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Do you admit ever feeling schadenfreude from seeing a game fail?

ToddBonzalez

ToddBonzalez

The Pyramids? That's nothing compared to RDR2
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
15,530
For those that don't know, schadenfreude is defined as "pleasure derived by someone from another person's misfortune."
I know I got a little bit of this feeling from witnessing the Battlefront 2 debacle. On one hand I felt badly for the team at DICE who clearly worked hard on the project, but I have to admit I felt a bit of satisfaction from imagining EA corporate's reaction to seeing their micro-transaction structure blowing up in their face.

Do you admit to ever feeling this way in regards to a game's reception?
 
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vestan

vestan

#REFANTAZIO SWEEP
Member
Dec 28, 2017
24,772
Nah, never.

Bit fucked up to in most cases considering a large number of games coming out nowadays is a collaboration between dozens of people. Game development is a difficult business and many people have put their livelihoods on the line to deliver a product. To have it fail and ridiculed must be a gut punch considering the amount of effort that goes into making a game. It's hard for me to not sympathise with that.

The mere fact that someone spent eight years working on a single game boggles my mind. That's 70080 hours. Imagine putting that much time into something only for it to fail. I honestly think publishers need to put the people behind the games in the forefront so gamers can come to the realization that there are actual humans behind the games they enjoy instead of just rebelling against a singular faceless corporate entity.

Seeing people elated at the fact that Telltale went under was really fucked up. Especially when you take into account that there was no severance pay meaning people went back to their families empty-handed.
 
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Unknownlight

Unknownlight

One Winged Slayer
Member
Nov 2, 2017
10,649
It's going to be a common answer, but seeing Bethesda's ancient engine finally catching up to them with Fallout 76 was satisfying. It may have been state-of-the-art back in the day, but they can't rest on their laurels forever.
 
Kadzork

Kadzork

Has got mad skills!!
Member
Oct 27, 2017
17,145
Maybe not as strong as schadenfreude.

I have definitely had feelings of "heh, I knew it would fail" but wouldn't say I drew pleasure from it - it always sucks to see a game that has had obvious effort put in to it not do well at all.
 
Weebos

Weebos

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,060
Battlefront 2 is probably the closest, but I was more just disappointed in the entire reboot. I preferred the original Battlefront series.
 
Latpri

Latpri

Banned
Apr 19, 2018
761
No, absolutely not.

People need to stop feeling elation when a game succeeds, IMO. Its the more damaging reaction. Like, as a consumer, the only thing we really need to concern ourselves with is if the game is enjoyable or not. Theres a thread in ERA right now, "Are you worried about Sekiro" but not a single person is talking about being worried that the game might not be enjoyable. Every damn person is talking about worrying that the marketing budget is too low, or the lack of PVP might hurt sales, or its not the right time to launch a new IP

Holy lord, yall are not junior executives at From Software, what do you give a ding dong diddly crap about any of that? Lets just worry about it being enjoyable first and foremost.
 
aevanhoe

aevanhoe

Slayer of the Eternal Voidslurper
Member
Aug 28, 2018
7,387
vestan said:
Nah, never.

Bit fucked up to in most cases considering a large number of games coming out nowadays is a collaboration between dozens of people. Game development is a difficult business and many people have put their livelihoods on the line to deliver a product. To have it fail and ridiculed must be a gut punch considering the amount of effort that goes into making a game. It's hard for me to not sympathise with that.
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Totally agree with this and nicely put.
 
MrWindUpBird

MrWindUpBird

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
3,686
Go look in the recent GameStop stock thread and all the pleasure Era is getting out of the inevitable moment they close shop. Human beings are pretty shit.
 
TreIII

TreIII

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,280
Columbia, MD
I don't know if I'd count it as schadenfreude, but here it is: DmC doing "well enough to insure the brand's survival" but "not enough to be the new direction for the brand itself", as Itsuno put it, was a more than acceptable result. Because Itsuno admitted either result was definitely on the table, and we wouldn't have gotten DMC5 either way if DmC either flopped entirely or did better than expected.
 
mxbison

mxbison

Banned
Jan 14, 2019
2,148
I did with Street Fighter 5 and Marvel vs Capcom Ultimate

Rushed, unpolished, low effort games selling well just means they'll keep doing that.
 
