Why people like bad games on tablets/smartphones?

I just don't get it.

It seems to me that many bad/shallow/casual games get a pass only because they are on a smartphone or tablet. Like, yesterday i was hanging out with friends and one of them comes in with a shiny new tablet and starts showing it off. Sure, its a cool gadget. You can do plenty of stuff with it. Then he starts showing off some games. All the other guys were around the screen looking in awe. Oh, boy, i wonder what this game is going to be.. a stupid runner game! Of course. One that doesn't even look good, with uninspired art and average Newgrounds Flash style graphics. So i asked them "would you ever play this thing on a console or PC"? And, like always, they ignored me like the negative, cynical person i am and got back admiring this thing he was holding in his hands as if it was a newborn baby. Is it because its a great game or because its a great gadget?

Same thing happens all the time with these things. Another example was a shooter on the iphone. I don't remember its name. It was just a "shooting gallery" similar to something like CoD. The difference was that it had generic graphics, even less interactivity with auto aim and other hand holders and absolutely useless virtual gamepad controls. Now, this guy doesn't even like these kind of shooters that much on consoles. He isn't a CoD/Halo/Battlefield player. He doesn't even rent these games. But this game on the smartphone? "Its a great game" he says. Same thing with dozens of other games on this thing.

Most of the games i played on all of my friend's smartphones look and play like those Newgrounds Flash games we used to play for free on PCs years ago. Even then we didn't like them, we just had some laughs with them. I'm not saying there aren't some good games. I dig some strategy and puzzle games on these things as the touch screen interface works good with those. But shooters? Racing? Action games? All these genres look and play much better on consoles or handhelds. But even though all of my friends have at least one console, they play these on the smartphone but don't really care about the superior console equivalents. Again, the same question applies: "Would you play these games if it weren't for the gadget?" "Would you waste your time with them on your PC and Console, even for free?" The answer is never clear.

I understand that these games are cheap. But its not that these people would play those games on the PC or console. There are much better cheap games on these platforms but nobody cares. I also understand that they are practically handhelds, so you can kill some time on the bus. Ok, i guess playing a stupid runner game is better than nothing while you waste time in the bus. But that doesn't explain why all my friends play with these things on the living room when a perfectly good XBOX 360, PS3, WiiU or 3DS is sitting there idle. Or when we are out for some drinks. They just take out their smartphones and play these games everywhere as if its some kind of a drug addiction. I've never seen them doing the same with their DS/PSP/3DS consoles lately...

And its not that my friends are the "average joes" of gaming or casual, non gamers. We all grew up together as gamers. We played everything. But now something happened to them. They suddenly like mediocre, boring, shallow games. Like i said, we used to laugh at these things in Newgrounds and now its something to be excited about. And i always ask the same questions: "What's so great about these games?" "You wouldn't waste your time with them on your console or PC a few years ago, why now?" I never get a logical answer.

So, i don't get it. Is it that they try too much to justify the purchase of these gadgets? Is it just the new trendy thing? Is it the new way of being "cool" and hip? I'm asking because i'm the only one in the group who doesn't have a smartphone/touch device. Sometimes my friends tell me that if i had a smartphone i would play those too. But no, i can't imagine myself playing these, no. I've played a few good defense and strategy/card games but that's it. I don't imagine myself being interested in a runner game... or a generic action game, especially with these controls. Or a racing game that plays by itself. Or a QTE fest. I would rather invest my time playing a better game on my console, PC or handheld. I wouldn't try to convince myself that i enjoy these games only because they are on my shiny new expensive gadget, let alone show them off at a group of people who are suppose to be gamers. But others seem to do it.

So, i need some opinions on this matter from the members of this forum. Am i the only one who feels this way?

cause they are cheap
most games are between 20 to 60 bucks a pop and you need to invest time to get your moneys worth out of them

most of these tablet games are barebones pieces of crap that cost cents
you can play them for 5 minutes then forget all about them and if you dont like it you lost 99 cents or the like

thats why peopel like them
cheap
disposable
and no need for commitement

Its a difficult culture now. Call it the short attention span or ADD generation or whatever. I think some people just dont want to invest hours and hours in a game anymore. Even when these people arent playing these bad games they are probably texting or listening to music or doing whatever on the same phone. The phone is like the air you breath to them. Sitting in front of the tv playing a game or even watching tv is something they do less of these days compared to how much they use their smartphone.

