The Changing Culture of Gaming

JTVK

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I'm an old-school social gamer. I like to play games with a group of people, not just by myself. It was that way with Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, and TMNT in the arcades, and it's still true console gaming at home.

I love getting a huge match going in Mario Kart and Smash Bros. on the Wii, and basically any game that encourages friendly social interaction.

Recently I picked up SSF2T HD Remix, and have been loving it (I love all fighting games), I've already made some new friends and we've been kicking strategies back and forth, really sends me back to the fun of having friends out at the arcade.

Since 1v1 fighting games are one of my favorite genres, I decided to pick up Soul Calibur 4. I got to a decent skill level with a character (learned some combos) and then decided that playing against the computer was getting boring so I hopped on-line.

What I found next could only be described as culture-shock. First room I joined I got my virtual carcass mopped across the floor – I fully expected that – after-all I am a newbie to the game. But before I could even say "nice game" I get booted from the room.

I figure "Okay, maybe I joined a pro room by accident" and I proceed to join another room… these people were more my speed and we had a close match… then BAM as soon as the match is over, I was kicked again.

Note that these are winner-stays loser goes to the back of the line rooms, it's not like I was hogging a slot… these people are just deliberately kick-happy towards any newbie it seems.

So now I feel like I have wasted my money, since I enjoy playing with people, and apparently I'm not going to get that enjoyment out of this game.

Back in my day, there were a few games that I was a "pro" at, and we never shunned newbie's, in-fact we took most of them and showed them the ropes so we could have more competition to play with. Now it seems that the new culture of gaming is "You suck, get out!" and if that's the case, there won't be any "gamers" left.

Am I totally off base in my perceptions?

(p.s. Anyone want a copy of SoulCalibur 4?)
 
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This is exactly why I rarely play any online competitive games anymore, especially fighters. I used to be the best at SFII among my friends bitd. These days, I'm considered 'intermediate' at best, and a lot of that has to do with the fact that I don't play it every day like I used to. Regardless, I still enjoy playing with friends if I have someone over (everyone loves playing my stand up version). But as for online, I don't bother.

Most of it is trash talking - and not the friendly kind of trash talking we had among friends growing up. And then yeah, you get booted as soon as you either mop the floor with someone or they mop the floor with you - you can't 'win' either way.

I'm sure to some it just sounds like we're whining little babies, but that sort of shit ruins the fun for me, so I don't bother. I do enjoy some co-op games, though you still get some slapnuts that either run off on their own and get killed on purpose (Left4Dead), or some people who don't want "outsiders" in their public game (go figure!) and just team up on you to make you leave (I had this happen many times in various iterations of Call of Duty).

Besides, there's still nothing better than the others you're playing with being in the same room with you. Too bad as we get older that doesn't seem to happen as much anymore. Perhaps I just long for the simpler child-like times, who knows :p
 
I agree with everything you just said... I have had the whole "let's gang up on him till he quits!" thing happen to me in a few games as well. Also nothing is more -- shall I say interesting then joining those public games with more than enough slots available, and getting booted for no reason.... it makes the "Quick Match" option useless, better odds at winning the slots down in Vegas.

Back in the 90's I had a dedicated group of people at my job who would play Descent, and Heretic, over LAN every Friday. That was as close to an arcade experience as I've had.

And ofcourse the occasional buddy who would come over to play a few rounds of Battletoads and NBA Jam on my SNES.

It's a shame that online can't really duplicate that same experience; except in very few circumstances.
 
Just like the arcades have changed, So have the online games have changed too. I just think it just getting rare that people are willing to share tips and tricks or wait until a newbie comes up to speed. Every time I find someone who is willing to share, I keep them close and when I find a New game, We all buy them at the same time. Part of the fun of the game is discovering new things together.

Maybe it time to fire up 4 PC and have more doom and Heretic games.
 
