The lights are on
Veteran Member - Level 11
I had a fairly rough weekend handling some real world issues, so I am way behind on most everything related to video games to include playing them. If you messaged me and I haven't responded or I owe you something, don't hesitate to send me a reminder (Keyes, the check is in the mail, I say again, the check is in the mail). Hopefully by the end of the night I will be all (mostly) caught up. I guess I'm never truly caught up.
Anyway, you know this is going to be a potentially volatile topic when I open with a disclaimer, but what I'm about to say I am only speaking for myself. It's a topic I've covered before, and do so from time to time, especially whenever something happens...yes, even something in real life...that reminds me how well we as gamers really have it. Whether it's true for you or not, well only you can answer that. And whether you agree or not, is totally up to you. I don't expect everyone will agree, but this is me and how I feel about it...and well I am guilty of thinking (and sometimes saying) each of the below statements.
This map is too big. This map is too small.
This campaign is too long. This campaign is too short.
This game is single player only. This game is multiplayer only. (Or this game has both.)
This game doesn't have any DLC yet. This game has DLC but I have to pay for it.
This game doesn't let me customize my player. This game has too many options.
There are too many games with happy endings. OMG, you killed <insert character here>!
This game has too many cars (or guns or whatever I happen to be complaining about).
This game doesn't have enough cars (or guns or whatever I happen to be complaining about).
The manual is too thick. What do you mean you're not including a manual any longer?
This game takes too long to load. This game takes up too much space on my hard drive.
This game has is buggy. What do you mean I have to download another patch to fix the bugs?
Console A is better than Console B. Console B is better than Console C.
What do you mean the trade in value for this game I bought 5 years ago is 1/3 of what I paid?
There are too many players on this server. How come nobody is playing this game?
Camping isn't a real tactic. Neither is bunny hopping or quick scoping. I'm not camping I'm sniping.
It makes me feel like I am in the classic nursery rhyme Goldilocks and the Three Bears, or in this case perhaps Goldilocks and the Three Gamers (I might have a blog titled that, I don't recall).
Narrator: Once upon a time there was a little girl gamer named Goldilocks because of her beautiful golden curls g0Ld1L0CK5 was already taken. Goldilocks loved to play. <insert> play video games. She also loved hated to run into the woods to gather wild flowers, or to chase butterflies through the open fields <insert> but did think the graphics outside were amazing. One day Goldilocks was in the woods and got lost <insert> because she didn't have an onscreen pointer to tell her which way to go or a way to ask for a hint. She came upon a little house. Goldilocks knocked on the door.
Goldilocks: Hello! Is anyone home? <insert> Can I come in and play your Playstation 3?
Narrator: No one answered. <insert> Goldilocks went inside and powered on the Playstation 3.
Goldilocks: What's this? Whoever lives here must have gone out for a walk to work (who has time for a walk?). This porridge video game looks good rad.
Narrator: Goldilocks took a taste of the large sized bowl of porridge tried to play it on "nightmare".
Goldilocks: Too hard.
Narrator: Goldilocks took a taste of the large sized bowl of porridge tried to play it on "I'm too young to die".
Goldilocks: Too easy.
Narrator: Goldilocks took a taste of the large sized bowl of porridge tried play it on "hurt me plenty".
Goldilocks: 1 w1Ll 0wn j00!
Hopefully you get the moral of the story without me going through the various iterations that you know are coming. Don't make me do it because I will, hah!
It makes me wonder if video game developers hate me and those like me who seem impossible to please. They work (most of them do) diligently to produce a game worth playing and minutes after peeling off the plastic and spinning it up in my drive, I've discovered a complaint or two. Sometimes these complaints manifest themselves in the form of whining; whining to myself or those who are patient enough to listen. Sometimes it prevents me from getting the game (if I've heard others ranting about it) and sometimes if I have played it then I never go back and give it a second chance (even if it's been updated and fixed any issues I originally complained about).
At the end of the day when I think about the video games we have available today and the hardware to play them on I have to chuckle a bit at any whining or sniveling I might be guilty of. I can't speak for anybody but myself, but for a gamer who has witnessed a couple decades of gaming I think we have it pretty good. And not just pretty good, but I think we are in an era where gaming has never been better. You can call it the golden era of gaming if you want...or perhaps the magic years. I don't think I'd go that far because I think video gaming and the quality, diversity and availability of gaming is only going to get better with each passing year.