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Originally Posted by KitsuneNight

cause they are cheap
most games are between 20 to 60 bucks a pop and you need to invest time to get your moneys worth out of them

most of these tablet games are barebones pieces of crap that cost cents
you can play them for 5 minutes then forget all about them and if you dont like it you lost 99 cents or the like

thats why peopel like them
cheap
disposable
and no need for commitement

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I don't know, i wouldn't say 5 minutes... And like i said, cheap games exist on other platforms too. You can buy some amazing games on GOG for less that 10 bucks. Games of "smartphone quality" were free on PCs for years (and still are). I don't remember anyone investing so much time and energy with these though except for the one addictive flash game in a pile of 100, but that was it. And really, would you play a boring game you don't like just because its cheap or even free? I can do many boring things for free, that doean't make them automatically exciting, i would still prefer to waste my time with something else. Im sure it has something to do with the platform. The gadget. It must have something to do with the easiness of use or the social trends.

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Originally Posted by DarkDragon

Its a difficult culture now. Call it the short attention span or ADD generation or whatever.

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That makes sense but why don't they realize that's the case? They really seem to think that these are GOOD games. And it looks to me that they spend more time anyway with these than some better, but still cheap, XBLA/Arcade games on consoles or VC games on WiiU/3DS so its not like they play for 5 minutes, they do invest time with those.

Because they all agree with each other, they seem to think there's something wrong with me. I'm not saying i'm not a cynic, in general, modern games piss me off even on better platforms but, in this case, i'm sure its not my fault.

I know some people who think those smartphone games suck and wont play them so it goes both ways I guess.

Yeah, i just find it weird that all my friends, in particular, seem to care for these even though they are into gaming since forever. I can see how a non gamer would like those but my buddies are supposed to be experienced gamers and they still care for the hobby as they still buy consoles. Maybe its just them, i don't know.

There's people with a tendency to like all the crap they try unless they were previously set on a "you won't like it" mindset. I had a friend who liked the Legend of Chun Li movie. Heck I kept pointing out the million reasons it sucked, he agreed with all of them, and still said "it's pretty good". (NOTE: He was a pretty big Street Fighter fanboy)

I thought the same thing, but then I picked up a Nexus 7 for reasons other than gaming and I have to admit some of the stupid casual games can be kind of addicting. It's not something I'd sit around and play all day but there are plenty of alright time wasters and many of them are free. However most of the games tend to have a "grinding" model to them where you're forced to play to unlock new things. There's a lot of psychological hooks involved to keep people mindlessly playing much like MMORPGs.

However that's not all there is to it and there are some more serious games (like the GTA 3 engine games and some new FPS games like The Conduit which is in HD on tablets unlike the Wii) showing up on Android and iOS recently. With bluetooth controller support (which makes my tablet a pretty good portable emulator as well) I think they're experiencing the very beginnings of becoming a viable gaming platform. They are almost certainly going to be the death of portable game systems at least if things continue down that path. I think this change is starting to occur now because the current generation of tablets are the first ones to have any real horsepower, especially the Tegra 3 devices. Some games like Sonic 4 are specifically being designed to take advantage of this.

They're portable, they're cheap and most people spend most of their time in front of them already for other reasons. It should be no surprise people are being won over by them. Even I am and I'm as jaded as you can get about new technology. I think I was personally sold when I realized the Metal Slug games were available.

My final thought is, "are they as good as dedicated portable gaming technology?" and the answer to that is no. But they're getting closer.

Oh my god as soon as I read the title I thought gkdair was at it again.

I feel the same way. I've had a lot of people pass my their cel phone and ask me to play the stupid simple game with them. I play it once, beat their score, and go back to reading a newspaper.

