Your most "controversial" opinion in gaming

Learning to play the violin badly or learning snippets of Chinese you'll eventually forget with your kid isn't better than playing a game with your son. Arguably, the latter is much, much better.

An example here is Overcooked. It looks like a fun game. And it is. But it's also a practical team-building exercise in which players learn that they can't do it all and that effective teamwork is based on respect under pressure to perform and effective communication within the team.

Cladmir wrote:
jdzappa wrote:

I feel like a good parent when I play godawful kids games and Fortnite to connect with my son, but deep down inside I fear I’m being a horrible parent because we aren’t practicing Chinese or violin.

I should be learning another programming language instead of gaming.

Do both. Download a Pimsleur or Rosetta Stone program for your phone and listen to it while you commute and/or work. FWIW and as a former military cryptolinguist, I have personally found Pimsleur easier to learn from than Rosetta Stone.

A_Unicycle wrote:

If you want a real big unpopular opinion you can judge me for, I think Oblivion, Skyrim, Fallout 3, Fallout New Vegas are all dreadfully boring. I just never got behind the level scaling and wonky combat. I like the writing (especially in New Vegas), the world-building is great, and they can tell fun stories with the environment, but I can't stand actually playing them.

I remember playing Kingdoms of Amalur right after Skyrim, and enjoying it more because the combat was actually satisfying to play with. I don't like Fallout 3+ at all - the setting is completely unappealing to me and that seemed to be all it had going for it really.

vypre wrote:
Cladmir wrote:
jdzappa wrote:

I feel like a good parent when I play godawful kids games and Fortnite to connect with my son, but deep down inside I fear I’m being a horrible parent because we aren’t practicing Chinese or violin.

I should be learning another programming language instead of gaming.

Do both. Download a Pimsleur or Rosetta Stone program for your phone and listen to it while you commute and/or work. FWIW and as a former military cryptolinguist, I have personally found Pimsleur easier to learn from than Rosetta Stone.

On this note, I deleted all the games off my phone and put Duolingo on it instead, about 5 months ago. I can now have rudimentary but functional conversations in Spanish!

Note, I still game plenty, just not on my phone.

This isn’t controversial but it goes against what most people, at least in the media since there’s no thread here, seem to feel; I don’t think I like Outer Wilds.

Opinion 1: I enjoyed reading this thread.
Opinion 2: From Soft has never made a good game.

LarryC wrote:

Learning to play the violin badly or learning snippets of Chinese you'll eventually forget with your kid isn't better than playing a game with your son. Arguably, the latter is much, much better.

An example here is Overcooked. It looks like a fun game. And it is. But it's also a practical team-building exercise in which players learn that they can't do it all and that effective teamwork is based on respect under pressure to perform and effective communication within the team.

Cheesy as it sounds and maybe is, I'm also hoping to link fun and learning in my kid's brains to a certain extent. And for my eldest, who quickly gets angry at herself if she doesn't succeed immediately, I'm hoping that games can teach her that failing is okay and sometimes even fun.

Graphics are overrated

There are too many games now

I can't tell the difference when I change the graphics settings (unless it's resolution)

Farmville was great and you loved it too

Budo wrote:

There are too many games now

I wouldn't call this controversial. The number of releases and unexpected DLC drops and updates this year is just insane. I've always had an extensive Steam backlog, but that's mostly games I look at an just say

"Eh, I don't really want to play that... I might not ever play it."

Right now, I've got a pile of games, updates, and DLC that leaves me wanting to play each and every one and unable to choose between them. I'm just jumping from one "Ooh, shiny!" moment to the immediate next.

Most Nintendo games are not fun.

WASD movement controls suck.

Outward is a RPG first and a survival game 4th (It's also excellent).

Oblivion is better than Skyrim.

dejanzie wrote:
LarryC wrote:

Learning to play the violin badly or learning snippets of Chinese you'll eventually forget with your kid isn't better than playing a game with your son. Arguably, the latter is much, much better.

An example here is Overcooked. It looks like a fun game. And it is. But it's also a practical team-building exercise in which players learn that they can't do it all and that effective teamwork is based on respect under pressure to perform and effective communication within the team.

Cheesy as it sounds and maybe is, I'm also hoping to link fun and learning in my kid's brains to a certain extent. And for my eldest, who quickly gets angry at herself if she doesn't succeed immediately, I'm hoping that games can teach her that failing is okay and sometimes even fun.

