Are casual gamers ruining your gaming experience?

Since my last thread had some successand it was more interesting than most of the threads on this board I figured I'd make another attempt at starting a conversation.

With gaming becoming a bigger and more socially acceptable hobby I've noticed a trend in video game companies trying to make their game more attractive to young or new gamers. It seems that more and more games are adding features to help new players get into gaming. As an example, Gears of War 3 will feature a buff on any player who has never played a Gears of War game in the past in order to make it more attractive for people who might be having a hard time getting kills.

Call of Duty 6 Modern Warfare 2 had death perks which would help people who were having a hard time staying alive. These perks could either give you more HP for a few seconds when first spawning, or let you go into Last Stand for a minute and finally bring you back on your feet after staying down for a minute.

At first this didn't bother me much, gaming was becoming more and more popular, video game companies were making more money, games were earning a higher production value, and then Gears of War 2 came out and it felt like a Casual gamers game. Every single dirty trick in the book was completely disregarded by Epic. Letting people double melee you without consequence or way for the person being cheated into a death to defend themselves. The Chainsaw, for the longest time, would put people into God Mode where they would not flinch even while under heavy fire. Stopping power made any sort of short range fighting obsolete. And don't even get me started on Smoke Gernades and how awful the shotgun spread was.

And with the launching of Kinect and Move it feels as if games are becoming incredibly simple with little to no thought behind them except for a few hours of a "That was kind of cool" feeling followed by zero replay value. How many people bought a Wii to play games such as Wii Play/ Wii Sports, and Mario Kart? How many people then grew bored of how boring the feature of being more physically active because the games were just carbon copies of each other with no innovation behind them?

And now that my rant is over, do you feel as if casual gamers are ruining our community?

Edit: Grammar

That's complete ignorance it's open to everyone there's no ''rules'' on who can play. Yes there is alot of new people joining games but they have to start somewhere?! It's unfair portraying that casual gamers ruin your experience.

i dont get what youre trying to say. You dont like noobs?kelvin53778

That's complete ignorance it's open to everyone there's no ''rules'' on who can play. Yes there is alot of new people joining games but they have to start somewhere?! It's unfair portraying that casual gamers ruin your experience.

gibson-les-rick

I think you missed my point. I don't care if there are new/casual gamers starting to get into gaming. They feed our economy and because of it we have gotten much higher production values out of a lot of gaming companies. What I don't like is how they are spoon feed for a while simply because they're new to it. When I first starting gaming you either learned how to play the game or found a new one. The game didn't automatically handicap everybody else simply because you weren't having fun. How am I suppose to have fun when the game is intentionally changing the rules to satisfy one or a group of people who just aren't good at the game?

You might say something like "Well, maybe you should quit complaining and just beat them anyway. You should be better. Blah, blah, blah" but I don't feel as if it's fare to completely change a set of rules to just satisfy one person.

For example, in school no teacher changed the rules for one student simply because they weren't having fun. No teacher would ever say "Okay, Jimmy is struggleing in dodgeballso we're not allowed to hit him anymore". You either picked up the slack or you lost.

And as to my second point, it's upsetting to see casual gamers so satisfied by titles are are incredibly unsatisfying. There are so many games that bring nothing new to the table and they live on simply because they sell so many copies to casual gamers who are seemingly satisfied by anything.

I know that my last point is incredibly bias but I'm just trying to put my point across. Five dollars says that Kinect brings with it 10 games that do the same exact sports game emulation and sell.

Edit: Grammar

Well playing games for me is recreation, and that part isnt ruined by making games more approachable for the average person

I do get what you mean about the player handicaps. But business is business, Game Company's are making games more accessible to noobs so they will purchase the game and continue playing it. I know from personal experience that when I try out a new game that's not noob-accessible online, I get bored of dying every 2 minutes and I get turned off the game.

Since my last thread had some successand it was more interesting than most of the threads on this board I figured I'd make another attempt at starting a conversation.

