Crucify the average gamers!

M

mumu

Member
http://gc.advancedmn.com/article.php?artid=4035

Already a few days old, probably mentioned before, search didn't show up anything. Be warned that it's mostly a rant from a GC fanboy.

Overall, Sony and Microsoft have done a much better job this generation marketing toward the average gamer. Nintendo has the tools to appeal to these brain-dead stoners, but they haven't been playing their cards right. For example, the original Metroid Prime had decent sales, but it could have been a lot better with a simple change in marketing.
Click to expand...

averagegamer5.jpg
 
Average gamers definitely suck, but they are the ones that push the industry forward. Stop caring about sales and just enjoy the occasional good game that you get to play. We have a couple more years until EA takes over the entire industry and puts Madden's ugly face on the cover of every game. Enjoy these years while you can.
 
It should be noted that there are only two Simpsons games this gen though.

Although, to be honest some licensed games are okay as long as they aren't real turds (like ugh, Enter the Matrix). There are kids out there who like games like Finding Nemo and Spongebob as it shows their favorite cartoons in videogame form (I heard Nemo and Sponge aren't too shabby).

I noticed that the article is bashing how a female co-worker bought Finding Nemo rather than Resident Evil 4. So what? Not everyone will want to buy Resident Evil, especially kids.
 
Good article. Casual gamers are only harming the industry and I consider them the plague of it. That doesn't justify Nintendo's inability to attract them neither their total lack of proper marketing (which in some ways he didn't mention). I mean go ask a casual what does he think of Metroid Prime. He probably won't even know it and in case he does he won't have the slightest idea about how acclaimed the game has been.
 
I don't mind casual gamers when they admit that they don't know shit about games. But when i get these average gamers telling me that the Matrix games are awesome, when everyone that's ever picked up a controller knows that they were only manufactured to make tons of money and cash in on a huge license, I get a little irked. Especially when they turn around and tell me that games which I enjoy, like Shadow Hearts, suck, simply because they didn't cash in at the electronic stores across the country.
 
whytemyke said:
I don't mind casual gamers when they admit that they don't know shit about games. But when i get these average gamers telling me that the Matrix games are awesome, when everyone that's ever picked up a controller knows that they were only manufactured to make tons of money and cash in on a huge license, I get a little irked. Especially when they turn around and tell me that games which I enjoy, like Shadow Hearts, suck, simply because they didn't cash in at the electronic stores across the country.
Click to expand...

Exactly; them doing that to an informed gamer is like someone going up to a paleontologist and saying "Dimetrodon was the coolest dino ever!"
 
I'd like to play devil's advocate here, if I may.

First off, I feel that the term 'casual' is a little misleading. I'm a casual gamer. I play when I can, time permitting. I'm not running out to buy the import version of the latest games. I think a more appropriate term for the type of person we're discussing would be would be 'uninformed' or 'tasteless'. Or 'average', like the article says.

There's no accounting for bad taste, or ignorance. I think we can all agree on that. In our hobby (dare I say 'hobby'?) being informed just makes you less ignorant than Joe Average Buyer. But how informed do you have to be to enjoy gaming?

Let's say there's a gamer, Joe, and Joe only plays casually. He doesn't know much about designers, third-parties, release dates, but he hears good things. He sticks with the big sellers and shies away from things that look crap. Uninformed, yes. Casual, yes. Bad gamer? Not neccesarily.

For the sake of argument, how informed must a game player be? If you have a disagreement about games with someone, does their differing opinion make them 'wrong' and 'uninformed'?
 
The article clearly states that an "uninformed/tasteless" gamer is a plague because he/she does not research before plopping down $50 bucks and when he/she does, it's usually for the wrong reasons, as mention in the article: stuff like buying purely on box cover and maintaining a cool social image.

The writer is mad at the female gamer not for not buying Resident Evil 4 but for buying Finding Nemo for the WRONG reason; that is buying because the cover is supposely cute and not because of the game quality itself.
 
What kumanoki said.

Though, I was going to be a bit less kind. I mean, really, people suck because they don't want to devote ungodly hours to reading posts on a videogame message board or spending insane amounts of cash on some obscure import?
 
A good 10-30 minutes of web researching is not an ungodly amount of work. People who complain are just lazy. Children should definitely research more since they have much more free time than adults.
 
There are different kinds of game players.

My best friend is JackFrost2012. He's about the most knowledgable gaming person I know. He's in the industry, writes about it professionally, and loves games, pure and simple. Compared to him, I'm relatively uninformed. How am I supposed to get into the 'press only' day at E3? How the hell should I know who the production designer for Halo is? I'm just Harvey Pekar from down the block, lady.

