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    Badly treated?

    I guess most if not all the people on these forums are dedicated gamers, enjoyed many games before the playstation came about, at the time when videogames had a bad image. It was this time that gamers such as you and me were a good portion of the overall market, videogames were created with dedicated gamers in mind. It wasn't just the games the magazines at the time were catered for us, written by people who have a passion for videogames for people with a passion for videogames, even the videogame shops were run by people who loved games and it showed. I had a few indie shops where i lived both where excellent one even had an arcade.

    Fastforward a whole decade later and the situation is completely different, the casual gamer is by far a majority portion of the market. Times have changed, videogames have become acceptable, theres more money to be made out of videogames than ever. But with this success there comes a price, the videogames industy has lost its soul, most probably sold it for a quick buck. The whole industry are relying on people who don't give a toss about its fate, bandwagon jumpers who only play videogames because its the new cool, they don't care about much about the industry as long as there is a annual sequal to fifa street. So this is the future of videogames? swept up in casual gamer fever they have forgotton those who made the industry what it is today, those who supported the industry through thick and thin for many years, the dedicated gamer, gamers like us. It seems as if the industry sees us as a remanent of the gaming past, fossilised over the years, still buried under tons of 2D titles. They have forgotten our importance to the history of this industry.

    Is it fair that we are no longer catered for in an industry we helped create? It seems as if no one wants to know us, few companies want to be our friends, sure they throw us a few scraps now and again in the form of a new shooter or a lazily done fighter, but no company wants to like us, they avoid us like a leper that is the bastard son of satan. Videogame shops have followed this route, they don't want to know us, they don't need us they stick copies of the new fifa outside their shops just as scared 14th century villagers would nail garlic outside their doors to scare off vampires. Every shop is the same, nothing diffrent, no passion for the industry, each clones of one another trying their best to be as non threatening as possible to mr mainstream. Again videogame mags have followed in the steps of the indusry, there are more than ever, however what has happened with the passion? where are the people who love games? each mag watered down so even a 10 yr old can read it, lots of pictures because people love seeing pretty in game shots. You would think that out of the tons of videogame mags on the shelves that one would cater for us, but no, each are a reflection of the industry as a whole, boring, unimaginative, immature, each trying to pull in buyers with cheap freebies, and half naked women.

    Maybe i'm just getting old before my time, but do any one else feel this why? has the dedicated gamer been unfairly forgotten? are we being badly treated by a industry we have supproted more than most? or am i just mad? answers on a postcard please
    Last edited by muse hunter; 19-10-2005, 12:54.

    #2
    This is probably relevant to the other thread in here about people moaning about games these days.

    Question: By moaning about the moaners, are you not also being a moaner?

    Fact is this: as with any industry you have to sift through all the dross until you find the gems. It's an acquired skill and there are plenty of fantastic games for us to play and you'll never persuade the general consumer to buy great stuff, especially when all the media they ever see tells them that mediocre games with licenses are what's best for them and the really great stuff gets released in limited numbers because publishers aren't prepared to take risks. Why is there some fantastic music out there that uses real instruments but doesn't sell, and the Sugarbabes are top of the album chart? Rhetorical question. See also: Harry Potter games.

    Reason being that people in general are sheep and are unable to make their own minds up about something. People are often too scared to do the different because they don't want to be judged or laughed at by their peers. People don't tend to start smoking because they thought they might like to try it, they do it because they either see their parents doing it and think it must be alright or their mates talk them into it. And what's with those jeans that have the stupid bleach stripe down them to badly simulate wear? These sheep-thought people are crowd-followers. They'll also be first against the wall in the case of severe environmental change or nuclear war, coz they won't be able to think and survive for themselves and will panic when Eastenders is no longer on telly. And other hints about my plans for global domination. Prime candidate for locking up right here

    Put simply: There'll always be great games out there for us, whether they be current-gen or if we have to go back to a previous time to play them. There's around 3000 SNES games to choose from, for example, and no one will ever get through them all.

    I'm very passionate about games. If I had the money I'd buy something this-gen right now coz I sure as hell have a long enough want list, but as it is I'll just have to put up with what I have. I tried an experiement a few weeks back (posted on here somewhere actually) where I played a random SNES game. Turned out that Air Strike Patrol was quite a fun little semi-clone of Desert Strike with its own advantages too. Try this experiment, you may well come across a real turd, but it's half an hour of a game that you'd never have played otherwise, so stick with it as if you'd spend 40 quid on it, try to resist comparing it to something similar that's the absolute best that system has to offer and you might just see its pros, or possibly even come to like it

    Am I in ****ing long post eulogising mode today or what?

