I played Super Paper Mario, Superman 64, and flower.  That's enough.

Most of the games in my collection are pretty bad. But I usually end up liking them more than good games. To this day I still have a burning desire to play ninety nine nights. Even after my S rank in it was stolen by a deleted savegame.

There so many games nowadays that I can't even afford to play all the good ones, let alone force myself to play bad games.  I think I'll do just fine if I ignore the below average games.

Hell no. Playing a bad game puts me off gaming.

" Yeah I play my Wii once in a while "

" @Geno said:

" I dunno, there are already so many good games to play that I could never finish them, why play an inferior one? I can understand the sentiment that good games will be relatively better after playing a bad one, but that's like saying you should cover yourself in a blanket on a really hot day and then take it off in order to feel cooler. Sure, you could do that, but why not just sit in front of the air conditioner instead? "

Funny you should say that.  I actually wear heavy clothing in early summer to It makes it easy to adjust to the temperature.  While people are bitching and moaning about the weather, I am able to breeze by with no problems.  Having a horrible experience can make you appreciate other things. "

There are too many good games to play. Taking time to play the bad ones means I have less time to play the good ones. Unpossible, sir (and/or ma'am).

Most people do.
 
They just don't know it yet.
 
In fact, they might never know.

My only problem with playing bad games is that I often end up really liking them.
Then I'm stuck reading and listening to people talk junk about another game I enjoyed. :P

" @Godwind said:

" @Geno said:

" I dunno, there are already so many good games to play that I could never finish them, why play an inferior one? I can understand the sentiment that good games will be relatively better after playing a bad one, but that's like saying you should cover yourself in a blanket on a really hot day and then take it off in order to feel cooler. Sure, you could do that, but why not just sit in front of the air conditioner instead? "

Funny you should say that.  I actually wear heavy clothing in early summer to It makes it easy to adjust to the temperature.  While people are bitching and moaning about the weather, I am able to breeze by with no problems.  Having a horrible experience can make you appreciate other things. "

Lolwut? I've never heard of such a thing. That's like saying you should go naked in the winter to adjust to the temperature...or you can just wear  jacket.  "

I regularly buy bad games. And now I have to play them? Fuck this shit.

I don't understand all the hate here, the TC is most certainly correct. Believe it or not, there are a lot of game designers that take the time to play bad games to learn how to not make a bad game. Sometimes we forget what exactly a bad game is, so our expectations are skewed.

Everyone should at least play bad games because of the potential humor it can bring.  There is "ugh, this is just bad" and then there is "haha, holy crap this is garbage!"

I don't care about my opinion having any validity; that's what reviewers are for. I just care about having fun. So what if I turn my nose up at most games that don't score higher than 80% on GameRankings? That honestly doesn't stop me from enjoying great games. Maybe it does stop me from appreciating games that aren't terrible (I really didn't enjoy Mirror's Edge, a game that I thought had a lot going for it but I just couldn't tolerate the gameplay), but I don't really care. If I hit a lull in the release calender, I don't just play any game that comes along and looks kinda shiny. Instead, I play games again, or play through the backlog, or if I really go bone dry maybe it's time to buy another console. I don't think bad games are funny. They're just depressing. And if you have enough free time that you're actually going out and seeking bad games then I think you need to have a good long hard look at yourself and ask some important questions.
 
Why tolerate mediocrity? Why settle for less? It's your free time; don't you want to have as much fun as possible? I think the same argument exists in music. People seem to be absolutely fine about music that if you actually stop and listen to is fucking terrible. I don't abide with it.

I'm glad you made this thread, this is an idea thats popped in and out of my head I wanted to talk about on GB.

Thanks to blogs, basically anyone can review games. And few websites ever require a paid subscription.

So today's kids have plenty of free warning whether a game is lame or broken.

Yet for the older gamers here at Giantbomb, you might recall just how bittersweet it was to randomly rent a shitty cartridge from the local mom & pop blockbuster, and gather with friends to beat the awful game over a weekend. Some games can be so bad their good, enduring them seems like an accomplishment knowing anyone else would demand a refund from the video store. I mean, look how funny the video quicklooks on GB are, whenever they play an abysmal game (so you don't have to.) Rogue Warrior and Darkest of Days are perfect modern examples. And this is something unique to games, because you're at home with friends than in a theater, there is total freedom to mock the shit out of the game and laugh at how awful it is, where as at a Sandra Bullock movie, you might offend the idiots in the audience who love Ms. Bullock and think she was so intelligent on Oprah Wednesday.