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Why are many people unable to acknowledge negative aspects of games they like?
Edward_K
Member Posts: 69
I have noticed that no matter what game I play, there are some who simply cannot acknowledge that there is anything negative about it. The same extends into RL topics, but I cant mention some of those due to forum rules. Either why, why do you think these people are unable to even acknowledge anything negative about games they like?
Comments
No need to make a debate, the answer is simple:
Education.
Because, like in RL, many people like to focus on the positive.
"Carry your own weather" dude.
Blind fanboisim.
The MO forums probably offer the best examples of it.
"Come and have a look at what you could have won."
It depends on what those negative aspects are.
Too often have I heard someone lambaste a game for these negatives and they really aren't negatives.
"too much grind, not enough drops, Higher levels can pk lower lvls, etc"
Some might find these negatives and some might not see these as negatives at all.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
Thats not the same thing. Focusing on the positive acknowledges that there ARE negative things, but that you CHOOSE to focus on the positive. I'm talking about people who refuse to even ACKNOWLEDGE that negative aspects excist.
immatureness
I would balance this complaint and say why do some not acknowledge that there is anything positive about a game as well. Both of these types exist. But spefically for your question any one of the following reasons:
1) They are tired of people bashing it so they take on the role of white knight and defend the game on all points
2) They have a vested interest in having the game succeed (either work for company or just want more people to play for a larger player base)
3) They are a newb to the genre of the game so the whole thing is awesome to them. For example somebody's first experience in an MMO
4) They are trolls
Each of the examples above applies in an inverse way to those that bash all aspects of a game as well...
GW2 "built from the ground up with microtransactions in mind"
1) Cash->Gems->Gold->Influence->WvWvWBoosts = PAY2WIN
2) Mystic Chests = Crass in-game cash shop advertisements
To make an additional response to this post, a game can never improve if people ONLY focus on the positive. For problems to actually get fixed, people have to be willing ot acknowledge them and discuss them.
Because I only play perfect games.
Perhaps you should try that, you'll find gaming a lot more fun!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_bias
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases
This happens frequently because some people thing x game is perfect and who has some concerns/complains are trolls but infact some of the times they are just blind fans.
This happened to me recently on 2 linkshells (Guilds) in ffxiv you try express some concerns/complaints on how the game is going and they become butt hurt and rage on you (I find it hilarous honestly) say something like "Why are you even playing it if you hate the game?".
These people seem to not get that some people do CARE of the game and are just concerned on what could become if nothing is going to be done.
But anyways in their eyes most of the times you'll just be a troll that hates the game lol.
Not true...at all.
If my supervisor at work only focused on my negatives...or mostly did...I would really not have much motivation to get better.
If he focuses on my positive aspects, he can still guide me to be a better worker, and I will be much more motivated to do so.
Again...it's not about denying the negative. It's about focusing on what's good, and looking to the future and how it can be made great.
OP mentions only half of the "problem".
Because you might as well ask the following question:
'Why are many people unable to acknowledge positive aspects of games they dislike?'
'And why do they keep up posting for weeks and months in forum threads of a game they dislike/hate, far more than they post about game(s) they like and play?'
Especially that last question has me wondering often, what it is that has people persistenly keep posting negatively about a game they dislike and bashing them for months sometimes even if they don't even play the game, while at the same time they hardly talk about the MMO's they like or the ones they play.
And in all the cases above the answer is always the same:
- (a number of) people have an inability to acknowledge good arguments of the other side and are thus biased that they can only see and talk about things in black & white, either one loves or hates a game, and either a game is fully good or a complete fail.
- polarizing debates: when some people are posting biased, onesided viewpoints, some other people tend to lean more towards the other extreme opposite end of the spectrum even if their own opinion is more moderate, especially if they think that the opinions given are biased and unjust. The more some people make extreme biased statements, the more it'll make other people post onesided viewpoints, until a debate has become polarized into viewpoints posted that are either fully positive about a game or fully negative.
The ACTUAL size of MMORPG worlds: a comparison list between MMO's
The ease with which predictions are made on these forums:
Fratman: "I'm saying Spring 2012 at the earliest [for TOR release]. Anyone still clinging to 2011 is deluding themself at this point."
I thought you were talking about politics until you said the word 'game'.
Weird.
