Poor taste in games – a reason to end friendships

Got into a funny yet disturbing discussion how consumer behaviour in a weird way can affect the perception we have on our friends. A friend and I discussed bad taste in the games some people play. Games like Saints Row, 50 cent and the countless sequels of Mortal Kombat were mentioned. The point my buddy mentioned were that bad taste in games annoyed him so much and he joked that for him it ended a friendship when one of his friends bought a Mortal Kombat game.

Now, I don’t really think it ended that friendship, really, but it puts up the discussion on how strongly gamers (and music nerds and film buffs) invest emotionally in their interests and how it becomes problem when they feel the need to compare their tastes with others.

In a way maybe it has to be an issue about different opinions. Perhaps some people really think that a game with “Fitty” is the peak of game entertainment. And perhaps some people really really, until-hell-freezes-over fucking don’t. When those worlds “collide” it can be illustrated like this:

“Guess what games I just bought!”
“Street fighter IV?”
“Saints row II!”
“Oh…”
“And Fitty’s latest game.”
“But doesn’t Killzone II come out this week?”
“Killzone? Nah, that’s too much fantasy.”
“But didn’t you like playing Halo III multiplay?”
(Yes, I don’t like the Halo games)

I guess (even though the example may be extreme) some people recognize my friend’s argument on how different tastes in games can be straining on buddies who spend a lot of time playing games.

Why invest time in game talk if you can’t even agree on what games you like and don’t like? Instead, if you’re not as annoyed by his/her taste in music, movies or whatever – spend time talking about that instead.

Bad tastes cross breed however so it’s probably not worth seeing that art house movie together – especially if that person loves teabagging kills in Halo. (I know I. really don’t like Halo.)
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Steam screwing European customers

A major ruckus amongst online game consumers started after last year’s adjustment from US dollars to euro on Steam’s European online store. Sites like Steam Unpowered identified a 24 % increase in prices compared to the UK version of Steam’s online store. (Both stores had already VAT included in the price) Valve seems to be awfully quiet about the situation. It’s a shame how a popular game service like Steam risk losing consumer trust like this.

(I like to believe) PC gamers are tech savvy consumers who are known for doing informed purchases and who easily spread their opinions on things like technology, games and other game related services to other less tech savvy consumers.

One thing about the Valve that is positive abouth this matter is that people tend care about Steam, but to counter that maybe that’s because they already invested in games before the currency switch and now feel screwed. I guess if you screw your consumer base too much the game market on Steam will decrease in consumer value – and Steam’s customers will take their money elsewhere.

Retailers and publishers seems to be the main villains in the new pricing direction on Steam. So what can game consumers do right now? Keep Steam on hold and stop buy games at European retailers – screw them back. Import them from online stores in the UK, the US or other non-european markets where game prices seems more reasonable and consumers are not treated as complete fools.