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      #3
      'Quick reply' my backside

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        #4
        It depends on what you mean by the 'dedicated' gamer.

        'Dedicated' gamers for me are those who have their minds open, and willing to accept different forms of genres, entertainment, audiences, and the potential for the industry to grow. I'm not against the stereotypical unintiated 'casual' gamer, though I do feel frustrated that their tastes are often very conservative. Of more worry to me is the conservatism publishers express, so if I have a bone with anybody in the industry... it's the people at management/marketing level who decide what's given (or isn't) the green light, and who it's aimed at. They're the ones in the driving seat changing things.

        Another bone of contention for me is generalisation. I said this in another topic, but there are portions on the press that have a tendency to generalise 'dedicated' gamers all under the same heading or group, when they're arguably the main audience they're catering for. People talk about insular elitism amongst importers/forumites and the like... but in their own way, banding proportions of the gaming population under the same header to fit a nice little soundbite or sentence, they are perhaps being just as bad themselves.

        So... when you talk about videogaming magazines... then yes, on the whole, I've grown tired of generalisations and being attacked for belonging to the class 'dedicated/hardcore' gamer (terms I'm not sure I like), even when such terms are often being used as a wide-blanket to lump everyone together. You can be passionate about games without being narrow-minded across different divides.

        What's the point of giving people time if they just want to have a self-satisfactory dig when the chance comes up?

        I don't think the situation (in the gaming shops or overall press for that matter) is as bleak as you're making out, but I do think people are made to feel as though it's wrong to declare yourself as being passionate about games these days.

        In our multi-media propelled lives, they're only supposed to be another facet.

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          #5
          Originally posted by vertigo
          Question: By moaning about the moaners, are you not also being a moaner?
          That's a good point, but I suppose it needs to be made. The best way to combat haters of any kind is to ignore them rather than fight fire with fire.

          Something I've (personally) not done in this thread or the other in general gaming today.

          Take the Shadow of the Colossus thread for example. The genuine, hopeful enthusiasm shown in that thread by many people towards the title is something which makes me happy to call myself a gamer. The fact is that people are hungry to take in a game they've been looking forward to for what it might offer, rather than all the elitist kudos (of picking a game quickly on import) sometimes implies.

          The positivity for Colossus is down to the fact many people are hungry for the experience it promises to offer, and I think on the flipside, that shows the good the community can provide.

          Gaming needs people to have hopes and aspirations for the titles that come their way, otherwise the core audience will slowly die off.
          Last edited by Concept; 19-10-2005, 12:22.

          Comment


            #6
            It's true that there are a lot of mainstream games now, and that they are the titles that receive the most hype and generate the most sales. However their existence is not all bad, as they payroll companies to (and I appreciate this does not happen as often as it should) pay smaller more creative teams to create trophy games which can win awards, wow the journalists, and keep the fans happy.

            I'm refering to games such as Shadow of the Colossus, ICO, Okami, Panzer Dragoon Orta, Jet Set Radio, ShenMue, Pikmin, Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, Ikaruga, Gradius V, and many others.

            If you think back to the 16-bit era, and further to the 8-bit era although there were fewer easy to pick up 'mainstream' game the sad truth is there were also an awful lot of really rubbish games. As many as there are mainstream generic titles now. I suspect the amount of good stuff that existed then, is fairly similar in quantity to the good stuff now.

            Another avenue to explore is handheld gaming, - GBA and especially the DS. Despite being less than a year old the DS already has some fantastic games on offer, and many offer the kind of pure playability that is so lacking in bloated mainstream stuff on the main consoles. Pick up Ouendan and tell me there are no good games anymore!

            Me, I think while the scene may look different it still offers more than enough quality gaming experiences to keep anyone happy. More than ever in fact. And those who say they can't find any more good games to buy, well, maybe they've just lost the love of gaming.

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              #7
              Exactly. While I do feel jaded towards gaming every now and again (nearly always the barren summer months), there's always 10-15 titles heavy hitting titles spread out over a year that's possible to look forward to. Perhaps there's justifiable criticism that core gamers are too forward looking in their attitudes and don't celebrate the present enough, but my argument to that is you only have to look under the surface.

