HARDCORE VS CASUALS: WHY ARE GAMERS SUCH SNOBS? - BY MR BIFFO

HARDCORE VS CASUALS: WHY ARE GAMERS SUCH SNOBS? - by Mr Biffo

13/5/2016

Something I've always struggled with when it comes to my fellow gamers is how elitist and snobby so many of them are.

Back when Digitiser was on Teletext, we coined the terms "hardcore" and "casual" to describe the extremes of the gamer spectrum. Yes: I'm actually going to take credit for that. It's not exactly "One small step for man", but I'll allow myself a certain degree of pride.

Still. Somewhat inevitably, Digi's audience - at least the section of it that felt passionate enough to write in - was drawn from the hardcore end. Consequently, "casual" became a term of derision or abuse. And that was never the intention.

I mean, I see myself somewhere slap-bang in the middle on that graph. I'm not great at playing games - I can't handle Dark Souls 3 or Bloodborne, and I'm hopeless at playing online. I probably never finished a single game in my teens; once the going got tough, my attention span was drawn elsewhere. Yet I still love games, and realise I'm better at them than most of the people I know in the real world.

But regardless, I can't wrap my head around those who look down on others who aren't as good at games as they are. Or who might not be as into games as they are. Or who have nothing more important going on in their lives than writing YouTube comments making fun of someone who isn't as good as they are at a particular video game.

Well done. Being good at games, eh. You must be so proud of your valuable life skill.

POINT BREAK
Case in point: currently generating howls of laughter amid the hardcore community is a video the website Polygon posted showing the first 30 minutes of the new Doom.

For whatever reason, I've noticed Polygon tend to get a fair bit of stick. I'm not familiar enough with the site or its history to understand why, but on most of the occasions I've seen the usual suspects laying into them on social media, I've ended up scratching my head.

Here are some of the comments generated by the site's Doom vid:

"Pretty unfair that Polygon made whoever played Doom to do it with their toes. I mean, assume that's the case."
"That Polygon Doom video... It must've been that guys first game."
"That DOOM footage from Polygon reminds me of a kid who would refuse to get into a game just for the sake of it."
"Watching this attempt at playing the game is physically painful."
"How can somebody be so bad? They spent most of the time staring/shooting at the floor."
"Are you 80 years old or 5 years old? Because if you're anything in between then I cannot believe my eyes. I bet that all the negative changes in DOOM were just so guys like you can get past the first level. Jesus."
"I understand some people are better than others but this video gave me cancer it's so bad. please tell me this was someone with a severe mental disability because I can't accept that someone could suck this much."
"Jesus, who was playing this? Banana hands."

"Go outside, go to your car, go the trunk and open it. Get your trunk monkey and have him play it instead cause whoever is playing needs to go read the manual on the controls cause he or she seems to have be having more difficulty than they should."

The comments got so bad on YouTube, that they had to disable them.

Given the mockery, I had to watch the video myself. And... er... well... sorry about this, but that's sort of how I play games. I told you: I'm not great. At best I'm average, or slightly above average. But I'm so not great that I can't even see what's wrong with that Doom video. Here it is so you can judge for yourself:

THE WRIT STUFF
You see that hardcore elitism writ large across the games industry. That sense of entitlement and "I'm better than you". Whether it's sneering at a YouTube video, or people thinking that their cultural ideology is better than another ideology or cause, or some wholly unimportant debate about why a particular game should or shouldn't have a difficulty mode... it's a horribly toxic us-and-them, closed door mentality.

Obviously it's not limited to gaming, but it does seem particularly bad among gamers. Perhaps that's because the things that the hardcore get so uppity about seem to me so utterly pointless.

Man plays video game worse than you'd play it. Consequence: Hahahahaa! What an idiot! He doesn't deserve to have a job making gameplay videos!

And yet... it doesn't matter! It really doesn't. There will probably be millions of people around the world playing Doom this weekend, and I'd wager that the majority will play it like Polygon's cack-handed casual. I know I will. I'm dreading having to go online with it, because I know that arena tends to be dominated by hardcores, and I'm going to find it a frustrating struggle.

