Modern gamer psychology and how I hope it does not influence the future development of Planetside 2.

It's a disease, a plague.

Great post. Agree completely.

I understand but is not just these "days".


Here is the Problem with the OP's example.


He is comparing Old school games that weren't played online vs An MMO that sells weapons....Huge difference.


Has nothing to do with today's gamer...It has to do with logic


1.Back then their was no forums(doubt most games had them, doubt most people had internet)

2.Back then Their was less competition....(I mean it was kids playing multiplayer, nothing compared to today)

3. Back then you didn't buy guns with real money.



So what happens now when people buy a crappy gun and see guns that are way too good....Logically they complain and come to the forums.

This would happen in any time Period in history!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!




Here is the thing people like you and OP try to do.




You guys are trying to make it seem as their is nothing in this game that is OP......That is just the problem of today's gamer....Sorry but that isn't that case, their is a lot of problems in this game.



As for games being "dumb down"......how is asking for better balance, being "dumb down".....Hell I think it will make the game harder if their weren't OP weapons (yes their is), Better AA,etc.


So yeah stop saying BS

Listening to the whims of the new players and poor players is definitely a no-no. Though balancing through skilled players is a benefit. Basically any nerf this - nerf that, on forums should and will be ignored, (I hope) and tried true play testers get the say in the end.

I agree.

But as an adult, 27, we have to adapt to the changes we have available to us, if your travel a lot you will notice that first class is not the same as first class elsewhere. For example, in USA there is more laws that defends the consumers. Take for granted air travel. New rule about being stranded on the runway for 4 hours. How is that any different from sitting in a traffic jam for 6 hours? Ok how about sitting in traffic for 6 hours and having to PEE??? Are we going to start making a law that forces to guy who cause a traffic jam for 4+ hours pay each person in that traffic jam $5 for every hour after 4 hours.

We have too many amenities available to us. In your example, back when we played games there was no such thing as "patches" and updates. We buy the game and play as intended. We don't complain because our mindset was the game was created to be beatable, its player skill and can only be explained as player skill as other players beat the game.

+++++1

It is OP lol, and it's banned at my N64 Goldeneye nights. So is Oddjob, just too being too damn short was OP.

I live for trouble.

Also, i am a bit of a hypocrite, because you all had to bring up Goldeneye 64. WHY did you have to?
Oddjob was a ******* OP son of a ***** bastard that we never allowed anyone to pick during split-screen duels.
Oh great, what little credibility my post had is now gone.

Seriously Blizzard, fix Oddjob omg.

I could not agree more with the OP. Great post.

That's exactly the reason why stuff like this pops up: http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...riter-laments-increasingly-toxic-fan-feedback
Players seem to feel more and more entitled to give a comment about gamedesign when they don't understand jack **** about that subject. In the case of F2P games that also often comes down to "OMG, It's called free - so I want everything for FREE". Player feedback has indeed become toxic and while there are some few really concerned and intelligent feedback posts, I desperately hope, SOE does not listen to the (rightfully) so-called vocal minority of people who seem to know everything better than the devs.

I read a thread here in the technical forum about hackers, cheats etc. in PS2 and seeing all the players who claimed that it's totally easy to deal with that sort of thing and of course the SOE devs are too stupid/lazy and just don't care.... made me sick.

[Edit]
As far as I see it, this is not about balance, it's not about games being perceived as "dumbed down" and being more difficult in the past (with which I'd disagree a bit), it's about player entitlement. They feel entitled to get something their way. Entitled to get stuff for free, entitled to win a game or see all its content without putting much effort in it (hello, WoW), entitled to get the content they want (not what the devs intended), thinking they know games and game development better as the actual developer.

Well to be fair, when we startetd playing it was different. One thing that has definitly changed to the worse is that many promising games are launched before they finished. This of course opens the doors for criticism which often is well deserved. Well of course games back then were buggy to, the original Gothic had even more bugs than Gothic 3

Als Multiplayer for me were sitting in a dark room with friends and playing COD, UT, Golden Eye, C&C etc. Aka. the dark age of gaming. Now you dont have a few friends playing togehter, know there are thousands of players who com from diffrent countrys and do not even know each other, discussing games.

But in PS2 all this blaming the game is really overhelming. Just a example. In the Infiltrator board is a discussion going on how bad the cloak is and that instead, the Infiltrator should just be invisible, and near to impossible to spot when he is not shoting. People are actually demanding stuff now, that 10 years ago you could only have with cheat codes.

A guy with a Magrider in his avatar speaks about "man up" in his OP.

Your typical VS player.

But "cheap" and "lame" did... Oh yes, the days when people made up their own rules about what was fair and called anyone who played to win "cheap" by using what was given to them in the game.

Great times indeed.

No.

May I suggest the timeless article Playing to Win. Every "gamer" should read it. In light of the article, I may call Magriders "OP" (and indeed, I truly believe they are. By the very definition of unbalancing the game). However, I will not shun anyone who uses them, because they are using what they're given. I will not call that player "lame". One should use what one is given and let the developers make the balance calls.

I usually don't like it when people make broad statements about the current generation of gamers. Those threads tend to turn into nostalgia (which i can understand) and elitist ranting (which i often don't understand).

That being said, i still have to agree with a lot of stuff being said by the OP. This mentality of entitlement is a real problem, and not only for online games. I don't want to pretend i knew what is going on in the heads of all those people, but i agree with Badname3073 and his theory. I know i had my fair share of problems with that sort of insecurity not too long ago (and really still have).

