Why are people so sensitive and personally invested?

[Armor and Sword]

I have been playing video games since 1981. I remember when my dad took me to a place called Service Merchandise (remember that store?).

He bought me an Atari 2600. I was 11 years old. Games back then compared to today were a joke. I have been a video gamer for a long time.

In 1990 the Sega Genesis came out and I picked up John Madden Football. I was hooked. Madden 93 was a game my roommate and I played 4-5 hours a day 7 days a week. We kept stats in a spiral notebook, kept a schedule, standings, league leaders...the works. We were in Heaven. We each picked 15 teams and played a 16 game season and playoffs. YOu see back then Madden did not keep stats, have players names, nor had anything even remotely close to a franchise mode.

Playstation comes around and Madden was delayed. I picked up NFL Gameday. Great game for a couple of years then Madden made it's return in 97. Then 1999 the holy grail of Madden came out. Franchise mode!!!

PS2 - Madden 2005....heaven.


PS3 - My first Madden was 2010. Gameplay wise....another level. Franchise wise not bad...but not Madden 2005.


Madden 12 looks fantastic and Franchise looks like to me it will be back in full force.

I don't know why people et so worked up. I am a hardcore sports gamer. I love my video games. They are an escape. And the games today are amazing. I mean truly amazing. What game developers are able to do today are things me and buddies only dreamed about.

When I see venom, and hatred directed at game companies (EA, 2K whatever) I am at a loss. I know the Devs are passionate guys and gals who like me came from some roots in the 80's and 90's. They know how far the tech and processing power has come.

In a time you can play games like:

NBA 2k11
MLB The Show 11
NHL 11
Top Spin 4
NFL HC 2009 (have to give that game some props)
Fight Night 4
Madden 12
NCAA12


I don't know how anyone could not be in sports game heaven. This is no doubt the greatest time for sports gamers I could ever remember. We have come so far. The games are so life like, the AI 100 times better than ever.

Can't wait till Madden 12!!!

[Scottdau]

Quote: Originally Posted by Skyboxer

I don't agree with this at all!!!!!! Totally wrong!!!

And I totally diagree with you not agreeing with him, agree?

[kjcheezhead]

To the OP, I'll try to tell you why I am personally invested.

I'm 36 years old and have been a fan of football and video games since the atari days. With every system I have owned, the first game I purchased was a football game. I watch the NFL network more than any other channel and I never watch any other sports, really ever.

When exclusivity was announced, it was like hollywood announced only one blockbuster movie would be made every year and the rest would all be documentaries. Now, for the first few years, the one blockbuster was decent so I didn't sweat exclusivity. Then I bought a Ps3 and of course bought Madden 08 at the same time.

That's when everything changed. My 20 year hobby was gone, Madden was awful and there was no alternative. Now I'm in a no win situation. I'm emotionally invested in a hobby that forces me to choose to either A) support a stale franchise that has lacked the depth of its PS2 counterpart for over 5 years which also helps to ensure there will be no new football titles ever again or B) choose not to buy and try to find a new way to spend my free time.

EA added fuel to this fire as well. Offline/online Franchise, superstar modes and the mini games were lacking. Tournament and fantasy challenge mode don't exist and EA chooses to charge their fans to play the new modes like Madden moments and MUT. Not a great way to win over gamers who have had their hearts ripped out when they lost other football options.

But, this year I'm at the point where I no longer care, if Madden is disappointing I will move on without a second look at the game. 2 years ago I couldn't say that. I was too invested and too angry at the situation. I suspect a lot of people are where I used to be. Unable to resist the lure of football video games, but unsatifsfied with the stale game currently being offered.

[Skyboxer]

Quote: Originally Posted by Scottdau

And I totally diagree with you not agreeing with him, agree?

I agree.
Which make me not agreeing in the first place, correct..

In all seriousness... Madden is not just a game any longer. It has a freaking "holiday" for cripes sake. It will always be larger than life as far as video games go and everyone has their own memories and wants from the game.
They will always garber critisism and accolades for more harsher than most games out there.
I really can't wait to see how 12 plays and especially see what, if any online upgrades have been done.