At my highschool, in the lunchroom, a lot of kids are playing shitty iphone games that look like they have even lower quality than a free internet flash game. There was even this one basketball game I see this one kid always playing where you just slide your thumb up every single time. That's not what bothers me about them though, it's what they say about my taste in games. They all say the games I play "suck", are "shit", and as one kid phrased it, "the gayest games I've ever seen." Though, when these kids are home, they're playing Call of Duty, or Madden, which after a new one comes out, they say is the best game of all time.

Though there's this one kid, about a month or two ago, he asked me what makes a good taste in games. I sat there for about 10-20 minutes explaining what I think makes a good game. A week later, he says, and I quote, "Well you may know more about video games than me, but I have a better taste than you." This same kid is all the time playing iphone runner games, Madden, Call of Duty, and other sports games. Recently, at school on his iphone, he looked up a trailer of Pikmin 3. He was pretty much freaking out over how "weird" it looked. So pretty much, if it's not in real life, it can't be a Video Game. And yet while playing one of his little iphone runner games, he said to me "This is better than any game you have ever played." This is the same kid who said the games I play are the "gayest games I've ever seen." What's even dumber, is that they say the graphics "suck" on my "old games", and "Video games are supposed to be realistic", and yet the little flash games they play look like they had no effort put into the graphics and are not realistic at all.

I don't get it. iphone games pass as quality, while Pikmin 3 is too "weird." I remember back in like middle school, everybody loved Pikmin, but now it's too weird? Nobody I knew back then played sports games or generic FPS games. They all had Gamecubes and PS2s with games that are actually good. Now pretty much no one at my school plays anything else but iphone games, COD, and sports games.

That kid just sounds like an idiot trying to validate 1. his purchase (or maybe rather his parent's purchase) and 2. his terrible opinions.

Those are the type of people who believe that what they listen to is the best music and what they watch are the best movies and everyone else is wrong. They have a very narrow world view.

I can understand kids who don't have much experience with videogames playing and liking games on iphone and android. Same goes for people who aren't gamers at all. Smartphones aren't game machines after all and many non gamers have one so i get that developers must cater to them. But experienced gamers who are in this hobby for more than 20 years? No, i would never expect someone like that to waste so may hours with these games and almost neglect his other consoles and handhelds.

Man, i just finished System Shock 2 a couple of days ago (it was sitting in my backlog all these years) and boy, was it amazing. When i play games like that i can't even take most of the modern stuff seriously on consoles (with a few exceptions ofc), let alone games on smartphones... I guess, for me, gaming isn't just something to kill my time or something to do when i'm bored. I play games to transfer my self to their worlds and have a great time.

Let's face it some people are really simple and they like extremely simplistic games. Good for them. Just as long as you don't start hating all of them gkdair style.

while cellphone games are generally terrible the people playing them are mostly people that never played any videogaqmes before. those who did don't play them

The answer is quite simple: Games cost way too much to market,develop and distribute now in days. The mobile market is casual and basic at heart. Developing mobile phone games is simpler,easier and dirt cheap to do than a normal $60 million dollar multiplatform retail game.

I could understand your cynicism, but I personally believe that the mobile market is VITAL to assuring the survival of major publishers and developers. People that think development costs are going to go down with PS4 and Xbox One are foolishly naive.

I've seen plenty of cheap and FUN games released on the IPad-type environment that i wish i could play. Several cool looking, original top-down shooters that homage the classics of yesteryear for one.

The concept of touch controls are NOT appealing though. However, i can see how they'd be moderately effective/tolerable given enough time. Couldn't very well play something like Street fighter on it, but something like a 2D shoot'em up might be decent.

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Originally Posted by Saturn Fan

I've seen plenty of cheap and FUN games released on the IPad-type environment that i wish i could play. Several cool looking, original top-down shooters for one that homage the classics of yesteryear for one.

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I simply don't get people's complaints. These games don't cost $60-70 or $50 for that matter. They're a mixture of free and a few bucks a download. They don't necessarily have to be to your tastes.

