Gamer Abuse

[Hardhead]

I was reading through the Penny-Arcade archives today, and I came across this comic:

And it occured to me that I've seen that so many times before in gamers. Even in myself. We, as a group, tend to become very attached to our favorite companies. In the same way that some car lovers hate Chevy and love Ford, no matter what individual model of car, gamers often become attached to one company or author, and will refuse to admit they can do wrong. Even blame themselves or others if it's bad (I'm sure Spell X is balanced. They wouldn't have published it otherwise. They playtest every single thing extensively. I'm probably not playing right. I just need to change the way I design encounters to accomodate it).

What inspires this mania in us? I doubt anyone will have an answer. Just thought it was interesting.

 

[caudor]

What inspires this mania in us? I doubt anyone will have an answer. Just thought it was interesting.

I don't think this is a gamer issue; it's simply a human trait. Some apply this shortcoming to games; others to cars. The need to be part of and promote a particular 'tribe' is a trait of humans, not just gamers. Humans can be particular cruel to those they deem to be 'outside the tribe'. This might explain a lot of the undesirable things we see in the world today.

Of course, I'm no expert on human behavior. Just wild speculation on my part.

 

[francisca]

What inspires this mania in us? I doubt anyone will have an answer. Just thought it was interesting.

Insecurity, manifesting itself as the desire to know everything about a particular game/setting/product line so one can show his "superiority" to others, uhhhh or somethin'.

And speak for yourself. I'm no slave to any company, game, or author.

 

[Dark Jezter]

And of course, there are people who are the opposite: They pick a company they don't like, and act as though that company is incapable of doing anything right. For example, Linux or Mac users who have a knee-jerk compulsion to bash everything put out by Microsoft.