why does call of duty get so much hate?

[HarryScull]

this is something i do not understand, people dislike a whole host of games but none get as much negative attention thrown at it as call of duty, and i was wondering why? i personally like call of duty, but can see why some people might not like it and many people bring up valid points but is it really worth thinking about it so much and hazing it so much more than other games, and why you cant make a thread on it without 1/2 the comments being "i hate call of duty!" when if a thread pops about about a different unpopular game (for example fifa) most people just ignore it

i personally think its basically because the game is popular/successful and that through a combination of that and some evil business strategies it makes a huge amount of money but i was wondering what the escapist's think?


off topic i'd like to clear up some misconceptions that particularly annoy me.
1. call of duty isnt innovative: i can see why people think this, but it is untrue, as someone who has played call of duty competitively i can tell you that although it keeps the same base mechanics from each game but other than that is vastly different (like a good squeal should be) in terms of single player its often a case of SSDD but that is not what most people buy/play it for and judging black ops 2 on its single player is like judging mass effect 3 on its online.

2. most call of duty players are 12 year old douchebags: again from playing competitively most call of duty players are 16-18 and a regular bunch of people, the odd troll or 12 year old get in but pointing at them and using it as the stereotype for the cod community is like claiming that gamers in general are basement dwellers

/edit, i didnt properly explain how call of duty is innovative as i didn't expect so many comments on it due to the fact that most people know think the opposite, ive answered this in depth in some comments so look those up if your interested but the short version is that if you play casually and dont understand the game (like an unfortunately large number of people) you wont tell the difference, but if you play to the level were you understand things like the spawn system and how it affects the game and ho to exploit it then you will notice the difference and the more you play and better you are the more noticeable the differences will become

 

[Daystar Clarion]

I dislike it for one reason, and one reason only.

No matter how good a game is, no matter how innovative, no matter how mind blowingly awesome it is.

It will never outsell Call of Duty.

I even enjoy the CoD titles, but I fucking hate that they're the bestselling titles of all time.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

I even enjoy the CoD titles, but I fucking hate that they're the bestselling titles of all time.

Modern Warfare 1 - 5-10 million across platforms
Modern Warfare 2 - 10-15 million across platforms
Black Ops - 15-20 million across platforms.


The Sims - 15 million (PC Only)

Tetris - 30 million (Gameboy)

Super Mario Bros. - 40 million (NES)

Wii Sports - 76 million (Wii)

Those are just a few cherry picked examples. I'm not even touching mobile phone games like Angry Birds because they're really in their own category. There's lots of games like Starcraft, WoW, Halo, etc that are all competitive with Call of Duty, to say nothing of the MANY Wii titles and Nintendo properties and Pokemon games that handily outstrip it.

So...sleep easy my friend. They're not even close to being the bestselling titles of all time.

 

[pure.Wasted]

Because it's not so fun hating a game that might be worse than COD in every single way for which you hate COD if nobody's heard of that game.

There are a number of movements happening in gaming culture at this time, and some of them legitimately deserve criticism (plenty do not). COD happens to be in the middle of a number of such movements. That makes it an easy target.

 

[Elusive Sleuth]

Just to note I like the games a bit. I rent them to play the single player, the only problems I have are the multiplayer community being elitist as well as unwelcoming and that It is unbalanced and ridiculous in gameplay but then it isn't suppose to be realistic making that point invalid.

 

[Hazy992]

I even enjoy the CoD titles, but I fucking hate that they're the bestselling titles of all time.

Modern Warfare 1 - 5-10 million across platforms
Modern Warfare 2 - 10-15 million across platforms
Black Ops - 15-20 million across platforms.


The Sims - 15 million (PC Only)

Tetris - 30 million (Gameboy)

Super Mario Bros. - 40 million (NES)

Wii Sports - 76 million (Wii)

Those are just a few cherry picked examples. I'm not even touching mobile phone games like Angry Birds because they're really in their own category. There's lots of games like Starcraft, WoW, Halo, etc that are all competitive with Call of Duty, to say nothing of the MANY Wii titles and Nintendo properties and Pokemon games that handily outstrip it.

So...sleep easy my friend. They're not even close to being the bestselling titles of all time.

