Bias Against the DCEU? The Numbers Don't Lie

Much ado has been made about the apparent “messes” that both Batman V. Superman and Suicide Squad have been this year. It’s safe to say that I am not siding with the critics on either movie and, apparently, neither is the movie going audience with Suicide Squad receiving an 70% from the audience versus the 27% average per critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Even Batman V. Superman (BvS) had an average rating per audience member of 65% as opposed to the same critic percentage as Suicide Squad. What is puzzling is the amount of vitriol pointed towards these movies. IGN is still posting videos about how much they hate Suicide Squad (SS) two weeks after has been released.

My Top 10 Video Games of All Time: #10

At the end of my third article discussing why gaming is leaving me behind, I promised to make a list of my top 10 games to show that I am not bitter toward gaming itself. I full-heartedly believe video games can be an art form regardless of what critics say and my list contains a number of gaming’s greatest masterpieces. A thing to remember about this list is that it is a record of my personal favorites and not a list of the objectively greatest games of all time. If you disagree then that’s fine with me, we all have different tastes.  So, I invite you to sit back, relax, put on your Power Glove and Mind Link (little known Atari reference for the uninitiated), and get ready for a discussion of some of my favorite video games of all time…

Just for your information, all of these articles may contain spoilers…

10. Final Fantasy VIII

This choice might cause some contention among gamers because opinion favors Final Fantasy VII as the greatest game in the series; however, I don’t agree. It’s not that I don’t like VII; I think the game is amazing. It’s just that VIII was my introduction into the series and a darn good one at that. Squall Leonhart was the kind of dark, brooding, and inexplicably coat-wearing hero that appealed to my 14 year old mind. It didn’t hurt that he had one of the coolest and most impractical weapons ever devised in fiction, the gun blade. I can’t imagine that sword being very comfortable to hold. 

So, other than VIII grabbing my attention first, what else makes this a better game than Final Fantasy VII? First of all, the Junction system was better than the Materia system. I can see some of you shaking your heads right now, “Who wants to be drawing Thundara out of a giant bee for 30 minutes?” Well, I get your point, but I still believe the junction system required much more strategy because in order to stay at maximum stats you would have to preserve your different abilities. For example, if you attached 100 meteors to the Lion Heart (sword) to give it maximum damage potential, then you were smart not to use too much and figure out another way to beat an enemy. 

The second reason that VIII was better than VII was that the hero was cooler than the villains. The villains of the game were a punk doppelganger and a time traveling sorceress. The latter game went through great pains to make Sephiroth the most awesome video game character ever and gamers ate it up. However, my Christian proclivities never gravitated toward the bad guy and I was a bit turned off by VII in that way.

Last, while VII was very light on the love story elements, which were implied more than shown, VII hammered the point home with a love story fit for a gaming teenage boy. This love story, however shallow and adolescent it was, helped us feel like we were playing a more mature and adult game compared to its predecessor.     

Why Gaming is Leaving Me Behind. Part 3.

Here is Part 1.

Here is Part 2.

 

Now presenting the third and final chapter of what I find unappealing in the current gaming climate...

The Politics. I am a Right Wing kind of guy and you might be wondering why I would be so disappointed with the myriad of military shooters out there which should be to my liking. Well, unlike most modern players who seem to buy games only for the multiplayer aspect, I actually like to play through the game’s plot. One of the worst experiences I had playing through a game’s story was Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. The first game’s plot was not very memorable and the only thing I can remember is the main character dying in a nuclear blast. 

The game in question, however, is memorable for all of the wrong reasons. The game starts out with the mission No Russian which I had no problem with because, like any 1980s action movie, it seemed to be setting up the terrorist villain as a horrible person that you can’t wait to kill. But, was he the final boss? No! The final boss (spoilers) was an American general who betrayed the team. The whole last mission has the player mowing through American black ops. This kind of story telling is aggravating and shows how much regard Infinity Ward (an American developer, I might add) really has for the United States. No matter how gung-ho American the developer makes their future games, I will always feel a certain falseness behind it all.

I might sound like a prude or what not, but these complaints are not from an anti-game crusader like the ridiculous Jack Thompson, they are from a genuine gamer. I have  witnessed an activity that used to be fun and exciting become a cesspool of depravity, cheating, and repelling. I want to thank the general public for ruining yet another thing I enjoy.

   

Although my current attitude seems to be totally anti-gaming, I still have total respect for the medium and the people who craft some interesting and vast worlds. I also can't wait for some titles to be released. When Halo 5 comes around, you can bet I will be purchasing an Xbox One. In honor of video games, I am going to count down my top 10 video games.                        

Why Gaming is Leaving Me Behind. Part 2.

