Why Are Gamers Seemingly So Negative?

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Ridge

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It seems like everywhere you look you can only see gamers being negative about everything. Every news story will have comments of people whining and complaining about one thing or another. Whether it be DLC, a dev working on a game different than the one you'd like them to work on, or something else stupid.

Gaming is fun, and something that it's safe to assume it's something you enjoy. So why is so much of the talk surrounding some thing that entertains us so overwhelmingly negative?
 
Step outside the gaming medium, and I think you might find people being negative everywhere.

Movies: When was the last time that you heard an actor or actress praised for their performance? Was it just as loud as those saying that this actor as a person was a horrible human being, and miscast or talentless as well?

Books: So many readers like to bash what genre or tropes are popular and cast negative judgments on other people who enjoy reading, so I even begin to wonder how that can be popular when it's consistently met with so much negativity. Don't get me started on the e-book reader versus dead trees debate.

Music: For every music genre preference, there is a hater. Within individual music genre preferences, bands and artists that are too similar are compared and there can only be one the fans of whose opinion is correct, even though an opinion shouldn't even be about correctness and can't people just listen and appreciate music? MP3 players did away with the second jack for an extra pair of earphones that some Walkman music players had, for a reason! That is probably not this reason I'm implying, that music appreciation is not a social thing, but that's what I'd put forth in order to just stop the violence and the fighting! Fortunately, there's not as much debate (that I've seen) between mp3's versus vinyl.

Why are humans seemingly so negative?
 
I think its because developers have been putting out such crappy games and trying to charge people a arm and a leg for it. In the 1990's and early 2000's developers and publishers use to make games because they loved making them. Fast forward today and games are made to squeeze the most money out of you, Almost all games have micro transactions. I don't think people would complain so much if developers went back to making games for the love of making games and not for money! We would have a lot higher quality games!

Greg
 
I think it's just because people are passionate about what they love and of course they would want to protect the quality and standards that surround it. I personally find that it's mostly still balanced, though, since even though I do see a lot of negative comments online, I also do still see a fair share of celebratory messages of praise for good news in gaming.
 
Elly is right. There are negative people everywhere, and I am one of them. I'm a "pure pessimist", as in... I pretty much have a "negative" viewpoint on everything. Many of my viewpoints and opinions aren't "negative" if you ask me, but everyone else considers them to be so. Just an example: I think that food is meant to eat to fill your stomach, and not for pleasure. People respond to this with "What? You're so negative... You'll have no pleasure in life!"

That's partly connected to me also having a bit of a dull view on life as a whole. You could consider me an avid thinker of everything, as I'm very philosophical and I tend to think "too much" about everything, existance included. And as studies has shown, the smarter you are, the liklier it is for you to fall into depression. I'm not saying I'm depressive, it's just so that I overanalyze the human mind and society so much that in the end, I think of the human being as a walking pile of flesh with memories, that has survival instincts. Marrige/Love? Survival instict. Food? Survival instinct. Entertainment? Survival instinct. Sex!? Survival instinct. And so on...
That doesn't neccesairly mean that I dislike everything just because they're survival instincts, but well... A lot of things I do step away from due to them simply being survival instincts that I think we could step away from. There is a far greater purpose with our existance than to waste our lives on reproducing, eating, having sex, and so on. What I enjoy in life, and what my future looks like if you ask me, might sound like the worst life anyone could have, but for me... It's what I desire. I won't go too much into detail, because people with a "normal" view on life (people who want to have what everyone else has, if you know what I mean) probably considers me to be a weird introvert. Let's just say I want to live alone all my life, and if anything changes: it's due to survival instincts telling me to reproduce.

Look at whatever gaming community you can find out there, and you will find haters/negative people. Dota 2 is a prime example, where a lost game is the same as, your team sucks, or someone else sucks. There is almost always someone or some peopel in the losing team that will blame everything on the "team", or one individual who supposedly ruined the entire game. It is true that one person can ruin an entire game of Dota, and it does happen quite often, but it happens far too often that someone critisises someone else for "sucking" even though that the person blaming them for the loss isn't better themselves. Instead of just enjoying the game for what it is, lost or won, people keep thinking about winning, and if they don't win: they blame someone for it. Of course, we all want to win, me included, but since last year when I was addicted to dota aswell, I have improved a lot. I can take a loss without getting super mad now, even though it's a bit of a dissapointment to lose, the game might have been fun either way.

And god, look at those anime communites out there. All of them have tons of people bashing the latest season, saying that it was better before, that anime is dying, and so on. There are of course rational people which starts to argue with these people, claiming that anime is not dying, and so on: but the people claiming that anime is dying, will not change their minds. They are locked in boxes of pessimism, thinking that every new show must automatically be shit, more or less. There are a ton of reasons as to why anime is NOT dying, and why it is NOT getting worse, even though you personally do not like the new shows that come out... And I'm not going to list all I can come up with, as it would take too much time. But either way, think optimistically about anime instead. It's just a matter of time before something that you like will pop up. There is a chance that what YOU like is a very nisched type of anime, and it my thus be quite rare to see nowadays, even if it was common ten years ago.

