Are Angry Fans Really Ruining Video Games?

[VentilatorOfDoom]

<p>Josh Olin, Community Manager at Call of Duty: Black Ops developers Treyarch knows who's to blame. <a href="http://www.kotaku.com.au/2011/02/are-angry-fans-really-ruining-video-games/" target="_blank">"Pundits" and "angry entitled fans" which are ruining creativity in video games. </a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>Personally, as a community manager who lives in the media or social media world every day, I think the social culture of video games is moving in a more negative direction as technology and social media continues to grow. Rather than growing with it, the trend seems to be devolving. More and more gamers seem to forget what this industry is all about.</p>
<p>It&rsquo;s a creative industry &ndash; the most creative form of entertainment in existence. Too many developers who try new things are getting burned by &ldquo;pundits&rdquo; and angry entitled fans who look to be contrarian, sometimes simply for the sake of being contrarian. The only thing this attitude aims to achieve is stunt that creativity and innovation even further, which is something that no rational gamer looking to be entertained would want to do.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Yes, why not enjoy the perls of innovation and creativity instead of complaining, complaining, complaining all the time? Just press a button and let something awesome happen.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>Thanks to Lachlan.</em></p>

 

[Shannow]

Personally, as a whore who sucks cock in the media or social media world every day, I think the social culture of video games is moving in a more negative direction as technology and social media continue to waste resources on "ooh, shiny". Rather than gobbling shit down, the trend seems to be revolving. More and more gamers seem to forget what this industry is all about: Money.

It’s an economic industry – the most creative form of entertainment in existence apart from all forms of art, most books, most movies, many documentations and even some afternon talkshows and soap operas. Too many developers who try new things are getting burned by “suits” and angry entitled fans who look to be contrarian burn the other "spew shit out as fast as possible" developers, sometimes simply for the sake of being contrarian. The only thing this attitude aims to achieve is get the suits off the developers and make them realise that their industry is at least as much about creativity and innovation as about money, which is something that every rational gamer looking to be entertained should want to do.

FiX0red

 

[Derper]

 

[Baron]

 

[Freelance Henchman]

 

[Kane]

It’s a creative industry

So, releasing Call Of Battlefield #34 which was already boring back in '04 is suddenly being creative.

Treyarch should shut the fuck up about creativity, because they have yet to show any sign of it.

 

[racofer]

That guy sounded butthurt.

I say we hire a lithuanian hitman to show him the true meaning of the word.

 

[DraQ]

The guy seems to be in dire need of having his attitude adjusted. With a solid wooden cluebat wrapped in a barbed wire.

If they were indeed creative, I'd just sit there fapping vigorously.

 

[Yaar Podshipnik]

I think that guy should meet someone who's really angry and knows exactly what to say:

 

[GarfunkeL]

Treyarch and creativity in the same sentence? Why, I'd never...

 

[Humanity has risen!]

Treyarch and creativity in the same sentence? Why, I'd never...

Well there was this

 

[Chateaubryan]

Sounds like this glorified forum moderator is unhappy with his job.

 

[Luigi]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treyarch



Well, actually its sad...

 

[Black]

Community Manager at Call of Duty: Black Ops

lol

 

[chzr]

what is this i don't even

 

[SacredPath]

I think the fans come in only as second when it's about killing creativity.

First come the publishers/execs, who look to streamline all content so as to not repel any customers/ attract the biggest possible share of players.

How many more RPGs set in the north-west of Faerun will we have to endure, for example?

 

[Forest Dweller]

Except that we are being angry because you're not creative.

What do you have to say to that?

 

[Multiple Sarcasm]

The Codex's front page is severely lacking a "Best News Ever" section.

 

[Yeesh]

Except that we are being angry because you're not creative.

What do you have to say to that?

I don't actually see the Codex as a great cheerleader for groundbreaking creativity. The last game I remember getting anything near widespread praise around here was KotC. And every time a sequel to an old game is announced, nearly unanimous jeers greet EVERY prospective change from the originals.

Or does 'creativity' mean 'adhering to a classic formula'? I get my definitions messed up.

 

[Trojan_generic]

Too many developers who try new things are getting burned by “pundits” and angry entitled fans who look to be contrarian, sometimes simply for the sake of being contrarian.

What the fuck is the guy blabbering about? No developer gives a shit about fans anyway. Also, the beginning should be fix0red, along these lines:

Too many developers who try new stupid things on existing franchises...

 

[Shannow]

Sequels are creative.
Sequels that try to copy the original badly are creative.
Sequels that have virtually nothing in common with the original, are just another shooter "with RPG elements" and try to syphon off of the original's "fame" are creative.
"The codex" doesn't praise any recent games but KotC

I don't think I can agree with any of your points, Bob.

 

[Achilles]

It’s a creative industry – the most creative form of entertainment in existence.

 

[skuphundaku]

I don't actually see the Codex as a great cheerleader for groundbreaking creativity. The last game I remember getting anything near widespread praise around here was KotC. And every time a sequel to an old game is announced, nearly unanimous jeers greet EVERY prospective change from the originals.

Or does 'creativity' mean 'adhering to a classic formula'? I get my definitions messed up.

You're getting it wrong. Most codexers take issue with sequels that modify the original games by dumbing them down. For example, I don't remember many people claiming that MotB was worse than NWN2 OC but I see the point in people bitching and moaning about DA2 being just a bastard child of DA. On the same topic, see the problem with TES games shedding skills like mad.

Creativity means actually improving on what the last game did, not streamlining it for the tards.

 

[Xor]

What an idiot. Of course your playerbase is acting entitled; they're the fucking customer. You're part of a business, and you need to respond to the needs of your customers. It's not hard. FFS, you're not a goddamn painter working on a masterpiece, you're trying to sell a fucking product. It astounds me how many people fail to grasp that basic concept. Most games are made to sell as a product, not as some vehicle to demonstrate the creativity of the developers.

Shit like this pisses me off. Asshole "community managers" who don't know shit about how the real world works and probably think Heavy Rain is the best game evar because it's "artsy".

 

[Excommunicator]

Some idiot community manager tells everyone that the industry he works in is having its creativity ruined because of fucking unhappy customers and enthusiasts? Where the fuck do these companies get these people?

I have never heard something so incredibly amateur spoken by a professional who is meant to be a public representative of his industry. No sane person with any creative ability blames the public for their own creative failures and inability to perform.

People are only angry because most of the most successful people in the industry are not showing any creative spark whatsoever in the things they produce, nor do they seem to have a clue about how a creative industry should work, or anything about principles that go beyond making money and winning popularity contests. He should also realise that it means fuck all to the industry's well-being what people say about the games, only how they spend their time and money.

Do games have the potential to be the most creative form of entertainment? Absolutely

Have they succeeded at proving this the case yet? Certainly not.

Do they represent creativity as an industry? Hell fucking no.

Have any of the most prominent people in the industry today lived up to it as an ideal? No, they haven't

On that basis, I hope that there are even more unhappy customers with every coming day, and maybe just maybe his job will be freed up for someone with a sense of responsibility and a thinking mind, who actually contributes in a way that the current crop simply don't.


Perhaps when people aren't such greedy, insubstantial cowards who behave like spoilt children the moment things don't go their way, then we will have some creativity.

Thank the sun that the internet is here to record and catalogue this kind of behaviour for those who are most in need of hearing about it in the future.