Opinion: There's no one quite as angry as an Angry Birds hater

CheekyLee | 16:23 - 17 April 2012

Snobbery! That is exactly the word I use to describe this idea that seems to pervade where so many dismiss the title as "Not a real game, only a hit because it is cheap" or "Everyone is buying it because everyone else is", when it is actually a hit because those who picked it up early on were enamoured enough with it to show it to others, and they went on and did the same. Angry Birds is a success story, and we should really be celebrating how well it has done instead of sneering because it didn't do it with polygons and a deep story.

Kamille | 16:55 - 17 April 2012

I really don't get why we should care about other people liking games like Angry Birds or not. Is not like they'll be playing Metal Gear or Halo any time soon... If ever... Beside, a gamer is anybody that play games. Any kind of game.

Axe99 | 22:58 - 18 April 2012

Aye, but Ninty fans are very defensive about their games these days, particularly given that Ninty's design teams are stuck in the late 1990s/early 2000s. More broadly, I don't think gamers who play more complex games hate Angry Birds, per se, but find it a little strange how a 'pick-up-and-play minigame' has got such critical appeal. There have been games of similar style, complexity and quality of Angry Birds for literally decades. Of course, what it probably really means is all this fuss about one of these style of games now is because of a far wider audience suddenly discovering gaming (often after snobbing consoles and PC platforms, outside of Farmville and its ilk) and because tablets and phones are different enough from traditional gaming platforms they've let down their emotional barrier to gaming (defined by them as traditional gaming on PC/console) and allowed themselves to become excited about it.

It's a good thing, but that the phenomenon exists in the first place highlights the irrational emotional behavior of both sides of the gaming fence ;).