Ultimately, being a casual gamer is nothing to be embarrassed by. Being so-so at Doom is nothing to be embarrassed by. Thinking you're superior to other people because you're good at games...? Take a look in the mirror. You're a disgrace.

I take pride in the fact I'm merely average at games. There are plenty of professional games journalists out there who I dare say would wipe the floor with me at any number of games... but I dare say I could beat them in an... I dunno... procrastination competition.

Digitiser2000 exists to give a voice to the voiceless. To the games-loving cack-handers like me. Semi-casual and proud.

FROM THE ARCHIVE:
DOOM DOOMED BY ITS OWN LEGACY? - BY MR BIFFO
THE TOP 10 MOST ICONIC MONSTERS FROM DOOM
WE ASKED THESE TOP GAME DESIGNERS IF THEY'D EVER EATEN THEIR OWN POO AND NOT A SINGLE ONE REPLIED

59 Comments

Chris

13/5/2016 12:42:49 pm

One thing I've found after having recording myself playing games I'm normally quite at ease with, is that talking distracts you quite a lot. Commentating on your own actions, or worse on some narrative that's related but not immediately relevant, leaves you completely inept at getting on with the job in hand. So I feel sorry for poor Polygon. It's hard to learn a new game, especially when your main task is talking about it.

Superbeast 37

13/5/2016 11:52:56 pm

That's weird? Did they delete his voice-over from the audio of that video? I didn't hear him talking much?

Anyway in the case of motoring shows, and as Chris Evans allegedly found out, talking and driving fast is an art form. Most of the girls and guys you see on Top Gear, 5th Gear or Youtube car review channels are professionals with the talent to do it.

It is one of those tasks where everyone thinks "Wow talk about a dream job, I could do that; it is so easy". In reality it isn't easy at all. I am sure gaming is the same.

In gaming we see plenty of Youtube reviewers and Twitch Streamers who can eloquently assess and describe a game whilst playing (live) to a standard I can only dream of. That is why despite every Tom, Richard and Harry having the technical capability to stream, only a handful can earn big bucks from it.

I can't help but wonder whether as with a lot of the gaming press these days, employees of Polygon are chosen based on their politics, identity or (most likely) who they know rather than on ability/merit/interest in gaming.

I understand disabling comments, especially if they are grossly vulgar on your businesses channel. Disabling ratings though is very lame. Also whilst they may have received some nasty comments, those comments Biffo listed didn't exceed "pub banter" IMO but then I'm older/working class and built of sterner stuff and not some middle class kid with helicopter parents.

Polygon and their ilk aren't beyond describing acceptable criticism or pub banter as "hate speech" etc as an excuse to silence it. So whilst I will give them the benefit of the doubt that some comments crossed a line (I only know what Biffo wrote) I won't be rolling out the victim-hood status red carpet for them. Boy who cries wolf etc.

Anyway I am awful with a joypad but that guy makes me look like a pro. I really do understand those who asked "was it his first game?".

For those further down suggesting that it was somehow related to it the joypad - no absolutely not. I don't play like that with a pad (and I'm well below average) and if you watch the professional game reviewers using a pad you often have to look for the tool tips to tell what method they are using.

I'm casual and proud of it. That guy though......Jesus Christ I don't even... As a casual I find videos of games played by casuals to be more helpful in making a purchasing decision than those made by pro's. That guys video is so bad that it is utterly worthless even to a n00b like me. What a frustrating waste of time.

I genuinely believe that guy cannot produce a professional game critique in the same way Maureen from Driving School couldn't produce an acceptable review of a high end sports car even if we allow some leeway for "subjective" opinions.

This was clearly someone that couldn't play the game properly, couldn't use one of the most commonly used video game input methods remotely competently and as a result presumably has very little gaming experience in that genre. Yet they are allegedly a professional and in a position of influence.

Well whatever, no law against it. Just another nail in the lid of the coffin of that vocations image. That's and ad block are why the old gaming sites are dying.