With gaming becoming a bigger and more socially acceptable hobby I've noticed a trend in video game companies trying to make their game more attractive to young or new gamers. It seems that more and more games are adding features to help new players get into gaming. As an example, Gears of War 3 will feature a buff on any player who has never played a Gears of War game in the past in order to make it more attractive for people who might be having a hard time getting kills.

Call of Duty 6 Modern Warfare 2 had death perks which would help people who were having a hard time staying alive. These perks could either give you more HP for a few seconds when first spawning, or let you go into Last Stand for a minute and finally bring you back on your feet after staying down for a minute.

At first this didn't bother me much, gaming was becoming more and more popular, video game companies were making more money, games were earning a higher production value, and then Gears of War 2 came out and it felt like a Casual gamers game. Every single dirty trick in the book was completely disregarded by Epic. Letting people double melee you without consequence or way for the person being cheated into a death to defend themselves. The Chainsaw, for the longest time, would put people into God Mode where they would not flinch even while under heavy fire. Stopping power made any sort of short range fighting obsolete. And don't even get me started on Smoke Gernades and how awful the shotgun spread was.

And with the launching of Kinect and Move it feels as if games are becoming incredibly simple with little to no thought behind them except for a few hours of a "That was kind of cool" feeling followed by zero replay value. How many people bought a Wii to play games such as Wii Play/ Wii Sports, and Mario Kart? How many people then grew bored of how boring the feature of being more physically active because the games were just carbon copies of each other with no innovation behind them?

And now that my rant is over, do you feel as if casual gamers are ruining our community?

Edit: Grammar

DamianAlexander

[QUOTE="DamianAlexander"]

Since my last thread had some successand it was more interesting than most of the threads on this board I figured I'd make another attempt at starting a conversation.

With gaming becoming a bigger and more socially acceptable hobby I've noticed a trend in video game companies trying to make their game more attractive to young or new gamers. It seems that more and more games are adding features to help new players get into gaming. As an example, Gears of War 3 will feature a buff on any player who has never played a Gears of War game in the past in order to make it more attractive for people who might be having a hard time getting kills.

Call of Duty 6 Modern Warfare 2 had death perks which would help people who were having a hard time staying alive. These perks could either give you more HP for a few seconds when first spawning, or let you go into Last Stand for a minute and finally bring you back on your feet after staying down for a minute.

At first this didn't bother me much, gaming was becoming more and more popular, video game companies were making more money, games were earning a higher production value, and then Gears of War 2 came out and it felt like a Casual gamers game. Every single dirty trick in the book was completely disregarded by Epic. Letting people double melee you without consequence or way for the person being cheated into a death to defend themselves. The Chainsaw, for the longest time, would put people into God Mode where they would not flinch even while under heavy fire. Stopping power made any sort of short range fighting obsolete. And don't even get me started on Smoke Gernades and how awful the shotgun spread was.

And with the launching of Kinect and Move it feels as if games are becoming incredibly simple with little to no thought behind them except for a few hours of a "That was kind of cool" feeling followed by zero replay value. How many people bought a Wii to play games such as Wii Play/ Wii Sports, and Mario Kart? How many people then grew bored of how boring the feature of being more physically active because the games were just carbon copies of each other with no innovation behind them?

And now that my rant is over, do you feel as if casual gamers are ruining our community?

Edit: Grammar

rawrB

I didn't realize expressing my opinions made me a douche. I apologize.

Now, sarcasm aside; You bring up a good point. Why would you face a guy in his 20's who has never played baseball against the Phillies. (Yes, I'm from Philadelphia... Go Phillies!" I'm all for casual and hardcore game types, lobbies. Just don't put new players in a general lobby and expect them to not suck. Don't handicap them simply because their new. If you feel as if you want to inform the new community on how to play add a gametype that does just that.

And I'm not "dissing" Kinect for what it brings to the table, I'm "dissing" video game companies who will carbon copy every single Wii title.

