I had thought about doing an article on the excellent series of Game OverThinker videos by MovieBob over at YouTube, but then I thought that perhaps it would be better first to explain my own view of the game industry as it stands today before delving into the other guy’s thoughts.
I was practically born with an NES controller in my hands, and my dad ran an arcade with things such as Mortal Kombat, Metal Slug, and Final Fight up until 2003. So I’ve been exposed to video games literally my entire life, and in those twenty years I’ve come to develop a few opinions about them. Despite owning a Genesis, I was a diehard Nintendo fanboy up until the year 1999 when my brother finally got a Playstation. In a bizarre twist, I had somehow managed to avoid ever learning of the Playstation’s existence until well after the release of it’s late-to-the-game competitor, the Nintendo 64. Consequently, even though I enjoyed my PS1, I held fast to the Nintendo as my primary allegiance, and was committed to the Gamecube from the time it was called the Dolphin.
If you think Nintendo fanboyism is creepy and misguided, then Game OverThinker’s most recent episode has an excellent explanation of it. Of course, my blind fanboy stage had to come to an end eventually; I owned all three systems the previous generation and consider the PS2 objectively the best, and regard an X-Box game the single best game of last generation.
I also own the two good systems of this generation and have enjoyed them both greatly. Whoops, there was one of my pesky opinions.
Yeah, I’m not a fan of the PS3. I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad console; it just doesn’t have enough games that interest me at this time. Ratchet and Clank isn’t enough for the price tag.
Needless to say, Nintendo recapturing the majority of the market has indeed been a source of satisfaction for me, even with the influx of Casual Gamers it has brought. Unfortunately, the influx of Casual Gamers has been a bit troublesome to myself and many others. I don’t think the more avid gamers are going to run out of ‘hardcore’ games anytime soon. Rather I’m more worried about Nintendo dumbing down future iterations of its major franchises to bring new people in.
So, this all brings me to my basic theory of gaming:
Games should be fun. That seems like a no-brainer, but when you get used to arguing over level design, graphics, bump and normal mapping, pixel shaders, and whether or not the last Castlevania was too easy, you run the risk of forgetting the core question about any game: “Am I having fun?”
Of course, fun is a subjective thing, and every type of gamer, indeed every individual will define it a little differently. And that’s okay. Fun can be independent of story, characters, or even good game design. For example, I don’t care how many people tell me that Metal Gear Solid is a brilliantly designed stealth action game, it bored and frustrated me. As far as I’m concerned, it’s not a good game, even if its put together well by all objective standards. On the other hand, I know BattleTanx for the N64 was a deriviatve and mediocre, yet I had a blast playing it when I was younger.
A little subjectivity is okay. It’s not a sin against the Hardcore Gamer Gods to enjoy Halo—whether or not you think it’s the second coming of sliced bread. All our tastes are different. The problem is that the extremes tend to want everything their way.
I don’t just talk in terms of casual gamers and hardcore gamers. There are more classes than that.
Casual Gamers
The type of player who cares only about the enjoyment factor and doesn’t give one whit about whether it’s been done before, whether it’s objectively good, or whether it’s art. They tend to like simpler things, such as Wii Sports and Brain Age, and tend to be anything but 15-35 year old males.
Pros: They’re making Nintendo truckloads of money; they typically aren’t jerks about their tastes in gaming.
Cons: too many of them can skew the market away from deeper more satisfying experiences. The current glut of third party shovelware on the Wii, for example.
Handheld Gamers
People who do most of their gaming on the go with a DS, GBA, or PSP. For them gaming is about having a fun fix wherever they are. Typically pre-teens and younger teenagers, but also found among disaffected PC gamers.
Pros: They’re easily satisfied and typically aren’t jerks about what they like
Cons: They have little influence on the market at large.
Cool Gamers
The type of person who plays what’s popular. They gush over things like Halo, Grand Theft Auto, Madden, and many others, while ignoring games that don’t meet a certain standard of acceptability. Sometimes icons like Mario and Smash Brothers will fall into that standard, but many franchises and genres are left by the wayside.
Pros: Usually pick the kings of each console generation, as they are very numerous.
Cons: Rarely are concerned about quality, and sometimes even eschew fun as long as the game is popular. The type that loves their washed out brown graphics, they don’t try things that are cute or outside the mainstream.
Avid Gamers
This is the kind of person who checks Gamespot or IGN every time a game they might want comes out. They care about quality and play games as one of their main hobbies, but are still more about what they enjoy than what everyone else happens to be playing. They’re the most likely type to own a Wii60 combination
Pros: They tend to support good games; they know what they like and are willing to experiment
Cons: May be afraid to give new things a try, especially if its reviews are mixed
Extreme Fanboys
An insidious type of gamer who holds to their favorite console or consoles and hates the others. They tend to own only one console per generation (at least until the generation is over) and argue on message boards about which system is the best. Sometimes they’re fanboys of a specific franchise or type of game., like people who think Halo and Grand Theft Auto are the be all and end all of console gaming.
Pros: They tend to know what games are good and which ones aren’t.
Cons: They don’t play them unless they’re on the console they support; typically rude and arrogant.
Hardcore Gamers
I use this a bit differently than most; to me, Hardcore Gamers are the type who are in things primarily for the challenge, their main desire to have the biggest virtual… presence. They tend to specialize in a few narrow genres and care little about the others, and have very strong opinions which they’ll defend with both arguments and insults.
Pros: Usually very good at their respective genres, as well as knowledgeable about games in general.
Cons: Often rude jerks, they steer the industry towards their punishingly difficult notion of fun and scoff at people who like easier games or even games that simply differ from their personal tastes.
Overall, I consider myself an Avid Gamer, and I think that both the extremes need to change. Too many casual games means that developers will put little effort into their products. If the fifteenth rip off of Wii Sports this month sells a hundred-thousand copies, why bother with epic games like God of War or Zelda, let alone anything knew like Okami?
On the other hand, Hardcore Gamers give the industry a bad image and steer it towards a dull, repetitive, and obscenely difficult future in which all games are Sepia-Toned First Person Shooters set in World War III and have national and world-wide leader boards that get you monuments in Sony’s HOME system.
The bottom line is that games are a form of entertainment. Games should be fun instead of frustrating, but they also need standards that ensure quality, challenge, and good presentation.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go play Paper Mario.
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