Is there any positivity left in the gaming community?

Fuck, everyone just seems so cynical and jaded. I was reading Patrick's news story about there being content locked away on the disc of Resident Evil 6, but it will be free. I didn't see one positive comment. Sure, the reception to that game has been poor, but at least Capcom's previously awful DLC policies are improving a little bit.

Maybe that's not the best example, but it just seems to me like no matter how much you improve or give to us gamers, we always want more/wish it was better. Why do we feel entitled that game companies always have to please us specifically?

the reception to that game being poor is exactly why there was negativity, and I saw plenty of positive comments on the first page alone so I dunno what you were reading.

I like to think the positive gamers are staying away from the comment sections and are actually too busy gaming to be so vocal about such little things.
 
But there are passionate and dedicated gamers out there, ones who champion their underrated titles and fight for the justification of their clunky or intricate mechanics and will stand by their favorite developers until they go down screaming.
 
That, or the developer fucks up the ending. But that's another story.

There is lots, just don't read forums cause the internet is full of us assholes.

I don't think it's just in the gaming community. Today's culture as a whole seems a lot more cynical towards everything, and what we do like can be turned on as soon as the shine starts to wear off. It's sad, really.

I mean, how crazy is it that there's a box that connects to a bigger box that displays whole new worlds that we can interact with? Not giving lease to mediocrity, but come on. Just because technology is everywhere doesn't mean it's any less amazing that we can do stuff with it!

That was just because it's RE6 which already spawns negativity. 
 
But yes, we are a bit Jaded. We want things to stop changing so damn fast and things to improve and innovate yet at it's core always stay the same. 
 
We also tend to be the most prolific voices on the internet and have 13 year olds in our hobby of choice who mimic what people they like say or just troll. The internet provides anonymity so you tend to get the most vocal concerns on it and the video game industry has always had a large presence on the internet. 
 
I often wonder if model train enthusiasts would have as much complaining as video gamers if they had as much prolific internet awareness. Or boat in a bottle... um... ers?

@Apparatus_Unearth said:

Maybe that's not the best example, but it just seems to me like no matter how much you improve or give to us gamers, we always want more/wish it was better. Why do we feel entitled that game companies always have to please us specifically?

We complain because it /can/ be better. One of the rules I was taught when growing up was to never expect praise. It has done wonders for me.

We praise what is good and show disdain towards what we feel is bad. It's human nature. Perfection doesn't exist, so we shouldn't just praise everything and anything, even if it is done in good faith. It doesn't make us entitled if we don't praise everything game companies do. They're not our friends, they don't need a pat on the back. We do that with our money.

Dude did you not listen to the bombcast? They love Dishonored and XCOM! So many games out right now!

Why should some be happy about a game they consider to be awful?

Well there are games that just get that bad mojo .... and I think we feel "entitled" because we are paying a lot for those games ... also add that that with each new game it seems that the target audience is drifting away from us old gaming timers to a bigger crowds .... we kinda feel rejected and left out :( so we make our frustations known a lot more (not that they are effective anyway)

It seems like this week was full of positivity for dishonored and xcom. Just depends on the games people are talking about I guess

Why does not liking a game or something make me cynical and jaded? Why do I always see threads like this

@TaliciaDragonsong said:

But there are passionate and dedicated gamers out there, ones who champion their underrated titles and fight for the justification of their clunky or intricate mechanics and will stand by their favorite developers until they go down screaming. That, or the developer fucks up the ending. But that's another story.

Is this a Dragon Age thing? It sounds like a Dragon Age thing?

I like to think the positive gamers are staying away from the comment sections and are actually too busy gaming to be so vocal about such little things.

Also, THIS IS EXACTLY IT!

People are far more likely to go online to moan about a game than talk about how great it is. After all if it's so great surely they would be playing it anyway?

@Phatmac said:

Dude did you not listen to the bombcast? They love Dishonored and XCOM! So many games out right now!

Yeah, that warmed my heart to hear.

I just think that anytime less than perfect games come out people say they suck. No, they don't suck, they just have some flaws and aren't for you.

@TaliciaDragonsong:

Then Mass Ef-

All I remember from Dragon Age is a drunken Dwarf and a paladin raised by flying dogs.

WHY AM I NOT PLAYING THIS GAME RIGHT NOW!?

There's no more or less positivity or negativity than before, it's just that more of it is exposed to a larger amount of people, welcome to the digital age.

@TaliciaDragonsong:

To be fair, I've been kinda busy playing a game where you shrink down to fight terrorists, crabs, and horses in a woman's butt. (They make it kinda clear that it's her butt.)