              There are spells when gaming speeds up and slows down... we're just entering another one that's going to move at breakneck speed, but after the fuss of the 360 dies down and the dust settles, people will be able to sample some of the highest quality examples of the current generation they'll come across.

              There's immense diversity... and arguably I would say this year a healthy dose of original titles to counter the sequelitis of 2004.
              Last edited by Concept; 19-10-2005, 12:48.

              Comment


                #8
                Originally posted by Kotatsu Neko
                It's true that there are a lot of mainstream games now, and that they are the titles that receive the most hype and generate the most sales. However their existence is not all bad, as they payroll companies to (and I appreciate this does not happen as often as it should) pay smaller more creative teams to create trophy games which can win awards, wow the journalists, and keep the fans happy.

                I'm refering to games such as Shadow of the Colossus, ICO, Okami, Panzer Dragoon Orta, Jet Set Radio, ShenMue, Pikmin, Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, Ikaruga, Gradius V, and many others.

                If you think back to the 16-bit era, and further to the 8-bit era although there were fewer easy to pick up 'mainstream' game the sad truth is there were also an awful lot of really rubbish games. As many as there are mainstream generic titles now. I suspect the amount of good stuff that existed then, is fairly similar in quantity to the good stuff now.

                Another avenue to explore is handheld gaming, - GBA and especially the DS. Despite being less than a year old the DS already has some fantastic games on offer, and many offer the kind of pure playability that is so lacking in bloated mainstream stuff on the main consoles. Pick up Ouendan and tell me there are no good games anymore!

                Me, I think while the scene may look different it still offers more than enough quality gaming experiences to keep anyone happy. More than ever in fact. And those who say they can't find any more good games to buy, well, maybe they've just lost the love of gaming.
                A completely agree - As far as I am concerned, we have never had it so good. the late 80's were filled with ****e arcade conversions, and licenses, the early 90's with formulaic and generic platformers and the late 90's with formulaic and generic FPS and games that used 3d for no reason at all.

                Of course there are games that cater to the mainstream, and you know, we need them, because it is the sales of these games that pay for the "real" games.

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                  #9
                  There's always a tonne of titles I want to try out, requiring far more time than I have to actually spend on gaming, so I feel just fine about gaming right now. Plus some of the best games I've played have been out in recent years.

                  Like PeteBrant just said there's always been a lot of dross and the trick is to filter it out.

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                    #10
                    Good lord... 'ntsc-uk users in long thought-out posting, not being offensive at all' shocker!

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                      #11
                      Globos meos lambe!

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                        #12
                        In some ways we owe a debt of gratitude to the casual, 5/10, mainstream dross that's produced. It's stuff like that that sells in the millions, and that funds some studios in order to help make the genuinely great stuff.

                        In the days we have now of ever-upwardly-spiralling production costs, something's got to pay for new games to be made, and it sure as hell isn't the hard-core supporting a game by buying it in the thousands.

                        It's an inevitability now, and if anything I think we get treated to MORE genuinely great games a year than we ever had. We, and the current generation, are spoiled. Think back a few years, a new game would last you months. Nowadays we know we are going to get something new a month or two at the worst down the line. We have more choice, more options and in some ways lower prices (if you're prepared to look around, and take inflation into account when looking at games prices) than ever before.

                        Viva la idiots!

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Originally posted by martTM
                          Good lord... 'ntsc-uk users in long thought-out posting, not being offensive at all' shocker!
                          **** off!

                          Kidding

                          Really, I find that if I'm getting tired and jaded and don't feel like putting that two hours into getting to the next save point in whatever game I'm currently playing, a good blast of something arcadey on the Megadrive, a bit of Wario Ware or similar soon sorts me out. If you're feeling jaded, have a quick bash at something that's instantly accessible and not too frustrating, especially if it's got the cheesy madcap themes of Wario Ware.

                          Or like I said before: PLAY A RANDOM GAME THAT YOU'VE NEVER PLAYED BEFORE!

                          Comment


                            #14
                            I think I am a little jaded by the UK games situation. I seem to be buying more Japanese titles and less PAL releases. Its always good to try something different.

                            OK, there are some of the smaller publishers whose game seem mostly to be worth a look, but the fairly large majority of the releases seem to be a revamp of last years "best seller". There are only so many iterations of the same game that you can sensibly buy. Have some publishers lost the use of the word "different" when it comes to new titles.

                            Comment


                              #15
                              This years games are different. They say 2006 on the front instead of 2005.

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