However, we've had some really good gaming conversations. We don't always agree but we both love gaming.
 
Tain said:
What kumanoki said.

Though, I was going to be a bit less kind. I mean, really, people suck because they don't want to devote ungodly hours to reading posts on a videogame message board or spending insane amounts of cash on some obscure import?
Click to expand...
People suck because they don't know what they are buying.
 
Well, we have all kinds of game review mags and web sites. But to be honest, you've kinda gotta know more than average about the scene and read between the lines on most reviews. It usually takes more than one review to piece together an accurate picture of a games' real value.
 
The problem is most people put in zero effort into learning about what they are buying. Zero. A good consumer learns as much as needed to change from uninformed to informed. The very least we ask of you casual gamers is to know at least a little bit of what you are purchasing. Only an idiot would not bother to research in the least bit when buying stuff like a TV, a fridge, a car, a house, etc.
 
kumanoki said:
I'd like to play devil's advocate here, if I may.

First off, I feel that the term 'casual' is a little misleading. I'm a casual gamer. I play when I can, time permitting. I'm not running out to buy the import version of the latest games. I think a more appropriate term for the type of person we're discussing would be would be 'uninformed' or 'tasteless'. Or 'average', like the article says.

There's no accounting for bad taste, or ignorance. I think we can all agree on that. In our hobby (dare I say 'hobby'?) being informed just makes you less ignorant than Joe Average Buyer. But how informed do you have to be to enjoy gaming?

Let's say there's a gamer, Joe, and Joe only plays casually. He doesn't know much about designers, third-parties, release dates, but he hears good things. He sticks with the big sellers and shies away from things that look crap. Uninformed, yes. Casual, yes. Bad gamer? Not neccesarily.

For the sake of argument, how informed must a game player be? If you have a disagreement about games with someone, does their differing opinion make them 'wrong' and 'uninformed'?
Click to expand...

Hey call them whatever you want. I'm obviously not talking about people like you I'm talking about these idiots who buy whatever has the best license/cover/hype or marketing campaign. These assholes are the ones that have persuaded some publishers that they don't have to make good games to sell them but only to market or hype them well. These are the same idiots who made a company like EA which is only good at destroying developers and releasing one crappy sequel after another, rich. Maybe we should give them a common name that we can understand each other.
 
NotMSRP said:
The problem is most people put in zero effort into learning about what they are buying. Zero. A good consumer learns as much as needed to change from uninformed to informed. The very least we ask of you casual gamers is to know at least a little bit of what you are purchasing. Only an idiot would not bother to research in the least bit when buying stuff like a TV, a fridge, a car, a house, etc.
Click to expand...

And yet the majority does exactly that. That's why mainstream equals trouble and that's why whatever genre has become mainstream has eventually lost its quality.
 
i suppose this is what happens when a nintendo fan discovers maddox and the blessed internet "rant." imagine gaming casually! games should obviously be undertaken seriously, fervently. that's why they call them "games." you shouldn't buy bad games out of indifference or ignorance. you should buy bad games because they're gamecube exclusives.
 
NotMSRP said:
A good 10-30 minutes of web researching is not an ungodly amount of work. People who complain are just lazy. Children should definitely research more since they have much more free time than adults.
Click to expand...
And it takes thirty seconds or less to find something on Google, yet there's tons of people who'll ask where to find it on a message board, then refresh the page until someone responds. A lot of people simply don't want to go through the trouble to actually learn something for themselves, they want things handed to them. They don't value information as they value entertainment, status, money, etc.
 
There are casual gamers and zealot gamers.

What about the rest of us?

(hides his Pac-Man memorabilia)
 
Pretty well written and funny article, even if a bit extreme. I have thought some of those same things myself lately. It's worrying that many console and game ads seem to be aimed at stupid people. BMX XXX has been one of the worst examples of a game made for idiots, luckily it bombed. Then again POP 2 seems to be selling better than Sands of Time...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Average PC gamer vs the illusion of "Pc master race"
3 4 5 6 7
344
18K
bad guy replied
  • Locked
9/11 for gamers
10
206
Rush2112 replied
The RTX 50 Disaster (Gamers Nexus)
2 3
123
8K
Celcius replied
  • Poll
Throughout all of gaming, on average, which genre do you personally feel has the most good games?
Poll 
33
436
Humdinger replied
What is the average individual battle length in Baldur's Gate 3?
17
1K
Sentenza replied
Top Bottom