Negativity in Gaming

[Sentacotus]

I've been kinda dealing with this for a little while now but I want to know your all's thoughts on the matter. Is it me or do people tend to hate on games (even the good ones) far more now than before? I realize alot of this has to deal with the expansion of the Internet, social media, and just now being able to speak our minds more than in the 90s. It almost gets to the point where people nit pick the shit out of games and essentially find reasons to not like it. Don't get me wrong if you don't like something and have that opinion more power to ya.

The issue I have is that people seem to find the most nit noy things about a game instead of just enjoying the game. In a way you hear so much little bad things about a game it either makes them stick out more or just gets you into the mode of looking for things wrong with it instead of just playing the damn thing. I don't know maybe that's just a me issue.

[IceBrand]

Blame the Internet. Being anonymous allows people to voice opinions with very little reprocession. Add a lot of people with the same goal and they try to push their opinion even harder. Or there some people who think they are special snowflakes and think everything should go there way.

[The Geek]

Yeah, it gets on my nerves too. All this crap got so very close to killing my hype for Fates, but I stuck through and I'm not regretting a single thing.

[MCProductions]

Yes, to the point where minor flaws are complained about to ridiculous degrees. It's gotten to the point where next time I get hyped for a game, I'm just going to leave the internet till it releases. The salt over Fates was WAY over the top.

[Alex95]

Pretty much "haters gotta hate." Even if someone finds one little minuscule thing to complain about, they'll try to ruin it for everyone else.

I tend to just ignore most of it myself. I listen to reviews from trusted sources (namely Nintendo Power/Force and IGN) when deciding if a game is worth buying, but I'd rather play the game myself and hate it than have someone hate it and drag me into it. One example being Metroid Prime: Federation Force.

[Loki Laufeyson]

What i did was take a considerate amount of effort to distance myself from gaming culture. Because no offense, but the mainstream gaming culture feels like garbage with all the poo being flung on a regular basis. I dont want to be a part of that. I dont understand why anyone would want to be a part of that. Theres having an opinion and being a toxic force that hangs all over your interest. Nope.

[Sunwoo]

There is negativity everywhere and it's hardly limited to just gaming. Look, I agree that there's a lot of negativity in the gaming community, and I'm probably not helping either. But anyone who thinks that this is just a gaming problem is probably deluded?

[kingddd]

Negative messages definitely hurt but at the same time, it grabs people's attention and it promotes discussions.

The reason why News and Journalism in general always writes topics about negative things is because it gets people talking. Positive articles or topics usually gets a few nodes here and there but it also provides very little feedback on what to do to improve the situations.

Negativity is not necessarily a bad thing because without it, we would just assume everything is fine and nothing is completely wrong with.

Do some people overblow or exaggerate the negativity in some things? Absolutely but there is a reason why people spout these negative messages. Because when you spout out these issues, it means you also want the situation to improve whether it's for gameplay design, aesthetic choices or just the general overall experience to be better. That way you're giving feedback to the community that can contain value in some ways.

Yes the feedbacks may not be fully adequate but at the same time, these messages can be used to turn around the situation and bring out positive and shine a new light into the things that we love.

[Sentacotus]

There is negativity everywhere and it's hardly limited to just gaming. Look, I agree that there's a lot of negativity in the gaming community, and I'm probably not helping either. But anyone who thinks that this is just a gaming problem is probably deluded?

No one said its just gaming that's just the focus of the topic. But yeah I agree its everywhere you look now in days.

Edited March 8, 2016 by LordTaco42

[maybe]

there's definitely a lot of negativity out there but as long as it actually has a place or purpose I feel like it's as okay to express negative thoughts on something as it is to express positive thoughts

[Zera]

I believe increased negativity is from games being criticized for not meeting their full potential, which has been increased with technology improvements. With that being said, you will almost never find negativity for Kirby, because Kirby is simply awesome.

[Noma9]

Well, you pretty much answered your own question. The internet! It's also worth noting that we know a lot more about the development of games and their localization and basically have a better look at the entire process than we ever did before. And people are going to have opinions on every single bit of information given to us because that's how people are; It feels like a lot more negativity because it is, because there's more information to be critical of.

