The disturbing trend at OS

[aholbert32]

Re: The disturbing trend at OS

For all of the "old timers" on this site like me, this isn't exactly a new trend, but it is definitely becoming more prevalent on every single forum every year.

There is a disturbing pattern that occurs with every single game that is released.

1. Particular game forum is overloaded with folks dying to get game.

2. Multiple posts by OSers on early impressions, how game will be greatest ever, how they are going hunting for game, etc.

3. Game is released, OSers create 97 different leagues for game, declare game is greatest they have ever played, demand all OSers get the game or you'll be missing out, etc.

4. TWO WEEKS LATER (or less)....OSers have put together a "Why don't the game developers put some effort in?" and a "Don't put up with this, boycott Joe Blow Games to show your anger towards this piece of crap game!" threads that have now received 387 responses in just over a day.

5. OSers follow up the hate posts with 22 different "Well I turned in game today" or "I sold my game for 20 bucks on ebay and said goodbye" melodramatic posts which have received 495 responses in just over 30 minutes.

6. OSers travel like locusts from former "crap game" forum to new "this game is going to revolutionize the industry!!!" forum and the whole horrific episode repeats itself.



The element has always been there going back to 2001/2002, but it just feels like this is becoming the standard now at OS and it's pretty sad.

And then we wonder why EVERY game developer and not just a few are not clamoring to come to OS and share their game expertise.

Like you said its been here since the beginning. The only difference is there are more people here so more people are taking part in it.

[Blzer]

Re: The disturbing trend at OS

I always try and refrain from that kind of mindset. I pretty much only buy games that I know will succeed, either because I waited for a long time and did extensive research and/or because I played their respective demos as well and just saw that I would have a great time with it.

Plus, look at my game list:

- Blitz: The League II
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
- Grand Theft Auto IV
- Little Big Planet
- MLB 09 The Show
- Rock Band 2
- skate
- SOCOM: Confrontation
- Uncharted 2

So aside from skate (which I bought for $39.99 when I first got my PS3 and played it extensively on my roommate's 360) and Little Big Planet (which I knew would be an instant classic for my little sister and me, plus I got it for Christmas), every game is a "sequel" so to speak. That means the game has had history, perhaps credibility, or I have played and experienced it before. It is very rare that a game will actually decline in likability overall (the MLB 2K series is an exception and I took note of it before buying any, which I haven't since 2K6 for Xbox), so with still doing my research I'll just ensure that I become satisfied with the $60 I spend.

Actually, I normally don't spend $60 on games anyway. Except for MW2 and The Show which I both got early (and profited after selling other copies to other people), everything was below retail price. I feel like I get a good bang for my buck this way. I would never buy a game that I know I'll regret buying. Therefore you won't see me make one of those posts. However I'll still fall into a category where I'm complaining about some features or issues, but it's not really "complaining" as much as it is hoping that they'll fix it for a future installment. Most people that post negatives are just sending a message that they want games to be better overall, and IMO there's nothing wrong with that as long as it's criticized constructively.


Oh, and I blame Canada.

[Scottdau]

Re: The disturbing trend at OS

I think if you were raised on Atari 2600, you have a different attitude about these video game made in this decade. At least I do. I like what I am playing and seeing. So I enjoy for what it is a VIDEO GAME.

[aholbert32]

Re: The disturbing trend at OS

I think if you were raised on Atari 2600, you have a different attitude about these video game made in this decade. At least I do. I like what I am playing and seeing. So I enjoy for what it is a VIDEO GAME.

Great point.

[Cusefan]

Re: The disturbing trend at OS

I think if you were raised on Atari 2600, you have a different attitude about these video game made in this decade. At least I do. I like what I am playing and seeing. So I enjoy for what it is a VIDEO GAME.

I know exactly what your saying, I was Raised on the NES and I look at the Positives instead of the Negatives. Dont get me wrong, I know a Polished Turd when I see it(Madden 06-08 and MLB 2k). It just Irks me when i see stuff like, No Online Dynasty-no Buy.

[AuburnAlumni]

Re: The disturbing trend at OS

I think if you were raised on Atari 2600, you have a different attitude about these video game made in this decade. At least I do. I like what I am playing and seeing. So I enjoy for what it is a VIDEO GAME.

True dat. I'm a 32 year old man who grew up on Burger Time and Dungeons and Dragons on the Intellivison. Now, I'm playing games like NBA 2k10 with lifelike players and Grand Theft Auto with its immense world, radio stations, and hours and hours of voice acting.

I have my issues with some games, but damn...overall..this has been the best year of gaming and sports gaming I've ever had. I love NCAA, enjoyed Madden, love NBA 2k10, etc. They aren't perfect, but they are the best versions of their respective sports games I have ever played.

[Vince]

Re: The disturbing trend at OS

another annoying trend is people posting and tell us how tired they are of a game and how they are putting their copy up for sale...as if anyone gives a hoot.

[J.R. Locke]

Re: The disturbing trend at OS

You are just older and wiser now.

[Buckeyes_Doc]

Re: The disturbing trend at OS

another annoying trend is people posting and tell us how tired they are of a game and how they are putting their copy up for sale...as if anyone gives a hoot.

Or people going into threads or posting threads on how they are not buying a game weeks or months before it comes out.

