exis's Blogs

The first album I ever listened to was Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness, from The Smashing Pumpkins. My brother had it on cassette. When he was benevolent enough to allow me to borrow it, I would insert it into the family stereo in the living room, and play with my lego set. I wasn't allowed to turn the volume up very loud lest I disturbed my parents watching TV in the next room, so I would position myself next to the speaker, close enough that I could get the full effect of drowning in a beautiful cacophony of Iha and Corgan. I was seven, and although my musical tastes have grown and fluctuated, it remains my favourite piece of work by any artist.

Imagine my disappointment, then, when Billy Corgan blogged not-so-long-ago that he would no longer play his old tracks in concert. That was from a different era, he said. He had things to do, musical areas to explore. It was time to put that away and behind. Not to be discarded, but to be placed carefully to the side. Something precious and loved, but nonetheless past it's time.

The outrage was fierce and vehement, the likes of which only the internet can provide. How dare he? The 'Pumpkins were nothing without us, their loyal fans. Nothing. And for him to turn around and spit in our faces like this, and refuse to play the songs that we know and love? What right does he have? If I want to hear Zero again, he better damn well be happy to play it. Why, he owes us.

... And that was about when I realized that I differed vastly from those cursing and shaking their proverbial internet fists. I really didn't feel like I was owed anything. I had bought albums because I liked the music that was on them. I never thought that what I was actually doing was securing a set list to be played in fifteen years time. It honestly never crossed my mind that I was owed anything. If anything, what drew me to the band in the first place was that it was something I had never experienced before.

So maybe I just don't have the right mindset to deal with this particular topic. But I'm going to try anyway, since it's something that keeps rearing it's not particularly attractive head. And I feel like those throwing accusations of selling out like confetti at a wedding ought to be put to question. This is certainly not a new issue, and I'm sure it's been explored several times in the short history of our young industry. But it hasn't been explored by me, and I'm hoping I can make sense of the ridiculousness, at least for myself.

The subject is, as I hope you already realised, the sense of entitlement rife amongst hardcore gamers. I use the term 'hardcore' as I think most of us have come to understand it - indicative of those that consider gaming to be more than something to kill some time with. A lot of the hardcore are relatively young, and never experienced the beginnings of what has become and expansive and wide-reaching industry.

I'm old enough that I could have been playing on the SNES back when it was synonomous with "video games", but I never did. Perhaps that's why this perplexes me. Was there something in particular about Nintendo back then that instilled such a fierce sense of vicarious pride that the player somehow crossed over from simple consumer, stepping onto the Nintendo development team and/or shareholder? That might explain a portion of the moaning. Otherwise, I remain clueless.

I'll continue with the Nintendo example, as it seems to be a popular gripe. Something which might clear up some misunderstanding is clarifying exactly what Nintendo is. Nintendo is not a charity for nerds. Satoru Iwata does not spend Christmas Eve flying around the world dropping copies of brand new Mario titles down the chimnies of twenty five year old virgins (citation needed). Nintendo does not pay it's employees in geek-love and fanboy-hugs. Nintendo is actually, believe it or not, a business. It has shareholders, and obligations to those shareholders. Those obligations include stipulations such as "make us as much money as possible". They have a very real, very significant, and very legally binding need to comply with those obligations. Even if the cost is people being angry on the internet.

I began writing this before this years E3, at which Nintendo socked it to the naysaying grizzled fanboys by simultaneously announcing a new Metroid, and two new Mario titles. The OG's (Original Gamers, yo) suddenly remembered that Nintendo was the teat from which the golden nectar flowed. Yet only a few months earlier, Nintendo's reputation was being called into question with increasing regularity. The question on everyones lips seemed to be, "Is Nintendo neglecting the hardcore?". While I think this E3 has well and truly quelled such speculation, I also believe that we were asking the wrong question.

Insinuating that Nintendo was ever neglecting the hardcore implies that Nintendo owed something to core gamers, and failed to supply it. Much like Corgan's fans demanding the same old tracks, Nintendo fans were demanding the same old franchises, the same old characters, the same old games. And much like Corgan's fans, those complaining were unwilling to consider that all those years ago, when they had handed over weeks of paper-run pay checks for a copy of Super Mario Bros, they were only paying for that copy of Super Mario Bros. There was no IOU slip stapled to the game booklet promising exactly 12 more Mario titles over the next 30 years. At no point was anything more promised. So the question should never have been "Is Nintendo neglecting the hardcore?". It should have been, "Does Nintendo owe the hardcore anything?".

That's a matter of opinion, but I know what my answer is.

This piece is not about Nintendo, though with all the rambling I would understand if you thought so. In fact, I was intending to speak a little more broadly, but I'd like to keep this digestable (I may write something short on the laughable Left 4 Dead boycott soon). What it is about, is self-important, spoiled man-children that feel that the $100 they spent fifteen years ago grants them the right to curse and deplore businesses for not catering to their particular whims.

Be happy that you experienced something special enough that you still want more of it, once the experience is complete. Be happy that the people that made that experience possible are able to continue doing whatever it is that they want to do, even if that might not be what you want them to do. And be happy that one day, if you're lucky, you may just get more of it.

Just remember that you aren't owed anything.

^{'Cause in your sad machines,
you'll forever stay.
Burning up in speed,
lost inside the dreams, of teen machines.}

 ^{- 'Here Is No Why', Smashing Pumpkins}