Episode 002: Why iOS gets no respect from gamers

Categories: Feature

Saturday, May 19th, 2012 by Fade to Slack

Ladies and gentlemen, join Delta Attack contributors Mark A. Brooks, Markham Asylum, and Fade to Slack for their monthly roundtable discussion.

In this episode, we talk about many different topics and games. What starts as a discussion about the legitimacy of iOS as a gaming platform nosedives into a hodgepodge of off-topic treats. Marvel at one man’s recognition that he may be too old and out of touch to relate to core gamers. Listen to a conversation about Diablo 3 transform into a discussion about South Korea’s lack of an Auction House feature and Korean laws meant to curtail natural selection. And then watch as Fade to Slack does his best Thanos impression and talks about being pro-death.

By the way, you look stunning today. I just couldn’t go on any longer without telling you that.

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iTunes Link: Delta Attack Podcast

About the Author

Fade to Slack is a founding member of Delta Attack, an American expatriate in South Korea, and a true believer in the legitimacy of mobile gaming. Keep up with him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Fade2Slack so he can justify having a Twitter account.

Fade to Slack has written 308 posts on Delta Attack.

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http://www.youtube.com/user/Playsbydesign/featured Playsbydesign

Hey guys, had not idea there was a podcast >.>

iOS argument: You guys only touched on it a handful of times but I feel that the lack of acceptance for iOS among the “core” (I really dislike the term “hardcore”) is that it’s just not what they want to play. I think the term “hate” has lost its meaning in recent years. You describe groups of people “hating” the iOS platform when in reality they just don’t care for it because it’s not what they’re looking for. I mean why spend $10 bucks on 10 games you may never play, when you could spend that same on 1-2 higher quality experiences on steam or the consoles? I mean the more casual crowd outranks the core gamer market but the causal market is easily satisfied, for the most part, and doesn’t need more to their games.
The WII issue you mentioned is the same situation. It just didn’t turn out to be what people were expecting. Disappointment leads to animosity, and animosity leads to internet trolling.

Also I have to throw this out there: Gaming is not now, nor has ever been an addiction. Games fill a void not otherwise being satisfied by other aspects of a persons life. The game begins to reward the person where their job or even their peers do not. There is no addiction or any evidence to suggest that video games are addictive, scientific or otherwise. So please, a bit more responsibility from all gamers when referencing this topic. It is not an addiction. Refrain from using the term when discussing issues like this. It would do nothing but benefit the gaming community. Thanks =)

How could you call yourself a gamer and not know about Valkyria Chronicles? If anyone reading this hasn’t played the origanal yet. Do so this instant.

Troll-lol-lol: It’s pronounced Square “En-ix” not “Ee-nix.” You’re welcome d( ^-^)
- Markham Asylum
  
  Thanks for listening, Plays. I think you made good points, but I strongly disagree with your hardline stance that gaming cannot be an addiction. I experienced very real addiction to Final Fantasy IV (II SNES) and Ultima Underworld when I was in high school, and only my parents’ intervention gave me the discipline to avoid becoming addicted with the games I’ve played since.
  
  A person can become addicted to almost anything. Stating that video games are not within that realm of addictive items is just silly.
  
  Also, for those of us that grew up playing Dragon Warrior and calling it Eenix, it’ll always be Eenix, knowledge of proper pronunciation notwithstanding. ^_^
  - http://www.youtube.com/user/Playsbydesign/featured Playsbydesign
    
    In your case it wasn’t the game forcing you or creating a physical dependency, you just lacked the discipline to put it down. I am aware that games tend to bring out the compulsive types of personality. Calling it an addiction implies that it’s the games fault that the person is compulsively playing it when in reality the game is just being the game and the person is responsible for their own behavior with it. This is why gambling is not classified as an addiction but linked to compulsive disorders. Other substances like alcohol and other drugs are additives because of the physical dependency they place on the body and mind.
    
    I ask that the term game-addiction stop being used because it creates a negative stigma around gaming that it doesn’t need. It already has enough wack-jobs preaching that it breeds violence, that they are bad for children, that they are pointless. We don’t need “they are an addictive and must be controlled” showing up as well. Simply including video games under an “addictive substances” is what I find silly. Claiming people can be addicted to almost anything to me is a bit silly and honestly shows a level of ignorance with the subject. We should learn to use the terms with a bit more responsibility rather than using umbrella terms that do something more harm than good. Research and perspective are your friends. =)
    - Fade to Slack
      
      Getting back to things, though, I agree that the games aren’t addictive, per se. I’m not going to be blowing people to get my fix.
      