Sleeping Dogs had a pretty good ending and was a pretty good game; that's positive.

Honestly, talking about things that are good and positive isn't terribly interesting, or is terribly difficult to make interesting. Think about it - how long do you spend talking about something you like with a friend who has similar interests? Not always that long. You might say "Sleeping Dogs was good game" and then your friend goes "yeah, I loved it"; you then go on to mention how fun it was to put a dude's head in an air conditioner and then move on with the conversation.

And now for some crazy talk: you know how all those plays, philosophy books, poems, and other works you have to read through college are so boring and horrible? Maybe people talked about them so much and remembered them because they really fucking sucked! And most of them got a really bad reception at first anyway! (yes, that's bullshit, I know, it was just an interesting thought).

EDIT: Incidentally, that will mean that Daikatana and Superman 64 will be considered masterpieces five hundred years from now. *shivers*.

There is a lot of negativity in the gaming community, but there is also a lot of positivity. When it comes to video games people seem to really love or really hate something, myself included. It doesn't seem like there is a lot of middling opinions when it comes to forum users.

For people like me who dont have a decent internet connection/no connection at all for their console, on disc/pre-order DLC is extremely frustrating.

And while the vitriol can often be a bit much, I think it's good that the community calls companies out on their bullshit.

That's just the internet, man. It's more entertaining to just rip stuff to shreads; most people love drama and you don't get that by being a ray of sunshine.

Try not to let it get to you, okay? Remember that most of us are bitter and think we know more about life and the world than anyone else.

No, fuck you

No, gamers suck. I hate em.

I don't think it's without reason, though. Companies have been taking advantage of gamers more than ever this generation, it seems, which understandably led to some cynicism infecting the community. Games are big, now - they're not simply the labor of love we remember them as. Corporations are making them, and a corporate attitude has taken over. It'll take time to get used to it, if we ever do - I think it's good that there's resistance to the kinds of practices Capcom in particular forces on us. Ultimately, power lies in the buyers, and we need to make ourselves heard.

@TaliciaDragonsong: I would also like to believe that happy/positive people are actually having to much fun to spend time venting on the interwebs. It's just hard to keep the faith sometimes looking at what people choose to post.

Arent people just negative in general?  

Internet comments / forums have always been a great place for people to complain (and be awkwardly threatening in non-moderated areas). Gossip is always best when its negative - ie. your not going to see a group of people standing around having a love in about how great project x is going at work.

Unless you made participation in the comments section mandatory for everyone that views it somehow, there is inevitably going to be a ton of negativity.

@Zekhariah said:

Internet comments / forums have always been a great place for people to complain (and be awkwardly threatening in non-moderated areas). Gossip is always best when its negative - ie. your not going to see a group of people standing around having a love in about how great project x is going at work.

Unless you made participation in the comments section mandatory for everyone that views it somehow, there is inevitably going to be a ton of negativity.

This. Forums and comments have a bad habit of attracting dissenters and negativity. The best thing to do is find friends, either online or not, who also like games and just enjoy them. I've had hours of fun playing new and old games with my friends, talking about positive and negative points of games, but at the end we always have fun even if a game is horrible.

@believer258: I'd disagree on that I've spent hours talking to friends on subjects we readily agree about. That kind of seems insane that you wouldn't.... sharing like interests is kind of part of what being friends is about.

I'm pretty positive.

As it says in the article @Video_Game_King: posted, people who have nice things to say about stuff generally don't go out of there way to do so, whereas people who have bad things to say about stuff will often do so any opportunity presented to them. When people are content, they are lazy and when they are mad they get motivated to do something, even if it's just to spew vitriol on a internet forum. For example, I just had a pleasant time playing some Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes but I don't want to talk about that, I would much rather be angry that the Yankee's are not losing. Fuck the Yankees.

Also I'm not sure I like the idea that we shouldn't complain about bad stuff, or stuff that could be improved on, just for the sake of being more positive.

Negative people tend to be more vocal about there rage on forums or posts. Just look at the comments on any news site (yeesh).

Speak for yourself man! maybe it's because I haven't played that many games but I have yet to find a game that a need to analize instead of having fun or appreciate.

In general I think People are motivated to make the effort to comment when they are upset than when they are happy.

E.g. when was the last time you heard a political talk show where people called in to say what an awesome job Congress is doing? Even sports Talk tends to be roughly 60% negative.

Only if you never look at the internet, if you just talk to people irl about games its a lot of positivity.

