In the mists of history, there was a time when gamers had the expectation for things to improve over time, and it was good. We would bitch incessantly, sometimes about nonsense, but on the whole we merely cultivated an atmosphere of mutual growth whereby developers were expected to critically think about ways to expand, refocus, and vary their products, and gamers in turn would support the devs dedication with their own dedication, buying more stuff, spreading positive opinions, building mod communities, etc.
...and then we flew too close to the sun. Decadence, debauchery, and sloth took over, devs let publishers dictate their creative direction, "streamlining" became the only future they considered, and gamer dedication was replaced with gamer zealotry, angrily defending any new release by once-great devs no matter how little they improved or how much they abandoned the core fanbase. Any complaint was seen as an attack, we could no longer envision ourselves as enjoying games while also noting areas of potential improvement, there was only blind loyalty and "gamer entitlement". The dark times were upon us, and hope withered with each passing day.
But lo! Games are reaching the fires of hell and turning away! So focused have they become on pleasing everyone that they please no one, and the long-lost tradition of complaining is emerging from the ashes! No longer can bug-ridden multiplayer-only cashgrabs with a brand name go unmolested, no longer can mighty publishers enshrine politics and shun quality without suffering a cutting blow to their bank accounts... but what is the future of complaining? Will we learn from history and reform complaining into a more stable and sustainable institution, or will we simply repeat the mistakes of the past?
I believe that going forward, we gamers must enshrine our right... neigh, our DUTY to complain about everything and anything, and understand that it comes from a place of love, not hate, that having a giant list of nitpicks doesn't mean you hate a game, it means you to like it enough to deeply commit to finding how it can be even better.
....and with that said, I invite you all to complain. Complain about the most glaring flaws and the tiniest of inconveniences or oddities in games or in general industry trends, particularly those you feel have gone unnoticed during gaming journalism's fall from.... well we can't call it grace, let's say fall from competence. I'll be combing through my Tomes of Bitching to come up with my own points and post them here at some point. Strive to be constructive, but even vague feelings of something just being "off" or emotional reactions can be useful, so long as we maintain the understanding that complaining is a force of good, used only to ensure the creation of better products in the future, and not simply to indulge in the sin of trolling... but I ain't your daddy (I hope... there's some hazy nights in the Phillipines...) so who the hell am I to tell you how to complain? You do you.
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Complaining- grab your thesis, the Reformation is nigh
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I'd like to point out, it's not the developers letting the publishers dictate their game making practices, they are all bought out and forced to stagnate until they are disbanded or dissolved into another studio, only for the cycle to repeat (I'm looking at you EA). But yes, I concur. In fact, not only should you complain, decide with your wallet! Still buying everything while complaining about it will not do anything.
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