting Trojan.
I was informed this at the same time i was informed of my nephews birth.