[eclipse]

It's easy to complain. We humans were doing it since we were babies. With the Internet, EVERYONE can hear those complaints, which in turn draw more complaints, which turns the entire topic into a quagmire of negativity. News flash: You're not smart/enlightened if you constantly point out everything that's wrong.

Like, if the complainers would take the energy used to bitch about something and channel it towards a positive goal (volunteer work, learning a new subject, etc.), the world would be a much better place. Life's too short to focus on the things I don't like.

This goes for every aspect of life. We on SF are a gaming forum, so we see the gaming complaints.

Edited March 8, 2016 by eclipse

[Tryhard]

I still call myself a gamer, but there's a lot of nerdy nerds out there.

I'm probably one of them, but I at least hope when I complain I have a genuine reason for doing so. Or at least I hope.

[Etrurian emperor]

As everyone already said the Internet is a large reason for it. Everyone always exaggerate to much online and its very easy to find an echo chamber of negative Nancies.

On the other hand there do seem to be more things to be negative about. Micro transactions are no longer a dirty word among publishers and so we will be seeing them a lot more often. Broken games like AC Unity also don't really seem to be freak accidents anymore but just calculated and somewhat deliberate mismanagement.

[Parrhesia]

'Gaming culture' is a shimmering pool of bright green radioactive waste for an impressively wide smorgasboard of reasons.

[Shuuda]

I suspect it comes down to two things.

FIrstly, a lot of people around here are fans, and fans are not typically the most rational thinkers. They have unreasonable expectations and personal attachments towards whatever it is they like. If that thing fails to meet up to their wishes or worse, goes in a direction they don't approve of, then they take it as betrayal.

Secondly, I think a lot of ego gets involved. People always want to feel superior to others, and putting everything and everyone else down must be an easy way to get that feeling. What's interesting to me about this one is that there's a few meta levels involved, if that's the right way to put it. Of course, you've got fandoms bashing each other, and then the console wars and the PC master race etc etc. On top of those, you have people who like to act like they're above the filth, with the usual "gaming community sucks" type comments. Then you've got that whole Gamergate/social justice culture war, where two indistinguishable sides hide behind their noble intentions while acting atroicously towards each other. Same actions, just with a few words swapped around.

(And yes, I'm aware of the hypocrasy of that last paragraph, where I'm basically taking a high ground of my own.)

[Xander]

'Gaming culture' is a shimmering pool of bright green radioactive waste for an impressively wide smorgasboard of reasons.

This is a depressingly accurate answer.

In regards to the original question, you basically answered it yourself, so...

Edited March 8, 2016 by Xander

[Sentacotus]

On the other hand there do seem to be more things to be negative about. Micro transactions are no longer a dirty word among publishers and so we will be seeing them a lot more often. Broken games like AC Unity also don't really seem to be freak accidents anymore but just calculated and somewhat deliberate mismanagement.

For sure there are legitimate BS things some companies do that deserve to be called out. I personally think the best way of doing so is not buying their stuff but that's another topic on its own.

This is a depressingly accurate answer.

In regards to the original question, you basically answered it yourself, so...

Yeah I got that the Internet and all is essentially the reason why. I was asking more if anyone else was kind of realizing this trend/shitstorm. Seems like alot of people have unfortunately. I mean no one wants to be invited to kick ass party and have that one guy bitch about everything that has happened to them and talk about how much the party sucks all the time. Just a general example sure but its the same concept.

[Tryhard]

Most of the good people in the gaming community are actually playing the games (as long as you aren't playing multiplayer games where abuse is common, such as mobas lol) while the bad are the ones complaining about them on the internet. Unfortunately I've been guilty of the latter, but I wouldn't call the gaming community good or bad. It's just an amalgamation.

I agree with Shuuda for the most part when it comes to why there are conflicts, though.

Edited March 8, 2016 by Tryhard

[Tolvir]

The internet really gives a lot of power for people to do and say what they want without repercussion. Look at any online chat site, forums, messaging system. They all have a lot of negativity. WoW forums and claiming the game is dead, Planetside 2 and their constant complaints of faction population, Fire Emblem forums and the complaints on the recent games, Neverwinter forums and complaints of a P2W system, and the list goes on and on and on. Every gaming community has its whiners, its asshats, its negative thinkers, but they also have the people that love the games, that are good people, and don't always have something horrible to say.