Having said all that, I wouldn't waste my time writing a comment on that video let alone something really vulgar (I'd never do the latter). I'd just unsubscribe in the same way I deleted Polygon from my favourites a few years back.

Jareth Smith

13/5/2016 12:50:02 pm

It's long confused me, this, the derision "casual" gamers take. The behaviour of gamers is frequently appalling - if something doesn't fall in line with their opinions they'll explode in a fit of caustic rage.

This isn't limited to gaming, of course, but the community is notoriously obnoxious. To the extent where I'm embarrassed to admit I play video games and have done for decades. The very notion behind casual gamers is idiotic - if you play games, you're a gamer. It's irrelevant whether you've thumped in 500 hours on WoW or simply picked up INKS on iOS for 30 minutes. Video games are for everyone.

The industry is still trying to be taken seriously as an art form, and it's no surprise given the vacuous behaviour of some of its followers. NOOBS!!! LOL! etc.

Kelvin Green link

14/5/2016 03:33:18 pm

Once again, you have said what I was trying to say, but much better.

Wicked Eric

13/5/2016 12:53:02 pm

It can be genuinely frustrating watching footage of someone doing something badly though. Especially when that footage is meant to be demonstrating something. I don't think this is exclusive to gaming.

That video could be of someone repeatedly messing up a simple parking manoeuvre and it would get a similar response.

Usually I wouldn't pass up on the change to call gamers sub-human scum. But not today Daddy-o.

Mr Biffo

13/5/2016 12:56:57 pm

I suppose that's the thing though... I didn't see what was so bad with how he played it...

13/5/2016 01:23:31 pm

Filthy casual.

Rob Ace

13/5/2016 02:17:32 pm

The coordination between the movement and aiming is really off.
I am curious to know what control method they used, if it was controller, or they were actually using keyboard for the aiming.

Clockwork Fool

13/5/2016 07:07:19 pm

Hadn't seen this, didn't care about the scandal, watched only a small amount of it to see what might be the dealio.

From what I saw, the person playing is clearly using a pad and essentially only ever moving one thumbstick or the other at a time. They can move, or they can turn/aim. They frequently seem to rely on pointing themselves in the general direction of the enemies and hoping for the best and even at one point didn't notice an enemy was attacking them from behind.

In the big battle in the first main room, they seemed to essentially be wandering around aimlessly with no real idea what was happening or what to do about it, occasionally blindly pulling the trigger when they stumbled into an imp. Then tried to leave the room half way through the middle of a pretty obvious "you need to kill everything to leave" sequence, complete with the computer shouting relevant warnings.

Honestly, I've seen worse, but it's that kind of stuff I'm guessing wound people up (or amused them).

Can't say I've ever read anything Polygon ever wrote, not knowingly anyway and I have no strong opinion on them at all. But if I had to guess from context, I'd suspect that they have a reputation for being hostile to gamers and disinterested and unpassionate about games. So to put up a video of someone testing doom who seems either to have no interest in doing so or limited experience with that type of game is basically kind of amusingly fitting? I would guess it's about them living up to their own stereotype.

14/5/2016 12:14:31 am

@Clockwork Fool - yes my assessment was also that he seemed to struggle with coordinating the sticks and could only use one at a time. I bought Ratchet and Clank for my Nephew (8) and when he came round and played it tonight he exhibited a similar issue only not quite as bad.

However my nephew has a far greater (and surprisingly impressive) awareness of what is happening around him and what the game is instructing him to do. He also learns as fast as I would - he won't keep repeating an error. He wouldn't get hit by a mobs projectile and then run in a straight line directly towards the mob thereby getting smacked by a tonne more of projectiles.

In the first Clank tutorial where you are being chased by the large robot, he was quickly able to work out how to avoid the laser beam and the bit where the red circle on the floor locks onto you.

He doesn't suffer from sensory overload and go into headless chicken mode like my mother or the Polygon guy.

