So am I just supposed to hate the game?

You not play the game right.




I reverse your reversal.

1. You must've missed ED.
2. Forums are for opinions, some of which will be negative and you won't agree with. Strongly positive and negative opinions come from passion. The day you stop hearing passionate opinions on the game, even passionate negativity, is the day the game no longer interests anyone.
3. Golden Girl has a posse.
4. ???
5. Profit

WARNING: I bold names.

The moment someone stops saying anything positive or negative about the game is the moment the devs need to worry about losing that person.

Passion for something you love is a good thing.

The ones who don't care are the ones who quietly unsub, giving no reason for why they left on the exit survey.

I don't see all negative feedback as hating the game, nor do I see all positive feedback as loving the game.

As others have said if it's getting to you, stop reading the forums.

EDIT: If something is bad the devs are going to hear about it, if something is good they are also going to hear about it. I honestly couldn't care less what folks think about what I post, as the ones that matter (the devs) are the ones who will or won't read it.

Thanks for the little pick me up guys, I needed it . I guess I've always just found gratuitous cynicism in general to be well, depressing. Someone says something that I like is terrible and then I start wondering if they're right and wondering if I have terrible taste because I like it or am I just terrible period and yadda yadda yadda...urgh. Well I still really do like these forums, but the more I think about it the more I realize that it's not the playerbase at large I have an issue with, it's four or five players who just WONT SHUT UP about everything they feel is wrong, which has given me a bit of a false impression as to the overall cynicism of the playerbase. Needless to say, those people are getting put on the ignore list as soon as I finish typing this.

I guess the thing I'm really mystified by is the sudden outrage over bad storytelling. Of all the times to rage over bad story in this game why now? This is some of the best storytelling we've ever had, with mechanics and story practically waltzing together after spending most of the game's lifecycle in seperate rooms. Where were all these content police during like the I10-I12 era? You know the era of "HEY GUYS LOOK THERES NICTUS IN ROME. WHY? I DONT KNOW BUT HEY, THERES MECHAS AND NAZIS HERE TOO. WHY? WELL BECAUSE THE TASK FORCE IS OVER GOODNIGHT."

I'd post about how I like such and such from this game but it'll soon devolve into saying the same thing over and over, and nobody likes spam.

Likewise, I could post each and every time I find the storylines laughable, and that'd get old just as fast. I'm not necessarily of the opinion that story in video games is like story in porn, but I'm certainly not playing this particular game for that purpose.

You raging and being passive aggressive about it won't change a thing about my behavior or anyone else acting like me. I can only speak for myself for this next part, but I actually get a kick out of people having that sort of reaction, because I believe it's intellectually weak to go and rag on others just to try and guilt some emotional support out of folks.

I HATE this game for making Titan Weapons and not having Giant Scissors be an option. The possibilities they have ruined has shattered my heart. I F&*ing HATETHEM>@

ps, is it wrong that I never realized consciously there were mecha and nazis in ancient rome until I read the post above this one? Takes a lot of out of context to phase this old city hand lol.

Debating the broader conceptual frameworks that deliver storytelling and fighting action in an MMO is almost a hobby unto itself, at least for me. But then, I have been fascinated by game design for over 30 years, and my brain is almost incapable of playing a game without studying its mechanisms at the same time. The present-moment joy of playing occurs while in the game, while the post-game analysis happens when I'm not (e.g., during the day when I'm at work and I have lots of available forum reading/writing time).

While I'm playing CoX, I am mostly caught up in the action and not terribly focused on the things I don't like. I tend to let them slide in order to move on to the next stage of action. It is only after the fact, when I have the time to go back and examine what I do or don't look forward to encountering again in the game, that my more critical side comes out. And, for better or worse, these forums are the best (only?) stage for discussing them with others who are also intellectually invested in the game.

So even though I enjoy playing, and I think it is the best MMO I've ever played, I am nevertheless keenly aware of all the ways in which it--and pretty much all MMOs for that matter--are profoundly flawed. If you've never spent 30 years absorbing countless game designs (especially in the wargame/RPG arena) and working out in your head--and maybe even on paper--what does and doesn't work best, then you'll probably never understand why anyone would be so passionate about picking this game (or any other) apart so mercilessly.

And the same goes for storytelling. My profession puts me fairly close to ground-zero in the Hollywood entertainment "storytelling machine", which means I am all too familiar with all the ways in which writers typically fail to tell compelling stories, especially in long-form. Add to that decades of reading superhero comics that both inspire shouts of "F**k yeah!" and groans of despair, and you have someone who is perhaps oversensitive to all the ways that CoX tries to deliver a great superhero MMORPG experience, but falls short. It is only natural to want to express and vent, and find others to commiserate with.

I've seen this happen to many MMOs. I have a theory:

As players play through the game they get used to the current quality and content, and with this become hesitant of any changes or additions that aren't what i currently there. Also, they begin to be annoyed by tiny things that didn't bother them before, mostly because the mild inconvenience doesn't go away. They continue to yearn for the days when they were new and just had stupid fun with the game, but sadly once they have learned they cannot unlearn. Not being aware of this, they put that "stupid fun" expectation on newer content, never realizing that it is impossible to play that way once you've learned, and not realizing that it isn't the game that has changed, but themselves that have changed.

This makes for a mad forumer.

OP, I think your basic premise is very flawed.

If people hate something they avoid it - it would be very strange behaviour to stick around and lambast something because you don't like it when there's almost a whole internet to float around in and enjoy and plenty of other things to enjoy/hate (delete as appropriate)

But what you may be seeing here is some very dedicated and passionate players who have one or more aspects of the game they dislike or don't enjoy - and actually want to let the Devs know, rather than walk away.

There's another point: Most people will talk about the stuff that's a problem for them rather than the stuff they love. Because if you love it there's no requirement to say what needs fixing, why you love it etc... sometimes saying you love it is cool but there's far less of a critique that needs to go into it.

Bottom line - it's not hatred or vitriol - but those sensations can be amplified by "teh ineterwebs" and human nature changes online because of the removal of polite fear - people aren't scared of a punch in the face online, and in human history mass communication in this manner is very very new and unique. We still probably need to get to grips with it a bit more.

The upshot of all that is it can give a somewhat skewed perspective of how people really feel about the game.

"You got to dig it to dig it, you dig?"
Thelonious Monk

Forums exist for ranting.

Not really, but...every game that has forums generally has lots of discussion of things people don't like. *shrug*

In case it matters, I don't hate the game, love it still, and the irritant parts I either put up with (Gold farmers, notell invites) or don't bother with (IOs, Incarnate, AE broken in certain ways) and it's all good.

/How else do you explain my making a brawl only character and continuing to level up past 23 at the moment? Hm?
//Bap... bap... bap... bap...