anyone think the way the gaming community is heading sucks?

[Acrylik]

i don't know how much time the people on this board spend playing video games, neither do i know how long they've been playing them... but if you've been playing them since the days of atari's, segas and snes's then maybe you can understand where i'm coming from..

in particular i think that online gaming, while great as it is, was also kind of a curse.

before online gaming, and i'm looking more at consoles like the xbox and ps2, it felt like playing video games was more social. it was something you could do with your friends and one of the reasons you'd actually go and hang out. you'd bring you're clunky little sega controller with you and your copy of nhl over to their house and play like a complete noob when you thought you were a pro. it was sociable in a way and it usually led to some kind of other social interaction like doing something active, meeting up with other friends or smoking crack, i honestly don't know what you guys did.

now.. idk. it seems like all of these hobbies that actually led to social interactions are getting isolated and digitalized. if you want to play a game with your buddy you most likely won't meet up. most of the time you just go online and play the game and that's usually it. you never even see the person. maybe afterwords you'll go on facebook and talk to them or text them. for me, i HAD to make a facebook account recently to even get a hold of them. sure it's great that you can go online and play with random people and your friends if they live far, but it's almost like it allows people to be lazy and i've been finding this out more and more as the people i used to regularly do stuff with are staying indoors and relying on facebook or xbl to do these things.

oh well.. at least i can still go get drunk with my non gamer friends. but i mean what do you guys think? have you experienced anything like this?

[Perictione]

Acrylik:

Hmmm... have you had a chance to read through the 'What to play while waiting for Torchlight 2 thread'? It's taken an interesting turn, I feel, and in many ways echoes the sentiments that you've touched on here with your comments.

That said, great post! This is a difficult subject for gamers to discuss, I suspect, but it too is definitely worthwhile.


- P.

[Acrylik]

no i've honestly been pretty inactive as of late. just thought i'd throw this post out here because bitching about friends to friends usually isn't really smart, plus it's probably something you guys and gals can relate to.

i'll go check it out.

[automated]

Everything evolves.....not always for the better. I remember many a nights of lugging around the old Sega....then football at the school the next day with the neighborhood kids. What happened.

[Zidders]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzGnX-MbYE4

*lol you people sound old*



Hakuna Matata

[Acrylik]

i dunno. maybe we're getting old, but at the same time it feels like everything is trying to connect people when in reality it's just isolating them and limiting the interactions to controlled scenarios that feel as if the consumers themselves are advertisements.

if i can give an example.. you get a hold of a "friend". find out what you want to do by means of not actually contacting the person physically, like meeting up at a coffee shop or someones house but rather thru some means of technology. you'll both go thru some kind of a script usually starting like this "sup" "nmu?" "nmu?" "nmu? oh woops i said that already" then you'll fool yourself to think that you're doing something with them when in reality you're not because it's not in person, like chat over facebook/text/phone calls, share youtube links or play call of duty. after that it's like they just want to tell you about new games coming out or what they think about a celebrity or whatever, put in your own reason and then that's it. it's a false sense of being social when in reality you haven't done a damned thing. i wish more people would kind of wake up and say "oh yeah hey i actually didn't do f all there.. maybe i should go see what that guys face looks like, because i think i've forgotten?"

if i can continue on my whine train here, but if you were to even try to avoid these kind of things like i've tried you're limiting yourself from a vast majority of people so it's like there's no way to break out of it. it's pretty terrible man.

ps, DEPECHE MODE!!!!!!!

[Zidders]

The more things change, the more they remain the same. Personal relationships are about communication. You can have a lack of communication with a friend who lives next door and who comes over every day while at the same time, you can have a really deep, personal relationship with someone you might not have ever met face to face. There's just as much risk involved, there's just as much of a chance of that person not being who they claim to be.

The gaming community is made up of people. A lot of people suck, that's how it's always been and how it will always be. The gaming community is no different from the human community. Sometimes we're our own worst enemy. That doesn't mean we should stop trying or give up. It doesn't mean we focus only on the negative because all that does is do a massive disservice to the positive.

If you want to see some of that positive, go here http://childsplaycharity.org/news/post/ ... dible-year and look at this number;

"$3,512,345.

Let that sink in for a second. Over three and a half million dollars going to hospitals worldwide to ease the suffering of kids when they need it most. All because you, as a community, came together to make a difference. And what a difference it is."