The negatives still have to be pointed out or they will never be changed into positives. Merely pointing out the positives does absolutely nothing to reveal and remove the negatives.
The people who can't handle criticisms about their favorite games, don't view it as a game or entertainment. For them, it's a much deeper phychological and even emotional connection that transcends the virtual world into their very being. So any attacks are viewed as attacks on their intelligence and emotional certitude. They lash out irrationally all the while, hiding their heads in the proverbial sand. We aren't criticizing their game as much as we are critizicing them. Making fun of their choice of game and their idea of fun.
That still doesn't excuse those certain individuals who gripe about a game or certain aspects of it incessantly, going over the same arguments ad nauseum, with nothing new and nothing constructive to add. In these cases, the proponents of the game are certainly within their rights to ask those individuals to just stop.
Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.
Sometimes it's the approach taken. An early post in a thread gloats about how great the game is saying grandly absurd things that is just clearly not true and people go on the defensive. This works both for OP's point and MMO.Mavericks about the opposite situation.
Sometimes it's because -- it's a game -- and people are having fun and they want to continue having fun. For them, acknowledging a point of weakness is perhaps a crack in the armor that they're protecting their game with.
Spec'ing properly is a gateway drug.
12 Million People have been meter spammed in heroics.
It is politically incorrect to even consider the possibility that *favorite developer* could ever produce anything less than optimal.
It's peer pressure.
Heh. Replace 'game' with 'politics' or 'religion' and it would still be completely valid
People are people, the same ways of thinking whatever it's about, wherever they are and whatever the timeperiod.
The ACTUAL size of MMORPG worlds: a comparison list between MMO's
The ease with which predictions are made on these forums:
Fratman: "I'm saying Spring 2012 at the earliest [for TOR release]. Anyone still clinging to 2011 is deluding themself at this point."
Half the battle in enjoying MMO is to commit your imagination to the world you are playing.
Half the battle in leaving an MMO is a struggle to break that loyalty of the imagination.
When people coming and people going cross paths, they tend to really get on each others' nerves.
It reminds me of when people blame religion for all the ills of the world, and I point out it's just a convenient gathering point for power, but people can use political beliefs (See how well it's worked out with Nazis or some Communists for example) to do the EXACT same thing.
It's not a religion thing, it's a... problem in the head sort of thing.
I'm sure if MMORPG players weren't so busy playing their games, somebody could use the unswerving mindless devotion to said games to cause war and mayhem.
Also a good point. When it wouldn't be about games but about going somewhere like a vacation or going on a trip with a group of friends and acquaintances and most are having fun enjoying themselves but one person is constantly complaining about everything related to the trip, that person would be called a 'buzzkill'.
When it comes to games, the same 'buzzkill' effect and reaction are present too in a number of cases.
The ACTUAL size of MMORPG worlds: a comparison list between MMO's
The ease with which predictions are made on these forums:
Fratman: "I'm saying Spring 2012 at the earliest [for TOR release]. Anyone still clinging to 2011 is deluding themself at this point."
I could understand being annoyed at constant complaints in general chat on the MMORPG you're playing...
... but anybody who logs onto mmorpg.com and clicks on a thread called 'Your game sucks, and this is why' is really just asking for it, and I'm finding it hard to sympathize that somebody is being a buzzkill to them.
All games have flaws. I play EQ2 which has by far the best community in mmo's, and many other wonderful things. However I will be the very first to say the eq2 engine sux. It runs 25-35 fps even on current gaming pc, and it runs real bad on Amd processers. However like I said eq2 has so much else going for it with community, player housing, guild housing, crafting, raiding, solo play, pvp, that the good points out weigh the bad at least to me. Just my thoughts I could be wrong.
If you're talking about meta-MMO sites like this one, it's the same reason many won't acknowledge anything positive about a game, and extremist rhetoric is used on all sides.
Many don't come here to actually discuss games. They come here to create or manage perceptions about games. it's an enormous difference.
Hell hath no fury like an MMORPG player scorned.
Simple answer for the OP,
People want to play games to have fun, not focus on the good or bad. Trying to force people to focus on the bad things of a game they are enjoying is unfair and wrong. If you feel something is wrong with the game, complain to the devs, bring it to the appropriate forums, but don't try and force people, who are enjoying the game as it is, to follow you and focus on the negativity. They didn't buy the game to focus on negativity, they bought it to have fun.
splat