Those numbers for COD are out of date:
COD 4 - 15+ million
MW2 - 22 million
Black Ops - 25 million

Also, apart from the Sims all of the examples you gave were bundled with consoles. Black Ops is the highest selling game of all time in the US and Europe.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Those numbers for COD are out of date:
COD 4 - 15+ million
MW2 - 22 million
Black Ops - 25 million

Also, apart from the Sims all of the examples you gave were bundled with consoles. Black Ops is the highest selling game of all time in the US and Europe.

SIR. I PROTEST.

Are you suggesting something I read on Wikipedia and took at face value was misleading in some way!?

 

[Hazy992]

Those numbers for COD are out of date:
COD 4 - 15+ million
MW2 - 22 million
Black Ops - 25 million

Also, apart from the Sims all of the examples you gave were bundled with consoles. Black Ops is the highest selling game of all time in the US and Europe.

SIR. I PROTEST.

Are you suggesting something I read on Wikipedia and took at face value was misleading in some way!?

Uh, YAY! I throw down the gauntlet at you sir!

But yeah these are more up to date: http://www.vgchartz.com/gamedb/?name=call+of+duty&publisher=&platform=&genre=&minSales=0&results=200

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Uh, YAY! I throw down the gauntlet at you sir!

But yeah these are more up to date: http://www.vgchartz.com/gamedb/?name=call+of+duty&publisher=&platform=&genre=&minSales=0&results=200

Those are still showing COD in the 10-15 million range...

Oh wait, I see. It's by platform.

 

[EBHughsThe1st]

Because it's popular.

Mostly. It's unfair to generalize an entire vocal sect of the community's argument down to three words, but it fits what I've seen.

I think they've pulled a million and one arguments out of thin air too to justify it not being good. Someone called it an "un-game" because it's linear. Like...Jesus. Seriously? That's some kind of valid argument.

I'm neutral on the CoD games. Not a fan of FPS games, and I don't have the skill to take it online. But I think the hate is basically another way to take an unjust sense of superiority.

But, that's unfair generalization. Just my own personal two-cents.

 

[Raika]

"Popular things are terrible because they're popular" is the consensus among pretty much everybody on the internet.

 

[Kahunaburger]

Because it isn't very good, has an obnoxious fanbase, and is (arguably unfairly) blamed for a lot of problems with modern shooters?

 

[RaikuFA]

I don't hate the series, it's just boring to me.

HOWEVER!!!

When some CoD fan goes off on how JRPGs, Mario, Zelda etc is the gaming devil because they don't change, thats when I get mad.

 

[HarryScull]

Because it isn't very good, has an obnoxious fanbase, and is (arguably unfairly) blamed for a lot of problems with modern shooters?

1. if it wasn't good it wouldn't be popular, i can see why some people may personally dislike the game but to call it a bad game is probably wrong

2. as mentioned above, my experience with the call of duty community is that they are just normal people, the fans can be obnoxious but then again portal fans are obnoxious, heck 99.9% of fans are obnoxious regardless of what game/company they are a fan of and hating on a game over its fans seams like a shallow thing to do

3. i think the game has negatively influenced some other games, however i think that is the fault of the game developers/publishers in thinking "we must be more like cod" than the fault of the game itself existing

4. also even if the above problems are true, the same can be said about many other games which are hated on far less than call of duty.

 

[Kahunaburger]

Because it isn't very good, has an obnoxious fanbase, and is (arguably unfairly) blamed for a lot of problems with modern shooters?

1. if it wasn't good it wouldn't be popular, i can see why some people may personally dislike the game but to call it a bad game is probably wrong

Twilight is popular. Transformers is popular. Miller Light is popular. That doesn't make them good.

2. as mentioned above, my experience with the call of duty community is that they are just normal people, the fans can be obnoxious but then again portal fans are obnoxious, heck 99.9% of fans are obnoxious regardless of what game/company they are a fan of and hating on a game over its fans seams like a shallow thing to do

Well, having played Modern Warfare 2, Bad Company 2, Team Fortress 2, and Tribes: Ascend quite a bit (each), I've gotta say that CoD by far had the most people throwing racial/homophobic slurs at each other, people hacking and/or accusing others of hacking, 12-year-olds screaming into their mics, and so on.

 

[HarryScull]

Because it isn't very good, has an obnoxious fanbase, and is (arguably unfairly) blamed for a lot of problems with modern shooters?

1. if it wasn't good it wouldn't be popular, i can see why some people may personally dislike the game but to call it a bad game is probably wrong

Twilight is popular. Transformers is popular. Miller Light is popular. That doesn't make them good.