Now we turn to the second factor Gaming has left behind: The Players...
 

The Players. I say “players” here because as I said before, I don’t think most of the people who play games today are real gamers. It takes more than being a Commander in Call of Duty to qualify as a gamer and is a prime example of the problem: the general public has become enamored with video games. A good place to look is at Facebook. I remember the chatter when Facebook was open to state universities and my college started using it. There was a certain prestige to using it over Myspace. When Facebook was open to general public, it just cheapened the whole product and now teenagers are bullying others to suicide and others live their lives through Facebook. 

The same thing, I feel, has happened to video games and the culture that surrounds them. It has been cheapened greatly and with that, certain etiquette has gone out the window. I have grown tired of Xbox Live and Playstation Network because people on each of these services have degraded the experience to the lowest common denominator. One issue I have is with the constant barrage of vulgarities slung every which way from twelve year olds and thirty year old shut ins. Sure, during the old days in the burgeoning online arenas, gamers could be somewhat vulgar but it was much lower key. After playing a round of online Halo, one can begin to question the intelligence and outright worthiness of the current and succeeding generations.

It is even worse for female gamers. They receive the most sexist, vile, and sexually charged barbs thrown their way. I am surprised any girl would want to play online at all given the constant vitriol involved in the activity. There are a couple sites (I won’t link to them because of the total depravity of the subject matter) that show the horrible comments women receive on a game-by-game basis.

This vulgarity carries over into the broken matchmaking systems of most games. When I was a more avid gamer as an undergrad, I still would go months between playing games because of work and school. This practice would be my downfall as I would mostly lose because I was matched up against experts and junkies. These people seemed to have spent months and months building upgrades while I had basic gear. Constantly losing in addition to being berated for being a “noob” and much worse things does not a fun time make. 

And don’t even bring any inexperienced guests to play with you. Some of the worst times gaming were in Gears of War after good players have died watching my guests play. I would have to hear constant insults and berating of my guests while they fumbled around trying to survive while missing their shots. 

   

Another issue which takes the fun out of playing games is the lack of sportsmanship exhibited. I have tried playing Madden online a number of times and I have found that it is just not a fun game to play with total strangers. When I am beating someone pretty handily in the game, the strategy of the other player is to disconnect their system so as not to count the game as a loss. Their lack of loss, equals my lack of win and soon I look like I can’t win any game because every time (and I mean every time), my opponent disconnects on me it doesn’t count for anything. This practice just takes all of the fun out of playing when I will stay in a loss to the end. 

To be concluded in Part 3...

Why Gaming is Leaving Me Behind. Part 1.

I once called a person a “hippie” in a somewhat negative connotation and received a lecture on how being a hippie is not about the clothes one wears, the drugs one abuses, or the politics one spews. No, being a hippie is a mentality and a way of life. I thought this description was actually quite profound in that this is how I view Gamers and Geeks. What separates Geeks and Gamers from those who like geeky stuff or like playing video games is the person’s mentality and way of life.

Someone who spends almost every waking hour playing Call of Duty, Madden, or Candy Crush has probably never experienced the rush of receiving a Nintendo Entertainment System for their seventh birthday; felt accomplishment on beating their first game, Super Mario Bros 3; watched in awe of the first Lion Heart limit break performed; or skipped their Senior Prom to attend a Halo LAN party. All of these events have fashioned me into a Gamer like so many others who have similar experiences and carry the same mentality. This is why with great regret, I have realized that the current video game culture is leaving me behind. 

Much of the reason I am not keeping up with the current trends and games is because I have a lot going on between working full time, grad school, and research. However, I would still find time to play games as I did in undergrad if there was anything worth making time for. The fact is that current trends just take the fun out of playing games. I would like to mention the three main factors which have ruined it for me. 

The Companies. Video game companies are helping to destroy the business of video games while making massive profits off the trends that are ultimately going to doom us in the end. I am a Capitalist and I have no problem at all with companies striving for profits, but that is not my point. My point is that the companies are allowed to get away with screwing gamers on a regular basis because the masses which play the most popular games don’t seem to care. 

Electronic Arts (EA), which was recognized as the worst company in America, is one of the greatest offenders as they make gamers pay for extras which used to be included in 60 dollar games. I remember turning on Madden and having to pay 800 Microsoft points just to play online and get updates. EA is hardly the only guilty party as many people are okay with paying real money to dress up avatars online or pay for necessary advancement in mobile games. The key to all of this is that companies will only go as far as the public will tolerate and, sadly, the public is just fine with being charged for every little thing as long as they get to scream epithets at someone living half a world away which brings me to my next issue: the players themselves. 

To be continued in Part 2...