The Want to Hate

by Jouni Harjunmaa

What is one of the most often-heard phrases in today's RPG conversations? You guessed right, it's " sucks because ". Fill in the blanks however you wish, and you get the idea of what we all talk about. Everyone must have something to hate. The more of a mainstream game you hate, the better. Hate a game, but have not seen it, played it, or even read about it? You're not the only one. You might be someone with the Want to Hate.

We all get excited about upcoming things. A new Star Wars movie might be around the corner. McDonalds may have a new quadruple cheeseburger coming next month. These are things we excitedly look forward to. Now, how would it sound if we applied the Want to Hate? "The new burger will be the death of McDonalds. They used to make good burgers, now they're just a sell-out. How I miss the good old days when they focused on making a burger GOOD. No, I haven't tried the burger but I just KNOW it will be awful." Sounds stupid? If it did, good. Go back to that sentence, and replace McDonalds with a video game company and "burger" with "video game." Does it still sound stupid? Strangely enough, it doesn't, at least not to some people.

So why does the Want to Hate exist? Perhaps it's born out of boredom. Perhaps we all need to vent out our angry feelings towards something. Maybe RPGs are just a good target. You can totally trash a popular game, and afterwards feel great because you have strayed from the flock. It's even easy to make yourself think you are a somehow stronger person because you are able to hate something people are supposed to love.

Currently a hot topic is the "old school vs. new school" debate. This one topic is an excellent support for some people's Want to Hate. Read about all the excitement of a new upcoming Final Fantasy. Decide to hate it because it's not "old school". Get a few friends because you think you belong to the "old school gamers". Earn respect from people who think you are wise since you have experience with "old school" and can turn away the "new school". What does all of this add up to? Hours of boredom relieved, loads of bandwidth wasted, feeling great because you just trashed something. All in the form of "It is!" "It's not!" packets sweeping back and forth.

Is there such a thing as a perfect game? I think not. Is there such a thing as an amazingly good game? You bet. Now, what if you already have the Want to Hate redirected to an upcoming game and start playing it? Not even an amazingly good game can beat the power of the Want to Hate. Flaws, dislikeable things and overall gripes are like pieces for the Want to Hate to collect. Will a game you have decided to hate surprise you by being good? Not a chance. Not even the greatest masterpieces can stand up to the pre-decided hatred of a gamer.

It is a serious problem, is it not? The Want to Hate is something not to be taken lightly even if only a small part of us are affected by it. It's not something we can get rid of, since we are just too human in nature. It is, however, something we can learn to suppress. Perhaps trying to be a little bit more open-minded, or a bit more positive about life. In any case, if you are suffering from the Want to Hate, there's never been a better time to try to get rid of it. Unless, of course, the Want to Hate made you blatantly scream out at this letter before you even started reading it.