The video game industry has a huge problem with their consumer market and the comments they leave. But the overall question is: why do gamers whine so much? Today, we find ourselves viewing consumer comments, called gamers, that emit slander and chaos across a wide variety of things. This can range from online multiplayer matches to video games in general. As if the whole consumer market is one gigantic oversized child. They not only treat each other poorly within the gaming community, but they threaten the content developers of video games more harshly. This form of treatment can obviously be seen as childish and immature. But why do gamers whine so much?
Apparently, the standing reason for their behavior is the aliases that gamers create when generating an online profile. In the YouTube video presented by Caleb J. Ross, gamers create a reduced social accountability profile that masks their real identity. The profile is an interpretation of the gamer and allows them to not take credit for anything they say or do while gaming. In other words, gamers do not take accountability for anything while playing video games in general with their self generated alias. This allows them freedom and flexibility to be anything they desire, regardless of the consequences.
However, there is one huge thing that is overlooked about a gamer’s behavior. While the reduced social accountability is definitely a valid reason, there exists the foundation itself of why the behavior festers. Think about what a video game does in general; a person is in a state of play that they are controlling. The key word is “controlling”. Video games offer people experiences and entertainment within a medium that they can control. The type of control varies from video game to video game, but the resounding truth is that video games offer people realms of possibilities. If a gamer has been exposed to many forms of video games, then the gamer has experience of being in control of many actions. Therefore, a gamer is something like a control freak. They have been in control of many things and want to continue feeling that dominate position. In the YouTube video This is Your Child’s Brain on Videogames presented by the Wall Street Journal channel, the discussion of how video games effects the brain is apparent in children and can easily be seen in all gamers. The brain is stimulated greatly while playing video games and causes gamers to receive pleasure. If the pleasure is disrupted, a gamer will exhibit a behavior that is aggressive in all aspects of their life.
Video games, like many other forms of entertainment, do not stay the same and continually change over time. Since video games change without the input of a gamer’s acceptance, you can expect the type of reaction that a gamer will exhibit. Frustration, anger, tempertantrums, and many more verbs and nouns that follow. This type of behavior is pretty consistent within children, but even worse when talking about gamers. Once a gamer is upset, the frustration comes directly out of them without consequence because they are using an alias. With the alias in effect, a gamer without prejudice, can take any form of action they desire. They will continue their assault, whining non-stop, until they gain control once again. Even scarier, once the control is back in the gamer’s hands, the desire intensifies.
Even with all this stated, there is another perspective that needs to be viewed about why gamers whine so much. This perspective is about the state of society today and how people are being treated with their entertainment. There are many angles that this can be reviewed, but one significant point is the entertainment style in general. In the YouTube video by Film Courage, an interview about the state of films today, a question is asked to a movie director if most films are garbage. The movie director states that there are many more restrictions on entertainment content than ever before. Meaning that movies have been conforming indefinitely and lack creativity to expand. Developers have more and more things to consider and cannot be allowed such freedoms from the past.
This type of development model is clearly reflected in the video game industry. As developers are constrained to delivering content to satisfy society rules and regulations rather than their consumer market. When a new video game is on the horizon, gamers nowadays assume the worst because they have experienced what a video game can really offer them. Instead of being happy about the new game, gamers leave slander and horrible comments. Looking up comments on social media platforms is a great example; the comments on any recent news release about a video game always has nasty reviews. The problems only multiply with each new video game presented, which gamers actively try to change because they have experience with their prior gaming habits. The control factor that gamers exhibit within their gameplay experiences comes forward in their comments when they view newer video games. Gamers want to control the outcome of their gameplay experiences more and more because of the pleasure that have established. Their comments are mostly taken into consideration, but never fully implemented to avoid society problems.
In the end, gamers continue to whine and are never fully satisfied. Whether the multiplayer match is going poorly, a new or existing video game is on the horizon, or they are just mean to begin with, gamers will continually whine no matter what. When push comes to shove, eventually the means of whether someone can genuinely accept that video games are not worth crying over is the day when gamers will evolve.