First of all, I'd like to introduce myself to the people who aren't aware of who I am, or give you a little insight into who I am. I am Skittles, aka the man behind these blogs: http://n4g.com/user/blogpos... Here I went in depth on an issue that used to rampant here on N4G, and it drove me crazy, http://n4g.com/user/blogpos... John Stewart vs. Kotaku, a while back Kotaku twisted his words on violent video games, and finally http://n4g.com/user/blogpos... I addressed the
Steam and Sony partnership for Portal 2.
These are not necessary for you the reader to read, just that when it comes to video games, and something that bothers me I take it seriously, and try to address it. Not that I am the final voice on everything gaming related, just that I think my opinion matters. Gaming communities have long been criticized for their lack of maturity, and we need a change, we need to grow up. Gaming has always been seen as a way to have fun, and it should be. Gaming communities shouldn't be closed minded, we should look for change, or accept the fact that not everybody likes the same things, and this goes for every form of entertainment. Chances are that there is a gamer who likes any type of game, or likes only one type. We also need to accept the fact that not everybody is going to agree with us that violent video games do not cause violence in real life.
And actually, I was struggling for a blog topic for a while, and at the same time realized that this topic needs to be addressed. It's not just on N4G, there are other gaming communities that make me go "lolwut?" /R/Gaming for example is a community that
makes me shake my head a real lot, but on the other hand /R/Games is an example of it done well. /R/Gaming for the uniniated is a subreddit on Reddit, where the first rule is "Submissions must be directly gaming-related..." <-- This part, and people were posting pictures of their "rigs," but the moderators, or a moderator was taking down these submissions, because they weren't "Directly gaming related." Oh ok, but I disagree, so I'm not going to make a big deal out of it.
This is the part where we need to start thinking about our actions, and the consequences they can have on the real world, or what gaming communities we're associated with, because some of the people who disagreed, took it upon themselves to make this moderator's life a living hell, by affecting things in the real world. Sometimes the gaming community CAN do positive things, and I'm not necessarily saying that we all need to grow up, just the ones like in that example. Gaming communities should be a haven for people, and we shouldn't refer to someone we disagree with a troll, just because their opinion differs from ours,or we
shouldn't call them stupid, or other insults, that make them feel like they did something wrong.
Of course like I mentioned earlier the gaming community as a whole isn't the problem, so don't think I am singling you out, because you called someone a troll, before. Just think about what your words or actions can do to people. Of course these problems are limited to online, and can have real world examples. Just think about any time Fox News has said something negative about video games, just think, "Did they really criticize, GTA V, am I just overreacting?" I am not saying it's ok, or not ok. It happens with movies as well, and I am sure you can see
where I might go with this, but I am going to stop that thought right there. Gamers are passionate about the games they love ( I know I am,) and I know I can't speak, nor can I be like "I am the number one guy when it comes to games, so I should
be the poster child for anything pro-gamers," because I don't share the same opinions with a lot of gamers, but I want to take this step with gamers and say that "yes,
we can be mature, we can be open-minded, and we can listen to people even if they don't share my opinion."
If you have any questions, or criticisms, feel free to leave them, I'd read them all.
Pragmata has sold 1 million copies in two days, Capcom has announced.
I didn't know it came out last Friday, or I would have bought the game. I will try again for this upcoming weekend.
Im really digging it. It reminds me of games from the PS2 era, not visually or how it plays, but like the spirit of it. If you were around for that golden age of gaming, you’ll get what I mean when you play this.
Have you tried Kanitsu-Gami: Path Of The Goddess (also Capcom)? That feels like a PS2-era Capcom game.
Agreed! The art style is amazing in that game. I bought it immediately after I played the demo but haven't started it lol
The next thing I'm mine when I've had my fill of crimson desert. A nice linear action game to contrast the open ended 😗👌
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has now become the second title to win Game of the Year at all five major awards shows.
It just wasn't for you in that way i guess. Can't really argue with it when it wins all the awards and it's the highest rating by players of all time
I thought this game was a load of rubbish. Trying too hard to be art(sy) by people who don’t really understand art but want to make it look like they do. Found it obvious and shallow and just not a fun game. Just seemed like every relentless second they were clutching at trying to feed this superior narrative… the irony being that’s kind of what I’m doing now… maybe that’s art imitating art….
Didn't know the Golden Joystick fan votum was considered one of the "major awards"?
I always thought it's "only" the Big Four - VGA, Bafta, GDC and DICE.
Nonetheless, congrats to Clair Obscur!
Former Naughty Dog artist Gabriel Betancourt explains why the "sweet spot" for game teams is under 200 people and how AAA "factories" kill creativity.
I definitely know where you're coming from, though in some ways I think things are improving.
