Lunchtime Discussion: Ignorance
Do you know everything about gaming?
Published: 12:00, 15/07/2010 by Staff.
44Perhaps it’s my borderline OCD, or perhaps it’s simply a desire for everyone to get the most out of what they buy, but when I see people pick up a brand new PlayStation 3 or an Xbox 360, I’m compelled to ensure they’ve also got a HDMI cable. And a high definition television. And broadband. And an extra controller.
Although this is a far more socially acceptable exchange when it’s with people I know, I have to really force myself not to do it when I see someone I don’t know splashing their cash. The questions run through my mind: do you know it’s only got composite cables? Do you know that game you’re buying needs a hard drive?
It’s not just the consoles themselves, either – when I see people buying a game I’ve poured dozens of hours and over a thousand words into telling the world it’s terrible the urge to grab the generic shooter out of their hands and stamp on the disk, instead showing them something half decent. Ignorance, you see, is hard to deal with.
Some people are blissfully unaware that the game they’re playing on their expensive 50 inch plasma is running in 576i. They won’t get it, and – frighteningly – might not even be able to tell the difference when you show them. It’s like the people that watch 4:3 formatted television stretched out to fill their widescreen TV sets. Totally unaware.
Finally, and the blame for this lies squarely at the feet of the manufacturers, but the number of people I’ve spoken to that don’t know you can buy games online, be that via the PlayStation Store, Xbox Live Marketplace or even the likes of Steam. Where did you get that game? On the Store. What? What do you mean?
It’s probably just me, but this sort of thing baffles me. When I get something new I have to dive into every single options screen, fiddle about with every single setting, to make sure it works the way it was intended. I spent hours calibrating my TV, my PS3s are set up perfectly, and – yes – I do have an extra controller. Or two.
You?
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15/07/2010 at 12:05
Member since: Forever
I’m exactly the same. Sometimes the urge to run up to someone in the street/in a store and “help” them with there new purchase is ridiculous :)
I also spend hours going through each and every setting, making sure everything is set up as it should be.
I also have 3 controllers :)
15/07/2010 at 12:13
Member since: May 2009
when im in game or somewhere like that just browsing, it is funny to overhear the staff talking to a customer about a console or something and im sitting there thinking that most of the stuff they are saying is wrong and it makes me want to scream sometimes!
Same goes for almost anything you can buy in currys, sit and listen to a sales rep talk about a camera or a pc etc to a customer and it is obvious most of them haven’t got a single clue about what they are trying to sell beyond what little and crappy information is on the shelf label!
15/07/2010 at 12:15
Member since: Aug 2008
Pah, I have 4 sixaxis’ and 2 dualshocks!
15/07/2010 at 15:35
Member since: Jan 2010
I dont blame the manufactures, I blame the sales people, and customers alike.
You dont go to a car show room to buy a caravan, so dont go to Sainsbury’s to by a PC.
To get the best advice possible, buy a magazine for each console you’re interested in, then go to a dedicated game shop for any further advice you might want. Do some legwork for pity sake, dont be lazy because if you dont, you might well waste several hundred pounds.
I was in Currys a few weeks ago looking at 3D tv’s (just looking is all I can afford), and over heard an argument between the sales advisor and a customer complaining that his Xbox wont play blurays. The sales guy said it would’nt play Blurays but it would play HD DVD’s with the HD DVD addon. The customer assumed that meant it would play both HD video formats.
The sales lad and the customer could have both saved time and stress if they listened to each other, and the customer had spent at least 10 minutes looking on the internet at his options.
15/07/2010 at 12:05
Member since: Forever
I don’t know anything about cars apart from how to drive them a bit too fast and where to put the petrol (which my car needs a hell of alot of), I’m pretty sure some people who don’t realise they need a HDMI cable or who bought the NfS Undercover know all about servicing their car and how to fix things when they go wrong.
Different people are in to different stuff, but not knowing about my car doesn’t stop me enjoying overtaking someone, just like those people enjoy the next generic FPS which comes along.
15/07/2010 at 12:17
Member since: Aug 2008
Would you not be annoyed if you found out your car had an economy setting for long journeys that you’d never used or known about because you didn’t take 10 minutes to read the manual though.
15/07/2010 at 12:12
Member since: Forever
Im completely with you here nofi, the irony is my mate (who has owned a 360 for years) had recently bought a 40 inch HD tv (he had a 21 inch monitor before) i had a gander behind and was horrified to see he was using composite cables??! i asked why he didnt have HDMI? and he replied that there wasnt any difference, i implored him to get one, in which he did…the response? ‘bloody hell, that looks way better, why didnt i do this before?’