Prolepro

Prolepro

Ghostwire: BooShock
Banned
Nov 6, 2017
7,310
I try not to because those are peoples' jobs and well-being, but seeing predatory companies get their due is sometimes refreshing.
 
vestan

vestan

#REFANTAZIO SWEEP
Member
Dec 28, 2017
24,772
Latpri said:
No, absolutely not.

People need to stop feeling elation when a game succeeds, IMO. Its the more damaging reaction. Like, as a consumer, the only thing we really need to concern ourselves with is if the game is enjoyable or not. Theres a thread in ERA right now, "Are you worried about Sekiro" but not a single person is talking about being worried that the game might not be enjoyable. Every damn person is talking about worrying that the marketing budget is too low, or the lack of PVP might hurt sales, or its not the right time to launch a new IP

Holy lord, yall are not junior executives at From Software, what do you give a ding dong diddly crap about any of that? Lets just worry about it being enjoyable first and foremost.
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People want to see their favourite devs succeed so they can work on more ambitious projects.

What's so hard to understand here? Applies to most things really, this is an enthusiast forum after all.
 

Deleted member 249

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
28,828
No.
Actual people work for years on these games, and regardless of what the impression the top brass may give off, they work hard and hope to put forth a product that is beloved. It's never nice seeing a game fail, and realize that those people are now faced with the prospect of not just those years of their life having gone to waste, but unrelenting mockery and insults thrown their way for the foreseeable future.
 
DJ_Lae

DJ_Lae

Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,914
Edmonton
I confess a degree of pleasure with the entire Fallout 76 situation.

I mean, a bad concept that no one wanted built on top of an extra layer of Bethesda bugginess - I can't feel bad that its reception has been exactly what it deserved. Hopefully it sends the appropriate message.
 
Lilalaunebaer

Lilalaunebaer

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,505
Yes.
Battlefront 2 was a joy to witness with their planned bullshit.
Fallout 76 was like a warm blanket that i cuddled myself in for how people finally realized that Bethesda can´t actually program a functional piece of software + everything else that was wrong with the things surrounding the launch of it.
 
Latpri

Latpri

Banned
Apr 19, 2018
761
vestan said:
People want to see their favourite devs succeed so they can work on more ambitious projects.

What's so hard to understand here? Applies to most things really, this is an enthusiast forum after all.
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I get it, I just feel like the discussion turns to armchair industry analysis at the drop of a hat. One of the advantages of being a consumer is that we dont have to think about any of that stuff. I feel like we are hamstringing our own enthusiasm by talking about things in such clinical terms.
 
DrArchon

DrArchon

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,485
Very rarely, and only when the people behind it make extraordinary massive claims that come across as hubris.

Like, I felt a bit of schadenfreude when Destiny 1 came out and everyone said how Bungie dealt with the story was terrible after they advertised the the game's story as being like the next Star Wars or LOTR.
 
collige

collige

Member
Oct 31, 2017
12,772
Latpri said:
No, absolutely not.

People need to stop feeling elation when a game succeeds, IMO. Its the more damaging reaction. Like, as a consumer, the only thing we really need to concern ourselves with is if the game is enjoyable or not. Theres a thread in ERA right now, "Are you worried about Sekiro" but not a single person is talking about being worried that the game might not be enjoyable. Every damn person is talking about worrying that the marketing budget is too low, or the lack of PVP might hurt sales, or its not the right time to launch a new IP

Holy lord, yall are not junior executives at From Software, what do you give a ding dong diddly crap about any of that? Lets just worry about it being enjoyable first and foremost.
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The financial impact of game releases does impact us as consumers down the line though. If Sekiro bombs, there's not likely to be a Sekiro 2 no matter how enjoyable it is. So to answer the OP, I wouldn't call it schadenfreude, but I am glad when I don't see consumers rewarding shitty products and business practices.
 
aevanhoe

aevanhoe

Slayer of the Eternal Voidslurper
Member
Aug 28, 2018
7,387
Latpri said:
No, absolutely not.

People need to stop feeling elation when a game succeeds, IMO. Its the more damaging reaction. Like, as a consumer, the only thing we really need to concern ourselves with is if the game is enjoyable or not. Theres a thread in ERA right now, "Are you worried about Sekiro" but not a single person is talking about being worried that the game might not be enjoyable. Every damn person is talking about worrying that the marketing budget is too low, or the lack of PVP might hurt sales, or its not the right time to launch a new IP

Holy lord, yall are not junior executives at From Software, what do you give a ding dong diddly crap about any of that? Lets just worry about it being enjoyable first and foremost.
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Hahah, did not even know this is a thing. I suppose people want their beloved studio to be successful so they can make more of the things they enjoy. We like our favorite games/movies/TV shows/books to do well, it's a normal reaction.