I'm not sure how big the issue really is in PS 2, as i usually ignore threads that are likely to contain mostly whinning. The majority of people i actually know within the game are rather old (usually much older than me, in fact) and mature, so maybe my perception is warped.

But generally i think there is good potential in the playerbase of PS 2, and i reckon that a lot of the players you criticize will leave PS 2 rather soon anyway. So i can understand your fears, but i think there is hope for this game.
What i'd like to see is it moving more towards PS 1, which had some good concepts in it that could be very useful if implemented properly in PS 2.

Regarding the state of video games industry in general: Yeah, the situation is pretty bad, but luckily there are enough modders and independant developers that still make innovative and challenging games. I personally do not fear ever running out of good games.

@Original Poster: Big problem in your wall of text I didn't bother to finish. You mentioned games like Pac-Man and stuff and talked about balance. These are single player games, not multi-player games. I have known people all my life through all areas who have complained when they lose at anything competitive. You may want to stick to single player games

What's worse is my money is no good, I can't by OP weapon X because I'm faction Y. Three options change sides or ask on the forums for an Empire specific equivalent or state OP/UP.

Ps2 can never be balanced, there will be times where your skill could never make a difference to an outcome. Just as there are times where your skill gave you an edge to succeed. There are simply to many 'knobs' that need to be tweaked, furthermore players roles are effected by a subset of these knobs. To balance one players experience can be to the detriment of another players role.

For an Mmo this game is very individually focused, the leaderboard is who got the highest rank, the best k/d. You don't unlock weapons with teamwork. The big picture is about progression and humans been humans look to exploit the best means to do so as quickly as possible, any imbalance will be seized.

Answer? I have a few but they are not without their problems also they probably fall on deaf ears and result in personal attacks so the impetus to spend the time formulating them isn't their.

The mentality of most players nowadays and companies have put us where we are now.

I'm 27, and I remember alot of the old games I played. Most of them were challenging and fun.

Nowadays? Theres very few games that I look forward to, that I go, damn, that was hard, and it was fun. Very few games have me actually think about what to do.

Agree with OP

I've dabbled in every game type and when it comes to most shooters im generally pretty good, I have a desire to try and become good with the weapons n classes that nobody likes or uses because I enjoy the challenge of it.
I ALWAYS play a games singleplayer through to end before I touch MP, force of habit, If you look over the course of game history you can see how spoon fed gamers want to be, Frustration is part of any kind of challenge, when have you been challenged by something and not at least felt a bit of satisfaction that you overcame it. Single Player used to be like that. Metal Gear Solid, the old Rainbow Six games.

MP has taken a similar turn. you used to have to spend quite a while getting good at the game but now days the Devs want help you more and instead of even meeting you half way they pick you up and carry you by removing most use of time acquired skill and putting it in the shape,form and functionality of a gun/perk or piece of equipment.

I struggle to be come a capable close quarters bolt action sniper in any game that gives me the chance, its my preference ever since MOH:AA. It gets harder with every new game that comes out including this one because the lack of aiming skill that needed to use every other weapon. Devs will always make things easier because they know there is money to be made in doing so, its business evolution, companies stop releasing SDK's and the tools needed to mod their games now because the free mods that come out make the public realise how little effort they put in to their games when they prefer to charge those few bucks for maps that public make and give away for free.

What a wonderfully well written article & 100% accurate. I really hope SOE doesn't cave into the "nerf this/nerf that" crowd & waters this game down to be like everything else on the market. To many gamers these days are quick to blame game mechanics when it is their performance that is lacking.

At any rate +1 OP. Hope the entire community sees this.

I think a big part of the problem is just who the "gamers" are now. Gamers are EVERYONE. Back when I started gaming this was not the case. We were the "nerds" (which are now called "boss" ). We had computers, we had IQ's well above normal, we enjoyed problem solving. The people writing games were nerds as well. Corporations were run by people 2 generations away from us, they had no idea what was coming with computers, there was almost no marketing or shareholders to please.

So games were written by nerds for nerds. They catered to us.

Now gamers are the mainstream. Every mouth breather is a gamer. Success in games is only counted in millions of dollars. Development budgets can be at levels we never dreamed of in the 80's. Nerds are still nerds, and we still game, but instead of being the gamer we are just a segment.

What would have been considered a huge success for PS2 10 years ago would be called a flop today. They feel they don't need the "hardcore" gamer, and that by catering to us they will lose the new average gamer. In the short run they are probably right, in the long run though that average gamer is just going to move on, and the hardcore will have gotten pissed off and left.

They are not stupid though. Its about the money, and if they project X dollars vrs Y dollars and X dollars is more, no matter how "bad" the game is, they will go with option X.

When I hear people in my outfit talk about how "awesome" lock on weapons are and the like, I give a mental sigh.

This sort of sums up a lot of it.

I'm just gonna come out and say it: A lot of people in the world have a sense of entitlement that they do not need to improve at what they do in life to be successful. It has just spilled over into gaming. Instead of trying to become better or play a game the way the developers intended, it is easier to just ***** and whine and moan for nerfs/buffs.

Just a quick note. Underpowered and overpowered very much existed in the early day. In competitive games, SF2 for example.

They just need to get on the tank and stab in with those spears. Victory! Then the spearmen have a tank!