With recent big game releases, it's become obvious that a game is either a resounding success, or complete shit. There doesn't seem to be any middle ground.

Kingdom Come Deliverance II is a ambitious masterpiece, and Avowed is lazy slop. 93% of Steam users recommend KCD2, vs 77% for Avowed.

And maybe this has been an issue for a long time, fed by the need to get viewer numbers on articles and videos, leading to more polarized opinions that give people a reason to pick a side, even if they're never going to play the game.

But as regular people, gamers, Lemmy posters, why are we doing the same? How is it serving us? Are we all influencers in waiting, hoping to up our updoot count and build a following of... dozens?

More than 2/3rds of players of Dragon Age Veilguard recommend the game on Steam. And yet reading the comments here and other places, you'd think that 90% of people who tried the game found it to be, not just bad, but absolute trash, with a small number of people chiming in that they actually enjoyed it.

And game studios are reacting much the same way, and are quick to start layoffs, or shut down all together.

But hey, we don't owe those corporations anything. But, as a community, do we owe it to each other to foster more honest correspondence?

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Of course there’s middle ground. You just don’t see it much with AAA games because, as you mentioned, it’s all or nothing with those.

But don’t forget about indies. They comfortably fit in this middle ground because they’re not afraid to take risks.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 15 hours ago

Yep. Most AAA gaming is too afraid to appeal to a specific segment of the market. They make games that everyone is supposed to like, which often ends up being uninteresting at best.

Smaller games can target a smaller audience and still be successful. They take risks and do new things, and it'll push some people away but many will enjoy it a lot more for it.