In every game–and I mean EVERY GAME–I hear the infamous words, “chill, dude, it’s just a game.”
Is it?
I mean, sure, we could just dust off our hats and go on to the next match, or leave to a different place in the cyberspace and be all whoop-de-doo. But is it just a game?
It’s probably a real damn shame that it’s come to this. What might possibly be worse than gamers who play too hard are gamers who play too soft. They have no sympathy to fellow gamers, and so can’t relate when the rest of us have a bad day. They think it’s so easy to just walk away from the controller, like it’s a switch that goes on and off. But it isn’t. At least, not in the literal sense.
We gamers have emotions, surprisingly, so we have the irrational right to spittle and scream at our monitors and televisions. We will get into fights about in-game stats, have insightful conversations about the mechanics of the game, and dismiss audaciously stupid ideas that would never work. As players, we have a stake in the game, even if it isn’t legally so, because we are customers, and the customer is normally right, tyranny of the majority and whatnot.
It’s probably an annoying probe at the mind: “if you don’t like the game, don’t play it.” But I do like the game. It’s probably a great game, let alone a good one. But no game is perfect; no game is God in disguise. So, who is it up to but the player to point out the flaws, the faults, the defects, the glitches? The developers? Surely you jest.
And if you’re as unsympathetic as you seem, why are YOU even playing the game to begin with?
Well, yeah, but aren’t there things that bug you?
Well, that’s what the forums are for! That’s why there’s an option to type your opinions! We, as the constituents of a microcosm in cyberspace, and we have the right to say, the right to review, the right to criticize!
So, then, how could it truly be just a game?
6 Comments
That’s why I think people, when playing a game, should do it with people that share their thoughts in gaming. Like, casual gamers with casual gamers, hardcore gamers with hardcore gamers, etc. That way everyone has more fun.
Everyone has their own opinion. You could say the same about sports. Suppose that I am a hardcore fan of national soccer and that you always find me watching matches, interviews, related TV programmes, etc. You tell me “dude, chill out, it’s just a sport”, and I would answer that it’s not just a sport, it’s the passion of seeing your team play, the joy of scoring a goal, the sadness of losing an important match, the anger of seeing your team do bad because of the coach, etc. I may get angry at the players, the coach and everyone, but I would never stop loving the sport. Back to reality, I do not share that passion, but I like playing it casually and seeing some matches with friends.
Everyone has their own opinion. You could say the same about sports. Suppose that I am a hardcore fan of national soccer and that you always find me watching matches, interviews, related TV programmes, etc. You tell me “dude, chill out, it’s just a sport”, and I would answer that it’s not just a sport, it’s the passion of seeing your team play, the joy of scoring a goal, the sadness of losing an important match, the anger of seeing your team do bad because of the coach, etc. I may get angry at the players, the coach and everyone, but I would never stop loving the sport. Back to reality, I do not share that passion, but I like playing it casually and seeing some matches with friends.
Alas, when it comes to games, there is no distinction between the casual and the hardcore. A level 160 Mapler might be a casual player, with bare minimal equipment, playing a few hours a day at most. A level 50 Mapler might be considered hardcore, spending most of his or her time merchanting and finding suitable weapons and armors to become “godly.” That newbie you see on Halo: Reach? He might have, and care about, a higher kill/death ratio than you, and has the ability to sustain it.
There are players who play, and there are players who invest. There is no certain line between the two to identify them..
Sometimes winning is everything. It’s more fun when you win.
How do you win an MMO?
As in competitiveness. Of course when an MMO goes belly up, everyone loses.
Sometimes you just get caught up in the moment.
Sometimes its the players.
Sometimes its the developers.
Sometimes its just you, yourself, and your own lousy skill at the game.
But it’s just a game, right?