This feat was accomplished in large part due to people in the gaming community.

You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.
Mahatma Gandhi

[Rusty]

I definitely see what you are talking about. I know that when my friends come back into town, alot of times we will get together and eat and hang out, but we almost always play an hour or so of Mariokart 64. I know many people love SuperSmash Bros, and those sorts of games are the social ones. Many a night as a teen, my parents would laugh at us as we would furiously race or try and battle it out. Remembering the swear words from someone Star Powering through you, or the swaying as one would try and literally lean their racing cart onscreen still brings a smile to my face. For this reason, I still cherish the Nintendo franchise, although I do not have one at this time.
I also believe that is a major reason why games such as Guitar Hero & Rockband had such spikes in popularity. People enjoy people, and you don't get those same characteristics by playing only online. You can definitely hear the people talking, and the occasional "Leroy Jenkins" will always make me smile, but I miss seeing the body language, the camaraderie, of the split screen game. Even games such as Halo split between TV's in a room battling it out can make it more fun for me.
Hence why in TL2, I will play as often as I can with my wife in the game as well.
A good topic, and it is tough for me the industry heading that way, but it is the way of things, and until holograms become real, it will most likely continue to become more like this.

[Acalanatha]

While there is a point to what you're saying, my point of view is this: If you want to do it, you will do it. I still carry over my desktop/laptop/joypads/joysticks/games (depending on what/how many terminals we need) to my bros' (reeeeeally close buddies, not related by blood) places to have day/weekend-long gaming sessions. We have fun, chat, laugh and catch up on things, and be exactly the way we were ten. fifteen or even more years ago.

Maybe it's because we were born and raised before the internet was popularised, but while we enjoy the benefits of convenience, we tend not to rely on it too much except where convenience is needed. Hell, we're so nonsensical that we lug over our terminals just to play MMOs in the same room! Typing/saying something stupid like "I farted" over the microphone is nothing like actually laughing and suffocating at the same time. Any intellectual banter also seems way better understood in person. The only reason we meet less often is because of other commitments such as children, careers etc; not because Facebook or any modern doodad is there.

If there are at least two people willing to take the initiative to hold the group together, then most of the group will stay together. Maybe some of the holdees might even become the holders when needed. If they start becoming hermits, and you start growing disappointed and giving up... then the common ground will be lost. I'm not asking you to be the only one trying until you die, but try as hard as you honestly can, for as long as you possibly can. If the other party doesn't reach back out, then they weren't truly interested in being your friend in the first place.

Sometimes the other party might be going through something horrible, and be too shy to tell you. One of my female friends was going through an excruciating divorce (violent husband, blah blah) a couple of years back. She killed herself (figuratively) just trying to keep up a positive online image, doing dungeons with us and posting nice things on Facebook. Turns out she didn't want us to worry, and feared the more sarcastic of us (me being the leader of that group) might mock her because she was rubbing our faces in her happiness in the first few happy years of her marriage. She didn't come to our real-life gatherings for one full year, but eventually let us help (when she felt she was ready to face the world again). Now, she's back on her feet, and meeting us regularly again.

Okay, I've slipped into old man ranting mode again. So... tl;dr version: Try your hardest. Only give up when you really think there's no hope. No matter the result, be okay with the situation because you've tried your best.

[BrianW]

Try your hardest. Only give up when you really think there's no hope. No matter the result, be okay with the situation because you've tried your best.

Onlyone problem with that statement,
the part highlighted above.

Spoiler: show

Never give up.
Never surrender.

[Acalanatha]

Lol oh Zidders. I'm a realist. I think about romantic ideas, but carry out... less romantic ones.

And tbh, I've had way more online relationships (as in friendships etc, not limited to lovey-dovey stuff) turn into real life ones than the other way around. It just takes a balancing effort from both parties. Now if-*stops self before going into full old man mode*

[Zidders]

Lol oh Zidders. I'm a realist. I think about romantic ideas, but carry out... less romantic ones.

