Do We, as Gamers, Complain Too Much?
This may come off as grumpy old man complaining that “Back in my day, we only had Combat on Atari, and we liked it!”, but it is something that has been on my mind a lot lately. I’m warning you now this is a full on opinion piece.
Do we, as gamers, complain too much? Do we take into consideration everything that goes into making the games we play in the first place? And do we, or should we, care?
As we know, most modern games take huge teams and millions of dollars to produce. Even smaller games have ever increasing budgets these days. It only makes sense that many companies go for the safe bet, churning out franchise titles year after year. So we complain that no one comes out with anything new. Then, when companies like EA finally do decide to take risks on new IP’s (particularly evident in 2008′s releases), they are, more often than not, met with less than stellar sales. Meanwhile, the latest Madden continues to be an unstoppable juggernaut.
One of the biggest complaints I hear from Wii owners is that there is no third party support for the system. “The only good games are Nintendo first party titles”, many still claim. Capcom released “Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros’ Treasure” almost exactly one year from the consoles’ launch to much critical praise. It was fun, original, and best of all the controls worked. There wasn’t even any gimmicky waggle! Sadly, it sold very poorly it’s first several months on the console. Even though it has since gone on to sell a decent number of copies, this killed plans for a sequel. Where were these complainers then?
Nintendo came out with their new version of “Punch-Out!!” recently. I personally loved it, party because it was just like the old one, but with lots of cool new features. Many of the reviews I both read and heard on podcasts went along these lines: “It is great, but it’s too similar to the original.” This would often contradict what they were just saying about why they liked it.
Then there is the recent debacle about “Left 4 Dead 2″. DLC (downloadable content) has always been a point of contention among gamers. We even had an article about it. A lot of people are complaining that all the content in the new game could have been DLC for the first game. Why they assume it would be free, just because Valve has been generous about their DLC in the past, has me baffled. PC gamers seem to still be spoiled on the fact that “back in the day” that kind of stuff was always free. I got news for you, kids. Multi-million dollar games need a way to continue to be profitable to stay in business these days.
So let’s say all the new stuff was released as DLC. Payed DLC, because it is likely most, if not all of it would be. You are already talking new characters, new AI director, new weapons, new levels, new super zombies, etc. That could easily add up to more than the cost of a full priced sequel.
There is currently a boycott going on the official Valve forums due the release of the Left 4 Dead sequel being scheduled for release only a year after the original game. If this were an EA or an Activision, no one would bat an eye. But this is Valve. Episode 3 doesn’t even have a release date yet.
Many of their so-called fans have banded together to send them a message, “We want your hard work to be given to us for free! You have done so on many of your other games, so why not do that again? That was pretty cool.” I can only assume they feel that Valve owes them since they bought the game. Personally, when I buy a game, the only guarantee I’m expecting is that it will run properly on my machine. Anything not on the disc that works along with it is just gravy. Maybe that’s from being a life-long console gamer. I play games on my PC and mods are fun, but I never expect them.
I think we do complain too much as gamers. Sure it’s justified sometimes, when a company really is doing something ridiculous or a game is poorly made. But when a quality product that we enjoy hits the market, do we vote with our dollar?
It’s the only real way to have an effect. I mean, all we are, is dust in the wind. Dust. Wind. Dude.
Tags: angry, atari, combat, complaints, dlc, gamers, Left 4 Dead, Left 4 Dead 2, PC, Punch-Out!, Valve, Wii
This entry was posted on Thursday, June 18th, 2009 at 5:00 am and is filed under Articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
June 18th, 2009 at 10:18 am
Jesse "Main Finger" Gregory says:It saddens me how many people I’ve heard talk about Nintendo’s 2009 E3 lineup only mentioning about how dumb the Vitality sensor was and then complain about Nintendo further abandoning the core without mention of the new Metroid, Zelda, 4 new Marios, Golden Sun or Sin and Punishment. I wonder if people would’ve liked it better if they had the EXACT same conference but just didn’t show the vitality sensor.
June 18th, 2009 at 10:24 am
Jonah "spambot" Gregory says:Strangely enough, that might have made all the difference.
June 18th, 2009 at 10:29 am
Michelle says:Absolutely!
We complain too much but what other medium thrives or dies on it’s fanbase quite so much? We’re holding developers directly responsible for every mistake and indecision, giving credit where it’s due for every triumph and new artistic direction.
If you want proof of this just look at how devs pinch ideas from each others so much now, so openly, it’s basically admitting how much users appreciated a certain feature and that aids it’s inclusion in future iterations of a game.
Not all optimism, I know we’re frequently ignored too, but I’m sure they listen, after all seeking forgiveness is easier than asking permission no?
June 18th, 2009 at 5:24 pm
Dynamo8 says:Hey we’re only human, but as humans I’m slightly disgusted that we do kinda complain too much about mediocore stuff.
June 19th, 2009 at 6:07 pm
shaolinjesus says:I think part of the problem is the amazing amounts of PR that companies are throwing down to make sure that everyone is uber-excited. When things are super hyped up it is hard not to be critical.
June 20th, 2009 at 1:40 am
Jesse "Main Finger" Gregory says:yeah, though on the flip side we have the new trend of finding out about games right before they release thats been happening lately.
February 26th, 2011 at 3:53 pm
Marcus Zottola says:Thank you Mr. Gregory for voicing the very thing I’ve been trying to get gamers to see for years. Now if only MORE people would think this way, maybe we could do something about this population that has grown to believe anything unfun is cause for a lynching.
@Michelle I’m not going to say you’re totally wrong, but your comment about how pinching ideas from other developers when they work is a GOOD thing is only partially right, if at all. Critics and gamers alike piss and moan constantly about games imitating others in one fashion or another, calling them “pretenders to the throne.” And then on other days they completely forget they’ve made that argument and praise another game for doing EXACTLY THE SAME THING. Really, when it come to THAT, developers can’t win.
There is no shortage of stuff gamers will complain about today. A game starts off slow? It’s crap. A game gets too hard in one section? They give up. A game is too EASY? They complain it’s too easy. They buy sequels to current franchises? They’re not being risky enough. (Maybe you shouldn’t have bought the game then dummy!) They make something original? They talk about how it would work so much better with some OTHER setup, often one as unimaginative as the sequels they complain about being too samey. They have to spend 15 minutes adjusting to the controls? It’s crap. They actually have to work at enjoying it? It’s crap.
You know, I’m about as hardcore a gamer as there is, and I have learned to deal with virtually ALL of these problems. Yet other hardcore gamers just give up and complain. When they want something so precise, is it any WONDER they don’t get pandered too as much, especially when there’s a huge casual crowd willing to shell out just as much money for easier stuff? And yet they keep supporting the industry by buying the crap they complain about. The apparent “logic” behind this is that the industry will die without them supporting it. NO, IT WILL ADAPT!!
Why don’t all you gamers who are so whiny and bitchy about everything that goes on in the industry just go find something better to do with your time? If the majority of stuff being released is crap to you, why haven’t you left yet? Simple. You are hooked. That isn’t a problem the industry needs to deal with. YOU have to deal with it. It’d be like a coke addict blaming the dealers for not using higher quality cocaine in their concoctions. THEN QUIT!
Okay, I’m done.