I'm a pretty big fan of online gaming (actually wouldn't even game anymore if it wasn't for online play) but I have to say fighting games have a lot of room for improvement when it comes to online play. People used to talk more but these days a lot of people are too lazy to plug in the mic and there's really not a lot of room for camaraderie with the setup.. I remember one of the Street Fighters at least let you chat in the lobby while you were waiting, and had some type of quarter system reminiscent of the arcades (when you'd put a quarter on the marquee to reserve a game), the latest one I think just sent you out tournament style and probably automatically bumped you to the next game.

With the nature of fighting games I'm not sure how they could change it though.. maybe if they could make like a 2 vs 2 where you could team up with an online buddy and each choose a character you're good at, then strategize on which one to send out each round. I think you really need some type of co-op to get people involved online, otherwise they'll just default to 'meh'.
 
Back when the N64 was king, a group of my friends and I would get together at my house every Thursday night and play Goldeneye. If there were more than four of us, we would take turns playing or set up another TV with another game system. It was so much fun.

We eagerly awaited Perfect Dark, and when it finally came out, we played the heck out of it. Then the Dreamcast came out and we played a lot of Rush 2049, Vigilante 8, and just about anything else that would support 4 players.

When Conker's Bad Fur Day came out, we stated playing 'The Beach". Two gunners and two runners. It was a ton of fun except for the screen looking. It made it way too easy for the gunners to kill the runners. Then one day I had kind of an epiphany. I took two large pieces of cardboard and put one piece across the top half of a TV. The other piece I put across the bottom half of another TV. I then ran the video to a splitter and a long video cord to the back TV. Then I used the controller cord extensions I had to extend the controllers to the back TV. Now we could play two teams without the other team seeing what you were doing. It was fantastic.

Not too long after that the Xbox came out and we started playing Halo Combat Evolved. At first it was just on one TV. But as more of the group bought Xboxes and controllers, we started playing on multiple TVs. We added a router and pretty soon we were playing on four TVs and four Xboxes.

Our little group of five or six friends started growing. By word of mouth they came. Soon game night had 8 or 9 or 10 players. Friends invited their friends and soon it wasn't uncommon for there to be 12 or more people besides me playing Halo at my house. Some nights we even had 16, heck a couple of times we had 18+ and people had to wait until someone died or went home to get into the game.

One game night wasn't enough, we started playing both Thursday night and Saturday night. Those were the days. When Halo 2 came out we were all eagerly anticipating it. But after playing the multiplayer part, we came to the realization that it just wasn't as much fun as the original Halo. So we would play Halo 2 until we were all pissed off and then switch to Halo CE. I modded four Xboxes and installed multiple map packs. The Xboxes were setup all the time so that we could play at a moments notice.

Halo 3 came out and it was better, but still lacked the competitive edge of the original. Then ODST and then Reach came out. The number of players started dropping with every new game. More people playing online, less people wanted to LAN.

I tried online, it sucked. Lag, cheating, bullet magnetism, large hit boxes, host advantage, modders, and just general poor sportsmanship really ruined it for me.

I was in my mid 40's when we started with Goldeneye. Now I'm 52 and starting to feel like I'm too old. I've had some really serious health issues this last year so and game night almost never happens anymore. Once in awhile, my best friend of the past 30 years, will come over on Saturday night. Lately we have been playing Borderlands.

I guess We were really lucky to have had all that time together, playing games while laughing our asses off. Good friends and good times. Not at all like the hollow experience you get from playing online.
 
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Nice story Robotron, thanks for sharing. It's striking to me that as the games moved more and more "online" the more the community actually dies, when you would expect the opposite to be true.

Another thing that I have noticed is that the generation gap seems to play a bit of a role (although this isn't always the case).

Taking from my own example, most of the people playing SF HD Remix, seem to be people like me... old-schoolers who played the original in the arcades in the late 80's early 90's. These people tend to be more mature and more friendly (read: sociable)... whereas the people playing SC4 are more introverted, elitist, sometimes just plain brats.

At least that has been my experience.
 