A well-designed game can be both accessible for newcomers AND rewarding for more hardcore players.

Either way, I dont pigeonhole myself as any 'sort' of gamer. I play games a lot, but that doesn't mean I dont like some of the more casual stuff. I'm playing Plants vs Zombies right now and its a blast.

To be honest, I have more of a problem with this sort of elitist attitude than I do developers catering to casual players.

What is it with hardcore gamers bashing Kinect ??? what is it all about?? I just dont get it. This is an extra OPTIONAL piece of hardware that at the moment is marketed for the casual games market and the younger gamers. Dont buy the ******* thing and carry on playing your COD or Gears its not really there for the likes of you and just because people dont like the idea of it does not mean others wont enjoy it. And as for these true skill rankings who cares!! I dont look at the top of the leaderboards of any game I play online. Why would that be usefull unless your a MLGamer yourself and as for small boosts for noobs its hardly shooting them to the top of these leaderboard. Your point is pointless. I have played so many games were I have beat someone who is 7 or 8 ranks higher than me or been beat myself by someone 7 or 8 ranks lower than me. Like I said unless your a true (unlike the people who say there pro on there gamertag)pro gamer rankings mean nothing apart from helping a little with matchmaking.

No. I have more fun playing with casual gamers than with the self-called "Pro's" (And I'm the type of guy who likes to get good at a game - just ask the guys who play Modern Warfare, Reach or Forza with me). At least casual gamers are, apparently, trying to have fun in a game. And, let's face it, what you're saying is completely false: the "aid" that some games give to newcomers can't compare to the skill a seasoned player has -- just tell me ONE game where you felt deeply hindered because of it's newcomer "buff" system.

I apologize in kind sir, as I am a "casual" gamer. Unless I'm misunderstanding casual here. By my definition, I'm only playing games 3-4 hours at a time, whenever I chose to play.

A well-designed game can be both accessible for newcomers AND rewarding for more hardcore players.

Either way, I dont pigeonhole myself as any 'sort' of gamer. I play games a lot, but that doesn't mean I dont like some of the more casual stuff. I'm playing Plants vs Zombies right now and its a blast.

To be honest, I have more of a problem with this sort of elitist attitude than I do developers catering to casual players.

seankane

No. I have more fun playing with casual gamers than with the self-called "Pro's" (And I'm the type of guy who likes to get good at a game - just ask the guys who play Modern Warfare, Reach or Forza with me). At least casual gamers are, apparently, trying to have fun in a game. And, let's face it, what you're saying is completely false: the "aid" that some games give to newcomers can't compare to the skill a seasoned player has --just tell me ONE game where you felt deeply hindered because of it's newcomer "buff" system.

GFugue

Devil May Cry 4.

Is it really not that abvious? :roll: Wow.

no but corporates are. selling a half decent game for money. what happened to the focus on gameplay? its turning into the gaming crash of 83/84 again

While i think you are simplifying this a little too much, everyone has to start somewhere, gaming has evolved alot in the past years and there is much need to attract new gamers on the market!, If you dont like kinect, its obviously not directed to you, so dont get it:)

i remember way back when gaming was seem as weird and nerdy

As i find myself becoming a older gamer; Doing so I play less now. When I do play I want to just play for fun not be called a noob and other things when I play online. so the question are casual gamers ruining the gaming experience? I would say no, but I would like to see xbox live make it more easy to play with people like me and not get thrown into a match with MLG wannabes.

i cant talk for gears coz i played it and found it to be a skill less game to begin with as it takes two thousand rounds to kill someone.

rawrB

oh the irony...