I agree that having "bonding time" with your kid is a lot more important than making learn what you think is important (perhaps out of some weird regret like "I should have learned how to play piano, so now I'm gonna make you do it so you won't regret like me when I grow up"), but [controversial opinion here] I still don't think games are the best way to bond. I will admit that I enjoy playing mario kart w/ my girls more than playing legos with them, or read stories with them, or taking them on a walk to the park/playground, but I feel that all those less-fun activities for me are better bonding experiences for them than games.

I should clarify that when I say "game" above I meant "screened" games like console, PC, etc. I feel that board games, card games are another category that is "better" than screened games. Heck if there's something that screen games can teach, I think that there are non-screen games (chess, D&D, miniature games) or other activities that could teach it better. I'm not saying gaming is bad, I just would rely it as the primary way of bonding or learning.

Cladmir wrote:
dejanzie wrote:
LarryC wrote:

Learning to play the violin badly or learning snippets of Chinese you'll eventually forget with your kid isn't better than playing a game with your son. Arguably, the latter is much, much better.

An example here is Overcooked. It looks like a fun game. And it is. But it's also a practical team-building exercise in which players learn that they can't do it all and that effective teamwork is based on respect under pressure to perform and effective communication within the team.

Cheesy as it sounds and maybe is, I'm also hoping to link fun and learning in my kid's brains to a certain extent. And for my eldest, who quickly gets angry at herself if she doesn't succeed immediately, I'm hoping that games can teach her that failing is okay and sometimes even fun.

I agree that having "bonding time" with your kid is a lot more important than making learn what you think is important (perhaps out of some weird regret like "I should have learned how to play piano, so now I'm gonna make you do it so you won't regret like me when I grow up"), but [controversial opinion here] I still don't think games are the best way to bond. I will admit that I enjoy playing mario kart w/ my girls more than playing legos with them, or read stories with them, or taking them on a walk to the park/playground, but I feel that all those less-fun activities for me are better bonding experiences for them than games.

I should clarify that when I say "game" above I meant "screened" games like console, PC, etc. I feel that board games, card games are another category that is "better" than screened games. Heck if there's something that screen games can teach, I think that there are non-screen games (chess, D&D, miniature games) or other activities that could teach it better. I'm not saying gaming is bad, I just would rely it as the primary way of bonding or learning.

Totally agree. My dad both played baseball with me (amongst other things) and played Atari with me. I remember the baseball, basketball, etc. far more fondly than I do the video games.

EverythingsTentative wrote:

Most Nintendo games are not fun.

WASD movement controls suck.

Outward is a RPG first and a survival game 4th (It's also excellent).

Oblivion is better than Skyrim.

IMAGE(https://media1.tenor.com/images/48c81d299709caa4b932f3d0a83da653/tenor.gif)

Spoiler:

WASD, don't care. Outward, haven't played. Just jiving you.

garion333 wrote:
EverythingsTentative wrote:

Most Nintendo games are not fun.

WASD movement controls suck.

Outward is a RPG first and a survival game 4th (It's also excellent).

Oblivion is better than Skyrim.

IMAGE(https://media1.tenor.com/images/48c81d299709caa4b932f3d0a83da653/tenor.gif)

Spoiler:

WASD, don't care. Outward, haven't played. Just jiving you.

IMAGE(https://media1.tenor.com/images/a4d8133d20670d0ed4be4cc28aa183c2/tenor.gif?itemid=8128195)

Bethesda, and their "let the customers be QA" approach to development is a blight on the industry.

Final Fantasy VII is sh*te. Final Fantasy XII is way better.

Most people's controversial opinions aren't particularly controversial :).

Mr GT Chris wrote:

Most people's controversial opinions aren't particularly controversial :).

Game people really love making themselves sound like Zoroaster for opinions held by large swaths of others.

SpacePPoliceman wrote:
Mr GT Chris wrote:

Most people's controversial opinions aren't particularly controversial :).

Game people really love making themselves sound like Zoroaster for opinions held by large swaths of others.

IMAGE(https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/sheeple.png)

To be honest, it is places like this, where people feel safe enough to open up and share their opinions (and don’t have to worry about being flamed to death) that allows people to know they are not alone, or at least find out that the noice from the minority is just that, noice from the minority.

cube wrote:

Bethesda, and their "let the customers be QA" approach to development is a blight on the industry.