First of all, can I ask how SSF2T HD Remix is these days? I wanted to get that game but by the time I could, SSF IV came out and I figured no one was playing it anymore. What's the community like today (especially given SSF III Strike just came out)? Is it worth getting?

Secondly, I love Soul Calibur IV, but mostly for the customization. I have spent more time creating characters than actually playing. Having said that, ascending the Tower of Doom (or what ever it's called) is pretty challenging.

Now to my advice/comment: If I am going to play online multiplayer, I try to only join friends I know. If no one is available and I really want a multiplayer fix, I go into it with great trepidation that I will likely encounter screaming 12 year olds. If I don't get that I consider myself lucky and I can often enjoy my experience. But going online with strangers these days is basically "asking for it", at least that's my approach.

Finally, since the topic is The Changing Culture of Gaming, I'd like to bring up something else I have noticed compared to the olden days. It seems that fanboy-ism has taken on a nasty element today. I do remember how crappy I felt when George Plimpton told me my Atari 2600 sucked compared to Intellivision, so I know comparisons have always happened, and I know the whole Genesis Does What Nintendon't campaign was stirring the fires even more a couple of decade ago, but it seems to me that these days the level of vitriol is way higher. Am I wrong?

The gamers bashing console-A or handheld-B seem to launch into their verbal assaults within a very short time. And I can't understand why given we are living in a golden era of fantastic games for every taste and preference. One would think gamers would be overjoyed.
 
I also had bad experiences playing SC4 online but I tried it just for fun so I'm not really concerned about it. I will try a game online every now and then, but for the most part it isn't fun because of the other players. And the reason for this I think is because a lot of players are kids. Yes we were kids when we played online at some point too, but these kids are different. Most of them are trolls or don't play very smart.

So unless you are lucky enough to clan up with some other skilled/matured players, playing online isn't fun... which is fine as there are plenty of single player games for me to play.
 
Now to my advice/comment: If I am going to play online multiplayer, I try to only join friends I know. If no one is available and I really want a multiplayer fix, I go into it with great trepidation that I will likely encounter screaming 12 year olds. If I don't get that I consider myself lucky and I can often enjoy my experience. But going online with strangers these days is basically "asking for it", at least that's my approach.

Finally, since the topic is The Changing Culture of Gaming, I'd like to bring up something else I have noticed compared to the olden days. It seems that fanboy-ism has taken on a nasty element today. I do remember how crappy I felt when George Plimpton told me my Atari 2600 sucked compared to Intellivision, so I know comparisons have always happened, and I know the whole Genesis Does What Nintendon't campaign was stirring the fires even more a couple of decade ago, but it seems to me that these days the level of vitriol is way higher. Am I wrong?

The gamers bashing console-A or handheld-B seem to launch into their verbal assaults within a very short time. And I can't understand why given we are living in a golden era of fantastic games for every taste and preference. One would think gamers would be overjoyed.

I think a lot of that is simply cuz we used to argue about game systems in class and lunch rooms where we had to be relatively civil, where as now people argue about this stuff over the internet where everything's faceless and amped up

But yeah, playing online is so much better when you have a party of friends or make sure to keep the few cool people you run across online on your friends list
 
First of all, can I ask how SSF2T HD Remix is these days? I wanted to get that game but by the time I could, SSF IV came out and I figured no one was playing it anymore. What's the community like today (especially given SSF III Strike just came out)? Is it worth getting?

Yes think it's worth it. I can always find some people to join, and most rooms have voice chat disabled, so no amatuer DJ's blasting their latest Beiber album. ;)

I never got into 3rd strike, or SF4, I'm a bit retro.
If you get HD Remix for PS3, I'll game w/ you.

Secondly, I love Soul Calibur IV, but mostly for the customization. I have spent more time creating characters than actually playing. Having said that, ascending the Tower of Doom (or what ever it's called) is pretty challenging.

Yeah the Tower is still fun but just not the same as playing against a live opponent... I just wish I could find one.

