Welcome to the new year of 2014, thank you for taking the time out of your day to give this article a read. This isn’t a GVGINU article, I will be working on those in the very near future, but this is more of a perspective piece. For those who have been reading my articles for a while, you know that I have expanded myself to youtube, twitter and facebook among other social networking sites. As a gamer, I’ve seen some things that just put a lot of things into perspective for myself as a person. I don’t claim that what I say here is going to be groundbreaking or anything like that, but it makes me think about some of my own actions and thoughts of the passed year when it has come to my love of gaming. So I will break this article down into sections to make it easier to follow as well as to highlight the points of each block of text.
Gamer Discrimination:
As odd as the concept sounds, there is actually plenty of discrimination within the gaming community. And when I say this, I don’t mean racial discrimination, or any sort of standard prejudice. It’s an odd discrimination of preferred hobbies. The sad thing is, this is accepted behavior. Why do we as gamers accept discriminating other gamers because of their choice and preference in hardware and software in a shared hobby? Why is it that we have these ridiculous names for others who don’t share our gaming likes? I’m tired of hearing about people being “Nintendrones”, “X-drones”, “Sony Drones”, “PC bots” and any other name used to demean and bash others for gaming.
Is it so bad to just understand that people like to play different games than you, or just like the feel of a certain game better on a different platform than you? Is it really wrong to be a 25+ year old male and still like to play “Mario” or “Sonic” games? Is it wrong to want to play a game with the Kinect sensor of the Xbox One if you find a game you like? Does it really matter that PS4 is the most powerful console on the market and that you own it? Is it a big deal to want to have multiple platforms to broaden your playing experience? My answer to all of these things, it isn’t. I think that even as people who enjoy a pass-time of playing games, which is literally pretending to be these amazing characters that we’ve come to know and love, we need to mentally mature. As I have seen, lots of people automatically assume that since they are physically adults, they are matured. What I have witnessed is that many of these people are not. What I have seen, a lot of these people shouldn’t be involved in gaming if they feel they can make fun of someone for playing a “kiddie” game when they would very much watch an anime like “Megaman NT Warrior”or read comics/anime.
This is one thing I would like to say to this point, playing “M” rated games does not mean that you are a mature person. There are plenty of kids that play “Call of Duty”, “Resident Evil”, “Killzone” or “Halo”, and being that I’ve played several of these games, I can verify that. I’ve also seen parents in stores buy these games for their children, most without even paying attention to the rating or the game description on the package. And these kids will play online with headsets yelling and screaming obscenities at any and everyone that they play against. So does it really matter much that you are an above 18 gamer that only plays serious or mature games? Gaming was meant to be about fun, and this is just ruining the fun that gamers can have with their gaming equipment. Only those who have mentally matured enough will understand what I mean when I say that.
Console Warring:
This falls right in line with the previous subject. The “Console War” is nothing more than an advertising scheme used to drive the sales of gaming publications. And those feeding into it are literally missing out on enjoying great gaming experiences because they close themselves off to the possibility of playing certain games based on the platform that they are on rather than finding enjoyment in it all. That doesn’t mean that they have to buy everything, but they shouldn’t make a fuss over what console anyone else is playing on. And also, if the opportunity presents itself at a fellow gamer’s place, should they have a different gaming device, you would try it out. The essence of gaming is to enjoy yourself, and each platform has something to offer in that department.
Quick Draw Reporting:
This is something that is constantly seen which feeds the “Console War Engine”. Bad news comes for one gaming company (at least for those that a major known) and without even checking sources or verifying information from “anonymous sources” with an official source. It literally destroys the credibility of the gaming media in my own humble opinion. Blog posts that have no founded information are treated as news sources, even when the given information is completely bogus from the beginning i.e.: “Watch Dogs” being cancelled for the Wii U . Within seconds of hearing that I was able to go to the official website and find that it still was, right along side the other platforms it will be available to.
(Insert Company Here) needs to be dropped from gaming or go 3rd Party:
People have been saying this about each of the “Big 3” for a while now, but being that I am personally more Nintendo-centric, I’ve heard a lot of things said as far as the Wii U needing to be scrapped and my preferred company either needing to go 3 rd party Developer and Publisher, drop from the console market, or just drop from gaming completely. As a gamer, you could see how this irritates me when I know that the true potential of the machine has yet to be reached. But I have heard it said about Microsoft and Sony as well. And to that, I believe these people need to just do as I’ve said before, which is mature, that and think a bit further ahead. There is a lot of potential in each other consoles, but it is up to Developers to use it, and Publishers to give the Developers the time and resources that they need in order to do so. If the companies’ machines have been fully utilized, then I believe if they aren’t making any headway, they should drop the devices and move on to the next project, but I’m not for anyone dropping from the console market, not even my least favorite among them.
The Graphics are better here:
This…this particular statement bugs me to no end. I guess being that I grew up with gaming from the 3 rd generation on, I don’t care as much about graphics. Yes, it is nice to have amazing visuals to a game, but that hardly should matter in comparison to the gameplay. If the game feels clunky, or like it was a rushed job, then it shouldn’t be released. Time has to be given to make these games enjoyable to play, no matter what the genre is or the branding behind it. If a game plays relatively the same, or just plays well on all platforms it is on, then the graphical fidelity still shouldn’t matter. And at that point, console features or console dedicated content should probably be apart of your choice, though that shouldn’t be a reason to rub things in the faces of others. If you really are worried about graphics so badly, then you’ll need to build your own PC with the best specs that you could possibly buy, otherwise, it’s a very moot issue.
Usage of Derogatory Language in Youtube Videos:
This is probably the biggest issue that I have from my experience. And the biggest offenders that I have seen are members of my own cultural background. Lots of the bigger name youtube gamers that are African-American/Black use terms in their videos that they probably should avoid. And I don’t mean profanity, as that can have its uses at certain times, especially when you’re passionate about something. But there is a specific would that begins with the letter after M which I believe that these people should stop using. Mostly because it gives off the wrong impression and I’ve seen what that impression can lead to. It has at times, lead to others using the same or similar terms with those inside of their own race, or even with others of different races (avoiding the obvious who they know from history not to use about). It bothers me because that word and words like it were created to demean others, and the casual (cavalier even) usage of those words seem to be happening quite often. So much so to the point that it is almost normal vernacular among those who comment on videos on Youtube (many not even stating their own race to avoid getting backlash from using such terms). If this could be cleaned up from the internet, I’d be a happy camper, but I know it can’t be, but for anyone who does make videos for youtube, please consider that when you are speaking to the world. Fixing it has to start internally then moving to external. I’ve personally dropped those words from my own vocabulary, and if I do use a word that is personally or culturally offensive, when I find out it is, I tend to not say it anymore.
I am done here for now. I would like to thank you for taking the time to read through this article and hopefully you can understand my feelings and where I’m coming from with certain things. If not, I still would like to say thank for the fact that you read through my waxing of my own thoughts. If you wold like to discuss any of the matters here or just gaming in general with me, you can contact me on the above linked pages and we can hash it out. But as always, keep your eyes and ears out for more of my stuff, until the next time…enjoy your games.