There needs to be some kind of anti-sale bell that rings in game studios' management offices every time a customer says "Cool, $NEWGAME is out! I'll buy it after the first couple of patches once they fix the worst of the bugs."

As far as the definition of "controversial" - here I use it very loosely, in the sense that noisy opposition exists, even if that opposition is a minority. Even "buggy software on release" is controversial given the popularity of "early release" games. (Maybe this is *my* controversial opinion, but too many ER games aren't even ready for limited user exposure- to be a stickler, if you're going to external testers you're in beta, not alpha.) But that's not Wrong Fun; it's not for me but if it is for you, go to it and have fun.

People who pre-order games are saps that gaming companies know they can continually take advantage of again and again and again by launching incomplete products that they plan on "patching" well after launch.

That seems to be getting worse, especially with multiplayer games. The idea of the 'minimum viable product' has crept into gaming... get something going that you can start charging for right away, and then keep adding to it. Fallout 76 would appear to be the best current example.

E-sports athletes should not be looked on with admiration, but pity; it's the kind of thing where you have to utterly dedicate your life to it, and you're too old to keep playing competitively before 25. These kids spend years and years getting good at their chosen games, and then what? With sports like gymnastics (which have their own problems, clearly), there's at least a potential career path, as there are a number of coaching positions, opportunities at schools, and the private gymnastics academies I see reasonably regularly, but what does a kid who's good at Overwatch do when they're suddenly no longer able to keep up and they're only 23 and their only job skill is knowing when to drop Reinhart's hammer?

I imagine they would do fantastically well piloting and leading drone squadrons if they got some pilot training under their belt.

I think that holds true for the majority of professional athletes. You have to think about what comes after. And, hopefully e-sports won’t leave you a physical wreck.

Mr GT Chris wrote:

Most people's controversial opinions aren't particularly controversial :).

The most controversial opinion most of us have is probably that "There's nothing wrong with gaming even when you are an adult"

Compared to the rest of the population, that pretty much makes us all heretics.

Edit: Here's one: Nintendo should really just have made the Wii 2, Wii 3 etc. Let's face it, its really what most gamers and non gamers want. The Switch is just a Wii remade, very badly.

Loved this thread.

I hate what the Final Fantasy franchise has become. Also, I'm scared to retread old FF titles because they might also be just as bad as the new stuff that's coming out.
Enjoying From SW's titles says more about how much time you have to game instead of your taste for "difficult gaming".
EVERY Megan man title sucks except Mega man 2. It is known.
The latest God of War writing and story is fine.
The present-day story and dialogue of Horizon Zero Dawn is cringe inducing, while the entire "world is doomed" story beads is great story telling.

Finally, this thread has made me want to try out ME2 and ME3.

---------------

Upon re-reading my post, I think I just needed to get things of my chest rather than posting "controversy".
Sorry for the spew.

Most games aren't close to being art and Roger Ebert was closer to correct than I gave him credit, even if many of his points were uninformed.

garion333 wrote:

Most games aren't close to being art and Roger Ebert was closer to correct than I gave him credit, even if many of his points were uninformed.

Eh. Ebert's argument is circular and self-defeating, and relies on a reductive and short-sighted definition of what constitutes a game.

Essentially "You can 'win' a game, so it can't be art, and games you can't win aren't games" neatly sidesteps the touchstones of most games-as-art conversations.

My controversial take is that if a form of media can make you cry, that media is capable of artistry. But I entirely agree that most games aren't art, with a corollary that they're not even attempting to be. There's a huge distinction between "games ARE art" and "games CAN BE art, but often aren't".

Honestly, the entire conversation stems from the nebulous and manifold definitions of the word. Graphic artists use their art to make art in games, and making games is more an art than a science. Which one of those are we talking about?

Mr GT Chris wrote:

I think that holds true for the majority of professional athletes. You have to think about what comes after. And, hopefully e-sports won’t leave you a physical wreck.

Yes, but, due to the nature of how colleges functionally serve as minor leagues for sports, going into athletics generally means you get at least some element of an education during your developmental time as an athlete. E-sports athletes' professional career pretty much coincides with the time they'd normally be getting an education and building some kind of marketable skill, and it's not like there's likely to be a significant job pipeline from "good at Overwatch" to "anything else". Other forms of "usual" sports have potential pipelines into a career via education or the fact there are lots of opportunities to coach sports from high school through the pros, not to mention significant numbers of people employed in administrative roles. There's nowhere to go with E-sports, and I don't think that's likely to change.