[Nab_Impervious_XII]

Quote: Originally Posted by ryan36

About the idea, I preempted peoples argument in the initial post... People HATED Madden long before exclusivity. I didn't think that any of the other games came close for most of that time.

True, people did hate Madden before exclusivity.

But it was a different kind of hate. It was the hatred of "establishment". It was sort of like how everyone REALLY hated the Patriots/Cowboys when they were winning tons of superbowls. It was almost a natural kind of hate that came with the territory. People typically hate the top dog, and find it very fashionable to root for the underdog. The haters were going to dog EA alright (and I got a lot of this from my rabid 2k friend back in 2005), but they weren't going out of their way to visit EA forums and voice their opinion because they knew their preferred football company was doing them right.

However, from 2006-2012, everything changed for obvious reasons. The hatred evolved. To extend my previous analogy, the exclusivity contract was like if the Patriots banned all 31 other teams from competing, and won the Superbowl by default for 6 straight years. That would understandably anger a lot of Jets/Steelers/etc fans, lol. Likewise, the EA haters of past no longer had an "alternative company" to vent their dissatisfaction with EA, so they only had one more place to go ... directly to EA and its affiliate fronts. The civility suffered and the rest is history.

[ABR173rd]

I think it has to do with the length of time Madden has been around. Some of us in our late 20's and early thirty's have been playing Madden for over two decades it seems.
Except for probably the last two or three years Madden's release has become just as looked forward to as any holiday for some of my family members. My uncle is in his late 50's and still gets Madden on its release day.

[iamgramps]

I have a profession in law enforcement, a wife, and two kids. Madden, for me, is a way to relax. Although, I get frustrated with the game, sometimes, it's extremely enjoyable. I spent alot of time playing online because I refused to play the computer because it wasn't enough of a challenge, so to fulfill my competitive edge, I turned to online play. However, when the Playstation Network went down I was forced to play the CPU, and I must say franchise mode, to me, is a lot of fun. I understand it's a game and only so much realisim can be implemented into the game; therefore, I take what's good in the game and make it work for me. Madden, sometimes NCAA, are majority the only games I play. I get caught up in basketball, but after the first month, it's back to Madden.

[SoxFan01605]

The short answer to the question is that it's the internet. People on both sides of almost any issue are FAR too invested in their opinion or side (heck, just taking hardcore sides on something as benign as a video game is part of that internet mentality).

Though it might be amplified, it's not unique to Madden and the fact that it seems so much more heated is indeed due in part to the exclusivity (though it did go on to a degree before exclusivity, it has certainly been worse on the internet since 2K Football vanished).

Another part, as people have already mentioned, is that Madden is bigger than most games and recognizable beyond most. It's scope in terms of hype and media simply draw more attention, which only serves to hurt it's case with the "hardcore" crowd on the internet since it's hyped as "simulation" football. That's always been an unbearable sin around the web (claiming to be sim and not living up to it). This of course draws out the "calm down, it's just a game" crowd and the circle of argument is complete.

Lastly, it's the simple fact that Madden dropped the ball on the transition to this generation (the devs admitted as much) and it's taken them a long time to pick it back up and do anything with it. By the time they made any real progress, many people had grown too frustrated to care or buy into it. A lot of what you see now is an extension of that. Even more reasonable posters tend to have an "I'll believe it when I see it" mentality about Madden. Much of the ire Madden draws is EA's own doing.

Basically, looking for "the more" unfortunately isn't going to get you very far, because there really isn't much more than what's been discussed here so often already. It's simply the nature of message boards...particularly for anything popular and/or well known...or worse, something that doesn't meet expectations. Madden happens to fit all categories...lol, so it stands out. Go to the Bethesda message board. Look through ESPN's comments. It's about the same (often far worse).

It might stand out more here because OS generally blocks out such nonsense and moderates better, but again, I'd point to the mainstream popularity/recognition of Madden relative to it's somewhat stagnant nature that makes it seem different/worse. You probably see more outside traffic come through for it than most other games covered on this site, which amps up the tone of the Madden forum.