I know there was a time in the past when I would keep my "anti-Demon Souls" talk to myself, because I just didn't want all the drama that was attached to saying I didn't like the game. Mind you, it wasn't because the game was bad or I thought it was too challenging, I just simply prefer more action oriented games like Ninja Gaiden. Anyway, after writing for a few sites the past couple of years I started to express my opinion more and was surprised how open people were to things like "The Souls series is not hard, just challenging". I know this sounds quite minor and in a lot of ways it is, but I am definitely seeing the gaming community open up to new / different ideas that might not have flown in the past.
Another great example is all the negative press Ground Zeroes gathered. While I won't get into how I personally feel, I was delighted to see people unwilling to write Ground Zeroes off for being a Metal Gear Solid game. It shows a certain amount of tolerance and open mindedness that would have probably been met with "Kojima is a genius and I guarantee those 2 hours are better than your average 10 hour game".
Sure we have a long way to go. I mean, sometimes I consider keeping my opinion to myself in any topic about the PS4/XB1/WiiU because of how defensive and quickly things can get out of hand, but I like to think things are slightly improving. Maybe not to the point that is ideal and we may never see that happen, but I am choosing to believe things are getting better than staying the same or getting worse.
There is relatively little use in telling a group of people with a particular hobby / past time / way of life in some cases to grow up when a vast number of educated people outside of them have not grown up themselves in their response to videogames.
If a society treats a whole way of being as being inherently infantile or decadent or harmful then that society is setting up their own internal definition of what videogames are. They also set up themselves as opposing those 'ephemeral pleasures' in some way. And thus they are saying that their own way of life is superior to that of someone who plays videogames.
I am sorry to say that this is ancient, primitive stuff that we are dealing with here. A lot of society is simply not civilised enough to understand the art, the complicated design of an architectural level (level and sound for instance), the stories, the irony, the wit, the humour of videogames.
If they are not belittling it as 'just games' they are demonising it. They demonise it far less nowadays but, even so, their response to it might as well be to say that videogames are more or less for people who 'don't live in the real world'.
This is a harmfully reductionist way of looking at any kind of game.
Did nobody who ever played Monopoly ever became talented?
But videogames are potentially many times more complicated than Monopoly. They test not only the same kind of decision making in some cases but also reflexes. Each game (and indeed console brand) is a kind of 'art statement' with its own aesthetic.
We have to realise that much of the world treats us as it might a classic car enthusiast. As a decadent niche.
In response, we must make the most of our own abilities until those who do not understand us either start to show an interest or die off clinging to their hopelessly blinkered views.
It's actually a war you know. A philosophical war about what constitutes 'meaningful' on this crazy lump of mud and water we call earth. I say that reflected thinking in an internal setting such as a game can be massively useful to the world.
What I am saying is that, in comparison to a lot of 'society's' (there is no such thing Thatcher said remember) hopelessly blinkered views, the blinkered views of one gamer against another are less harmful to gaming.
But PC gamers who would never consider a console- you are missing out on such great exclusives on Playstation in particular. I suppose you never played Super Mario 64 or Banjo Kazooie until they came out on an emulation too? You're sometimes the equivalent of someone who always buys the fastest car, regardless of whether it actually looks tasteful, drives the most fun or whether you go the most interesting places in it.
If you disagree say why or your view is not validated.
I get it, but the "gaming community" is but a microcosm of the entire internet. The immaturity, trolling, and arguments aren't confined to this community. It is the entire internet.
Sure, gamers/ techs/ geeks tend to be at the forefront of trends (such as memes) but it is not like we are immune to the vagaries of internet postings.
Many people forget what they posted just a few months ago. Others deliberately troll. Still others are delusional and take to the internetz to post their delusions on an hourly basis.
If you think the console war is bad, just look at (at least in the USA) the "debate" (because there isn't one) about global warming or the "debate" (again there are no scientists walking around thinking... "maybe") about evolution!
And the delusional continue to post the same misconceptions (ie "If we evolved from monkeys, why are there still monkeys." or "It's freezing outside my house therefore global warming isn't real!") The delusional become ignorant when they start to ignore facts.
If you really want people to "grow up" start demanding evidence for their claims. I have done that on here on occasion and it actually results in either shutting down the delusional troll or getting them to think about what they said.
Case in point, someone claimed I was denying the science behind global warming as defined by those studies that claim that humans are not the cause. lulwat? Out of 12000 studies on global warming, 120 claim that global warming was not caused by humans. This person claimed I was the one denying the science!
Anyway, I think one way to improve the way people interact is to call them out on it. Though I don't have more than 5 bubbles, I certainly understand why some people have one. Which is a great idea because it should reduce trolling.
The gaming community should be full of respectful people who are happy to be apart of the culture..There's certain folks that would rather spend more time arguing over non sense instead of sharing their gaming experience with one another.