Opinion: Are gamers entitled to being entitled?

Stop whining!

[Promoted from our Community Blogs!]

Whatever happened to the customer is always right? Now obviously if this were always taken literally every company would go out of business trying to satisfy every individual, but lately you can’t speak your mind about products and services companies provide us without being labeled “entitled” it’s a dirty word that’s come to mean that you’re being an unreasonable baby whining about nothing, and you hear it everywhere, almost as much as you hear developers talking about how their game’s verticality sets them apart at e3 2016.

Say anything negative about any big company and some stranger on the internet will find you and call you entitled. This is especially prevalent in the games industry.  What’s that? You think the last third of a game should be a part of the disc you’re buying for $60? Stop being so entitled. Or maybe you don’t like these localization changes being made in that game you were so hyped on? Cry more asshole. You want more games to support that Pokken controller or gamecube adapter you paid good money for? Stop whining!

One can’t scroll down to the IGN comment section without thinking that a large portion of their commenters are employed by big AAA publishers and are grossly offended when someone takes a shot at their DLC & micro-transaction practices. Don’t even try criticizing a dev or publisher on Twitter, the on-duty fanboy will make sure his or her favorite money-printing corporation’s feelings aren’t hurt. Remember, live to play and pay to win after all.

But seriously, why is it a problem to complain about an issue that affects us, whether it be our favorite franchise being milked for more than its worth or just a series being handled poorly? Well the first response to that might be toxicity. This fanbase is toxic or that community is toxic. Well to me that’s just another term that gets thrown around way too much. Both terms “toxic” and “entitled” are non-arguments thrown around by people who badly want to have one for some reason. These days it seems like everyone is entitled, and every fanbase or community is being toxic.

Its an all or nothing proposition with these guys. You either engage in the perceived frivolity or (somehow) wash your hands of it by pointing to those who actually have something to say and calling them immature. I can think of one reason for this and its because deep down we all want games to be a more positive place. The times they are a changin’ and neither party is ok with that. Some gamers want what they feel they deserve while others see this as unnecessary negativity polluting our once clean spring of video games. The truth is there is unnecessary negativity, there is toxicity, there is unwarranted entitlement, but if you want positivity or see yourself as a positive person, the solution isn’t looking for people to call babies on twitter & neogaf, because in reality, what you’re doing is coming down to our level, our toxic, immature, & entitled level that you hate so much. So I ask who is really being the positive one?

Well let me say it again. The times they are a changin’ and we’re never going back to a time of no internet and Nintendo Power subscriptions. We’re all connected via the internet and instead of just witnessing or taking part in your 4th grade cafeteria’s daily debate of Genesis vs SNES we now have access to every person’s opinions and arguments. We can put em out there and show people who don’t wanna see them. Its up to the individual to choose their battles, and there are more battles now than ever because the times have created a cynical atmosphere. The games industry gave us shit so we expected more shit, and surprise, we were served shit on a platter. If you want them to learn you have to teach them, accept your reality, accept where games are, and tell the big companies what they’re doing wrong. Maybe if many others agree then you’ll see that you actually have a case, if not then maybe you really are one individual expecting too much.

Now I know what you’re thinking “man this guy can ramble” and also “the easy answer is to just vote with your wallet.” Well in many cases that should work, but theory is often different than practice, especially in games. The Metroid series is one extremely close to my heart, and when I voted with my wallet (as did many others) by not purchasing Other M (though I did play through), you know what Nintendo did? They  assumed no one liked Metroid and put the series away for 6 years, despite the number of criticism (constructive even!) available on the internet, the same place they communicate with fans on via Nintendo Directs, they chose to ignore that and give us a game no one asked for, when they absolutely should have full well known what people wanted 6 years removed from the last entry and 9 years removed from the last critically acclaimed title in the series.

Yet here we have another point of contention for those who are willing to accept the status quo whatever it may be. Those dislikes on Federation Force’s youtube videos are unwarranted or all the Other M hate is nonsense. Well let me put things into perspective for you, Metroid isn’t Mario or Zelda, there isn’t a game or more for every year of its existence, and after Other M, fans were left hanging and burned. So very sorry I expected a good product from a legendary series. Lemme apologize for wanting a good Paper Mario while Im at it. Imagine if St. Anger was Metallica’s final album, would that sit well with the majority of fans?

I believe as consumers and fans we have a duty to voice our opinion to developers and publishers especially when its our time and money at stake. Just look at 2015’s Battlefront. People may have come out in droves to purchase that game, but unless EA show that they’ve learned their lesson with the next entry I doubt people will be so forgiving. But there are still those who will tell me I’m being entitled when I say I didn’t get my $60 worth in that game. Only in video games will you see this level of blind loyalty to money-printing corporations.

Like I will say once more, the internet and technology have changed the times. The climate is a cynical one where we expect less, and there are two sides that want what we once had. One wants the status quo regardless of the actual reality like in an Ayn Rand novel, but do so by being negative themselves, and the others who just want games to be of the quality and accessibility we were once promised but get labeled as negative or entitled & toxic ones in that pursuit. 

So what’s the solution? Its extremely simple. Allow the conversation. If you see someone with an actual thought out argument against EA or some such, just let them speak or respond with an equally thoughtful response, pick your online battles. Of course there will be those who just tweet “@EA ur a shitsucker” ignore them. Toxicity can’t grow if they aren’t taken on, just like trolls. 

So I hope this wasn’t awful. This is my 2nd blog, the first being for waifu wars, the only thing that was able to get me off my lazy ass and write a blog, but that’s just how strongly I feel about this “entitlement” nonsense. Since I got all worked up about Metroid, I’d be happy to do a 3rd blog dissecting why the series as a whole doesn’t sell well if anyone is interested, I don’t think its as simple as people assume.