Destiny and Its Loyal Haters: Observations from a Man Sorry He's Having Fun

Launch night came and went with all the wonder and promise of any other. I couldn’t wait to wake up the next day, sprint through my day at work and Fresno State, and get back home to play it.

Destiny was great.

It wasn’t a revolutionary game by any means, but the mixing and matching of RPG, MMO and a solid shooter with stunning visuals was inexplicably fun. In fact, to this day I can’t even explain why the game is so fun. Hell, even something as mundane and monotonous as sitting in front of the Farmville cave with friends blasting away at the swarms of Hive spilling out into Skywatch—what could easily be misunderstood as a boring, grind-fest of a chore—was fun. But for some reason when I visited all my favorite gaming and Internet news sites, I found that something terrible had happened.

They hated it. They absolutely, unanimously, with every fiber of their beings loathed the game. “Why Destiny Doesn’t Live Up to the Hype” seemed to be the only headline anyone that day could come up with. YouTubers the world over uploaded scathing reviews of how terrible the voice-acting, the story and even the graphics were. It almost made me feel bad or somehow inadequate that I had actually had some honest fun in a game. Off of my screen and into my mind, they reiterated time and again how Destiny didn't live up to all the hype.

…all the hype…

Hype is a dangerous thing. Hype is building a product in your mind, using that product in a fantasy world and deciding, based on this fake experience, that it is the best thing ever. After the alpha and beta ended, the media decided that Destiny would be the best thing ever. Fast forward to September 9th, 2014, and the media absolutely loses their minds when they were given only a piece of this half a billion dollar game.

But why was this such a shock? Rockstar did at launch, has in recent months, and will continue in the years ahead to commit egregious acts against those who love their game, Grand Theft Auto V. GTA V only gave us the campaign for the first two weeks and when GTA Online did launch, it was an outright disaster. Heists, arguably the most overhyped feature in any game in history, have yet to even get a release date. (Coming 2025, lol, jk, srsly tho!) Even with what were potentially audience-killing fiascos, GTA V went on to win Game of the Year from every institution ever in the history of everything when in reality it failed with flying colors to live up to its hype. Why was Destiny suddenly pegged as the game where the entire 500 million dollars worth of content should be available at launch?

Double standard much? But why? Racism? Sexism? Ismism?

It can only be assumed that modern gaming media are an irrational and fickle bunch that you just have to catch in the right mood to truly please.

[thorstein]

Awesome. And, lately I feel like I have been a bit repetitive about these repetitious "hateboys."

The sad thing is these people just hate things millions of people enjoy. Why? Is it a hipster thing? Quite possibly, but it seems more prevalent than ever.

Remember the claims that inFamous Second Son had a "graphics downgrade?" Or the claims that Watch Dogs was "empty."

I wish they'd just go away. I don't know why they must hate something that millions of people are enjoying. The game is a blast and it just hits them to the "every fiber of their beings."

Great Blog.

So, hateboys, what's the next game on your agendas? What is the next game to hate? Shadow of Mordor? And what cliched terminology are you going to use.

The fact is: your hate is repetitive, empty, and underwhelming.

[CuHound]

Glad you dug it, and I feel EXACTLY the same way you do. It seems like "review" these days has come to mean "why you shouldn't buy/like" rather than being an honest rundown of pros and cons.

[Concertoine]

First of all, im glad you and the author enjoyed the game.

I didn't enjoy it very much.

That said, i take absolutely no offense to anyone defending the game or its mechanics, because that is their opinion. However I do take offense to you claiming anyone who disliked Destiny did so for the sake of it, to be a "hipster" (facepalm), or based on reviews. That's just ignorant. People have opinions, deal with it. Millions of people enjoy COD, many dislike it. Many people enjoy Halo, many dislike it. No different with Destiny. There are legitimate criticisms with all of those games, and they can mean more to different players.

I think Bungie are a proven capable studio and that Destiny is definitely the groundwork of an almost unanimously greater sequel.

[thorstein]

Read my second to last paragraph, if you would. It isn't just "anyone who disliked Destiny."

It isn't ignorant to see that "hateboys" are people who just hate something for no other reason.

The COD and Halo series have their own fanboys and detractors. Many that dislike COD love Battlefield, and therefore love gaming. Same with the Halos.

I am not talking fanboyism. In fact, I am not entirely sure that you read all I had to say about them because I don't even mention Destiny, just that these hateboys are out to ruin this hobby.

They exist in other areas of entertainment, certainly, you will see the hateboy that claims incredibly well made, well acted, and well written films are [insert hateboy cliche here.]

I am not even talking about someone being critical and saying, "Here is where this series needs to get better."

Keep a lookout for these hateboys. They are worse than trolls, fanboys and indiesnobs combined.

They hate something for no other reason than to hate it, whether it is gaming, movies, television, books, music, art... it doesn't matter.

I mention hipsters because it seems to be an extension of it, I might be wrong. But, I don't think it is "ignorant" to call out people who contribute ZERO to the hobby we all so enjoy.

ZERO. (Not just disagreeing with what I believe is a great game) I mean, zero as in there is NOTHING that they contribute.

