Why The Hell Are So Many Gamers So Cynical?

Title says it all. Why are so many gamers so cynical?

"I hate multiplayer!"

"I hate EA and Ubisoft!"

"If you don't own a gaming PC, then you're a peasant!"

"I hate DLC!"

"I hate gamers!"

"I hate 12 year olds!"

etc, etc, etc.

Seriously? Isn't gaming supposed to be fun? Why does everyone have to hate each other? What is there to be so cynical and angry about?

Because most of these people have nothing else going for them in their lives. So, they rely on games to fill this void. Thats my theory for the behaviour. But I may fall into that the category of hating gamers but I am a bit specific on my hate.

Most of them are just trolling so I wouldn't take it personal. I'm a Manticore, I play just about everything these days but even then, I can bitch about something and I do rarely nitpicking things but I won't say it depending on the subjects. In the gaming world, everyone has an opinions, we ether accept it or not.

I hate haters.

Same reason I'm cynical about movies and music and everything else. 90% of stuff sucks. We live for the good stuff, but the unfortunate truth is that the vast majority of things are corporate cashgrabs or devoid of artistic merit or poorly made or other shades of bad.

Now, I would love to go back to childish naivete and believe that most stuff is great, but I've experienced too many things to be able to do that. The more games you play, the harder it is for games to impress you. The more movies you watch, the harder it is for them to impress you. The more places you go on holiday to, the harder it is to be blown away by them. It's just a fact of getting older.

It's a double edged sword, though. When something truly is original or exceptionally well made you can appreciate it all the better because you have a much larger reference pool and more knowledge.

I feel ya bro, but it's not just gamers, it's just a reflection of society and how the world has changed....well at least in the mainstream. Pop culture can be a double edged sword, there's a lot of positive things going on in it, but more of the negative is highlighted. Constantly taking in negativity can have serious psychological effects

Most of the people that I know who are pleasant live off the grid or they limit their time in the mainstream.

I'm kinda in the middle because of my job, family, hobbies and a VERY small circle of friends. I love gaming, music and movies, but I also like reading, meditating, practicing martials arts, exercising and social events.

I just think people need to unplug from the system once in a while, that's all. :)

This problem has been worsen by the over abundance of games.

Yeah I don't really get it myself either. I've been a avid gamer for nearly 40 years now, so it's not like I'm new to this, and personally I think gaming is better now then it's ever been.

Yeah, thanks for the replies guys. I'm sure it's most likely the vocal minority, but at times it seems so crazy, how people can be pissed off about everything. And I'm guilty of it too. Someone gets pissed off about something stupid, like PC VS. console gaming, and I get pissed off because they're pissed off at people.

I guess, sometimes people need to look at the good things, instead of all the bad things.

If you're referring to System Wars, it's the right place to be a fanboy and drag the competition in the mud.

@jun_aka_pekto: No, I'm not specifically referring to the "console wars". More like the sad, pathetic, grown ass men, who hate 12 year olds in gaming, despise anything DLC, hate multiplayer games, digital games, etc.

Of course not all people are like this, but it seems to be too many.

@battlestreak: I despise DLC because I don't want to have the concern of purchasing more for something I just purchased. Before games are released DLC packages are announced. It is just despicable.

With the shield the Internet provides, people can play assholes without fear of retribution. Some even find it fun. I try not to post at GS too often. This place is atrocious for shitty attitudes and poor grammar.

I feel like I lose a few IQ points the more I hang around here.

@Pedro: I don't like DLC either, but I really don't care or make a big deal about it. I don't want it? I don't buy it. Simple as that.

Bluntly: The industry is slimey.

Haha. Yeah, I recently joined GameSpot maybe three weeks ago? See. I can't even remember how long I've been here. Oh God. Something's happening to me. I've been sucked in. I can never leave now.

But seriously, the internet seems to be filled with assholes, grieving everyone else.

Well you are voicing your dislike of people who do make a big deal about, automatically groups you into the same group. We all like to make a big deal about a variety of stuff. And we at the time of voicing our discontent, feel that it needs to be said and hope that others share our disdain. Its as simple as that. :P

Most of them are just dirty trolls... a lot of them grace us with their presence on here.

I very rarely voice my dislike of people.

Isn't every industry like that? And if that's such a big deal to you, switch over to a more open platform like PC gaming.

^ This and it seems like developers are not even trying anymore. Everything is formulaic and low risk. Too many broken games and not enough fucks being given. All about the $$$. The passion for making good, creative, high quality games is dying out with many developers. The fact that people keep buying the same garbage like COD every year does not help matters. Why should developers put in the effort to create something different/better if the same shit keeps selling?

You must accept your fate. You are now a CYNICAL gamer. Carry your torch proudly. :D

I'll admit I am rather cynical/sceptical when it comes to developers, but not regarding what others like to play and on which platform they do it on.

I think hating 12 year-olds is fairly inevitable to anyone with ears.

We are all having our likes and dislikes of this hobby. Of course when we don't like something it is always the things we talk about, we never talk about what we love ... especially on forum like this where even if we talked about what we like, someone would come in and say they don't like it and we are stupid for liking it ...

So yeah ... I guess it is hard to avoid being pessimistic.

Welcome to humans... this isn't contained to gamers by any stretch. Why are you so cynical about cynics?