Now to my advice/comment: If I am going to play online multiplayer, I try to only join friends I know. If no one is available and I really want a multiplayer fix, I go into it with great trepidation that I will likely encounter screaming 12 year olds. If I don't get that I consider myself lucky and I can often enjoy my experience. But going online with strangers these days is basically "asking for it", at least that's my approach.

Yep, I do that too, but I don't have any friends who also have SC4, guess it was a bit of a bad move to buy the game on a whim, but I just never expected the SC4 community to be so unwelcoming. It really was a shocker as I've stated.

Finally, since the topic is The Changing Culture of Gaming, I'd like to bring up something else I have noticed compared to the olden days. It seems that fanboy-ism has taken on a nasty element today. I do remember how crappy I felt when George Plimpton told me my Atari 2600 sucked compared to Intellivision, so I know comparisons have always happened, and I know the whole Genesis Does What Nintendon't campaign was stirring the fires even more a couple of decade ago, but it seems to me that these days the level of vitriol is way higher. Am I wrong?

The gamers bashing console-A or handheld-B seem to launch into their verbal assaults within a very short time. And I can't understand why given we are living in a golden era of fantastic games for every taste and preference. One would think gamers would be overjoyed.

You're right it is the culture. Everyone wants to feel that they have the best, whatever (car, job, TV, computer, gaming console). It's human nature... now take that and stir it in the pot of the old console wars, and multiply it by todays elitist generation, and you have it.

Personally I find it silly. I still play my PS1 games and love them (especially Twisted Metal 2).
 
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My wife played Tetris online on my PlayStation 3 and was foul-mouth trashed talked by some French dude from the other side of the world. My wife won and asked me if it was like that online. I told her that's why you mute the other player's mic. She wasn't using a mic and so it was coming out of the TV speakers. Who uses a mic to play Tetris anyways.

I think a lot of that is simply cuz we used to argue about game systems in class and lunch rooms where we had to be relatively civil, where as now people argue about this stuff over the internet where everything's faceless and amped up

But yeah, playing online is so much better when you have a party of friends or make sure to keep the few cool people you run across online on your friends list

I argue game consoles with friends, family, and co-workers (former...now). I get a lot of slack from people because I only play PS3 and my gamer tag is NERDtendo. The trash talk stops when I wipe the floor with them. I am at home and play games all day long. However, I now play a lot of puzzle and strategy games instead of the FPS and fighting games.

The only people on my friends list are personal friends and family. None of which have/play any of the games I have. I have 100+ titles downloaded on my system and can't get them to play me at any of them. Even games like Pac-Manwhere you are just competing on your own to beat your friends high score on a map!!!

That's it. I am making a thread of all the games I have that I want some competition on and making a call-out for friends list competitors!!!
 
I prefer team based games and/or co-op. It forces people to work together and communication is key. Usually that filters out most of the poor players.
 
Even as a long standing Soul series fan (from soul blade/edge to current) I couldnt stand playing it online. Not only the lag issues, but as you saw, they are kick happy. Win twice in a row, and kick. Sometimes only win once and kick. I got sick of it after 3 days of trying and never looked back.

Still my favorite fighting game, but online play isnt worth it.
 
I prefer team based games and/or co-op. It forces people to work together and communication is key. Usually that filters out most of the poor players.

I'm with you on that one, my buddies and I prefer cooperative LAN games. Most PC games used to support at least 4 and usually 8 players in cooperative mode, like Raven Shield, Ghost Recon and Diablo 2. Even Battlefield 2 had a passable offline LAN coop mode (even if it was only on the smallest maps with 16 players total). Many enjoyable hours spent hunting terrorists cooperatively. Even some RTS games like Starcraft would support 8 players total on LAN, and you could assign player slots to CPU players and play as a team.

Not any more.

More recently, it's unusual to see a PC game that supports more than 2 players in cooperative, 4 at most. And now, with all the recent attempts to curb piracy, it seems every new multiplayer game coming out requires an online game service to play. No more LAN play.

It seems most modern players would rather play competetively online and yell abuse at each other rather than play coop. Or perhaps it's because there's no other choice.

- James
 
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