[CuHound]

But they DO hate it based on reviews. You played it, didn't like it. That's the way it is supposed to be. I just noticed that anytime I mentioned Destiny to friends or people online, the main response was "oh, yeah, I read it sucked." The media have a very powerful influence on whether or not people flock to or shy away from a game. I see a stigma in the works and I don't like it. And it isn't the fact that the media hated on it, it is the extreme degree to which they have done so. It blew my mind. So, I agree with about 85% of your comment. :)

[donthate]

CuHound:

I'm not sure I would say I hate Destiny, but I certainly want my money back after spending $90 on the hype train of Digital Guardian Edition. I severely regretted not waiting for the reviews first. So yes, media has a strong influence and this time Bungie/Activision fooled me!

I tried it, both at beta (so I should have known, but was hoping and itching) and since launch. The media has already covered in detail the lack of content, the lack of compelling story or immersion, and that the only redeeming quality is the artwork, basic game play mechanic and music. Of course that is my opinion, but what isn't covered is the sh!tty connections, that constantly disconnects players.

Overall, to me it is a broken game and now I know what BF4 players feel when they rage.

I would hardly call it hip to rage, and my personal opinion seems to match the critics.

If you distill it down to just game play mechanics, sure it is great. It is just Halo without most of the other qualities!

[uth11]

bad games don't get hate. Bad games get ignored. So when I see something that is getting a ton of hate, it must have struck a nerve.

There is a hipsterish element to it I'm sure, that explains part of it. Or if you didn't enjoy something everyone else seems to like, then either everyone else is wrong, or they are wrong, and dammit they aren't wrong, so they lash out at the game.

The hype is another similar reason. The hype gave them expectation X, the game delivered Y. They feel let down and hurt. If they weren't expecting X, then Y may have been fine, even great.

Apart from that, it wouldn't surprise me if there are other agendas at work. Xbox fans upset that Bungie has gone multiplat and given exclusive content to the PS4, so they bash the game. PC users upset that they didn't get the game at all. You get the pic.

[LightofDarkness]

No, overhyped games that lots of people bought and were disappointed with get tons of hate. Like GTA IV, yearly Madden/FIFA/COD releases and yes, Destiny. Trying to peg it on PC users who didn't "get" to play it is childish, as is saying it's only Xbox fans. In a similar breath, you may as well say that the only people defending it are PS fans because of the partnership and PS4 exclusive content/advertising. But you wouldn't/didn't say that because... well, you get the picture.

[uth11]

I never said it was only PC users or Xbox players. But you'd have to be blind to say that isn't part of the mix.

Part of the hate any exclusive gets comes from the people who don't have it on their syste

[Perjoss]

Most people are like sheep, they see a large group doing something so rather than risk being 'wrong' they just copy them rather than form their own opinion.

[jts1891]

This is the truth. I don't know how many times I've seen people bashing Destiny, while at the same time having so little clue what they are talking about. I've seen people claim the story sucks and that it's 'disjointed'. When I ask what order they played the missions in, the answer is always the same. They didn't distinguish between the main plot, and the game's various side plots.

For example, in Old Russia once you complete the Dark Within the main plot takes you to the Moon. The Warmind, the Last Array, and the Devil's Lair are all side plots.

But I've seen people who've played those three missions after they completed the Dark Within, and are then confused by why the game suddenly sends us to the Moon.
Or on Venus, they are confused why they are suddenly going to the Archives when they were just told to bring back the head of a Gate Lord to the Awoken.

In the end, it's been a long time since I've seen game so badly misrepresented by gamers online. But of course, the numbers tell the truth. Destiny is still selling boatloads and even more people are playing. If it was as bad they claim, it'd be dying off by now.

[SilentNegotiator]

Destiny is clearly one of the most popular games this year, including among N4G (as the top news section continually contains guides/tips). Yet, a lot of individuals, that think a bit too highly of their opinion, are populating EVERY Destiny article to say how terrible the game is. It's clear that some of it is driven by fanboy butthurt over the negligible exclusive content, as you see a lot of 1 bubble persons with a slant towards a certain system throwing a fit in every Destiny article.

What just plain pisses me off is that (1) people are saying that it's only 10 hours long. I got that much time out of the beta alone. And (2) that they act like they were bamboozled and had no idea what the game was going to be like when there was a public beta.

[memots]

Don't anyone realizes whats going on?

People are so jaded that they will hate on everything. Every single game that comes out if meet with the most unrealistic expectation because "itz Teh NExt Gen" or the major entitlement of the funny "i paid 400$".
Just look at every month Xbl and Ps+ give you free game and every month all you see is people bitching and moaning.

There is a theme here people.. its simple Kids are the new norm in the gaming world and they are jaded and feel entitled.
And don't tell me its about standard or some kind of social warrior B.s pr sh*t, Destiny is just the latest victim/example , Watch dog and many others fell to this already. I think people need to get off their high horse and stop spreading their opinion like they are facts.

[jts1891]

Fortunately, this phenomena is mostly limited to the online gaming community. If Destiny was really as bad as the sh*tstorm online would lead us to believe, the game would be dead already. Instead, it's still going strong and even websites who gave it low scores have Destiny articles on their front pages every day. This just tells you that there is a massive disconnect between the online minority and the actual majority of gamers, and that the same disconnect exists between the majority and reviewers.

This is hardly new though. It's been going on in the film industry for years. Transformers as a franchise has been a target of hate and critical reviews from the beginning, but every new movie breaks the box office.