I think you are correct with the "living up to a stereotype" theory. You reap what you sow.

Random reviewer

15/5/2016 01:15:40 am

I think it's a case of matching the right reviewer to the right game in terms of skill sets. I've turned down several review offers in the past because I didn't feel I had the inclination or skill to do the games justice. Not wanting to have a go Mr B, but..

When playing an FPS you have to be able to do three things: Move, aim and fire. And you have to be able to do them at the same time.

This guy reminds me of when I first started playing FPS games as a kid. I didn't have any concept of moving and adjusting my aim simultaneously. So I'd just do what he was doing - strafe from one target to the next WHILE KEEPING THE CURSOR FIXED AT THE SAME POINT. That rules out critical aiming for things like headshots, actually makes hitting enemies harder and sees you staring at the floor 90% of the time. You can actually see the wheels turning in his head at certain points (3:46-3:51 being a good example). 'Oh sugar lumps, I appear to be staring at the floor, time to adjust my aim.' It honestly feels like he is only manipulating one stick at a time, which is a surefire way to get yourself killed, especially in online multiplayer.You simply don't get the luxury of reacting that slowly. You have to coordinate your aiming and movement on the fly. The only way to learn that is via practice.

Look, I get that there are levels of skill variance but this just seemed absolutely ridiculous. I wouldn't, even as a snot nosed kid, have presumed I was qualified to write about Doom if I couldn't shoot straight. Is there an audience for a review like the Polygon guy's? Yeah probably, but you can see why it would be a bit galling to FPS fans when we don't really get a sense of how challenging a game might be because of a reviewer's sheer lack of competence.

I agree that there is an argument to be made for a complete beginner style review, but If it's a larger site they should also run a review by a gamer with more experience in the genre.

mouldy

13/5/2016 01:03:42 pm

Holy cow, that video.. It is clearly someone trying to play the game with a controller, and to be fair I think most people would struggle to play a game like this with such a method.

Unless you are playing with a mouse, FPS games are always going to be clumsy drunkard simulators. Thats not necessarily an elitist hardcore point of view, its just the practicality of aiming from a first person perspective.

Do modern consoles not have any kind of mouse support? Even final Doom on the PS1 could use a mouse.

Stoo

13/5/2016 02:01:29 pm

The few times I've tried to play a first person shooter with a controller, I've found it to be like driving a tank. While wearing oven gloves.

Dave

13/5/2016 01:03:57 pm

I think the problem with that vid lies with the expectation if you are putting up a pre-review gameplay vid you will be able to navigate the controls competently to provide a meaningful review later.

Obviously that doesn't have to be the case but if you see a car journalist who can't actually drive put up a video of themselves crunching the gears and kangarooing all over the place. Ahead of a review of that car, it calls into question the legitimacy of the review.

13/5/2016 02:33:39 pm

Analogies are often flawed, but I like your car journalist one.

Dr Kank

13/5/2016 01:20:08 pm

I think it's just fun watching people be bad at stuff. Most of the appeal of the Crystal Maze came from shouting at the telly as some bearded idiot struggled to put a jigsaw puzzle together. It was so satisfying when they got locked in.

And don't get me started on Knightmare.

Oleg

13/5/2016 01:23:59 pm

I suppose, the game was played on a console: the aim would be much more fluid, if there had been used the mouse. Instead, the camera moves in acute angles, such as when you’re using the joypad. And we all know that, particularly in the FPS’, it’s not easy to aim properly with the joypad, whether you're good at those games or not .

However, it is better not to bother about inflamed comments, because people, often, do not know what they say: you can learn more easily the mechanics of one game than of another. In fact, it’s a lifetime I play at FPS’, and I can not always be good at them. Sometimes, I can get to the final stage, but the protagonist has suffered damage that, at some degree, could have been avoidable. So the labeling of "hardcore" or "casual" makes no sense: it depends on the tools you use (joypad or mouse+keyboard) and the "feeling" that one develops with the game. In this case, and it’s my guess, the game was played using an instrument that is not particularly suitable for the genre. End of story.

