Poll: Prejudice against Mass Effect

[Lonan]

A lot of people seem to be putting out a lot of threads on this website against Mass Effect, and they seem to share the theme of being some kind of lonely soul shouting against a world that passes them by. It's as though they have to shout to make their voices heard over the din of some kind of mob imperialism.

What I don't get is what people have against Mass Effect? I can understand someone not liking it, but it seems over the top to make a thread against it. Mass Effect has sold about 3 million copies, it's not even close to Modern Warfare or Halo, and these people feel some obligation to stop it before it becomes too strong or something. What is the problem here? I think it's a great game. I always bashed Halo because I didn't see what the big deal was, but on the other hand there are only so many good games out there, and Halo is one of them. My friend was a huge Halo fan and so I always made fun of him for it, but the truth is I always wanted to get it, I just didn't have an Xbox, but rather a PS2 (because my mom apparently can't see the difference between the word "Xbox" and the world "PS2.")

I've heard a lot of things against popular games, but the truth is that the popular games are usually the best. With the exception of World of Warcraft, I find a huge amount of enjoyment playing the popular games. They really are the best. At the same time, I can't think of anything except Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings that hasn't received a bunch of flak for being popular, and I believe it did get a lot back when it was first released.

So here's the question:

Assuming it was well known, would Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 get so much people intent on attacking it if it were not popular and well received?

 

[Fappy]

They are saying bad things about it because everyone is talking about it in general. Most the negative threads are posted by people who actually like the game. I loved it but its not perfect.

 

[LordMoose]

The game was good, points brought up that people hated, i dunno, i didnt care enough about to hate it.

If it was less popular, then less people wouldnt have bought it, and even less people would've cared about it sooo. Yah.

And i dont care, i like Zaeed!
*sits around a semi circle for another episode of Uncle Massani's Storytime Corner.*

 

[CoverYourHead]

There are a lot of positive threads about it, so people are also posting the negative side as well. It's not perfect, but I think it's a great game, that wont stop me from talking about some of the negatives about it.

 

[Lord Mountbatten Reborn]

I love the game, just not the people who keep posting things about why I should love it.

 

[reg42]

The more known a game is, the people like it and the more people hate it. It stands to reason that if fewer people knew about it, it would get less criticism.
It hardly gets any criticism though. Far more people like it than hate it.

 

[Lonan]

It has its flaws. EVERYTHING DOES.

Quit being such a fanboy.

I know it has it's flaws, what I'm saying is that some people seem to think that the whole world loves Mass Effect and they have a duty to bring it down to stop some kind of mob rule of opinion. I'm saying would it be attacked less if it were not as popular? That's the point of this thread.

 

[Ophiuchus]

Statistically speaking: less well-known = less people knowing about it = less people complaining about it. So... yes.

Taking that as a proportion of the total number of people playing it: that probably wouldn't change. Sometimes people just don't like a game. Two of my housemates are completely obsessed with Mass Effect. I played it and it bored me half to death. That's life.

 

[Shaegor]

Every game has their haters and their fans, whatchoo gonna do?
But I don't get why people don't like Jack. She was awesome.

 

[dagens24]

Some people have the inherent need to hate that which others love. I used to be like that, if everyone else liked it I hated it. Then I grew up.

 

[TheNumber1Zero]

Games will be hated whether or not other people like them, being popular merely makes then ones that hate it curious as to how others could enjoy it, making them think that the ones who enjoyed it overlooked something.

Being popular also increases how well known it is, meaning that more people will learn of it, play it, and possibly hate it. Just ignore them if you disagree, it's as simple as that.

 

[DustyDrB]

Well this is a no brainer.
Don't assume it is people hating the popular things just to be cool, though. That bugs me. I love Mass Effect and its sequel, but if someone doesn't like it I'm not going to assume they're just trying to be edgy just like they shouldn't assume I'm just hopping on the bandwagon.
Ass-U-Me nothing

 

[Jaranja]

The game was good, points brought up that people hated, i dunno, i didnt care enough about to hate it.