Technology has evolved over the years. Heck, we have a robot blasting rocks on Mars with a laser...and our video games have evolved each step of the way. We have a fine selection of platforms we can pick and choose from and a multitude of games, many of which are as close to perfect as can be (some might even argue perfect just as they are).
Sometimes I have to remind myself I'm pretty lucky. Like many of you, I'm the proud owner of a couple different consoles and my challenge isn't finding a good game to play, it's deciding which of the good games I own that I have time to play.
I'm sure you're familiar with the expression, "Have your cake and eat it too." which loosely translates to wanting to preserve your cake while eating it at the same time...but how is that possible when the cake is a lie?
Here's to infinite lives, frequent checkpoints, good games and the developers who make them.
Cheers.
Glad to have games, and many are good. I do see why some people complain though. Kingdom Hearts 3D on my 3DS is a great game, but the drop system could've been done better, and is sometimes frustrating. Not many complaints about Halo 3 though, I guess that's a game that is (practically) perfect. As for patches, I'm actually happy they're here. Mario Kart 7 was a disaster until patch 1.1 came out. I didn't care I had to download it, I was grateful to have the shortcut glitches patched. The short download time was well worth the improvements to the game.
I am certainly guilty of this. I think we all are. I think all humans are.
I consider myself a pretty unselfish guy, I tend to put the needs of others before my own(or at times, my family). I recognize that the problems I have are extremely tiny compared to those problems of others.
All that said, I still find myself complaining, because that is what this is really about, we all complain about something. Whether we realize it or not.
Good blog, Saint. I agree, it often feels like we're too mired in our endless minor nitpicks to be able to stop and smell the roses.
But there's a flip side to the coin as well. In a manner of speaking, if we aren't complaining, we aren't progressing. The hard part is discovering which things are truly worth complaining about.
I am guilty. For one I only have 360 and Wii, and two is it's so easy to complain about something. But all those complaints up there seem to be easy to get around when it comes to gaming. While it is extremely difficult(impossible depending on who you are) to find a game that satisfies you completely you can generally find a game with which you complain more than your compliment. With movies, music, and books you can generally only satisfy one particular group of people, but with games you can find something that almost completely satisfies.
I feel like the video game industry tries harder though to give us what we want. One of the reason i love the video game industry. And now that I think about it all the hard work they do kinda makes me feel like a jerk for complaining so much. Very thought provoking blog Saint.
I'm guilty of complaining about the controls in Luigi's Mansion...a game that is ten years old haha. This was great Saint, and the Goldilocks bit was an excellent metaphor.
This blog was too long, but the topic was really interesting. Also I didn't like the use of double line spaces, but I laughed the entire time. I also think the cake is real, but your cake might be a lie and we all have different opinions, and we all complain about the same things in many of our games.
Good too long funny but annoying spaces blog!
Interestingly enough I used to be that way. I still don't like some things and I think it is important to be vocal about that. But the difference is that a lot of people are vocal about it without the respect or the vision to see the grand scheme of things.
Granted tech today means that developers can do more now than ever, it also means they are more limited in other ways that people don't tend to recognize. It's a shame really, I'd love to take a few of the last gen ideas and put them back into the industry now.
Unfortunately that's not where we are anymore, though I think it alright. Better to be making progress than just doing nothing right?
Nice blog saint, I enjoyed it.
I'm definitely guilty of complaining. It was actually my nick picking that kept me from getting into Mass Effect (now one of my favorite series) for so long.
Yup, been guilty of most of those myself. However, I always put my games on the highest possible difficulty and suffer through them because I'm a masochistic gamer.
Echoing others above me, I too have made complaints about some games, but we are human, and we're entitled to our opinions. You have to take the good with the bad I guess. I also believe it is a beautiful time for gaming, and I believe every person can find at least one game to enjoy. (Especially since you touched upon options like changing the difficulty.)
Anyway though, I really liked the Goldilocks dialogue haha.
i always try to keep a positive spin on each game i get. Even if it sucks, I still try to point out the redeeming qualities. Side note: The new TF2 co-op mode is awesome! You should give it a try!
Haha! That was good. I often do feel sorry for all the devs that get swamped by unreasonable complaints, but then I remember how mad I was when I played Skyrim on PS3 for the first time. Ah well, but I guess they'll never feel the need to innovate if we don't let them know about it right? Nice blog Saint:)
I think it's great that so many people are passionate about games. But I think a lot of us really need to chill out and remind ourselves that these games are just a hobby- a form of entertainment.
Another nice read, Saint.