My beef lies with the industry shifting towards pleasing the more casual gamer. I have nothing against casual gamers; however, what I do have a problem with is the fact that developers are more or less "dumbing down" (and I use that term loosely) their games to appeal to casual gamers, leaving those of us that have grown and evolved with the industry for many years, left wondering why our games no longer have the edge and challenge they once had. Then again, I understand that gaming is my hobby, but to developers it is a business and your main goal in business is revenue. They need to appeal to a wider base to bring in more revenue and I understand and respect that...I simply don't like it! :)

Well playing games for me is recreation, and that part isnt ruined by making games more approachable for the average person

shyco

That's complete ignorance it's open to everyone there's no ''rules'' on who can play. Yes there is alot of new people joining games but they have to start somewhere?! It's unfair portraying that casual gamers ruin your experience.

gibson-les-rick

My one question is, did anyone read what I wrote? It seems as if everyone read the topic and either felt offended or defensive of casual gamers.

My beef lies with the industry shifting towards pleasing the more casual gamer. I have nothing against casual gamers; however, what I do have a problem with is the fact that developers are more or less "dumbing down" (and I use that term loosely) their games to appeal to casual gamers, leaving those of us that have grown and evolved with the industry for many years, left wondering why our games no longer have the edge and challenge they once had. Then again, I understand that gaming is my hobby, but to developers it is a business and your main goal in business is revenue. They need to appeal to a wider base to bring in more revenue and I understand and respect that...I simply don't like it! :)

MsCortana

My thoughts exactly...They see the money to be made from casual gamers so that is who they are currently targeting.:(...So I guess casual gamers are not so much ruining my gaming experience but changing it...Only time will tell if it's for better or for worse.

To me they design for both casual and Hardcore gamers.. Thats why they have different game types to play.

How many people bought a Wii to play games such as Wii Play/ Wii Sports

DamianAlexander

i liked the part where the TC self deeemd his other thread more interesting than most eevry other thread on here, have u ever read or met someone so indulged in themselves?

Wow, quite a few defensive posts here, and a couple actually calling him names. It seems to me he was just wanting to see what your take was on some games going a more casual route and what it may mean for you in the future, or if it should mean anything to you.

I don't mind casual games or gamers, but I don't want a majority of the games becoming all about kinect. Will it? I don't know, I hope not.

The way I see it, no one is taking away the hardcore inaccessible games. I think the TC's issue is more with the major releases being made easier for the new players. In my opinion, this isn't a bad thing. At the end of the day, we play games to have fun, at least that's what I've come to believe over the last 20 years of playing games. Perhaps if the *ahem* "pro gamers" were more willing to help the new players learn the ropes rather than shouting "OMG n00bz0r LoLz" there would be significantly less need for assists. Nooberman2k

I feel as if it shouldn't be the communities responsibily to take players under our wings but for the actual games and not by hindering the community. It's increadibly bias that a new player deserve so many buffs simply because they're new.

I'm all for them making a training mode, non-ranked lobbies, etc... But don't double HP and the damage output of someone in a ranked game simply because they're new. That's not fair to the rest of us.

Whether you or anyone else likes it or not casual gamers are gamers also and apparently there is a huge market on the rise for them. Why is adding new features to help new gamers get into gaming something to whine about? Why make a thread about it? The gaming world is evolving, it's not some secret club that only you and your friends are allowed to join. If you don't like certain things about "perks" or multiplayer gaming then find something else to do with your time.javafriek

Again, I'm miss read. I'm not against them, I don't mind casual gamers at all. They feed our gaming economy and have a huge hand in making games more successful. What I am against is them being spoon feed points in ranked games simply because they're new. It's outrageous to think that anybody should get any sort of buff in a gametype that determines how good you are on a competitive level.

i liked the part where the TC self deeemd his other thread more interesting than most eevry other thread on here, have u ever read or met someone so indulged in themselves?

noway78

Considering you're new to this community you're not aware of how many recycled threads we go through every day. And considering that no one here has actually ever met me you're second sentence doesn't make sense. Thank you for bringing absolutely nothing to the table.

[QUOTE="DamianAlexander"]

How many people bought a Wii to play games such as Wii Play/ Wii Sports

grounderman

You're miss quoting me by cutting out the parts that would explain this phrase. I didn't ask a question, I purposed a thought.

