Poll: No One I Know Likes Good Games

[ChocoFace]

It's sometimes funny to see my dad come in the room, say "playing these kiddy games again, huh", after which he stays to watch for a minute or two.

He thinks games are a waste of time, but seems to be interested in them enough to warrant his attention a bit.

Having gaming as a hobby is generally frowned upon where i live, but luckily noone seems to be rude about it like your douchebag friends.

 

[Jubbert]

FUCK THOSE FRIENDS.

 

[HydraMoon]

They are all 19, really. As far as the story goes, it happened exactly like that. This is quite normal for me, the people in my life just don't think of video games as anything other than toys.

19 can be a rough age. I remember struggling to leave behind my teenage ways and adopt what I thought of as an Adult Life. I mainly got it wrong. In time they will probably learn to bend a bit.

As far as how my gaming is viewed- it's something that's supported except for when I'm on a gaming site. I play all kinds of games, FPS (when I can use an adapted controller) and 200 hour RPGs all the way to hidden object games and games on my Kindle. I'll game anywhere and any time.

In 'gamer' circles my love for variety gets me labelled as a casual player because I dare to talk about good games that aren't made for headshots. The only place I encounter grief is in gamer circles- no one in real life has ever said I'm wasting my time, playing 'stupid games' or that my hobby is for children only. The only people who've ever said my games are crap, not worth the time it took to code them, were fellow gamers.

For me, being a gamer means I have love for the medium- not just specific titles/genres. For some reason in gaming circles there is a divide there between what games are 'good' and worthy of being talked about vs Games That Shan't Be Mentioned As It Does Not Make Us Look Badass. It's snobby and childish; I wish we could grow up already and just enjoy what we enjoy.

tl:dr- non gamers don't care what games I play, gamers act more like children and judge everyone elses games.

 

[Sancrkf]

My parents don't really care much about gaming, I don't even know what they think about it, but sometimes they play too, specially motocross games lol...

But about people like your friends and those who say japanese/cartoony games must suck, all I have to say is: The idiots are taking over, that's all. Just leave them to their own ignorance and enjoy fantastic games that they'll never play.

 

[Thaius]

You took out everything that makes these stories more than one of the few basic archetypes and claimed the stories were shallow by extension, and that logic does not even begin to follow.

Except that's all the stories really have. ME2 was the most dry, filler loaded thing I've ever played, for example. And that's the problem. Video games, at this point, can only hope to mimic the deeper narrative in film & literature. Until we can admit this fundamental problem as a community, we won't be able to overtake it. Like I said, almost every video game "story" compared to a well written movie or book is like. "comparing The Evil Dead to a Francis Ford Coppola film."

Although lord of the rings... is actually pretty bad. I can't defend it.

Actually, they have much more than that; the problem is that you're taking out the main things that make every story more than just its basic archetype; characters and setting. None of your summaries had anything about them, but the characters, their motivations, weaknesses, and struggles, are what makes a story more than its basic summary. Red Dead Redemption isn't about some guy trying to "Hunt down and capture a series of criminals," it's about a man trying to save his family and redeem his past. Bioshock isn't about saving people from anything, it's about surviving in a mysterious place with a complicated and philosophically rich history, and discovering the meaning of free will. Beyond Good and Evil isn't about saving the world from a robot invasion, it's about a girl fighting both inward and outward expressions of the evil inside her, and is incredibly symbolically deep. You are judging these narratives by taking out everything that makes them a narrative, and thus invalidating your own critique entirely.

EDIT: Also, your opinion on Lord of the Rings is making me question your tastes anyway. :/

 

[Alphakirby]

While Naruto 2 probably does suck all those others are great games and your friends are idiots. and why are they saying story sucks when playing ASSASSIN'S CREED 2...it's like some strange ass bizzaro world where douche bag gramers are in larger numbers than real gamers are.

 

[Mistermixmaster]

My friends play the same games as me more or less (Mass Effect, Starcraft 2, Bulletstorm, y'know, the works the average gamer on this site would most likely enjoy), so yes they're accepting of it.

There is some stuff though I haven't dared to tell them about though in fear of how they would react... Katawa Shoujo being one of them for example. I played through Act 1 more times than what is healthy for me I bet, and I still enjoy it. I wouldn't dare tell my friends about it though...

 

[Chibz]

EDIT: Also, your opinion on Lord of the Rings is making me question your tastes anyway. :/

LOTR is just an old man's tirade on the "evil's of technology" and about the purity of the "hillbilly" lifestyle. Even though he never had anything good to say about them, either. It's just a book that reeks of its author being an old, angry British man being just that.