Anyway, I do think that a lot of games nowadays are quite bad/the same as every other game... But honestly, there are tons of new games coming out that are also amazing. So yes, I am negative when it comes to new games in general, but at the same time I'm not ignoring the fact that there are tens upon hundreds of new games coming out each year: and some of those are bound to fall into my interest.
 
Stained Hero said:
I think its because developers have been putting out such crappy games and trying to charge people a arm and a leg for it. In the 1990's and early 2000's developers and publishers use to make games because they loved making them. Fast forward today and games are made to squeeze the most money out of you, Almost all games have micro transactions. I don't think people would complain so much if developers went back to making games for the love of making games and not for money! We would have a lot higher quality games!
 
Greg
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Gaming is cheapee now than it's ever been. Look back at the Super Nintendo days. New games cost $59.99, just like today, and that was before inflation. That $59.99 today is over $100. Plus those games couldn't do things modern games do, like have advanced AI, physics engines, or even polygons. If you ever bought a game with a polygon for less $100 you got a hell of a deal. Old games also required much smaller teams than today's games. You also don't have to buy micro transactions. So if it's because of the cost that is an ignorant stance to take.

Also the quality of games now versus days past arguement is debate able at best. I think lots of good games come out now..
 
There is a lot of negativity in every walk of life. Gamers are no different.

I think the negativity that stems from gaming is usually down to disappointment. I remember back in the days of the first Call of Duty: Black Ops I was quite negative in times about the DLC... after all, I bought 4 DLC packs for £12 each, so I ended up paying close to £100 in total for all features of the game, and the map packs on each release got substantially worse. The first was decent, second was very very average, third was horrid and the fourth shouldn't have even been released... negativity comes in many different shapes and forms, but for gamers primarily I think disappointment or expectation of something greater causes it.
 
I think a lot of negativity in games stems from people expressing their displeasure with being treated like just numbers and ATMs. Like just money waiting to be acquired. (Though this most assuredly is not a unique thing to games, it just seems to be a prominent thing.)

I mean look at the reaction when Microsoft tried to force DRM that would cripple gaming on the xbox. People reacted... To the point that even non-gamers still got the message that what Microsoft was doing was bad. (A fact which may have not vanished even when Microsoft pulled a 180 on their DRM plans.) 

And you see people balking at Capcom for having the guts to charge people for DLC which is included on the disc (in Streetfighter x Tekken). Or when they lopped off the ending of a game (Asura's Wrath) to sell as DLC. 

Or when you see map packs for games that cost nearly what the game itself did... and then have the gall to include maps you'd already got/played in earlier installments for the same cost. (Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Battlefield 4)

Or when you see EA shoehorn microtransactions into a game because the $60 price tag wasn't enough "to cover high development costs". (Dead Space 3)

When you see skins for characters that cost more than some games are sold for (Marvel Heroes charges up to $14 for some individual skins.)

When you see Nintendo only offer a slow trickle of games and expect gamers to still rush to buy their console. (8th gen console and even the 7th gen in it's later years.)

When you see Sony create a portable console and use proprietary and costly memory cards. (PS Vita)

When you see developers release unplayable pre-alpha level games on Steam and have the gall to charge $20 or more for them. (Air Traffic Control)


And of course then there's the societal issues around gaming too. Like when you see the media blame the actions of one deranged person on an entire medium. Or how they constantly claim games rot people's minds or are making them violent.


I mean that's just a sampling of the crap gamers deal with. For a hobby that's supposed to be all about fun, gamers tend to get screwed over and mistreated a lot. Even more  so than movie goers or book lovers or music fans. Thankfully some of this will pass (and to a degree it's started already) with gaming becoming a more socially accepted medium so there's more that have grown up with it and know it's not as bad as other say. 
 
I think most people stem from entitlement issues and as mentioned, I wouldn't say it's really specific for gamers to be negative.
That said, most people either lash out internally or outwards to other people or things.

A friend of mine wants to game, but every little mistake he makes he calls himself stupid or like he's bringing the rest of us down (online games). To a point where we have to constantly reassure him it's no big deal, no need to be so hard on yourself, and so fourth. 

Then of course you've played other games where there are people that rage at virtually everyone else except themselves. It can be quite toxic and makes the game unenjoyable, but the worst part is if you put these 2 types of people together to such extremes -- no one enjoys the game.
 
As some people have said, this sort of thing happens in all mediums. However, I think there might be more so in the gaming industry because we're starting to see a trend of devs and publishers especially trying to wrangle the most money out of their customers, without actually putting the time and effort in to make a quality product.
 
richc3 said:
I think most people stem from entitlement issues
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I think this is the single biggest contributing factor..

Every person here trying to give it logical reasons is just coming off entitled to me..
 
