Can Games Be Accepted?

[HandsomeDead]

I've been drinking and thinking but I've come to a conclusion.

Gamers travel the internet and sometimes complain that their hobby isn't respected as much as the other medias because of shit mainstream news reporting and the most bollocks science to back it up, which is fair enough. I've been debating a bit about the Wii and mainstream games over at GTM lately and pissing off a member or two in the process but its usually these kind that complain that there hobby is not accepted yet the moment something that captures the masses imagination like the Wii or Halo comes out many gamers are falling over themselves to say how stupid they are. Anyone who has just got into games must walk into most gaming communities and fuck right off again with the attitudes that gamers have, wouldn't it be better if that changed?

You browse around and you see cries of how the likes of Okami arn't massive successes and it is great and should be experianced but it is a niche game that will always have limited appeal, expecting Joe Bloggs to think straight away this is the shit just isn't going to happen. Surely having these mainstream games is a good gateway into these other games and if they want to stick CoD4 then fair enough but it might lead them to something else after that, it might be the game that inspires them to get into our interest.

I know I'm preaching to the choir here but I worry basically about how vocal against mainstream games gamers are considering they haven't truely broken through yet, it's like cutting off your noes to spite your face.

I just rambled but any thoughts? I'm trying one of those discussion threads.

[DANGERMAN]

I'm not sure I'd necessarily want loads of mainstream gamers to join our ranks and I'm one of the bigger disparagers of the 'hardcore' (I too have been drinking). But yeah I agree, if you want gaming to be held in some high regard you need people to play games. But at the same time you cant expect people to go from nothing to Garou just like that. Take my mum as an example, she plays a lot of shit, but while rummaging through the DS games in the supermarket she picked herself up a new game "something about bubbles, you cant pop them", which it turns out it mum for Soul Bubbles, forum favourite.

From experience lots of people are like that. My old housemates werent big gamers, but when they saw me playing something they liked the look of they'd ask for a go. As such they've played RE4 and 5, Shadow of the Colossus, Okami, Killer 7, and both Yakuza games, as well as stuff like Boom Blox.

People generally have decent taste they just arent exposed to decent stuff, and they're never going to be if you exclude them

[HandsomeDead]

I know what you mean about not wanting loads of mainstream games but I don't think that will happen, it's almost discrediting the developers that make games. They got into creating games because they have a passion for it, of course publishers will want something that sells but there will always be creative and interesting games to play especially with the more high profile indie scene we have now thanks to the like of XBLA/PSN/WiiWare.

[RivaOni]

I think we're already well on our way to having gaming as an entertainment medium being more accepted. Nintendo have managed to shift a large number of Wii's and DS' into peoples homes, and console sales have been increasing at an alarming rate since the days of the PlayStation when Sony's marketing strategy was to make their console more appealing to the clubbing scene.

It's obviously going to take more time, but there will still be that huge split between the mainstream and the more dedicated gamer, just as there is with music, TV and movies, even, to some degree, with comics and books. There will always be an elitist attitude from one party and a sort of feeling of pity from another, again, just as you see between movie-buffs and your average movie goer.

Geeks and nerds aren't just linked to games, computers, sci-fi/fantasy films and comic books, you now get car geeks, tech geeks and all sorts of other geeks, its just not seen as quite as sad to be really into, say, football (going to every one of your teams matches, collecting the programs etc etc) as it is to be really into videogames.

I think we're beginning to see a shift in developer too, you have the developers who make games for gamers, then you have developers who are good at targeting that more "casual" audience (and I don't mean the ones who make absolute shite like that Wii Party game thats on TV at the moment), then there's obviously the clever ones that manage to blur those lines and make your Halo's, Call of Duty's etc

So on a whole, I'd say the lines are gradually becoming blurred and gaming is becoming more and more accepted. Hell, my Dad see's it as a viable form of entertainment after having a few too many wines and attempting to do the hula hoop game on my older sisters Wii Fit board, this is a man who didn't mind buying us consoles as kids but refused to buy any extra games for them as he didn't see why we'd need them (which is why my knowledge of quality games pre-PS1 isn't great).

I also think another problem is that the mainstream, on a whole, don't really know whats worth buying and whats not, and its an expensive medium to buy with brand new games now working their way back up to the £40-£50 mark if you go into Game or Gamestation, and gaming magazines, websites and communities are far too clique, generalising and abusive for the average person to find a way in and pick up something that they may find incredibly rewarding.

I think Chixie's probably the most middle-grounded games player I know, she enjoys her Harry Potter's, Wall-E's etc but she's also got roughly half to three quarters of the way through Okami & Kingdom Hearts 2, finished the first Kingdom Hearts, finished Jade Empire in a day, plays Guild Wars whenever she has a spare couple of hours to invest into it and was at one point a better player on Rainbow Six Vegas than I was (which admittedly isn't the most difficult thing in the world but its still out there).

Her first gaming experience was a Mega Drive handed down to her from her Uncle with only 3 games (Space Harrier II, Chuck Rock and Sonic), from then it was mostly whatever her Mum bought for her brothers until she met me and started experimenting with whatever I'd recently bought and finding her own taste in games from there.

[Sly Reflex]

I think it already has. Not what you would call avid gamers, but my Dad spends time playing Tiger on the 360, as well as fighting over the DS with my mum to play puzzle games such as zoo keeper and brain training. My mum is even working here way through flower, a supposed hardcore game been enjoyed by someone who rarely plays anything but brain training and picross.

[Hendo]

It's just a snobbish attitude that will never go away, and as has already been mentioned, is there is all forms of everything (I have not been drinking but I am very tired).

[HandsomeDead]

I see Riva makes a very good point and there is division in every interest, it's just with gaming being relatively new I worry that some who's first experience is Wii Sports or something are getting put off who could get well into games. I guess they don't though given the examples made here and ones I've seen myself.

I thought there would be holes in my theory anyway but its good to get shit out.

[RivaOni]

Some people will always weather the storm, others will move on and have a passive interest. But I do think that you shouldn't have to put up with any kind of snobbish/elitist attitude from any particular hobbies community

[CelShadedDreams]

Elitest gamers are outnumbered and their complaints are always ignored because they are the minority. The people that know very little about games are the ones that affect the industry most because there are so many more of them. If they come across a snob they just think they're a sad weirdo and get on with it.

Elitests need to stop thinking that games are for them and developers should listen to them, they really don't make a difference even if they like to think they do.

People have accepted gaming now, starting my summer job a game I've realised just how many different types of people play games. They buy whatever is advertised on TV or in store, smaller games don't get that coverage because they don't have that kind of cashflow so no one buys them. For those games word of mouth is key so if there's a game you really like then talk about it so word can spread. Every copy counts so if you can convince 3 people to buy it it all helps, and they might end up recommending it to someone else.

[Swallow]

Games are made for people who will invest their time into them and get the most from them though. Those people are often seen as "elitists" because they're better and more involved in games. Games ARE made for elitists, in short.