Karavanpark

13/5/2016 02:29:31 pm

Mouldy makes a decent point - why haven't consoles progressed to some sort of keyboard, or quasi-keyboard and mouse affair, given how many FPS games are being developed?

13/5/2016 04:50:04 pm

It's because controllers are fine for fps games.

Spiney O'Sullivan

13/5/2016 06:25:13 pm

I've played a lot of shooters on console, but just can't get to grips with keyboard and mouse for some reason. I like the idea of the mouse for aiming, but using keys for directions is just weird to me. I'd be quite interested to try a game with one analogue stick for movement (and some buttons attached) and a mouse. Is that a thing?

lilock3

14/5/2016 05:03:09 pm

Yes, it is a thing... more or less. It's called a Wii Remote & Nunchuk. FPSs were few and far between on the Wii, and the ones that were released tended to be mediocre and by-the-numbers. Something like The Conduit may not be game of the year material, but it's simply a joy to play because the control scheme is just so perfect.

Kruz

15/5/2016 05:43:46 pm

I don't know about on console, but that's pretty much the main reason to get a Steam Controller on PC. That thing is massive but in place of the right stick is a pad with haptics. I use that ( and shock horror) gyro to assist aim. I'm still shit at FPS games but I'm better than I was.

TekMerc

13/5/2016 02:32:10 pm

Plenty of people play plenty of FPS games using controllers. They are called console users.

The video did look like it was being played somewhat cack-handedly in truth but I mean, who cares really?

This is really just a symptom of the wider issue of online abuse isn't it?

13/5/2016 04:52:29 pm

Wasn't it Polygon that did that article about Rock Band 4 done by a guy who didn't like Rock Band and spent the preview event sulking a corner? (It might have been Kotaku?) This vaguely reminds me of that. It's like Conan O'Brien's Clueless Gamer bits, but Conan is meant just to entertain. To be fair, maybe this is too, but Polygon have tried so hard to be taken seriously that if it is humour, it falls flat.

Anyway, as I see it, a big part of the hardcore/casual divide is that hardcore types are afraid that eventually the market will stop producing things for them if it becomes more profitable to pander to casual types. It's a bit unreasonable, but a bit understandable. That's also (I think...) a big reason behind the pushback on stuff like Tropes vs Women: the fear that the games they like won't be made any more.

14/5/2016 01:37:24 am

RE your final paragraph.

There is surplus supply in the gaming industry. We have seen mass studio closures because we had too much capacity, not too little.

Also unlike brain surgeons, it doesn't take 30 years to train video game developers so even a totally improbable massive surge in demand for other types of games wouldn't lead to supply problems and other profitable products being dropped. Publishers/devs would simply expand their teams, open new studios or more to the point - stop closing existing studios!!!!

No one is therefore afraid that the market will stop producing something they like.

If enough people want something, it will be produced. With low barriers to entry, easy to use development tools and crowd funding now available, there is no danger of any remotely significant fan base not having their games made.

Products will only stop being produced when no one (or very few people) want them anymore and the risk/ROI assessments become unfavourable. Even then it would more likely be the case that the particular genre of game would simply cease being produced at AAA level but continue to be produced at indie level with a lower budget (as opposed to not being produced at all).

That daft theory was an economically illiterate myth pushed by the gaming press.

My advice to you - don't take Economics lessons from mickey mouse social science course graduates who work for click bait rags on burger flipper wages!

http://metro.co.uk/2016/01/14/50-best-selling-video-games-of-2015-revealed-5623732/

As you can see, there is no threat to core games. These people are ideological charlatans, plain and simple.

14/5/2016 10:01:29 am

I never said it was a rational fear, just an understandable one.

14/5/2016 10:24:44 am

It's not a fear at all.

It doesn't exist.

It's a strawman.