So you think someone is acting entitled when they get angry over business trying to gouge them with crappy tactics? (Essentially charging more and giving less...)

I presume you're also opposing:
- Net Neutrality
- reducing costs to fuel/food
- personal privacy

 because "oh everyone's just too entitled" for those too right? 

I mean it's the exact same notion. People are tired of being screwed over. The exact scale of importance may be different, but the idea is the same. If you don't want to (or can't) see it then I pity you and your willful ignorance. 
 
Everyone is critical of something they enjoy/have a passion for. When you enjoy something so much and have great knowledge in a particular field it's easy to nitpick and see the negative parts. 

With things like gaming though it is easier for people to be negative. You cannot please everyone at the end of the day. 
 
A lot of gamers use the internet to warn other gamers not to buy bad games, and console like the early Xbox 360  which break too fast because of over heating problems.

Although, I feel that people should be more civil on the internet, and use less cursing, and not using personal insults like calling someone dumb, a racist or sexist term when starting game debates/reviews online.

Many gamers use the internet to express their bad experience from a gaming product because of the internet being a more safe and free way of complaining about bad games and consoles experiences where people can use a username like Gaming fan to complain which is not possible in reality because of companies and the government not allowing street protesting for small issues like Needing a Serial Code to play Games. It is also very hard reaching staff at a game company like a manager or developer to complain about bad games.

Gamers can't go to E3 gaming conference, or a game store to loudly complain about what they don't like about game prices, game or game console because most people will be kicked out by a security guard, store staff, or arrested by the police for starting a debate which big Gaming companies don't agree with like the high $60 price for games which can be beaten easily in a few hours.
 
I think it's a human nature thing, not just restricted to gamers. Gamers are always unsatisfied because games don't turn out how they specifically imagined it in their heads.

People go out of their way to attack anything they don't agree with. I guess in their head, proving you wrong validates them as being right.

But If you check the comments on videos, pictures, and pages around the web, you don't scroll down too far before you see something hateful. 
 
While I don't agree that trying to build self-esteem in kids is a bad thing (and I never will) I will say that entitlement is a huge problem these days. And unfortunately gamers are really big on entitlement - but the worst part comes from trying to take nonexistent high ground. 

Like some folks will talk about being fleeced, but what about the prats who attack companies like Value because they didn't meet some incredibly niched concern? What about the folks who immediate rang up a petition because they feel they somehow deserve something? What about the people who harass developers and then wonder why developers are starting to hate gamers? 

Honestly the unceasing negativity and self-entitlement is why I hate the title "gamer". It's part of the ugly perception that makes coming out as a gamer something I prefer not to do. Ugh.
 
Ridge said:
Gaming is cheapee now than it's ever been. Look back at the Super Nintendo days. New games cost $59.99, just like today, and that was before inflation. That $59.99 today is over $100. Plus those games couldn't do things modern games do, like have advanced AI, physics engines, or even polygons. If you ever bought a game with a polygon for less $100 you got a hell of a deal. Old games also required much smaller teams than today's games. You also don't have to buy micro transactions. So if it's because of the cost that is an ignorant stance to take.

Also the quality of games now versus days past arguement is debate able at best. I think lots of good games come out now..
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Due to inflation gaming may be cheaper then its ever been. But idk about your side of the world, most of the people I know are making less money today then they did 10+ years ago. It's bad enough to have to cough up $60 for the game and having to cough up another $40 to get the rest of the DLC to have the full game really pushes people over the edge. Not everyone is making money hand over fist!

Greg
 
VirusZero said:
So you think someone is acting entitled when they get angry over business trying to gouge them with crappy tactics? (Essentially charging more and giving less...)

I presume you're also opposing:
- Net Neutrality
- reducing costs to fuel/food
- personal privacy

 because "oh everyone's just too entitled" for those too right? 

I mean it's the exact same notion. People are tired of being screwed over. The exact scale of importance may be different, but the idea is the same. If you don't want to (or can't) see it then I pity you and your willful ignorance. 
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Gamers aren't being screwed over. Games are cheaper now than they have ever been, while production costs for studios have only gone up.

If you want a game you have to pay for it, if you want DLC you have to pay for it. If you don't want the evil companies product you don't have to buy it.

Also of course I'm for net neutrality and a degree of personal privacy. I don't know enough about the fuel/wood business to say anything either way. But regardless none of those things are related.....
 
Stained Hero said:
Due to inflation gaming may be cheaper then its ever been. But idk about your side of the world, most of the people I know are making less money today then they did 10+ years ago. It's bad enough to have to cough up $60 for the game and having to cough up another $40 to get the rest of the DLC to have the full game really pushes people over the edge. Not everyone is making money hand over fist!

Greg
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You don't have to cough up $60 for a game and then spend another $40 on the DLC. You choose to! You could wait for a sale, or the price to drop.

You are literally saying you need the game and all the DLC, but don't want to pay for it.
How is this not just an entitlement problem?
 
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