Its not like you have no choice to play them or try them out.

I got Sonic 1 on my phone, I know nothing of bad phone games cos i'm only playing good ones.

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Originally Posted by Gogogadget

I got Sonic 1 on my phone, I know nothing of bad phone games cos i'm only playing good ones.

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This is exactly why I believe Sonic Lost World ISN'T going to sell Wii Us. People will download the Sonic Android/iPhone games instead.

I asked this exact same question with early PS1 and PS2 games, especially the popular ones. The answer was always the same, the games are great games and I was just too biased to get them. Casual gamers get to say what is and is not a good/entertaining game, and it doesn't matter how much we don't like them or their favorite games.

Personally I'm sitting back and laughing at all of these aging casual gamers complaining about the same thing I was in the late 90s, early 2000s. Favored genres always fall out of favor with each generation of gamer.

The average joe (not our Joe) can spend $50 on one PS3 game or 25 iOS games, which one seems like a better value to him? If I knew nothing about real games I know which one I'd pick.

^ same
though id rather hit up GOG in that case and spend the 50 there ;)

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Originally Posted by zetastrike

The average joe (not our Joe) can spend $50 on one PS3 game or 25 iOS games, which one seems like a better value to him? If I knew nothing about real games I know which one I'd pick.

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How about this logic: Price over value. The average Joe is going to want to save money by purchasing the most cheap and convenient,accessible software.

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Originally Posted by zetastrike

The average joe (not our Joe) can spend $50 on one PS3 game or 25 iOS games, which one seems like a better value to him? If I knew nothing about real games I know which one I'd pick.

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I understand that. Still, it doesn't explain how some people i know, who are indeed experienced gamers and not average joes, seem to be so obsessed with runner games and generic platform or shooters on these platforms. I'm not even talking about the few good games that might exist.

I think i will stick with my theory that they are just trying to justify the purchase of these expensive gadgets. Its not that they are doing much with them that they wouldn't do with a much cheaper, simpler phone... So they have to show off something to their selves. Its not only games. There are also some useless apps that i see them use and pretend they have "fun" with them. Stuff that they never needed or would never find them as good ideas, yet they use them now because they need reasons to make the gadget seem useful.

Because, i don't think anyone would waste their time with these games if they were on the PC or console, even for the same prices. They are just reasons to use the gadget.

I have several games on the tablet.. e.g. Canabalt HD, HotD Overkill, Into the Dead, Plasma Sky, Rayman Jungle Run, Towelfight 2, Vector, Sonic Jump, The Room, Zaxxon Escape, Epoch among others. They function as advertised and are much cheaper than your average DS/PSP/Vita game. There was a time when Tetris on the Gameboy was selling by the truckload yet I don't recall this faux pas outrage and elitism levelled at it. The only way any of those inane arguments could have merit was if publishers charged highly prices for them, which they don't.

As for the argument that the gadgets themselves are expensive toys, I tend to agree. People love to flaunt stuff in the public to reflect how hip/trendy/wealthy they are, because that's how they're wired. Your elitist attitudes are only an enforcement of said practice *as if gaming can ever become aristocratic* And then there are people who get tablets to read ebooks and catch up with the news via Flipboard and other apps, record notes etc. They play games on them too. Big sodding deal.

http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/ For the non-snobs among you this site provides excellent coverage for handheld games and fair review scores.

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Originally Posted by Soulis

I can understand kids who don't have much experience with videogames playing and liking games on iphone and android. Same goes for people who aren't gamers at all. Smartphones aren't game machines after all and many non gamers have one so i get that developers must cater to them. But experienced gamers who are in this hobby for more than 20 years? No, i would never expect someone like that to waste so may hours with these games and almost neglect his other consoles and handhelds.

Man, i just finished System Shock 2 a couple of days ago (it was sitting in my backlog all these years) and boy, was it amazing. When i play games like that i can't even take most of the modern stuff seriously on consoles (with a few exceptions ofc), let alone games on smartphones... I guess, for me, gaming isn't just something to kill my time or something to do when i'm bored. I play games to transfer my self to their worlds and have a great time.

