There is an amazing phenomenon that has been growing since around 2000 and has gotten larger as time has passed. A concept grew that if you post your opinion on a game, console, or overal comapny, that you can change the world. People post youtube videos now that go on giving their "insight" into the industry, even developers such as myself have gotten swept into this phenomenon.

What is sad but true is that it is all for nothing. Scream as loud as you want, the industry isn't going to change because you posted "LOL RROD" for the millionth time. You are not the special shopper and get to go on a shopping spree. Instead, you'll irritate someone else who will have a conflicting opinion. Then you will both waste 3 days and 500k of data space in an argument that ultimately means nothing at all.

Publishers and developers will go about their way, following market trends, ignoring every "PS3/Wii/XB360 sucks" posting or thread on the internet. Why? They have a formula that they stick to, and it works, and has worked for years. So, we can all suck away minutes of our lives making elaborate "clever" (and I use the term lightly) youtube videos explaining why one system sucks or how another is "killing the industry" (whereas the industry is making a killing by ignoring everyone). Yet, at the end of the day, minus for wasting other people's time with mindless unresearched banter, we've accomplished nothing.

Some people argue for the sake of being bored, or simply liking to argue, and that's fine. Yet, it must be made clear, that no matter how much hate you try to generate, the course of action for the industry will go on. The rants that occur are like screams of mosquitoes the second before they are smashed against the windshield of a jet.

Bottom line is, people need to get over themselves. If you want to have an impact on the industry, get involved within it - and I don't mean making some biased game website (gamespot.com I'm looking at you). Get involved, join a volunteer dev team, get an internship, make some mods. Start building up a name for yourself in the industry, and then one day you'll be doing conferences at GDC and you'll have the attention of many developers and publishers, all interested in your opinion. Until then, do something more creative than scream at brick walls.

Not quite. many people have been utterly ruined by the magic of youtube. Videos of stupid moves by some people have been thrown all over the web which would have been forgotten in time. As for the game industry, your right, though I've heard stories of people scaring companies and making petitions that change what they do. but they are just stories as far as i know.

Bad reputation on the internet(or even the real word) as never stopped company from make truck full of money, just look at Microsoft or Wall Mart. The opinion of the screeching minority is simply squashed by the deaf hear of the silent majority. Looking at the average conversational and social skill of the screecher, one can probably understand why most simply ignore them.

But look at how many Rick Roll victims there are! The internet is EXTREMELY powerful!

Here's the deal, while I agree with you, the reason why I haven't written such a well thought out article myself is because opinions like this don't matter either. There will be those that play the game, and those that look in from the outside asking people why they play, but all are irrelevant just the same.

So just as the console hater's cries fall on deaf ears, so too does the opinion of the researcher watching the rat race.

That being said, good read.

*sadly puts away his twelve-part manifesto on how to forever fix the industry and guarantee record profits for all, while ensuring eternal world peace*

Comon man, we know that we change nothing at all, all we want is to have other people listen to our pointless rants so we get some attention... we also like putting other peoples opinions down to make ours look better... I know those two things don´t mix well but thats just how things are... is it because our instinct tells us to be the alpha male or is it society that forces us to behave like this ??? Frankly I don´t give a damn...

RolStoppable said: I take a guess: This thread was inspired by the youtube video of Game Overthinker. You are absolutely correct that nobody in charge will care about what people say in videos and message boards. Summary of GO's video: The comic book industry was heading into the direction to make comics more "mature" and focused on a certain demographic, while largely ignoring the kids who were the core market of comics. This meant that hardly any new customers were drawn to the market and it shrinked. The same is about to happen to the videogames industry because Microsoft and Sony have nearly nothing in their lineups which appeals to kids. Well, it would happen if it weren't for Nintendo who still provide games for younger age groups who are a large part of the videogame industry's core market.

His vid was just one of many, or as Pink Flloyd would say, just another brick in the wall. It's been an ongoing thing for some time now. Sure, he has a point, but do you really think MS or Sony are sitting and watching his vid? That's MY point. Its either preaching to the choir or fanning flames, nothing more.

@cdude - Exactly. I wrote something on the internet that was not some form of backed factual data, like a sales report or quoting a valid source, thus my OP has no weight either, though it is something that people can agree or disagree with. I think part of the issue is that the same conversations are rehashed on a weekly basis, and its becoming this stagnating, dull conversation after another. No matter how you try to break this trend, it keeps occurring and the same responses get posted time and time again. Honestly, if I see another "This is why LBP will succed" or "THis is why LBP will fail" threat, the Ewok gets it.

World peace = Overpopulation. Don't do it!

Soylent Green - the ultimate population control

When you put it that way, there is no point in a forum, so why are you here?

J/K. Maybe you were steamed about that Game OverThinker guy, IDK. He was right in some ways though.