tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4765136501328523372.post6283520062427207539..comments2023-11-03T02:45:14.110-05:00Comments on I Have Touched the Sky: Gaming Genres: Evolutions or Revolutionsrowanblazehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06820814610269599162noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4765136501328523372.post-17297004193232665872011-12-26T13:12:36.772-06:002011-12-26T13:12:36.772-06:00I'm with Yeebo 100% here; a good 30% of my art...I'm with Yeebo 100% here; a good 30% of my articles in past months have harped specifically on genre and how MMO players don't seem to really grasp it or, if they do grasp it, they eschew that comprehension for favor of complaining.<br /><br />Reviews and critiques of video games by non-professionals are sort of in the same vain as non-professional reviews of computer hardware. When shopping for a good PC, you need to keep one thing in mind while perusing reviews: people who's devices have failed them are more likely than people who's devices work to log in and bitch about it. Of course the device, the manufacturer, the brand, and even the idea is tragic and horrible...when it doesn't work for the person at hand. They don't like it, so they take their time to vent about it.<br /><br />Thus, when considering reviews, you really have to weigh each positive review as far more worthy than negative ones. If a system is so good that it inspires the user to jump onto a reviews site and rave about it, that's somewhat more meaningful than somebody complaining. Naturally there's no hard and fast metric here, and other than my meandering experience I have no statistics, but that is really what I think.<br /><br />People like to complain. Elder Gamer and other industry professionals tell us that - by and large - people who state "Change this facet of your game or I'll cancel my account" very, very, very rarely actually cancel their account. They really just want to try and leverage their one perceived vote (their wallet) in an attempt to get what they think they want.<br /><br />You don't like WoW? Don't play it. (That's my solution.) You think games in its same genre are bad? Time to switch genres. There are solutions to these gripes and they are easy ones. It's not solutions they look for though, I suspect.<br /><br />As for whether there's a vocal subset of the FPS fan base, not to my knowledge; they have a well defined and functional genre: shooting, cover, weapons, VOIP, vehicles are mainstays. Every FPS has to have them, without question. MMOs in both the theme park genre and the sandbox genre have their own mainstays (you know, defining them as genres) but the MMO community overlooks it.<br /><br />I'd be curious to see some meaningful statistics as to why.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4765136501328523372.post-67163431729898040242011-12-25T14:12:56.960-06:002011-12-25T14:12:56.960-06:00I wonder if there is a vocal segment of the FPS fa...I wonder if there is a vocal segment of the FPS fandom that wants different types of games.rowanblazehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06820814610269599162noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4765136501328523372.post-27449837117802281832011-12-24T23:32:07.705-06:002011-12-24T23:32:07.705-06:00To me the history of the FPS provides a contrast ...To me the history of the FPS provides a contrast that illustrates how damn whiny MMO fans can be. Very very few FPS have been vastly different from their ancestors/ piers, and yet no one ever seems to complain about it. Heretic was really not that different from Doom II, but I played and enjoyed both. Half Life gets credit for pushing the genre forward, but apart from adding cinematic storytelling to the existing FPS formula, it really didn't play all that different from Quake or Doom. No-one playing shooters at the time was the least bit confused by the controls or basic weapon mechanics. I'd argue that was a good thing for the popularity of the game, and thus the development of FPS as a genre.<br /><br />MMO fans, are very different creatures from FPS fans. Not all of them (or likely even the majority), but many of them seem to get pissed every time a new high profile MMO decides no to set the gameplay conventions we are used to on fire. Evolutionary steps will not satisfy them in the least. They want every new MMO to be just as different from existing MMOs (or at least the current market leaders, WoW, Rift, and now almost certainly SWTOR) as EVE is different from WoW. <br /><br />BTW PSO = Phantasy Star Online. It was freaking awesome, but it's a bit of a stretch to call it an MMO. I suppose it was to about the same extent that Hellgate London was (that might be more familiar to you).Yeebohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.com