[Scottdau]

Re: The disturbing trend at OS

The part that I don't get is when they rip the Dev a new one. I mean for real if you don't like the game take it back, but to attack a dev that did their best job with a game is just wrong. And so uncalled for. That is one reason why I have not been in the madden forum. It is like they feel they can do that because they bought the game and therefore can be asses about it. That gets old real fast in my opinion.

[Laffer]

Re: The disturbing trend at OS

I don't know if I really agree with the OP. There are 4 sports games I get every year, NCAA Football, PES, MLB: The Show, and NHL, and only the NCAA forum has the kind of cycle mentioned here. And although I have a blast w/ NCAA Football, I can't really blame people for complaining. So maybe it is the games, and not the posters?

[DrJones]

Re: The disturbing trend at OS

I make no excuses for the trends of new members, or even old members acting like new members.

--however--

I'd like to put some of the blame on the shoulders of the game companies. Not the developers, the companies. They insist on ONE team on a ONE year cycle every year. They also insist on a hype machine that dwarfs anything we've seen in years past. This leads to a lot of hype for a game that is incomplete and barely working on release.

There is too much of a dynamic difference between promise and delivery in sports games. I know, that is the cold hard reality of sports games, but they cost 60 bucks just like Call of Duty and Rock Band, and those games come out polished to a spit shine.

Not equivalent circumstances, but the customer is only concerned with results. If the developers don't want to be victims of their companies' policies and practices, they need to be more forthcoming with their situation, and be honest with the fans about what they're getting, and when they're getting it.

But we know that will only go so far. A company will not allow a dev to say "guys, on release day, there will be no online. We didn't have time to get it working, but it'll be patched in by ____". Or "guys, this game is going to play like unrealistic trash on release, but the patch will be like night and day, and this is why".

That's the truth, but they aren't allowed to say it. The best we can hope for is "yeah, we didn't have time for that, so we screwed it up trying to get it done. Our apologies, we'll do a better job next year".

This is fairly accurate. Also, thanks for distinguishing between the company (publisher) and development team.

Either sports games are going to cost less, people are going to stop buying them on release, or people are going to buy them on release, but make up the difference by giving these dudes an earful.

Sports games are never going to cost less unless they sell more units (which they won't, the North American sports market has reached a saturation point) or they cost less to make (and they cost FAR more to make than they did 10 years ago, even though the retail price is more or less unchanged). It's an ugly cycle that's not working. The majority of my friends at EAC are more worried about hanging onto their jobs than anything else (and for good reason, the job market for gaming sucks, as I well know).

[BurghFan]

Re: The disturbing trend at OS

EA Sports forums were the same way. I've stopped going there since joining here though.

AA;

You are so correct it isn't even funny.

Okay...I'll play the crotchety old man and say it.

Spoiled, instant gratification generation.(don't worry..it's not a big knock on ya'....I was the same to the old timers when I was 20 too)

M.K.
Knight165

I think it all comes down to the younger gen gamers, mostly kids in thier teens. Kids who didn't grow up with NES, SNES and SEGA games where the game you bought, is the game you got. Meaning no patches and I think most importantly, the internet wasn't widely available, so it didn't provide a medium for people to have thier minds polluted by people who will never be happy with a game no matter what was included or not included in it. I'm almost 30 years old and the level of entitlement some of the younger crowd thinks they deserve has gone completely nuclear in the past 3-4 years. I'm at the point now where I don't even look at the threads titled; this needs to patched or why isn't _____ in the game or my favorite, I'm trading in the game so I want everyone to know I'm trading in the game. Just frustrates the living hell out of me sometimes. [/rant]

Yes, exactly. I cut my videogaming teeth on Atari 7800 and NES so I remember what those old games were like. When the games were simple without all these ridiculous new features being added every single year. Us older guys know what it used to be like and are grateful to have a game while these younger kids just keep wanting more and more. Problem is, the developers keep listening to the young kids and trying to add more and more extra crap at the expense of ironing out gameplay bugs. These sports games seem to be getting further and further away from being about playing whichever sport every year.

[DrJones]

Re: The disturbing trend at OS

Problem is, the developers keep listening to the young kids and trying to add more and more extra crap at the expense of ironing out gameplay bugs. These sports games seem to be getting further and further away from being about playing whichever sport every year.

It's not the young kids that the developers are listening to, it's the people paying their salaries. Execs/marketing tend to like shiny objects (ie, extra crap), and you ignore them at your peril. Ironing out gameplay bugs isn't sexy or back-of-box worthy, so if you do so, it has to be done on the side. The best games I've worked on were ones that we (the dev team) came up with shiny objects that were easy to implement (although the higher-ups were unaware of this), leaving the majority of the time for fixing bugs and game polish. If the "special new feature(s)" that execs/marketing are currently fixating on happens to be time-consuming (particularly to key personnel), then the game is pretty much screwed.

[stlstudios189]

Re: The disturbing trend at OS

maybe I am just old (30) and the fact that I have 2 kids so my time is limited I just enjoy my games for what they are. I enjoyed Madden 09 and reading the post here you would never know it. MLB 2k9 for me was a fun baseball game, here at OS 'you would think that 2k commited a felony. I'm not saying that these games are perfect or that people don't have the right to point out flaws or bugs to help make the game better but, it gets to the point where I just want to tell these guys