The films are actually more of a romance of ideas between two people. The end result is almost guaranteed to be beautiful. Even if you don't much care for one of them. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jrr_tolkien]

Most games are only deep if you try to assign more depth to them than was actually intended.

 

[cameron196789]

Get new friends, the ones you have now are idiots.

 

[Thaius]

EDIT: Also, your opinion on Lord of the Rings is making me question your tastes anyway. :/

LOTR is just an old man's tirade on the "evil's of technology" and about the purity of the "hillbilly" lifestyle. Even though he never had anything good to say about them, either. It's just a book that reeks of its author being an old, angry British man being just that.

The films are actually more of a romance of ideas between two people. The end result is almost guaranteed to be beautiful. Even if you don't much care for one of them. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jrr_tolkien]

Most games are only deep if you try to assign more depth to them than was actually intended.

For one, I've never heard that interpretation of Lord of the Rings in my life. And I fail to see how it could possibly fit in with Tolkien's expressed intentions for the story. But secondly, that was a very minor side note; that last paragraph is so short and generally phrased I'll have to assume you had nothing more to say about the actual topic we were discussing.

EDIT: But now that I think about it, you're brought the importance of authorial intent into the picture, in which case I'd have to refer you to many things said by the creators of some of these games. Some of the comments regarding Aerith from Final Fantasy VII. The intended meaning of Beyond Good and Evil out of the mouth of Michel Ancel himself. The Extra Credits episode that points out the cultural and biblical allusions all over Mass Effect 2. In which case I think this is likely a case of you seeing less than was intended rather than me seeing more.

 

[Matthew Valkanov]

Don't really have that problem. Have friends who like games, have friends who don't. Doesn't bother me. What does bother me amongst my game-playing friends is that some of them are a tad snobbish when it come to graphics. There's this one guy who just won't shut up about them. And this fascination stops him from playing tons of great games, just because you don't need a pc on steroids to play it.

 

[Hobonicus]

If you can't understand that different people have different hobbies and tastes, then I'm afraid it's you who's ignorant.
There's nothing magical about video games that make them the universally accepted best thing ever.

While I highly doubt that your friends are people who have more than a casual interest in the fine arts, perspective is key here.
To someone who's very invested in classic literature, the attempts at having a complex story in video games seem awfully hammy and possibly downright childish.
To someone who's an expert in, say, landscape painting, the artificial environments as well as the atmosphere in video games will be more than just repelling.
Compared to the hundreds, if not thousands of years other mediums had to evolve, yes, video games are indeed immature.

On another note, do you like going to the opera?
Now, I think operas and some musicals are the shit, yet most people consider them boring and snobbish, even calling them retarded and gay seems to be popular.
Do I think they're all uncultured buffoons? Well, holders of the latter "opinions" yes, but otherwise no, they just have a different taste.

Or, to summarize:
Grow a pair of balls and accept that people will more often than not have a different opinion than you.
That opinion will not always be well-founded, not always be reasonable, not always be logical, not always be tolerant, but it's just that: an opinion.

Your little soapbox shpeel suggested that you think ignorance is justified by perspective, which would completely defeat the point of the word ignorance. His friends weren't simply expressing different opinions, they were placing artificial restrictions on the medium while following the mainstream. From his story you're supposed to extrapolate from their behavior and judge their personality, not launch into a rant where you attempt to objectively analyze the concept of subjectivity.

You're insulting to the OP for confusing opinion with fact because he's insulting his friends for confusing opinion with fact. In other words, you're doing the same thing but dressing it up with arrogance. You're one of those people who resolutely don't seem to get that society lives and breathes opinionated conflict. You want so badly to stay grounded in your logic that you're blind to common sense and end up missing the point.

 

[sheah1]

I wouldn't say people don't accept my gaming, but I do agree with the point made in your post, so kind if a weird poll.

 

[DarklordKyo]

"Yea video games aren't supposed to have stories, it's stupid."

P-people like this actually exist?!

If you need me I'll be hiding in my cupboard away from society in order to get away from people like this.

Good video games need good stories. A video game without a story is just you pressing buttons to make your screen flash.


Most of the people I know that play games either just play CoD repeatedly or stick to games like Fifa. Every time they talk about CoD I have to hold myself back from calling it shit so as not to insult.

I'll probably snap one day.

They do exist, they're apparently called Sean Maelstrom

 

[LarenzoAOG]

It's really strange, but everyone I know either thinks video games are stupid, or they just like your standard popular ones like FIFA and Call of Duty. I don't understand it, there are so many good games out there, but for the most part the people I know are quick to call them shitty.