@battlestreak: Because games don't make me happy anymore and I don't know why. Maybe I'm so used to the conventions of game design that there's no sense of wonder anymore. Maybe the stresses of my daily life don't let me get as invested as when I was a child, and I didn't have to worry about rent and electricity bills and wifi and groceries. Maybe the games themselves are cynical, with their dark stories and nihilistic characters, and this is rubbing off on me. Maybe my tastes have become so narrow that I don't even know what I want from games anymore, but I know it's missing from the games I see. Maybe it's all of these things, and maybe it's none of them.

I personally blame my jaded attitude to advertising (100% pure BS 100% of the time) and corporate greed. They've made me greatly dislike 90% of the industry and I'm hanging on by a thread of sweet indy games.

Shut shut up. I hate gamers, and wish EA died in a hot pit of lava. >:(

Not really. It's completely unfair to label kids as the problem. In my experience, the "screaming 12 year olds" tend to be guys, without a job, actually living in their parents basement, in their late teens and early twenties. Of course that's not all people, but just from my experience.

And, also. I actually have a groundbreaking idea! How about, turn off your headset?

I know, but the thread is focused on gaming and gamers, because, well, it's a gaming forum.

How can you not dislike always negative and cynical people who are asshats to everyone else?

Every industry is greedy, and pretty much all advertising is BS. In every industry, with most companies. You can't run from this kind of stuff. It just is. It sucks, sure, but there's nothing we can do about it, and being cynical, angry, depressed, etc. about it doesn't help you or anyone.

Yeah, I'm pretty young, but I've seen this a lot lately. Maybe it's the transition to more of a multiplayer focused gaming, as opposed to older games? Maybe it's just getting older, or tastes and interests change. I used to love sports a couple years ago, but now I can't stand any kind of sport, unless it's Rocket League. Interests change I guess.

Maybe try playing some Nintendo games. If nostalgia is what you need, or just something different, Nintendo is the perfect remedy.

And there we go: we found the category of people you are cynical about.

Ironic. I'm 18 years old, still living in my parents home. Have a job, but still. Kind of ironic.

I'm cynical about myself!

Reality and experience with it can make one cynical. Kind of obvious. Ask a child what they're cynical about and I doubt you'll hear about much if anything. Then ask any adult about anything in life and you'll hear cynicism to various extents.

I just like to play the games. I have no bad feelings toward publishers/developers. I don't get caught up in hype. I concentrate my attention on released games. Don't care if there's a downgrade of some sort. Don't care if it's the nth release of a game. So long as I can play the game and like it. I haven't made many choices where I had to second-guess my decision to buy a game.

The only thing I lament is the loss of offline LAN Multiplayer. I don't like online multiplayer that much. So..... I quit multiplayer and stick with singleplayer nowadays.

If you think that hate is restricted to gamers you are 100% mistaken.

most humans if not all have something they hate/dislike and that is just how we humans are.

As some blond person said "haters are gonna hate" and all human are haters.

@battlestreak: You know, that's not a bad idea. I have almost no experience playing Nintendo games, so that might be something new.

You can avoid it quite easily, simply stop buying everything these companies make. If everyone would stop caving to the lies the advertisers release then we would eventually find ourselves in a much better situation where they can no longer bullshit their way through a sale. A "give up" attitude like you've posted above is exactly what got us here in the first place.

It does help me to not be a part of an industry that is fueled only by greed. I feel much better about myself not being part of it so I suppose that's just the difference between you and I.

we all have our likes and dislikes . but I must say , I find some of the business strategies of some game publishers very insulting . which made me decide that never buy a game from EA . ever again .

I would not call that legitimate cynicism. If it were as Antisthenes argued, people would be living self-imposed impoverished lives in agreement with nature. They would not be enjoying the internet; they would be scavenging to survive.

Essentially, the sort of hipster responses in the OP are not legitimate cynicism because they are not preaching what they practice, as Ezra would encourage.

Because its easier to hate things than to like them. Duh.

I'm not sure why a lot of people are, but in my case I'm just getting worn out of all the bullshit like day 1 DLC, or disc-locked DLC, copy and paste games, yearly (or more) sequels, day 1 updates, a crap load of indie games that clutter the online stores. I just feel like companies are getting more scummy and it's turning me off from buying their games.

Experience has worn them down. Tbh the longer I stay on top of game news and check out the history of the industry, the more jaded I become too. It's to the point where I'm thinking about going casual again to get a breath of fresh air.

However, in regards to some of the whinier people, that's more a case of them needing to grow up.

There are some interesting responses to this thread.

Personally, I haven't seen many outstanding games that I've really loved in quite some time - which is disappointing.

As for things like multiplayer cash grabs, f2p deceptions, subscription fees, etc. - I tend to just avoid that stuff.

And as for dlc, unfinished games, expensive prices etc. - my solution is simply to wait for the discounted COMPLETE bundle.

I never said it was only restricted to gamers. But this is a gaming forum, so.

That is where we differ. I like to play and enjoy games. Have fun. I'm not going to forbid myself from playing a certain amount of games, because I don't agree with everything the publisher/developer does.

"Hipster"?

it's basically the same reason across all categories, though. It's cool to be unimpressed, disdainful, etc. Moreso if the item in question is popular, which would be what is meant by "hipster."

I feel like this has been the permanent state of the internet. I mean, people were doing this when I first posted in these forums 17 years ago. Any hobby is more fun when you avoid talking about it on the internet, because you're able to avoid all the baseless negativity, biased rants, over-analysis and/or people just looking to vent and just enjoy it for what it is.