In the first of Ready Up’s head to head Grudge Matches, two writers argue opposing views on whether gamers complaining on the internet have gone too far. Metacritic’s website has been deluged by militant gamers determined to drag down the User Score for recent big name games such as Dragon Age 2 and Portal 2. There have been bitter complaints at the price of DLC as well as game length and the quality of content. Do players have the right to say whatever they want or should it be a case of less QQ, more pew pew? Maybe it’s time gamers just STFU? It’s Dan vs. Kirsten in our first Grudge Match. Have your say on the forum.
 Dan: In recent years the gaming community has become infected with a severe case of entitlement and while this infection has only targeted a minority it has the unfortunate side-effect of making that minority very vocal. I’ll make my position clear on some of gaming’s hot topics: I don’t mind if developers charge for DLC that is already present on a retail disc. I also do not mind them charging £5, £10 or £15 for additional content, be it map packs, additional characters or even visual enhancements like costumes or horse armour. It is entirely the choice of the developer and publisher how much content I get for my initial £40 and how much they charge for any additional content. I do not mind because it is entirely my choice whether I buy their game or their content.
Now I’m not saying that gamers do not have the right to complain but what bothers me is that they choose the least effective manner to do so. In recent weeks two major releases have been the subject of protest using the user score system on Metacritic. What did this achieve? Only one thing, it has devalued the legitimacy of Metacritic user scores. That is all: a dirty protest. Another recent example comes from the fighting game community, a community I am sometimes ashamed to be a part of. A leak that the Arcade Edition of Super Street Fighter IV would indeed be released for home consoles was met with enraged vitriol and scathing complaints across forums and comments that this upgrade of the title should be DLC and not a retail release, the truth being that no official source had ever claimed the delivery method one way or the other. As it happens the content will be released as DLC and a content-complete retail disc. It is even getting the PC release that fans have been braying for. So that should have shut everyone up, right? Oh God no, just wait until Capcom announces the price, if they release it for 10 MSP and the disc for 50 pence people would still find reason for unfounded, badly researched complaints. There is one tried and tested mantra for letting a company know you are not happy with the goods they sell and that is not to buy them. It may be a little overused in this kind of debate but for good reason: you have a choice and a means to control the way games are sold to you. Vote With Your Wallet. To hammer my point home I wish to quote, as best as I can remember, the two most ridiculous complaints about video games that I have ever read on the Internet. The first, an example of how little understanding some gamers have on how games are developed, was in response to a screenshot of the Marvel Vs Capcom 3 character select screen. The commenter berated Capcom for using up two of the squares on the grid for Random Select, he felt that “they should have just put two more characters in instead”. The second, an example of how little research someone will do before complaining, comes from this very site and is the following comment on our feature titled Rift Giveaway, “with a question like that you might as well be giving it away”. Why do these people choose to make their stand by spamming comments and forums or negatively ranking a game? Because it’s easy, because it takes very little time and effort and because really, they don’t care all that much. Like a petulant child they are screaming and throwing their toys around and like a good parent the industry is ignoring them. |
 Kirsten: Your first instinct if you are a highly eloquent, cerebral gamer may be to want gamers who are mouthing off incoherently about games not meeting their expectations to shut up, lest they make us all look bad. I think we should support our uncouth brethren though. I certainly don’t support the sections of the games media who last week slammed gamers for skewing Metacritic’s User Score for Portal 2. They are not our brethren, they are our employees. These are Games Journalists who are able to give their precious time, research skills and writing talent as well as use the major platforms of their websites by virtue of the money we pay them. Instead of working in a paperclip factory or at a checkout till they can pay their rent and buy their food because they instead get a wage for writing about games. The money is derived through advertising, which comes from the games publishers, which comes from the games bought by gamers.
Last week opinion pieces on MCV and Rock, Paper Shotgun told gamers to shut their mouths and stop whining. I find that an incredibly disrespectful way to talk to your employers. Dan says that the development industry is ignoring these mouthy, childish gamers. I’d suggest they simply know what side their bread is buttered, unlike the games media, apparently. So what’s the brouhaha about? Some gamers went on to Metacritic and added one- or two-point scores out of ten for Portal 2 to the User Score. Let me just make that clear – the USER Score. It doesn’t affect the Metascore decided by professional journalists, who within the remit of their job must balance their view, research their theories and justify their decisions. The complaint against these gamers? That they didn’t research or justify their score. Well that’s tough titty. They don’t have to. I remember the brilliant videogame internet show Consolevania would often boil their reviews down to a game being basically “quality or pish” and that is how most gamers think. Just like kids, when it comes to playing a game, it’s either the best thing ever or can fuck right off and that opinion might change at any second. That’s just the way it is. It’s not a measured thing. It’s worth noting that user scores are very often much higher than reviewers’ because fans of a genre or franchise will often vote up their new purchase out of excitement. I’ve never heard too many complaints in those cases. If you actually read the low scoring users’ comments for Portal 2 or Dragon Age 2 over at Metacritic they have some reasonable concerns about length, gameplay, and DLC costs but their way of expressing that is to score games as a one or a 10. I agree with Dan, and the other articles that have been doing the rounds in the last week – the best way for a gamer to make their point to a publisher about a game or its DLC is to vote with your feet or as Dan put it, vote with your wallet however apparently you’re not allowed to vote with your vote. Well that’s just nonsense. You can write, and say what you want and you can pick any number to express that from one to 10. It’s your vote, it’s your say. Don’t let journalists tell you you’re doing it all wrong. You’re not. |
Whose side are you on? Take it to the forum!
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