Case and point, my only friend that I would consider a gamer cam over to the apartment that I just started sharing with two friends. He started looking through my game collection and started rating my games, "Shit, shit, shit, shit, good, shit, good..." It just went on. The games that he called shitty were Blazblue, Naruto 2, Prince of Persia HD Trilogy, The Orange Box, and the God of War Collection, he pointed out more games but I think you get the point. The only games he called good were Black OPs and Assassin's Creed 2.

My two other friends in the apartment jumped in, one said, "Thank you, Alen (that's me) won't admit that his games suck. They are so boring," then the other said, "Yea video games aren't supposed to have stories, it's stupid."

At this point I get mad, I ask them why they think my games are bad. One said games are just toys not art, so they shouldn't bother us with any story telling. Another said that video games are for children, so why am I playing them in the first place. The worst offense of all came from the gamer, who said that anything that has cartoony graphics or is Japanese must suck, and when I pressed him on whether or not he played any of the games he called shit, he said no.

This is the world I live in. I wish I could say this is the exception but no, I have to get into arguments all the time defending myself because the people I know are ignorant about games. This is why I have always been a single player guy, I know nobody who sees games like I do.

My question is how do your peers, parents, essentially the people in your life treat gaming? For me, besides the point I stated above, it is perceived as a negative thing only children do.

No offense but I think your friends are just assholes.

OT: Dad actually plays alot of videogames, mostly RPGs, mom plays casual games and actually seems interested in the games I play, particularly Alan Wake, most of my friends are gamers, but a few are known to download their opinions from IGN and Gamesradar.

 

[DANCEMASTERAFRO]

It's all subjective man, I love COD I'd go so far as to say it's my favourite console game just because I'm pretty good at it and I always have fun when me and my buddies play it. I prefer the Infinity Ward COD's to the Treyarch ones because I find the Treyarch ones single player campaigns really lacking story wise and the multiplayer just not as fastpaced as the IW games. I like COD I'd say they are good games because I have as much fun playing the multiplayer as I do playing games like Bioshock, Fallout or WoW.

Everyone's got their own tastes and reasons to like what they like, people who quote critics or popular opinion as though it's fact shouldn't make your personal opinion invalid so I wouldn't be too bothered by your mates saying "Oh that's shit and this is shit", I get people saying COD is bad or WoW is bad but at the end of the day I have fun and I'm happier for spending my money on something I enjoy rather that what one person views as "good".

 

[floobie]

To me, there's very little difference between a good single player, story driven RPG, and a good book. I can get very emotionally involved in both.

There's a place for "toy" type games, which emphasize tactile/sensory stimulation more than anything else... but I don't get much out of them (save for a good racing sim). Just like I don't watch many pure action movies or comedies. They're fun, but only in the sort of "turn my brain off" sort of way. But that's just my preference. There's no shortage of good games out there, so the Call of Duty fans out there aren't really affecting my gaming experience in any way.

Fortunately, most of the people around me either understand my position but don't play games, or like the same types of games. Maybe the OP needs to get some better friends. I wouldn't want to deal with people who are so closed minded. I mean, they don't need to like the games I like... they just need to understand why I like them and not be a judgmental cock about it.

 

[The Breadcrab]

What utterly tasteless friends you have. What saddens me more is they didn't even try those games before denouncing them (very un-creatively if I might add). You honestly seem like the opposite type of person that your friend are, but if you like them then whatever. I personally could not stand having someone like that as a friend.

I see a story or at least a setting as a crucial aspect of a game. With the exception of games like Burnout and Stardust, a game needs to have some sort of story for me to keep playing. Otherwise I lose interest. Endless grinds like WoW or Farmville don't interest me for long because there is no strong goal to achieve other than "get stronger/wealthier/etc." And multiplayer games like Counter-Strike/TF2/Call of Duty/Battlefield/etc are definitely fun for awhile but after an hour I get bored. Story is a great tool for keeping people interested and could use attention than graphics and multiplayer.

 

[Gill Kaiser]

Call them "friggin casuals" and move on.

This.

 

[Innegativeion]

I'm one of those "extremely close, tight-knit group of best friends" kind of guys with a handful of gamers I hang out with mostly.

I have plenty of friends I talk to a lot, sure, but I don't really bring up my nerdiness or any game-related topics outside of my "inner circle" so to speak. It's a shame more people aren't interested in it around where I live. That's why I come to these forums. To talk games with like minded individuals.