Irate Gamers IV: Why do gamers have to be this way?
A wise man once said Be happy with what you have, because theres always someone out there who has less. Whats the point in stating that? You askwell its because Im pissed off at gamers the world over. What with their constant whining at the smallest things, their accusations at each other for backing the wrong system, and what takes the cake, their pointless criticisms and jibes at each other for making decisions that dont fly with their own.
Why do gamers have to be this way? Lets start with the generic crap out there, shall we.
My Xbox is better than all the others because its the most powerful console on Earth.
Gee, what a generic statement, and the attacked gamer commonly follows that with Yeah, well my Gamecube has the better, more original, and more involving games or the simple and yet highly annoying Yeah well my PS2 has more games than any other console.
These responses, and all the similar ones, are exactly why its gone too far in the annoying-o-meter. Really people, what is the point in expressing these rather narrow-minded opinions? Are we trying to sway them to our camp? If so, then the question then becomes Do we really want to become mindless drones and exact copies of each other in thought and in action? We may as well become robots controlled by game company XYZ, where they give us what we want to play, tell us how to play it, and feed us the enjoyment that were supposed to get from it. Hmm, what an interesting gaming life that would be.
Lets turn our attention for a moment to specifically the Nintendo gamers out there. Arguably the most fickle out there, we can at times be the most whingeing and most complaining. The type of gamer who may literally criticize the big N heavily, yet we are also the most appreciative bunch of gamers. Possibly the most important characteristic, however, we are the Nintendo faithful, the most defensive of our company, and the most loyal. Dont ever get into an argument with us because youll run out of argument ammunition while wed still have our landmines, bazookas, and sniper rifles in reserve after weve exhausted our trusty pistol on you.
But, this all begs the question again. Why do gamers have to be this way? As we, as Nintendo gamers, so enamoured with the big N that we can waste our huge amounts of free time (ironically brought about by the now-customary software droughts) finding every scrap of information on all facets of the Nintendo business to use as point and counter-points in arguments with Playstation and/or Xbox fans? Or are we so disillusioned that were seeing Gamecube as seemingly the N64 all over again?
Are you, as Sony fans, so disillusioned with the hordes of crap that goes with every extremely rare diamond-in-the-bigass-rough that you have to use PS2s huge user base or massive game library as pitiful respite? Are you so disenchanted so as to mask PS2s ever-growing hardware weaknesses (relative to 2nd and 3rd generation software on other consoles) and (arguably) flawed HDD/broadband/online strategies with unrealistic high expectations and future prospects?
And you, you Xbox fans, are you really convinced that Xbox really offers the best gaming experiences? Are you totally convinced that the hard drive offers new gaming possibilities? Are those extra millions of polygons really all theyre cracked up to be? What about Xbox Live? Is that really the new Holy Grail of gaming? If so, what about the majority of gamers worldwide who dont have access to broadband? What about the games that just cant or wont work in an online atmosphere? What about that unbeatable feeling you get when you thrash a fellow opponent who is sitting in the same room as you (which you obviously won't experience when playing online)?
Why do gamers have to be this way? Is it that subconscious envy of what other people have that we dont? Is it just the simplicity of the theory that all people are just never happy with what theyve got? Or could it be that we are so happy with what weve got, that we just feel compelled to convince everybody else to have the same thing? Hmm, all these questions to serve as answers to this seemingly simple question.
Has this editorial proven anything? Probably not, but its certainly pointed out how we could all be classified as Irate Gamers
What about me? Well Im happy, but then I am the proud owner of all three major consoles. :P Would I be happy if I didnt have them all, and only lived with the one console? Certainly, provided that the console I did own was called Gamecube!
Time for some feedback. What would be your answer? What do you think? When enough responses come filtering into my inbox, therell be a follow-up to this article, and it sure will be interesting to see what others think of this particular question.
Onto feedback you've given for this article.