Not really. For every piece of Shovelware like Kinect, there are about a million games every year that I have tremendous fun with.

And TC, I totally agree with your last paragraph. All the Wii games hold my attention for about 10 minutes at most. My life is packed with physical activity, and I play game to be immersed and to relax.

To me they design for both casual and Hardcore gamers.. Thats why they have different game types to play.

Jdon2008

That's just the thing, games like Gears of War and Call of Duty are giving players buffs in ranked gametypes. I would not care if they added these sort of buffs in unranked gametypes.

If you dislike what the game industry is doing to cater to new players, you shouldn't name your topic "Are casual gamers ruining your gaming experience?".

In any case, I've never played a game in which I felt that the "helping hand" the game gave to newcomers was holding me back. I can't actually think of any competitive game with a significant buff (Sorry, but if you're dying to noobs in Gears of War or CoD, you're probably not playing well enough) that could hinder me - sure, Call of Duty has the Death Streak (Accessible by any player, as long as they die a few times without killing), and.. some games have Aim Assist. And that's that. There's no help to the casual gamer in Gears of War 2 - the saw running is retarded and can be stopped with a shotgun to the face, a grenade or simply turning around and running away faster.

I just don't feel significantly bothered by any small aid games may offer to their playerbase.

That's complete ignorance it's open to everyone there's no ''rules'' on who can play. Yes there is alot of new people joining games but they have to start somewhere?! It's unfair portraying that casual gamers ruin your experience.

gibson-les-rick

If you dislike what the game industry is doing to cater to new players, you shouldn't name your topic "Are casual gamers ruining your gaming experience?".

In any case, I've never played a game in which I felt that the "helping hand" the game gave to newcomers was holding me back. I can't actually think of any competitive game with a significant buff (Sorry, but if you're dying to noobs in Gears of War or CoD, you're probably not playing well enough) that could hinder me - sure, Call of Duty has the Death Streak (Accessible by any player, as long as they die a few times without killing), and.. some games have Aim Assist. And that's that. There's no help to the casual gamer in Gears of War 2 - the saw running is retarded and can be stopped with a shotgun to the face, a grenade or simply turning around and running away faster.

I just don't feel significantly bothered by any small aid games may offer to their playerbase.

GFugue

I named my topic the way I did because I felt as if it would gain the most attention. What I didn't foresee was the lack of reading that would be put into my argument. I honestly thought that most of us knew the golden rule "Do not judge a book by it's cover".

The interesting thing is, despite the fact that the "helping hand" that game developers give our new community isn't game breaking, it is still a buff that should not be placed anywhere in a competitive environment where I'm supposed to feel equal to everybody else on the battlefield to prove that I am better than them.

[QUOTE="gibson-les-rick"]

That's complete ignorance it's open to everyone there's no ''rules'' on who can play. Yes there is alot of new people joining games but they have to start somewhere?! It's unfair portraying that casual gamers ruin your experience.

wizdom

I never said that casual gamers shouldn't be allowed to play. I never said that the gaming industry should only be catered to hardcore gamers, what I am saying is that it's wrong for the rest of the community to be nerfed because they aren't having fun and aren't willing to learn how to play the game.

[QUOTE="grounderman"][QUOTE="DamianAlexander"]

How many people bought a Wii to play games such as Wii Play/ Wii Sports

DamianAlexander

You're miss quoting me by cutting out the parts that would explain this phrase. I didn't ask a question, I purposed a thought.

I read your topic, I just didn't find any strong argument sustaining it. To answer your question: no, casual gamers aren't ruining my gaming experience, and I've seldom felt "nerfed" because of a "buff" a game gives to its players. I'm not making any judgement of you: this is my opinion. The only thing I dislike are players who get angry at new players because "they don't know how to play" - I mean, com'on, everyone has to start somewhere.

Edit: Grammar.