I don't want to put in a lot of preamble here, so I'm going to get right to the chase on this one. What is up with people getting upset over options existing as though it ruins their lives or an experience or something by virtue of existing? There, now that you know what I'm going to rant about you can keep reading or stop reading and ignore it. If you're the type of person who hates options, sorry, forget I said anything. You HAVE to read this.
Okay now for a belated preamble because I'm uncomfortable without a jumping off point. Imagine you walk into a pizza shop because you really want the original, the one, the classic pepperoni pizza. As you go to place your order, you notice that, in addition to the pepperoni pizza you crave, they also offer olives, onions, chicken, anchovies. You are not MADE to order those, but they exist. Should you complain?
I think most reasonable people would say that complaining over a diverse menu is probably a little bit ridiculous. Most restaurants offer more than one thing and society has gotten along with it pretty well. As someone who doesn't eat meat, I appreciate that I can get a non-pepperoni pizza, and those who don't want the type that I like are probably pretty happy they can enjoy their selection as well. So why is the subject of optional additions to games so vitriolic?
This all came up because Babbit mentioned something about the community in a space we've been testing out a bit this week. For a bit of backstory, this older MMO had gone through some pretty extensive changes over the past few years. Now, I totally understand not liking changes and the community was pretty loudly opposed in large numbers. The game has not collapsed, but it certainly lost some people and since then, the developers have been working to make the game more appealing to both older players and newer ones, even recreating the pre-change game in the new engine, from what I understand.
One of these new additions that wasn't in the original version is a simple card game in which players can collect cards, make decks, and play against each other and NPCs in competitive and casual environments. A cute little activity to expand the list of things to do during down time. This entirely optional mini game that has no effect on the entire rest of the game at all and is available to everyone to interact with as they want was being torn apart by hyper fans disgusted by this additional content.
Perhaps they were upset that it was not something major that expanded the game world in a significant way. Perhaps cards just make them so angry because cards burned their house down and they swore revenge to the old gods until their dying breath that all cards would suffer under the sting of their blade. Who knows? Either way, it feels like a weird thing to be upset about to me.
As both someone who has played this game both before and after the massive direction shift, as well as recently coming to terms with disappointment in changes in a certain other game, I am totally sympathetic to those upset with the change. These things are not optional and even though developers can recreate things, once a change sets in there is no going back so it makes sense to feel betrayed. But why in the world would an optional thing you can play the entire thing without engaging with be a bother to anyone?
I don't post a ton on social media because I'm pretty boring and don't want strangers to say mean things to me because I like things, but I read social media with a powerful desperation to see everything going on. Because of that and my enjoyment of video games, I get to see exciting conversations like "women don't have chins" and "women characters aren't allowed to wear conservative attire." I'm paraphrasing, of course, because for one, certain people who are apparently the voice of reason in how women can be like to say "female" instead, as though women are a curiosity they can only understand in scientific terms (I'm sure for many of them, this is probably true). It also got me caught up on the exciting new game I totally know a ton about, Dragon Age something or other.
In case it isn't clear, I don't really care about Dragon Age and maybe it's something I would like, maybe not, but it's just never really been something I've wanted to get into. It feels lore dense and as I've said before I'm in game worlds to play not to read. Or listen. Depending on voice acting budget and scale and whatnot. This isn't really important, let's get back into it.
The latest Dragon Age controversy centers around the character creator, in which the player can opt to have things like vitiligo, a skin condition that causes loss of color in patches, as well as some scars. Now, I like a character creator as much as the next person because it is fun to make a character that resonates with you whether you look exactly the same or not. Making Argonians in Elder Scrolls Online can be cool, even if you aren't a lizard person who communes with the Hist, but it can also be fun to try to recreate yourself and imagine actually fighting Dagoth Ur and then in the midst of battle he stops because you are his Moon and Star and he cherishes you and you get married and live happily ever after in a stately villa on the northeastern coast of Morrowind. Or whatever, who knows. But is it really okay to allow cosmetic options that you don't plan on using?
Yes. The answer is yes. Like I really don't get why this is a thing. Even if you hate the idea of other people, it's still absurd to get so worked up over it. Yet any time someone suggests more than one thing existing, people get insanely peeved.
On top of my dedication to reading every tweet ever made, I also like to peruse the FF14 forums from time to time and, believe it or not, people are pretty upset about the idea of options there as well. A hot topic there is the changes implemented with the launch of Dawntrail and whether or not the game is dying. I don't have exact numbers but I think it's fair to suggest that a large chunk of the population wasn't exactly thrilled with the graphics update based on the thousands of posts on the subject, so it isn't all that surprising to me to see people suggest "why not make the graphics change optional?"
Now, I am sure such a thing isn't easy to implement and would take time to figure out, but either way, this is a suggestion and question being asked as to why not do something like this. Every time it comes up, though, someone decides to explain that "no." No one ever really explains WHY no, just that no. They often say more words, but at the end of the day, they are simply dismissive of the idea, perhaps nervous that having more than one graphics style that only people who pick will see may ruin the game somehow.
Similarly, when people suggest having different styles of play, others are equally as offended, though usually with more reasons about how it might hurt balance or run times. I can understand the reasoning a little better here, but when it comes to a gaming experience, even if it is online, if implemented in a way that has minimal effect on balance, how does one person being different from you (general you) harm you (specifically you, the reader. Yeah that's right it's personal now)?
The quick answer is, it doesn't, not really, not enough to get very angry about. I can say this with extreme certainty because Final Fantasy 14 offers a couple systems that already let people play the cookie cutter classes differently through two types of control systems (controller/mouse and keyboard), and macros. As a controller player, targeting can be a little slower for me than for Babbit, who uses a mouse and keyboard, for example, and yet, when we played together, it was never a game breaking issue. Because of how standardized movesets are, some people commit their combos to macros because why not, it saves a button space and it's not like variation is all that important.
The point of all this is that people can play games differently and often do so. I mean, look at Super Smash Bros and its varied controllers. I have seen two people play, one using a Game Cube controller, the other using a Nintendo 3DS and somehow, the customization didn't cause an uproar. So I guess the point of this rant is confusion.
I am confused why people are so averse to options, to differences. Does it really matter if things are not the same all the time? Does it hurt anyone that people like and choose different options?
There is far too much contention in the world these days. It feels like online spheres are always at each other's throats to the point where not attacking the other may end in some apocalyptic disaster. Even here, I am taking a side and to some I may come across as not being particularly balanced or unbiased. Maybe I'm not, but even if that's the case does that make what I have had to say wrong at all?
We don't need to come together as gamers and unite under one banner or whatever, but that's kind of the point of this, I guess. That there ARE different banners is a good thing. We have more options now than ever, but games aren't a finite pie, they are being newly made all the time. If mushroom onion anchovy pizza doesn't appeal to you, you don't need to spit on the manager and trash the store. Just order pepperoni.