Div!
p.s if im in a game shop, and i see someoe buying (from what i know) a crap game, i will happily tell them it’s shit. No quible.
15/07/2010 at 13:15
Member since: Nov 2009
Can’t help but wonder do people get confused between composite cables and component cables, which has very little difference to hdmi.
15/07/2010 at 13:35
Member since: Forever
oohh good question, did i just get that wrong?? basicaly he had the 3 red, white and blue cables (er..i think? christ i’m showing my ignorance now! anyroad, the ones that come with the 360 out of the box…
*goes off to check the differences due to lack of memory and old age
15/07/2010 at 13:41
Member since: Forever
Bugger i did mean component, needless to say there was a dramatic increase in fidelity. It’s like RF to scart.
15/07/2010 at 12:12
Member since: Mar 2009
Agreed – when I got the Wii (purchased prior to my PS3) I went out and made sure the little white box was hooked up on the best cable possible, connected to the internet, updated, and all ready to roll. Same when the big black box arrived. As for the games themselves, well I think the Wii’s success proves that not everyone out there is interested in the highest quality products. I’d take Uncharted 2 over Carnival Fun Dance 5 anyday, but theres plenty of people out there that are happily oblivious to Drakes charms but still enjoy there gaming choices.
15/07/2010 at 12:14
Member since: Apr 2010
Ignorance is bliss.
You can’t feel like you’re missing out on something if you don’t know it exists. Most people don’t have the time or the patience to explore every single option/feature of everything they buy. Turn it on, if it works, sorted.
15/07/2010 at 12:15
Member since: Aug 2008
I am exactly like you. It annoys me that people don’t seem to spend time working out exactly what their new investment can do for them. If I buy a new TV or phone or car or even a washing machine, I want to know exactly what it can do, even the features I will probably never use. It annoys me when people get expensive new tech and just use it like they used the old one 10 years ago.
.
It’s like Clarkson on Top Gear, always complaining about all the settings and buttons on modern cars. The manual will explain them all and they are giving you more for your money. Like it or not, new cars are not all the same, you can’t expect to know how to operate everything in all of them like you could 30 years ago.
15/07/2010 at 12:22
Member since: Dec 2009
Agreed and i am a self confessed manual whore and proud of it.
15/07/2010 at 12:58
Member since: Jun 2009
Im never happier than reading a manual cover to cover with the new gadget in hand. I need to know Everything
15/07/2010 at 14:02
Member since: Dec 2009
Yes there’s nothing better than taking a trip to the restroom whilst doing some light reading lol
15/07/2010 at 15:05
Member since: Jan 2010
I wouldn’t have it any other way.
15/07/2010 at 12:15
Member since: Jan 2009
This is probably sad, but I have two PS3s – one 320GB model attached to a Sony TV (just for that extra level of synergy), a 60GB model for PS2 games should I feel the need and 5 controllers. And everything is set up to be just so.
It annoys me when I see sales people in Game etc lying through their teeth to some poor old mum who doesn’t know any better, “Yes madam, generic shooter/platformer is a most excellent purchase”. Its makes me want to scream in the sales persons face, “HAVE YOU NO EFFING SHAME…..!!!!”
15/07/2010 at 13:45
Member since: Aug 2008
As long as it’s polite and friendly, I see no problem with advising someone about cables but I think with a game, it’s almost like you are challenging their ability to make a judgement so it’s a more dangerous area.
15/07/2010 at 12:17
Member since: Dec 2009
I also like to delve straight into settings and extras from dvds to games. This process drives my friend crackers but he is the complete opposite and just whacks in his games and hopes its the same layout as all the other generic games, if not he trades it in! Makes me sick lol
15/07/2010 at 12:27
Member since: Dec 2009
I feel ur pain Nofi. I too suffer with BOCD……
15/07/2010 at 12:28
Member since: Oct 2008
My old man has a ps2 and a ps3 at his house, the ps3 has sat in the spare room for almost 3 years and the ps2 is hooked up to his HDTV that has absolutely nothing HD has been played on ever……ass face.
15/07/2010 at 13:02
Member since: Jun 2009
Switch them around in the middle of the night
15/07/2010 at 14:24
Member since: Dec 2009
Or just take the ps3 as punishment for not using it correctly lol
15/07/2010 at 14:52
Member since: Oct 2008
I stole his controllers for spares and he hasn’t even noticed that they’re at my house !
He literally has about every FPS the ps2 has to offer and always says that he can’t figure out the controls for the Ps3 !! WHAT ?!
15/07/2010 at 17:14
Member since: Dec 2009
Thats crazy talk lol