      People have that compulsion because it does reward players with a sense of satisfaction and joy. They then continue wanting that sense of joy.
      
      It seems moot to say that games are not addictive, but people are at fault. I’m a person who doesn’t believe the “guns kill people, people kill people” argument because, true though it may be, it’s also ignoring the fact that people with guns kill people more often than people without guns do. As such, I know games are always addictive. But saying someone didn’t have enough resolve seems every bit as ignorant.
      
      Honestly, it seems like the same thing that people say to smokers and heroin addicts. The parallels are very similar. The only difference between addiction and behavioral addiction is substances. However, if the brain creates dopamine and repeated playing is rewarding your body with dopamine, how is that not feeding an addiction?
      
      There are cases out there where people did ruin their lives or others and we just write it off as idiots ruining it for everyone. You have your Cafe World mother who left her kid in the tub. The Korean couple who abandoned their kid to play WOW in a PC room and returned home to a dead 4-month old.
      
      I know that there isn’t proof that states, specifically, that it is addictive. The dopamine production tends to draw that line under compulsion. However, compulsion is also pretty dangerous.
    - Markham Asylum
      
      I would never blame a game for causing addiction. A person with compulsive tendencies will find something to which they can be addicted, whether that’s a video game or something else.
      
      Plays, it seems as though you try to deal in a lot of absolutes, but life is far too complicated for that. Everything is constantly evolving, even the definition of addiction. Talking about a “true” meaning of a word is just semantic nonsense, because what’s true today probably won’t be down the road.
      
      Open-mindedness and flexibility are your friends.
- Fade to Slack
  
  Thanks for listening, sir. However, I would like to put counterpoints. I do wonder, as I mentioned, how many people dismiss it who are acting like its Green Eggs and Ham. I think there are elitist game snobs out there that are not particularly open to iOS gaming.
  
  That said, I do understand where people could be against it. But it gets no respect, I believe, because it’s so very different from what is out there. The App Store and Steam are very similar, really. I know what you’re saying, but you realize that distinction between “casual” and “core” is always kind of elitist, right?
  
  While I was stating the way it has been mishandled in Korea, there HAS been research into why games could be addictive.
  
  http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/2575/are_games_addictive_the_state_of_.php
  
  I know Wikipedia isn’t a perfect source, but…
  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_addiction#United_States
  
  The first step, sir, is admitting you have a problem.
- Mark A. Brooks
  
  Heya Matt, thanks for taking the time to give us a listen; thanks also for the feedback. Much of what I’d want to add to this conversation has already been put out there by the other two amigos, but I’ll go ahead and chime in for shits n’ giggs.
  
  Largely, yeah, the iOS gaming landscape doesn’t resonate with many gamers; app games are less ambitious and considerably lacking when compared to the kind of experiences they’ve been conditioned to and expect as a result. Most folks who have zero love for iOS fit comfortably within this category – simple and honest ambivalence. Clearly, there is a vocal group of haters who put their opinions out there at every opportunity (“Apps aren’t games”, etc.), but much of that can be chalked up to the kind of thoughtless elitism we often see in the gaming community, where opinions are prostrated as law and defended as such.
  
  It does feel to me, though, like iOS has a massive bull’s-eye painted on it among the community; you never have to look far to find people putting others down for enjoying iOS games. Beyond the standard fare of why this is, I get the sense that there is a fear that, due to the inexpensive development and massive commercial potential of these kind of games, that the gaming landscape will eventually shift in their favor, resulting in fewer choices for the core down the road, or that the free-to-play model and “time saving” micro-transactions you see in app games will eventually find their way into the ivory tower of console games.
  
  Honestly, though, I’d wager that a lot of these folks just view iOS as the new team in the league, and they’d rather all those victories were going to the home team instead.
  
  As a final nitpicky aside, I think that most people are reasonable enough to draw the distinction between textbook addiction and what we reference as ‘gaming addiction’. Within the realm of reason, I don’t think it’s meaningfully irresponsible to liken compulsive gaming to addictive behavior; I believe that most people would agree that gaming can be addictive in the sense that it presents an opportunity for the predisposed to latch on in a way that is detrimental to their overall well-being. The semantics of addiction have been argued enough in this thread, though, so I’ll just leave it at that.
  
  Thanks again for listening, sir, and for the thoughtful feedback.

Episode 002: Why iOS gets no respect from gamers

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