2. as mentioned above, my experience with the call of duty community is that they are just normal people, the fans can be obnoxious but then again portal fans are obnoxious, heck 99.9% of fans are obnoxious regardless of what game/company they are a fan of and hating on a game over its fans seams like a shallow thing to do

Well, having played Modern Warfare 2, Bad Company 2, Team Fortress 2, and Tribes: Ascend quite a bit (each), I've gotta say that CoD by far had the most people throwing racial/homophobic slurs at each other, people hacking and/or accusing others of hacking, 12-year-olds screaming into their mics, and so on.

1. i accept that even though i personally do not like twilight it does not make twilight a bad movie and it doesn't mean that people who do like it are wrong and i think that thinking that way is very narrow minded

2. i will accept that call of duty has a larger population of annoying children than allot of other games however they remain a vocal minority and although they may lessen your (and my) enjoyment of the game i do not see how it makes the game itself a bad thing or make it a target to be hated on just because it has a relatively poor community

3. you didnt answer point 3 or 4 from my last comment please would you share your opinion on them?

 

[way2sl0w]

Twilight is popular. Transformers is popular. Miller Light is popular. That doesn't make them good.

What you talking about? Twilight is awesome! ..... is what I would I say if today were opposite day

 

[Kahunaburger]

Because it isn't very good, has an obnoxious fanbase, and is (arguably unfairly) blamed for a lot of problems with modern shooters?

1. if it wasn't good it wouldn't be popular, i can see why some people may personally dislike the game but to call it a bad game is probably wrong

Twilight is popular. Transformers is popular. Miller Light is popular. That doesn't make them good.

2. as mentioned above, my experience with the call of duty community is that they are just normal people, the fans can be obnoxious but then again portal fans are obnoxious, heck 99.9% of fans are obnoxious regardless of what game/company they are a fan of and hating on a game over its fans seams like a shallow thing to do

Well, having played Modern Warfare 2, Bad Company 2, Team Fortress 2, and Tribes: Ascend quite a bit (each), I've gotta say that CoD by far had the most people throwing racial/homophobic slurs at each other, people hacking and/or accusing others of hacking, 12-year-olds screaming into their mics, and so on.

1. i accept that even though i personally do not like twilight it does not make twilight a bad movie and it doesn't mean that people who do like it are wrong and i think that thinking that way is very narrow minded

Twilight isn't a bad book because you don't like it or I don't like it - it's a bad book because (among other reasons) the prose is abysmal and because it's a character-driven story with weak characterization.

2. i will accept that call of duty has a larger population of annoying children than allot of other games however they remain a vocal minority and although they may lessen your (and my) enjoyment of the game i do not see how it makes the game itself a bad thing or make it a target to be hated on just because it has a relatively poor community

You're wondering why CoD gets so much hate, and the screaming children that play it are a non-trivial factor in that hate.

 

[zombieshark6666]

Because it's a black hole of money, development time, attention, money, advertisement, time, innovation, progress, money, time, etc.

 

[HarryScull]

1. i accept that even though i personally do not like twilight it does not make twilight a bad movie and it doesn't mean that people who do like it are wrong and i think that thinking that way is very narrow minded

Twilight isn't a bad book because you don't like it or I don't like it - it's a bad book because (among other reasons) the prose is abysmal and because it's a character-driven story with weak characterization.

2. i will accept that call of duty has a larger population of annoying children than allot of other games however they remain a vocal minority and although they may lessen your (and my) enjoyment of the game i do not see how it makes the game itself a bad thing or make it a target to be hated on just because it has a relatively poor community

You're wondering why CoD gets so much hate, and the screaming children that play it are a non-trivial factor in that hate.

1. i very much see were you are coming from, it is very clear that call of duty has allot wrong with it as a game, but it also does allot good and although from a sheer technical standpoint it will never be as good or as polished as many other games. But it also does allot right and trying to determine whether or not it is a technically good game is a very deep rabbit whole indeed, but i (along with many others) think that it is (mw3/mw2 are really terrible but Blops, cod 4 and cod 5 were very good bar afew issues like weapon balance and arguably the spawn system)

2. i can see this being a definite factor but i only see it as part of the problem, not the whole reason

3. still no answer to my points 3 and 4 made earlier? okay then but i'm still very interested to see what you think on them, particularly 4 "even if the above problems are true, the same can be said about many other games which are hated on far less than call of duty."