And tbh, I've had way more online relationships (as in friendships etc, not limited to lovey-dovey stuff) turn into real life ones than the other way around. It just takes a balancing effort from both parties. Now if-*stops self before going into full old man mode*

Sorry, but i'm about realism, too, and the fact is you can't say there's 'no hope' when there are plenty of people out there who have come from the most intolerable conditions and have survived through the most horrific circumstances and have not only lived to tell the tale, but have gone on to be successful or have at least found happiness, which is really the best form of success, in my opinion. So when you talk about giving up when there's no hope...where there's life, there's hope, and that is the reality of it. I truthfully know very little in this life, next to nothing, but if there's anything about life I know to be truth, it's that.

[Acalanatha]

Ah, I'm sorry, perhaps I phrased that wrongly. English is not my first language, you see. I meant "When you feel the potential reward is not worth the potential cost of effort." Just shortened it for laziness' sake lol.

[Kukuku]

it seems like all of these hobbies that actually led to social interactions are getting isolated and digitalized. if you want to play a game with your buddy you most likely won't meet up. most of the time you just go online and play the game and that's usually it. you never even see the person

Yes, I understand what you mean. When my friends and I were still playing WoW, we generally didn't spend a lot of time together in the same room/area. Visiting each other became a rarity, as we realized that if we wanted to play the game we were most interested in at the time (WoW), it would mean staying home to do so. We're long done with WoW (and for me, MMOs), so thinks are back to where they used to be. Mostly.

As far as online friendships go, I don't consider someone I meet online as a real friend. To me, a real friend is someone that can and will visit you in the hospital, help you move if you need it (or the other way around) and provide a solid alibi when your ex mysteriously has their car set on fire (aliens were probably the cause.) I dunno. There's something about miles of open water on all sides that makes online friendship discouraging to me, I guess.

[Talyn]

im a very withdrawn person, i tend not to socialize due to several traumatizing years in a very bigoted small town. What friends i had, i played 64 with, cause we(family) couldnt afford sports. Now, ten years after leaving that cesspool of humanity,I can sort of socialize, though i still dont approach people without having been previous engaged by them. most of my friends live in the eastern US (i live in western Canada) and i have never met them in actual fact. nor have i even seen them. i do have "real" friends now, and i tend to gravitate more to playing DnD(not over IRC/skype/forum) with them than mechwarrior and counter-strike with the others.

the moral is: online gaming is great and all, but can't compare to being in the same room with other people when you play a game. =D
it does have it's uses though. cant spend every night across the city, so i play UT2k4 with them some evenings.

[Zidders]

Don't get me wrong. I'm with Talyn, as far as tabletop gaming groups, and even just hanging out. A lot of us just don't have that luxury. I don't really see any of this as proving gamers as a whole are getting worse. People are people. Some are good and some are bad and some just are, and what's 'good' and what's 'bad' is something different to everyone, anyways.

"People think the internet is this wonderfull tool, and it is, but what a lot of people don't realize is that when they go online, they're riding on the back of a five headed hydra. One head is full of kindness and wisdom, one head is full of hatred and fear, and the other three are named Moe, Larry and Curly"
-Me

[Wigglytuff]

So I haven't read the whole thread *disclaimer*

But I feel like gaming has gone in an opposite direction to being such an isolated activity. Whilst I see what you're saying, xbox live etc makes it so people don't have to be in the same room to play together and so on, just from my observations gaming is becoming super common at events and gatherings.

I think it's probably because of things like the Wii and Guitar Hero and shit like that. Those things are acting as a bit of a "gateway" too, which is great because people are broadening their horizons away from shitty Wii games and into real games (lolz)

[grimonce]

So I haven't read the whole thread *disclaimer*

But I feel like gaming has gone in an opposite direction to being such an isolated activity. Whilst I see what you're saying, xbox live etc makes it so people don't have to be in the same room to play together and so on, just from my observations gaming is becoming super common at events and gatherings.

I think it's probably because of things like the Wii and Guitar Hero and shit like that. Those things are acting as a bit of a "gateway" too, which is great because people are broadening their horizons away from shitty Wii games and into real games (lolz)

Shitty wii games made my day.
Thanks, much <3 I can go to bed now !

(that's because I agree on shitty wii games xD)

[civilian]

I think the game industry is fine.

[Zidders]

I think the game industry is fine.

Gaming communities are the same they've always been, just larger.

The game industry, on the other hand, is about as far from fine as you can get. There are a lot of big publishers and developers in trouble. It's starting to look like 1983 all over again.