WoW forums also have threads about how fun the new expansion looks, Planetside 2 and the threads about strategies for classes, Fire Emblem and threads about the things we do enjoy about the games, Neverwinter and how the new developer is doing a great job of changing things. While internet communities has its negative sides, they also have their good sides, they just get drowned out sometimes about the good because, as others have said, the ones that actually enjoy the games are too busy actually playing instead of complaining on an internet site. A lot of times you just have to look for it, because though it may seem like a lot of people hate something, often times its just because they have the loudest voice, not the most people.

I think a common problem with internet communities is complaints get taken too far. I will use Dark Souls II as an example. Dark Souls II is an amazing game, it has great character customization, level design overall is good, the game has a balanced difficulty, and can be a lot of fun. Compared to the other souls games though, it is techincally the worst. But that is like saying that between these three amazing cakes, this is the worst. a great tasting cake is still a good cake, its just compared to the others that are great, it doesn't taste as good. Same thing with Dark Souls II, but its more vocal parts of the community complains immensely about Dark Souls II with a lot of unneeded hate. You can look at Fates the same way, because once again its a great game overall, and while there are some very good complaints made against it, it also gets a lot of unneeded hate. DLC is another subject because while there are some very well made and valid complaints towards day 1 dlc and the like, it gets taken too far yet again with saying all DLC is bad. That isn't true either because DLC overall is a great idea that allows for more content for games even after release.

Another common problem I have seen, and this actually expands more into political conversations more than anything, but is still common in other discussions, is only one point of view being shown, or others not letting the different views being shown. So many times these thing get reduced to stupidity because people don't want to admit their idea might be wrong, so instead of looking for a well thought out discussion about differing views, they look for like minded people so they can all pat each others back and talk about how they are right, and the other is wrong. Every subject has it, whether it be video games, movies, tv shows, politics, social views, etc.

Overall I found it best to both ignore it for the most part, and if you are on forums/communities often to take breaks so that the hatred and negativity don't get to you.

Edited March 8, 2016 by Tolvir

[Magical CC]

It's the same culture that made a guy who all he did are screaming, making stupid joke and suck at gaming become famous. Why so surprise?

[Tamanoir]

Negative messages definitely hurt but at the same time, it grabs people's attention and it promotes discussions.

The reason why News and Journalism in general always writes topics about negative things is because it gets people talking. Positive articles or topics usually gets a few nodes here and there but it also provides very little feedback on what to do to improve the situations.

Yeah, I think people often complains because they care. ...And they think the best way to be heard is screaming, so they shoot themselves on the foot. That's the case every time Video Game and Censorship ared mentioned (Look, I agree censorship is bad, but if we make ourselves looks like desperate perverts, things are never gonna change.

I saw people complaining about Dungeon Travelers 2 for chrissake!)

And Video Game is a relatively young media, with relatively young people consuming it (I'm including myself in this, obviously.).

This is not the main problem, but it sure as hell doesn't makes things better.

FIrstly, a lot of people around here are fans, and fans are not typically the most rational thinkers. They have unreasonable expectations and personal attachments towards whatever it is they like. If that thing fails to meet up to their wishes or worse, goes in a direction they don't approve of, then they take it as betrayal.

Fans is short for fanatics.

It's always good to remember this.

[Dwlr]

...(even the good ones) ...

Good is relative, just because you like something doesn't make it good, nor does having a large player base like Call of Duty. Games are going downhill these days, you can't discount all the negativity as just anonymity fueled "hate" people have the right to like what they like and dislike what they like that said children these days tend to be quite rude and entitled compared to what they used to be IMO so there's that fueling it as well.

[Sentacotus]

Most of the good people in the gaming community are actually playing the games (as long as you aren't playing multiplayer games where abuse is common, such as mobas lol) while the bad are the ones complaining about them on the internet. Unfortunately I've been guilty of the latter, but I wouldn't call the gaming community good or bad. It's just an amalgamation.

Yeah I suppose I need to take a hint from that I do have quite a backlog now these days. Although with a job I just got I suppose I'll have alot of time away from it so I guess that helps.

Edited March 9, 2016 by LordTaco42