26 November, 2013

Blog Opening - Videogames

   Here’s the thing about videogaming: It has come a long way from ye ole joystick in a box that got you through boring school day afternoons. It is no more the mental sedative that lulls you into your ever-welcoming couch, having your cognition slowly drained from you and rendering you in a zombie-like state of existence. Video games have evolved into a fairly comprehensive spectrum of the human experience. They now engage your senses and mental facilities alike and you’re introduced to a wikipedia of broad emotional and intellectual experiences. It’s a very beautiful thing.

   I can barely, however, say the same about the recent gaming scene, particularly most targeted ages. In this sad generation, gaming is all about petty, pride-generated competition, morally degraded fanservice and basically just food for basic animal instinct (coughlollipopchainsawcough). Personally, I think this form of competition, no matter the intricate tactics or skillfully-executed combos involved, does very little to actually help the mind grow and gain life experience (somehow, in that aspect, I think Japanese games a liiittle ways ahead). True, games like Call of Duty and Battlefield may serve to teach you about teamwork and the importance of working together as one platoon in pursuit of one goal…in theory. Unfortunately, I can accurately summarize my multiplayer experience in said games with such endearing words as “lawl noob”, “GTFO”, “Fuck you, you ain't no player” and the like.

   That being said, there is one game I’ll mention that actually manages to serve that purpose quite well: Monster Hunter, the game that teaches you to instinctively jump in front of your partner to save them, to constantly buff each other and a great sense of tactics founded on teamwork. From my many years of experience with Monster Hunter, I've noticed this gaping contrast to common western multiplayer games. I realized, although jumping into a new party for the first time might feel awkward at first, just five to ten minutes into the game you’d feel that beautiful lost sentiment that is harmony. You’d feel you’re a true team and naturally aim to help your partners, protect them or just want to quickly kill off the monster to get it off their backs. Whether for selfish reasons like obtaining bonus money at the end of the quest or just being nice, the action remains the same-- you tried to engage with the other person in order to beat the quest you’d agreed to take on (Plus, the fucking soundtrack...). Panning back to our non-Japanese first person shooters, rather than choosing your own missions as a team, you’d normally be thrown into a random mission, teaming up with random players who would in turn curse at you and your supposed incompetence and/or flex their ginormous epeens at you. For the record, this is coming from a long-term Halo and Call of Duty player. You may also be less than thrilled about me comparing two different gameplay styles together but the main criterion still applies and it’s about chemistry and understanding, which don’t seem to exist in this generation anymore.

   Let me further illustrate my point with another example. Take Phantasy Star Universe and Phantasy Star Online 2, open games to two regions at the same time. In these games, you can easily jump from one block to another within the same server. So, while the game kind of has a Star Ocean theme and probably doesn’t cater as well to our American gamers (most of whom prefer M16’s and grenades to good teamwork), there were quite a few non-Japanese gamers and they formed a large community spanning two or more blocks (a block holds nearly 1000 players). When I first came into the US blocks—let’s say non-Japanese blocks. It’s more respectful that way—all I saw was just total chaos and an utter lack of order and common decency, save a small number of players you could have a good time with. All you’d see was shouts everywhere and overbearing profanity, much in contrast to the Japanese blocks on the same game, where it’s fun, quiet and, most of the time, your requests for help are actually answered by nice players who are more than willing to play with you and have a good time and a few laughs, you know, like they were people playing video games. That is, of course, assuming you’re familiar with the Japanese language, but if not you’ll still enjoy a nice, peaceful, swear-free time.

   But I digress….The main point is that gaming now is about the consoles, not the games—the business, not the fun—marketing wars, console wars and all of that competing over what? “Mine’s bigger” or “I've been a fan of this game for way longer therefore I’m a way more loyal fan”, “loyal” here being a chocolate-coated stand-in for obnoxious elitism. The way this word has devolved is pathetic. Being loyal to a certain company is just you preventing yourself, under the notion of being a true video gamer, from actually being a true video gamer. You’re supposed to be a video gamer, not a consoler, not a fanboy/girl, not a Team [insert console/title/company]er or whatever other prejudicial terms you want to mash up! With the degree of ‘dickmeasurism’ among gamers nowadays, they may as well be comparing cars or their latest gadgets as it no longer revolves around gaming but rather hardware. They should get into PC gaming—that’s where the hardware war lies. Not that I support software contention either, but saying for instance that Sonic is better than Mario is more understandable to me than saying the PS3 is better than the Xbox360. The former is simply a matter of preference that everyone is entitled to whereas the latter is a matter of spec-comparison you can only hash over for so long before it turns petty. Same principle applies to religious debates, it seems. :p

   So, for those “Xbox One is shit” and “PS4 is shit” people, pardon my Anglo-Saxon but you are shit. The consoles weren’t even out yet before the war began. If you want to talk specs, the Xbox360 was inferior to the PS3 but it revolutionized the gaming industry. The Wii was also exceedingly inferior yet has seen far more memorable, fun times and quality entertainment than the Xbox360 or PS3. SO! Now that the new consoles are out, particularly the games, you can choose your ‘preferred’ console that maybe has a more comfortable controller grip for your hands, has more of the type of games you prefer or you enjoy your time playing and move along.

   Personally, rather than going “I have an Xbox One mwahaha” or “I’ll buy a PS4, it’s way better!”, I’ll try to buy both consoles. Why? Because I’m a video gamer, not a consoler. That’s the main point. Play video games, don’t market them, because not everyone is a good spokesperson and most are bad at it, so please live up to the title that you chose and play video games. There’s far too much hate in this world to begin with without you fuelling it further. Xbox fanboys, grow up. Playstation fanboys, SERIOUSLY, grow up. Nintendo fanboys…I don’t know what to say to you, you’re always so quiet…so…rock on!

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PS: I’m not an Xbox, PS or Nintendo fan in particular, I just play video games, enjoy them and learn from them and if I offended anyone I apologize but I was simply calling it like I see it. If anything, my rants come from a good place, a positive point, never a negative one. Thank you for taking the time and attention to read thus far. :)

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