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Well, sometimes you want to sit down and play a cerebral, involving game. Sometimes you want to mindlessly fly a guy in a jetpack into laser beams.

Sometimes I want to watch a horror movie, sometimes I want to a happy movie.

You can enjoy very different things for different reasons. You don't lose your hardcore gamer badge because you want to dick around with a casual game once in a while.

If it's just something you don't get then it's just something you don't get. There's some pretty hardcore games available on mobile devices now (I know some people don't accept stuff like bluetooth controllers and the iCade as a solution for control issues but I don't see the problem) as well as some interesting and artistic ones that take advantage of features like multi-touch.

Are there grand cyberpunk epics like System Shock 2? Not really but do you really want to play that on a mobile device anyway?

As for the PC comparison I think you're wrong, for better or worse. Loads and loads of people regularly do waste their time on the same exact kinds of games on social websites like Facebook. A lot of them even sink real money into them. Maybe seasoned gamers aren't the ones doing this but those type of games lend themselves better to a mobile, pick-up-and play platform which you often have around with you when you're not doing anything better.

At the same time I have to look back at golden age arcade games which are every bit as simple, frivolous and pointless. And I love many of those games. There's a sort of slight return to high-score gaming with a lot of these mobile games which is something nobody thought would happen. I look at a few of these games and wonder if people would be so annoyed at their existence if they had come out in the 80's. And yes, I know gaming and game design as evolved but there's still room for the casual alongside the cinematic adventures or immersive virtual worlds.

In any case don't worry about how others choose to waste their time. Keep spending yours on what you enjoy.

I agree with your thread here Soulis.
I too have friends who are active console gamers preordering and living for the next Call of Duty etc, and they roll their eyes at my classic games preference. Yet these same automotons then are excited to show me the "cool space shooter" game they're playing on their phone or tablet.
None of these guys would play a console shmup for even a second, and they likewise make disparaging ignoarant comments about "old" games, then these same guys will spend hours with a simplistic touch screen shmup.

^ Now that is dumb. It's like not being able to see the forest through the trees. You'd figure the people mainly buying shmups would be fans of older games.

Granted there are some really great shumps on Android and iOS now.

One thing that's not been mentioned yet: The societal aspect. Brandishing a (3)DS or Vita/PSP in public instantly earns you geek status in many places. But it's become normal to use smartphones and tablets even in many stringent workplaces.

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Originally Posted by Gogogadget

I got Sonic 1 on my phone, I know nothing of bad phone games cos i'm only playing good ones.

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Enjoy trying to play your platformer games without any tactical feedback :B

But seriously, touchscreens just doesn't work too well with games that require more complex button layouts, virtual analog sticks or Dpads.
People who develop games that attempt to work with this (like the EWJ game for iOS) are simply doing it wrong.

Smartphone games if anything need to have a simplistic interface that relies a lot on single taps or swiping on the screen.
It just doesn't compare well at all when you attempt to make a full fledged platformer for a smartphone when you can't feel the controls and need to keep looking if you're actually hitting the right buttons.

The best use of a smartphone I've seen to date is Canabalt.
As it gives you a pretty interesting looking game with good ambiance and a really simplistic interface (tap and hold to jump, character runs and picks up speed by himself)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LD-S_XhlLWI

If the choice is ever presented to me to spend $50-60 on the Average PS360 one go story game or get five or six actual games that I can replay for the gameplay merit, I will always choose the later.

Tablets and smartphones really only work for those simple kinds of games that you play to pass the time on the bus or wherever. And that's completely fine. Nothing wrong with such a market. I've tried some of the more ambitious titles on iOS but in the end it's never really something I feel like taking the time investment needed to play. It was a new, unknown frontier for the industry which was overvalued and a lot of bad decisions were made (Like Zynga buying the Draw Something developer for a ludicrous sum of money), but I think it's starting to mature now that people are wising up over what does and doesn't work.