Stop Telling Me What To Play Next

There are two types of gamers in the world who like to share with others what they think is great.

Gamers who make suggestions what they think fellow gamers might enjoy.

Then there are gamers who almost demand other gamers what they should play because it is what they are playing and seem to think that their taste is superior to others.

I am totally open to any recommendations when it comes to video games. But, it depends on how you go about recommending a game to me.

One time on Discord, a person who added me noticed I was playing Village. He asked me if I was a RE fan, I said I was really enjoying Village and RE7. Any friendly person with common sense in the world looking to strike up a conversation could ask me what it is I enjoy about those two RE games.

Except no, instead what he did was jump straight into sounding like a dictator:

You should play the second RE game and skip RE3, it’s way too short.

Oh so you must be a real expert then? The usage of starting the statement with “you should play this next” to me, is easily interpreted as giving orders rather than suggestions. The Internet makes that harder to decipher between the two as well.

Another time, I was recommended SWTOR using the same language as the example above. I’m probably the only one in my niche blogging community that has zero interest in MMORPGs, even if SWTOR has missions in it that can be completed alone according to my brother who plays it. Still, no thank you.

I also have another example that involved COD but I’m getting a little too ahead of myself here so back to the main idea.

I hate those kinds of gamers who think that everyone should play what they are playing, and when they notice that someone is not doing just that, they jump right in like, oh no you should play this, not that. Excuse me, it’s my decision what I play next after I finish with what I’m currently playing. But sometimes whenever I say that they continue to put up their defences like they’re Helm’s Deep being hit by double the number of Isengard’s forces.

Yeah, I’ve been playing a lot of Shadow of Mordor lately and I should consider doing another LOTR movie marathon someday! Then again, maybe I’m also getting defensive too because one of the challenges with ASD is interpreting people’s tones in their voices and words. They could sound like they are just making a casual recommendation via text or verbally, but when I hear or read it, I could pick up the word “should” and mistake it for a demand.

Regardless, I still hate encountering gamers who think their taste is sovereign. So maybe the RE3 remake was a short game to you, but what if I really wanted to play it? What if I wanted to play as Jill trying to evade Nemesis in the streets? I’ve played shorter games before and many of them were still great.

Then on the other hand, maybe I don’t want to play COD because of its toxic community. Or perhaps you want me to play some other horror game that you think is ten times better than RE, but I had a look at it and it failed to interest me.

I think there’s a better way to do this. If you want to give a game recommendation, show some enthusiasm, but don’t sound too demanding. Also, don’t tell me what I should not play. If a game has been negatively received by critics and players alike, I will be the judge of that and not let that dissuade me.

But at the end of the day, it is my decision on what I choose to play next, whether it’s an item waiting to leave the backlog, or an old favourite to be replayed.

👽Emily