If it was less popular, then less people wouldnt have bought it, and even less people would've cared about it sooo. Yah.

And i dont care, i like Zaeed!
*sits around a semi circle for another episode of Uncle Massani's Storytime Corner.*

I loved him too!
*Also sits down*
His stories were simply epic.

Seriously, this is like asking "If less people bought cheese, would less people like cheese?"

 

[Muphin_Mann]

Mass Effect, like all games, recieves both praise and hate largely in relation to how popular it is.

 

[TPiddy]

Some people have the inherent need to hate that which others love. I used to be like that, if everyone else liked it I hated it. Then I grew up.

This. This exactly... I had a blind hatred for MW 2 simply because I felt that a game like that shouldn't be representative of the gaming community as a whole. I think when something becomes really popular people will tend to either compare everything else to it or generalize anything that's remotely like it into being the same thing... some examples are Twilight, the Wii, MW 2, and others. Real fans of the genre in question will always defend what they like about the genre against stuff that they hate in the same genre.

It's when these popularity trends start crossing cultural bounds that we feel the need to get defensive. Because a person can walk around wearing a t-shirt that says "I love vampires" when they've never even heard of Dracula or Blade, we feel the need to say "you don't love vampires, you love twilight you stupid ass".

The same can be said for someone who's played 5 minutes of Wii bowling and thinks it's a casual gaming system... those fans of Madworld, No More Heroes and other fantastic games for the system will come to it's defense.

I can come up with many more examples, but you get the general point I'm trying to make.

EDIT: One more example would be the upcoming GoW 3 and all the hatred that it will receive. Because to a casual observer it defines the hack 'n slash and to others it defines the PS3, and there will be many a fan who has a problem with both definitions.

 

[Master_Fubar23]

some ppl are just jerks. if one person likes something they'll bash it to make themselves feel better since they are shit or their lifes are shit. either way the more popular something is the more these dumbass ppl have to bash it. everything has its flaw since nothings perfect so anyone can point out flaws in a rational logical way instead of rant on about how much it sucks.

 

[StriderShinryu]

Mainly, they think it somehow makes them look cool, like some sort of rebel, if they try to come out as the lone voice to cry against something popular and well liked. Of course, a simple use of the search bar will show that they are not really a cool rebel after all.

Not saying there aren't problems with ME2, and solid debate is always a good thing regardless of the subject matter, but I suppose I'm just getting tired of the "I'm probably the only one who thinks this way about ME2" posts.

 

[G1eet]

They are saying bad things about it because everyone is talking about it in general. Most the negative threads are posted by people who actually like the game. I loved it but its not perfect.

Dear Fappy, I love that drawing of a Krogan (Grunt, I presume?).

On topic- yea, some people feel a subconscious need to hate popular things. For instance, my friend started to hate DevilDriver by Pray for Villains just because they started to become more well-known. He still loves the old DD, but he just can't stand the new stuff.

Can't say I'm immune to it, though. I looked down my nose at people who got into Rise Against solely because of "Savior". I don't voice my opinion, though.

 

[Sentox6]

Mainly, they think it somehow makes them look cool, like some sort of rebel, if they try to come out as the lone voice to cry against something popular and well liked. Of course, a simple use of the search bar will show that they are not really a cool rebel after all.

Not saying there aren't problems with ME2, and solid debate is always a good thing regardless of the subject matter, but I suppose I'm just getting tired of the "I'm probably the only one who thinks this way about ME2" posts.

This.

Some people, at least, can restrain themselves to saying "component X doesn't appeal to me, or element Y isn't to my liking". Other people are compelled to place their underwear over their head and scream about how ME2 iz teh wrost game evar. I sometimes wonder how stressful it must be to believe the universe centers on you; especially when your key method of communicating decrees is an internet forum.

 

[Connor Lonske]

...And i dont care, i like Zaeed!
*sits around a semi circle for another episode of Uncle Massani's Storytime Corner.*

He is Anti-smoking, that's a plus right.