I wouldn't say there's as much negativity as there is scrutiny. We live in an entitled culture and have less tolerance for failure than at any other time in history. I think the scrutiny is a good thing; you have to hold these companies' feet to the fire. Gaming has turned into a big industry, run by marketing people and publishers, and people whose ambition is not games but money. So I think it's good we can be vocal about things that are clearly a rip off like on disc DLC.

That being said, there is definitely negativity, and I understand that it can seem to be overwhelming. But I find a lot of positivity on this site in particular. I find the Bomb Crew really looks for the positive aspects of gaming and emphasizes them as much as they can. The negative stuff just gets people talking more, and gets spread around the internet more by sites looking for lots of hits.

People are negative to just about everything in some capacity, ain't saying it's healthy but people are more responsive to negativity than positive vibes. 99% of people could like something but that negative 1% will be heard a lot more. There is lots of positivity but you ain't gon find it on the internet too often lol.

I'm really tired of the term "gaming community". It's just starting to feel like one of those "all blacks are the same" kinda expressions. There is no such thing as "the gaming community". There's just too many people that play games for too many different reasons to clasify it as a single thing.You can go from site to site and the attitudes will be different, or game to game, or even most cases even within a specific game there will be plenty of different communities that has completely different attitudes. This overhauling "gaming community is bad" and "all gamers are whiners" stuff just needs stop.

@Ares42 said:

I'm really tired of the term "gaming community". It's just starting to feel like one of those "all blacks are the same" kinda expressions.

good comparison

Why do we feel entitled that game companies always have to please us specifically?

@Apparatus_Unearth said:

Fuck, everyone just seems so cynical and jaded. I was reading Patrick's news story about there being content locked away on the disc of Resident Evil 6, but it will be free. I didn't see one positive comment. Sure, the reception to that game has been poor, but at least Capcom's previously awful DLC policies are improving a little bit.

Maybe that's not the best example, but it just seems to me like no matter how much you improve or give to us gamers, we always want more/wish it was better. Why do we feel entitled that game companies always have to please us specifically?

There's positive attitudes aplenty out there, it's just that negs are more vocal and every little niggle is cause for an uprising. All sorts of nice things being said about BL2, XCom and Dishonored, no? The RE6 shitstorm has passed...in my reading interests at least.

@Apparatus_Unearth said:

Why do we feel entitled that game companies always have to please us specifically?

Why should companies feel entitled to our money?

And you're just paying attention to the negativity while ignoring the positivity.

@zombiepenguin9 said:

I don't think it's just in the gaming community. Today's culture as a whole seems a lot more cynical towards everything, and what we do like can be turned on as soon as the shine starts to wear off. It's sad, really.

I mean, how crazy is it that there's a box that connects to a bigger box that displays whole new worlds that we can interact with? Not giving lease to mediocrity, but come on. Just because technology is everywhere doesn't mean it's any less amazing that we can do stuff with it!

Yeah this is what I'm seeing these days too... everyone is so damn cynical and critical about everything these days, even the smallest things... or things that people do to relax (video games)... it's getting so damn stupid. Actually just mentioned that to a guy who was being way too critical to people he was playing video games with...

Most people wouldn't come to a forum to bitch about so and so. They're either simply enjoying the game or just carrying on with their lives. It's usually a vocal minority that'd rather spend their time complaining on the internet then do something else.

Usually my policy is if I don't have anything nice to say, don't say nothing at all.

People not realizing how 'cynical' and 'jaded' consumers used to be in the good ol' days when quality and customer service were everything.

@Ares42 said:

I'm really tired of the term "gaming community". It's just starting to feel like one of those "all blacks are the same" kinda expressions. There is no such thing as "the gaming community". There's just too many people that play games for too many different reasons to clasify it as a single thing.You can go from site to site and the attitudes will be different, or game to game, or even most cases even within a specific game there will be plenty of different communities that has completely different attitudes. This overhauling "gaming community is bad" and "all gamers are whiners" stuff just needs stop.

Dumb comparison, but I completely agree with the sentiment. What's even worse is when people just disregard everything anyone has to say as, "Oh, internet." As if just because someone is saying something on the internet, and might happen to be negative, then it's a completely worthless statement with no merit at all. HOLY SHIT. Could you be anymore dismissive? That sort of thing ranks right up there with cries of "Hater", "You're just afraid of change", and "(insert game here) defense force" as the most obnoxious shit ever.

@FLStyle said:

There's no more or less positivity or negativity than before, it's just that more of it is exposed to a larger amount of people, welcome to the digital age.