So many games out there to buy, so little money to go around. For the discerning, broke gamer, whom do you trust when it comes to opinions on which title is most deserving of your moolah?
For some, there are professional reviewers, or at the very least, amateur reviewers who contribute to an established site. Supposedly, they are experts on gaming and the game industry, having analyzed a number of games as well as having the savvy to break a game down into its critical elements and weigh their relative importance. As important as the actual news of a game's release and possibly more so, the commentary on its quality is pretty much requisite for any publication that talks about new games. Usually, the best reviews and reviewers will be in accord, allowing you to make a truly informed choice.
For others, there's the need to escape the hype and the impersonal, perhaps even pompous style of some critics and instead look to the recommendations of friends. After all, your friends are supposed to be people whom you can trust and with whom you share core interests such as gaming. Plus, they know the kinds of things you like, so they'd be more likely to tailor their review to highlight the things that interest you most. Or perhaps you just give in easily to peer pressure. That works as well.
Who influences you to buy video games more: friends or critics?
Comments (13)
My dad, he has to give me the money
. But I would listen to friends over supposed experts or critics; critics usually have an agenda.
I use reviews and friends opinions about equally. Another factor though is demos. If a demo is available and I like it, I'm a lot more likely to buy that game, even without friends' opinions and reading reviews.
I use multiple forums and other social community forums to rate and friends as well. However most of my friends aren't as willing to try out different games for no reason.
Critics, they are bias, but FAR less bias than friends can ever be, none of them really speak too..truthfully, too much fandom, especially the halo whxres =3
Critics are sometimes slightly bias, but reading reviews on a majority of them, there isnt a bias that really curves at 6.0 game to a 9.0.
hmm. I think demos do it for me. Sometimes my friends.
It depends on the game.
For a fighter, I go to the hardcore guys like SRK or Dustloop. They more line up with what I want.
For most other games, I will listen to certain friends who know my tastes. If I don't hear a comment, and I often don't, then I will read reviews.
neither. i don't know anybody that is that into games as me and critics are usually dumb. I just buy if i like it or if i know its going to be good.
Friends influence me more than critics. Word of mouth advertising tends to work better. People typically trust their friends opinion over a stranger's.
I look at them fairly equally. Friends may even get the edge if I know I like similar games with said friend. I don't think video game critics are up to par with critics of other mediums. In my opinion, movie critics and book critics are just at a different level as game critics. Game critics in general seem to be just guys who enjoy playing games and can write a decent piece.
I place friends above critics, but most of my friends don't play the same games as me, so I often just have to listen to critics instead.
@TrojanWade@xanga - Interesting point. With movies, I know a few critics by name because they consistently write good reviews. But with games, I don't consistently rely on any supposedly expert reviewer. Seeing as the video game medium is so new and, compared to, say, movies, takes a lot more time to fully explore the work being done, I guess it's understandable. But for now, I must rely on the aggregate scores.
Neither. Or both, maybe. I understand that my friends have different tastes than I do. Sometimes, if they buy a game that I think I might like, I watch them play for a bit to see how it goes.