My friend. (Gaming)

by Kermit , Raleigh, NC, Friday, October 28, 2022, 12:49 (756 days ago) @ EffortlessFury

Again, read my posts. There was complaining. It was not the majority of posts. Most people were perfectly happy with 2, 3, and even Reach.

Squid's insistence is admittedly making me question myself though, maybe the wayback machine has a lot of those pages? I'll check it out later.

The difference you are seeing is not in the sentiments but in how they manifest. Whether then, or now, the way people express sentiment online, the way we perceive that sentiment, it has never been a statistically accurate sample of overall sentiment.

The data set is skewed, first and foremost, by who is online to express such sentiment. You must then consider how the general online sentiments and mentalities, the general gaming sentiments and mentalities, and the platforms via which people express themselves shape behavior and the sentiments themselves.

Not only does negativity have a compounding effect (which means it was going to be worse now, as time has passed, regardless of any other changes in the actual games themselves) but as the internet population grew, these online behaviors and mentalities leaked back into the real world more strongly, as well.

The Halo games themselves have a part to play in how people have responded to them, that's a given. However, the nature of discourse and fandom has changed so dramatically that it'd take several research papers to even have a modicum of confidence to say what all has contributed to these differences and to what degree.

At this point books have been written about how the media, and social media in particular, rewards negativity, and how that's changed how people think about themselves and each other. It's a downward spiral.

I strongly suspect that the reaction to Halo 2 in the present online climate would've been quite raucous. Bungie was forgiven for their mistakes as what they did manage to land was novel in that specific moment in time. They were saved by serendipity, especially when you consider the interviews that discuss how Halo 2's multiplayer was looked down upon by the rest of the dev team.

I think that's exactly right.