But yeah, the things you quoted are a bit silly :)
 
OmegaX

OmegaX

Member
Oct 28, 2017
4,133
Yes, for Mass Effect Andromeda. Fallout 76 was fun seeing everything going down but I was never interested in that game.
 

Deleted member 1594

Account closed at user request
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
5,762
Fallout 76.

I love it when trend chasing fails. Especially when abandoning so many of the core aspects of that game series. So fuck it. Let it buuuuurn.
 
Gold Arsene

Gold Arsene

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
30,757
Never from a game failing to my knowledge but a game succeeding I know people wish hadn't yeah.(see Fire Emblem Fates)
 
DrArchon

DrArchon

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,485
collige said:
The financial impact of game releases does impact us as consumers down the line though. If Sekiro bombs, there's not likely to be a Sekiro 2 no matter how enjoyable it is.
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Yep. People can say "the amount of money that a game makes doesn't matter to consumers", but as a consumer all I know is that I would've killed for The Wonderful 101 to not be a massive bomb.
 
funky

funky

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
8,527
This gen has been full of games that under performed because they where sequels to successful games that in the end massively disappointing a lot of people. We have seen it with Destiny, Watch Dogs. Assassins Creed, Halo, Battlefield and many more.

In that case I am happy to see consumers learn not return to a franchise blindly.
 

Moltres006

Banned
Jan 5, 2019
1,818
Back in 2013 I wanted the Wii U to fail. Never owned the console despite me being a HUGE Ninty fan. lol
 
Gundam

Gundam

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
12,801
You would think all of gaming side does this.

For me, I think the latest example was maybe MvCi? I hate the MCU push. X-Mans rule, Avengers drool!!!
 
Crayon

Crayon

Member
Oct 26, 2017
15,580
Oh yeah totally. Dew drops on roses, whiskers on kittens, a bad game tanking. These are a few of my favorite things.
 

TwoPikachus

Member
Nov 15, 2018
201
On a personal level, no, because those are people with jobs.

On another level, seeing them as a corporate entity that tried to get away with too much, yes. I really enjoy watching EA write in pain after Belgium and the gaming public take turns lashing at them.

What I don't revel in is the idea of EA taking things out on the employees with layoffs. But part of the reason I hate EA to begin with is that they swallow and defecate good studios so when the entity as a whole burns I feel pretty good. I want them to die so that those stuck in the EA machine might find fulfilling lives at better places.

I do realize it's not as simple as that, but that's emotion for you.
 
Latpri

Latpri

Banned
Apr 19, 2018
761
OmegaX said:
Yes, for Mass Effect Andromeda. Fallout 76 was fun seeing everything going down but I was never interested in that game.
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I wouldnt say I felt schadenfreude when 76 failed, it was more... its just genuine enjoyment. I sort of like bad things and peoples reaction to them. Something boring is just beneath notice, but something bad can be fun.
 
DarkChronic

DarkChronic

Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,058
Honestly maybe sometimes. But it's always for selfish reasons.

Like, none of those Kinect games were for me and I wanted it to fail so they could go back to making games that are For Me.
 
Mr.Vic20

Mr.Vic20

Member
Oct 31, 2017
584
When I was younger (early 80's)? Yes. Now that I understand that a game failing effects real people's lives, not so much!
 
Odeko

Odeko

One Winged Slayer
The Fallen
Mar 22, 2018
15,180
West Blue
Latpri said:
No, absolutely not.

People need to stop feeling elation when a game succeeds, IMO. Its the more damaging reaction. Like, as a consumer, the only thing we really need to concern ourselves with is if the game is enjoyable or not. Theres a thread in ERA right now, "Are you worried about Sekiro" but not a single person is talking about being worried that the game might not be enjoyable. Every damn person is talking about worrying that the marketing budget is too low, or the lack of PVP might hurt sales, or its not the right time to launch a new IP

Holy lord, yall are not junior executives at From Software, what do you give a ding dong diddly crap about any of that? Lets just worry about it being enjoyable first and foremost.
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"Game I like does well => more games like it get made" is a very simple link that you seem to be struggling with
 
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