14/5/2016 11:07:17 am

Fair enough. In all honesty, I don't read much gaming media outside of Digitiser and the headlines off Reddit these days, so I'm not sure whose clickbait you think I'm reading. I gave up on Kotaku and Polygon a while back. I'm just trying to be reasonably objective and actually understand some of the divides in the gaming community (rather than resort to the sort of jingoism that has plagued it for the last few years), which I think largely comes to a sense of identity and a fear of it being lost to newcomers.

Random Reviewer

15/5/2016 01:41:28 am

I remember the article you mention. I think it certainly helps to match reviewers to genres they are already familiar with as difficulty is an integral part of gaming.

In the case of the Tropes vs series I think a lot of the pushback was down to the work not actually being any good and being deeply flawed at a very basic level. Bundle that together with Anita's lack of accountability, the failure of both the gaming press and the mainstream media to scrutinise her work and the softball press interviews she's been given (little more than glorified PR) and that's bound to annoy anyone who values open and honest public discourse.

Liana K is a videogame writer who documented some of the flaws in Anita's work. Liana still gets crap for it today from a lot of Anita zealots. It is not light material but it is well worth a watch or read (it is available in both video and article form) if you have the time:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2O0JvjKEuF4&list=PLf9ZVzFaBzHl58cMWr4UWjBRapHJDbQp7

Alastair

13/5/2016 06:00:43 pm

To the list from the article and comments;

Hardcore vs casual
PC vs console
Mouse vs controller

May I add;

Inverted y axis vs not

13/5/2016 06:19:53 pm

I usually try to be reasonable in my comments, but non-inverters are scum, and ruining gaming for everyone with their "up is up" thinking. I've had it with them.

S. Hawke

13/5/2016 11:18:57 pm

There is something deeply wrong with non-inverters. Their brains must be upside down or something.

Euphemia

14/5/2016 02:08:33 am

Stick your inverted-y up your non-inverted y.

14/5/2016 10:05:24 am

Typical non-inverter. You just can't handle the truth.

The only people worse are the ones who play Goldeneye on Honey controls. Sickening.

14/5/2016 03:50:04 pm

When someone in work says they don't invert, I grab hold of their head and say "tell me which way you look when I push your head forward/backwards" and I shove their head down and pull it back!

Then I ask them why their stick does the opposite!

Penyrolewen

15/5/2016 11:26:06 pm

I'm an inverter (I always have, from Speccy days onwards). Superbeast, I understand what you're saying and of course planes fly with an 'inverted' stick but my 7 year old son is a non inverter and just doesn't get why I do it. To me it makes perfect sense but have we just trained ourselves into this- and why?

PeskyFletch

17/5/2016 03:49:10 pm

I basically blame goldeneye for how inverted i am

Paul Jon Thrillin'

13/5/2016 11:51:02 pm

Fantastic article.

I got a bit annoyed at the folk complaining about that chap playing Doom badly. Who gives a shit if he's not great at it? I mean, gentle mockery is fine, but gamers don't really do gentle mockery on the internet. They do 'tear someone down in order to feel superior'.

I play a ton of fighting games but I'm not going to lambast someone for being a bit crap at hadoukens, even if their job is to talk about games. I much prefer sites that aren't Super XCore Games Mavericks. I am an old man, getting older, and people being merely okay at games and playing them for fun and love is much more relevant to my life.

"Digitiser2000 exists to give a voice to the voiceless. To the games-loving cack-handers like me. Semi-casual and proud. "

Yessss!

Damon link

14/5/2016 05:29:11 am

I'm crap at fighting games... but all my friends are really good. They try to insist there's strategy but I am convinced they just mash buttons harder than I do.

Dirty Barry

14/5/2016 12:09:28 am

If you hate FPS games because you are rubbish at them, but play lots of other types of games, are you still automatically considered dirty Casual scum?

14/5/2016 03:45:32 am

Oh, uh. Well he isn't very good but it also isn't nice to make fun of him for it. To be fair I have been trained to play FPS games in a slow, tactical way because the ones I do play don't make the run n' gun strategy work (run n' run and oh god they're gaining on you does occasionally work, though).

