I can’t speak to the streamer bit since I don’t concern myself with streamers, but this is close to how I see friendslop. It’s a flavor of the month game that’s made harder to ignore because IRL friends keep bugging me to play it with them because “it’s only like $10 broooooo”, even though I’ve seen them regularly play games like that for a month or two only to ditch them, not talk about them again, and move onto the next friendslop. Often, they even look like really good games, but all the badgering from people I know wanting to play makes me view the game with contempt for reasons that don’t have much to do with the games themselves or the people who made them.
I’m unsure how much of this is just me being an antisocial curmudgeon, but it’s a lot easier to ignore things I don’t care for – even if other people are talking about how much they like them a lot – when I’m not being pestered to participate.
I see it like buying a movie ticket. For $10 I get a few hours, maybe a dozen, of fun with my friends for the next month or so. Not every game lasts forever or has to
It’s more the peer pressure aspect of people trying to get me to play the game than the game itself. However, on reflection I think this is just me being closed minded about new experiences and unhealthily isolating myself.
The more I think about video games, the more I think the only games that have a right to exist are ones that someone could be one and done with in 2-4 hours. Like a fun friendcore game you play with friends a few times a year when you’re not able to meet physically, or a singleplayer game that explores a concept with gameplay but can be finished in one fairly short sitting. Medium to long games, be they AAA action-adventure slop, CRPGs, simulations, or online multiplayer games, are basically a bunch of hedonic treadmills that provide the illusion of getting better at something meaningful to pacify one’s unmet need to play or achieve something in a physical, real, and socially mediated way. I say this as someone who jumps from long single player game to long single player game.
Video games are the modern day opiate of the masses, even when they succeed at being art. Ironically, it was the recently released longform single player game Clair Obscur that really nailed this thought into my mind.
In my mind, I compare it to the local cost of a beer. If I spend $10 for one beer with friends that lasts around 20 minutes, I shouldn’t really feel guilty about spending $10 for a small game that I play with friends for several hours. It’s just part of the “socialising costs”, like going to the theater or paying for go-karting.
I can’t speak to the streamer bit since I don’t concern myself with streamers, but this is close to how I see friendslop. It’s a flavor of the month game that’s made harder to ignore because IRL friends keep bugging me to play it with them because “it’s only like $10 broooooo”, even though I’ve seen them regularly play games like that for a month or two only to ditch them, not talk about them again, and move onto the next friendslop. Often, they even look like really good games, but all the badgering from people I know wanting to play makes me view the game with contempt for reasons that don’t have much to do with the games themselves or the people who made them.
I’m unsure how much of this is just me being an antisocial curmudgeon, but it’s a lot easier to ignore things I don’t care for – even if other people are talking about how much they like them a lot – when I’m not being pestered to participate.
I see it like buying a movie ticket. For $10 I get a few hours, maybe a dozen, of fun with my friends for the next month or so. Not every game lasts forever or has to
It’s more the peer pressure aspect of people trying to get me to play the game than the game itself. However, on reflection I think this is just me being closed minded about new experiences and unhealthily isolating myself.
The more I think about video games, the more I think the only games that have a right to exist are ones that someone could be one and done with in 2-4 hours. Like a fun friendcore game you play with friends a few times a year when you’re not able to meet physically, or a singleplayer game that explores a concept with gameplay but can be finished in one fairly short sitting. Medium to long games, be they AAA action-adventure slop, CRPGs, simulations, or online multiplayer games, are basically a bunch of hedonic treadmills that provide the illusion of getting better at something meaningful to pacify one’s unmet need to play or achieve something in a physical, real, and socially mediated way. I say this as someone who jumps from long single player game to long single player game.
Video games are the modern day opiate of the masses, even when they succeed at being art. Ironically, it was the recently released longform single player game Clair Obscur that really nailed this thought into my mind.
In my mind, I compare it to the local cost of a beer. If I spend $10 for one beer with friends that lasts around 20 minutes, I shouldn’t really feel guilty about spending $10 for a small game that I play with friends for several hours. It’s just part of the “socialising costs”, like going to the theater or paying for go-karting.