Being Critical of a Game Is NOT Entitement

With the upcoming release of Pokemon Sword and Shield, many fans of the series have been very vocal about their displeasure with regards to limiting accessible Pokemon to just the ones found in the game's region. A similarly vocal group has cropped up being vocal about the remake of Link's Awakening costing $60, the same price as Breath of the Wild, Mario Odyssey, and Super Smash Bros Ultimate.

And some defenders of Nintendo have decided to counter the annoyances by calling it entitlement. A term that has been heavily overused, especially in the video game scene.

The argument that someone is acting entitled is often paired with "if you don't like it, don't buy it" which is the laziest counter you could make beside "you think you could do better?"

Whether you're criticizing a YouTube channel or a game that companies want you to buy, people have every right to be critical of something they don't like. And in the case of Pokemon Sword and Shield, not buying the game will get the point across, but it won't have an impact on Sword and Shield. People are wanting Game Freak to fix the problem for Sword and Shield, not only for Pokemon games after Sword and Shield.

If consumers aren't vocal about why they're upset, people will have to assume why their game isn't selling. Pokemon Sword and Shield have many possible reasons, ranging from it being on what is primarily a home console to people not liking the new designs. Explaining clearly why it is that we aren't happy gives them an easy to understand answer. With Link's Awakening, people aren't happy about the price tag. I mean, it's a remake of a game you can get on the 3DS for $6, which is one tenth of the price of the Switch version, and likely isn't much worse in terms of features.

There are ways for you, as someone who isn't directly involved with these games to handle criticism. You can choose to let it not effect you, explain why the criticism is isn't that important, or go bananas on the person and take their criticism personally.

The important thing to remember is that the person doing the criticising is just as much a human as you are. Your opinion on the game is no more important than theirs. Always remember the human you're replying to.