I think there's different types if gamers... everyone has genera they like and genera they are good at. I'm boss at racing games but aside from Mario Kart and Beetle Adventure Racing most are too dull to sit through. Most FPS are dull or are like I mentioned above.

I'm good at puzzle and simulation games. Yes, really. I have different strategies for different versions of Tetris. I'm better at some editions than others but for me I like to be challenged which is perhaps why I prefer puzzle games, they so often get to a level of punishing unfairness that it feels like an accomplishment.

So far as being good at simulation games... well I understanding budgeting. I have spreadsheets (with formulae) to track my crafting and funds and help me decide how to play. It's all very zen for me and it feels like an accomplishment.

Col. Asdasd

14/5/2016 09:44:25 am

Is it a gamer thing or a people thing? Isn't gathering around a twitter hashtag to make fun of a hapless Great British Upholstr-Off contestant or America's Next Top Dentist a national past time? And the people doing that carping couldn't respring a bed or fill in a cavity if their mumsnet account depended on it.

At least our snipers can actually snipe! Ba.. dum.. tiss.

14/5/2016 11:17:52 pm

I kind of agree with you. Internet discourse tends to get hyperbolic and nasty no matter what it's about. Nerd culture isn't unique in that respect. The only way it is unique is that we're all desperate to prove that we're all above the rest of the nerds. Maybe because we're at the bottom of the social pile, people want to hurl others under the bus to climb the ladder for social legitimacy. Not that nerd culture is perfect, but it's also in my experience largely quite tolerant and not the seething cesspit of hate that it's getting made out to be by people who used to be its proponents.

15/5/2016 09:06:34 am

I agree :)

Your point about chucking fellow nerds under the bus reminded me of this much loved thing:

http://brunching.com/geekhierarchy.html

15/5/2016 10:36:47 am

I remember reading somewhere (I think an article, but I can't remember where) an opinion that no other subculture behaves like gamers. And it just occurred to me that it reflected this person's lack of perspective, because oddly enough they used sports as an example of something where long-time fans didn't discriminate against new ones, which was absurd (clearly they were unfamiliar with the term "glory hunter"). Perhaps the trouble with nerd culture is that at its core, its about having a fairly in-depth liking for something, which can lead to territorial behaviour. But the same can definitely be said for sports. Or music. Or pretty much anything that people get really into, because these days we often define our identities by what we consume, since a lot of the things that traditionally gave us a sense of identity (shared and individual) have faded a bit.
That said, I would admit that one thing possibly unique to nerd culture as a whole is a slight sense of victimhood that surrounds it, because, let's face it, until recently people tended to get into it partly by not fitting in elsewhere, so there's definitely a fear of losing that too.

Mr J. Crikey link

14/5/2016 10:51:21 am

Probably the majority of people are a bit crap at games, and that's fine. I don't love my dad any less just because he'll never get his head round FPS controls. But if, say, Total Guitar posted a video of the latest Les Paul to demonstrate how it looks and sounds, I wouldn't expect to see somebody repeatedly struggle through a discordant, barely recognisable version of the Stairway To Heaven intro.

14/5/2016 03:31:36 pm

Ye gods, I despise that casual-hardcore dichotomy, and the related kiddie-mature dichotomy that it spawned. Hateful and idiotic, and more than a little ironic too, as the average Medal of Duty game tends to be both easier and more immature than a bright and colourful Mario game.

Old Red

14/5/2016 07:31:51 pm

Watching this video makes me realise that I have quite good coordination, but what does it matter? Games are supposed to be fun and that's all that's important.

However, it's not the person receiving the abuse that I feel sorry for. It's the people who feel like they need to take time out of their day to fling abuse at someone else for not being as good as them at a game I worry for. That must be a vey bad place to be mentally.

14/5/2016 08:12:16 pm

RE "what does it matter?".

In the case of you and I, if we stream a game for the hell of it, it matters not one jot.

If you work for a major gaming news and review site and are publicly demonstrating a product early doors (in the context of the review copy embargo of this game) it is extremely important and matters a great deal.

