I’m a casual Half Life enjoyer. Spent some time on the subreddit and man is it off the wall.
Tunic has an interesting fandom. That writing system has inspired a lot of cool stuff. The subreddit is censored six ways from Sunday because of how spoiler-sensitive the game is, but I have to wonder what random passers-by must think.
The Undertale fandom has permanently put me off trying the game. It’s not really my kind of game anyway, but I enjoy the soundtrack.
Minecraft has to have had the biggest demographic shift in its player base I’ve ever seen. I bought the game when it was in beta. Most fans were adults who were able to give a random Swede 20 bucks via PayPal. After the game’s release, and especially after the console ports and eventual MS buyout, the average age got younger and younger. I miss the old Minecraft forums.
Undertale’s fandom makes 10x more sense when you realize it started off with the same people from the Homestuck fandom (Toby fox used to do Homestuck stuff before Undertale).
Deep Rock Galactic has a great fandom since everything about the game is about cooperating with others. Risk of Rain’s fandom is also pretty chill.
Every fandom that gets popular enough will eventually become kinda toxic and have gatekeepers and people who take the game way too seriously. I wouldn’t put too much stock into fanbases unless it’s a multiplayer only game.
Gatekeeping is necessary for many things, though. Otherwise the thing will be changed into something its not and the thing you loved will become something different that you don’t love. Taken from you by other people coming in demanding the game be changed to fit their tastes instead of enjoying the game as the developers and artists originally created it to be.
For example, Survival Horror as a genre has been all but erased by the “Action Shooter with Horror elements and Over The Shoulder Camera” genre every big name is copy-pasting nowadays. The only Survival Horror games coming out now are the very occasional indie game.
Gatekeeping isnt inherently toxic. Yes, some people can be overly obnoxious about it, but usually that is an indicator that their favorites have been victimized before, and they dont want to lose another one. Becoming mainstream almost always destroys niche stuff, and most of the time it is better to remain niche than erase your identity to “appeal to a wider audience.” Lots of examples of that ending badly.
Maybe you have a different definition of gatekeeping, because for me it always meant fans keeping other fans out of the fandom for various reasons. I don’t see how that prevents other developers from developing similar games or the genre from shifting with new trends.
I dont think gatekeeping should prevent new people from playing a game, per se, but I dont see anything wrong with telling people to play a different game if they are demanding the game change to fit their tastes.
Basically, if someone is acting like they know better than the developers, and their “improvements” don’t fit in line with how the game plays or feels, then their opinions on the game shouldn’t really matter. They have a problem with the game, and the problem is that they should play a different one.
I don’t go around saying how Final Fantasy should stop being a turn based JRPG just because turn based combat and random battles make me go to sleep from boredom. I just don’t play those games because they aren’t for me.
I guess thats really the issue: not every game (or movie, book, comic, etc) is for every person. Expecting that every game should change to fit your own tastes is toxic, and shouldn’t be allowed in communities. Unfortunately, all too often it is allowed and the result is disastrous. It alienates the core fans that would spend money and soon after the entitled people leave to ruin the next shiny thing.
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Undertale’s fandom makes 10x more sense when you realize it started off with the same people from the Homestuck fandom (Toby fox used to do Homestuck stuff before Undertale).
Deep Rock Galactic has a great fandom since everything about the game is about cooperating with others. Risk of Rain’s fandom is also pretty chill.
Every fandom that gets popular enough will eventually become kinda toxic and have gatekeepers and people who take the game way too seriously. I wouldn’t put too much stock into fanbases unless it’s a multiplayer only game.
Gatekeeping is necessary for many things, though. Otherwise the thing will be changed into something its not and the thing you loved will become something different that you don’t love. Taken from you by other people coming in demanding the game be changed to fit their tastes instead of enjoying the game as the developers and artists originally created it to be.
For example, Survival Horror as a genre has been all but erased by the “Action Shooter with Horror elements and Over The Shoulder Camera” genre every big name is copy-pasting nowadays. The only Survival Horror games coming out now are the very occasional indie game.
Gatekeeping isnt inherently toxic. Yes, some people can be overly obnoxious about it, but usually that is an indicator that their favorites have been victimized before, and they dont want to lose another one. Becoming mainstream almost always destroys niche stuff, and most of the time it is better to remain niche than erase your identity to “appeal to a wider audience.” Lots of examples of that ending badly.
Maybe you have a different definition of gatekeeping, because for me it always meant fans keeping other fans out of the fandom for various reasons. I don’t see how that prevents other developers from developing similar games or the genre from shifting with new trends.
I dont think gatekeeping should prevent new people from playing a game, per se, but I dont see anything wrong with telling people to play a different game if they are demanding the game change to fit their tastes.
Basically, if someone is acting like they know better than the developers, and their “improvements” don’t fit in line with how the game plays or feels, then their opinions on the game shouldn’t really matter. They have a problem with the game, and the problem is that they should play a different one.
I don’t go around saying how Final Fantasy should stop being a turn based JRPG just because turn based combat and random battles make me go to sleep from boredom. I just don’t play those games because they aren’t for me.
I guess thats really the issue: not every game (or movie, book, comic, etc) is for every person. Expecting that every game should change to fit your own tastes is toxic, and shouldn’t be allowed in communities. Unfortunately, all too often it is allowed and the result is disastrous. It alienates the core fans that would spend money and soon after the entitled people leave to ruin the next shiny thing.