Gaming sites often state in their review policy that they specifically select someone (and to quote EG's) "based on their experience with a series, game, genre or platform".

In this instance I'd say the individual displayed a huge deficiency in their experience of the series, game, genre and platform. Granted it was a demonstration and not a review but I'd expect the same standards to apply.

I wouldn't hurl abuse myself but I can understand why people who depend on such publications for information would be annoyed and frustrated after sitting through a 20 second advert whilst eagerly awaiting an informative video, only to be presented with such a shoddy and uninformative travesty.

Perhaps the publication itself is to blame for selecting the wrong person for the job. Had the guy been doing that on his own personal channel I would be vigorously defending his lack of ability. If he received death threats or was doxed then I vigorously defend him regardless. But someone calling him a richard head or something? LOL nah.

This does bring into question other reviews I've read on that site. I mean I take them at face value but how many were reviewed by a person that elso fell well short of the aforementioned standards? Surely it is not unreasonable for us to expect the writer to at least know what they are doing and be using the software correctly and competently?

14/5/2016 08:18:01 pm

My theory is that they sent the person most enthusiastic about the classic game who, sadly, had not picked up a game in a very long time.

15/5/2016 01:45:22 am

Bloody well said.

Kendall9000

14/5/2016 08:59:27 pm

As far as I can see, most of the response has been mockery rather than genuine rage and abuse.

It's not much different to people laughing at hopeless tone-deaf talent show singers, or gameshow contestants who get very question wrong. Those people have chosen to put their uselessness on display to the world - it shouldn't be a huge surprise when people take the piss out of them for it.

15/5/2016 08:54:51 am

Yeah as I've said before, I've only seen the comments biffo listed and they do indeed look like mockery rather than abuse.

I also have seen that when Polygon are fairly ridiculed, they dive on the floor like an Italian football player feigning injury and making out that they have received the most horrendous abuse.

I'm dubious about whether comments needed to be disabled at all, but even if that was justified, turning off thumb ratings was an unnecessary cowardly move clean out of Anita's playbook.

Talking of which - had that been a woman/minority playing the game in that video, Polygon would be screaming muhsoggyknee or waaacism and calling in the BBC and Guardian to do the usual smear job and falsely paint it as an example of gamers bigotry.

So when that inevitably happens in the future, be sure to refer back to the criticism this video received.

I note that InfinityWard haven't disabled comments and ratings on the quite unjustly slated Call of Duty trailer. I bet a lot of hard working people in the team producing that title are hurting right now but they have kept it open. Give them their dues.

16/5/2016 04:36:15 pm

Since we're apparently just making up imaginary scenarios to confirm our existing points of view...

If that footage was of a woman playing the game then I can guarantee you that the video would have been riddled with sexist comments.

And if I was Sarkeesian I'd disable comments on my videos too. No way would I provider people with a platform if I was constantly on the receiving end of the type of that type of abuse.

16/5/2016 04:37:15 pm

Didn't even have to look very hard https://twitter.com/ComradeBornath/status/730943144758386689

15/5/2016 02:08:00 am

This video is hypnotic, compulsive viewing. I'm 9:22 in and he tried to fire at an enemy wayyyyy over the other side of the map using ... a shotgun.FFS.

My Thumbs Are Stupid

15/5/2016 02:37:59 pm

As a PC gamer used to keyboard and mouse I can totally identify with whoever's playing in this video... I can never aim properly using an analog stick and god knows I've tried. Can't seem to get small precision movements out of it, just wild swings vaguely in the direction of a target.

15/5/2016 04:10:46 pm

Well looks like the Polygon/Doom video was all part of a deliberate experiment by Polygon relating to a new programme they have setup to increase diversity in gaming...

http://techraptor.net/content/kekraptor-polygon-starts-new-program

15/5/2016 09:47:19 pm

You know, I actually believed you until I got into the link. We've hit Poe's Law. Poelygons' Law.

HARDCORE VS CASUALS: WHY ARE GAMERS SUCH SNOBS? - by Mr Biffo

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