• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Why is most gamer humor actually fucking unfunny as hell

64bitmodels

Reverse groomer.
If it's not a shitty meme that feels like it came from 2012 making real life parallels to a video game, or a crappy webcomic from the 2000s (cough cough CTRL Alt Del cough cough penny arcade), Then it's either some 'edgy' meme that takes real life consequences and applies them to video games (ignoring the fact that they're almost always not original and are hardly funny, there are exceptions though) or stupid references. I just don't understand what's so funny about it, it eventually becomes extremely cringey after seeing it so many times.

EDIT: for people who are confused i'm referring to humor from GAMERS, not humor from games themselves. a lot of games i think are pretty funny, it's just that most gamers can't seem to make a lot of good jokes. There's some funny stuff like AVGN, Caddicarus, Scott the Woz, Nerrel and all that other stuff but then there's the really cringey shit that just screams early 2010s redditor energy, like the person who wrote it had a "gamers don't die, they respawn" T shirt. Dorkly, most gaming webcomics, and gaming memes are good examples
 
Last edited:

radewagon

Member
virgin america GIF


Jim Carrey What GIF


Oh snap... wait. Am I part of the problem? :messenger_grinning_squinting:
 
Last edited:

Northeastmonk

Gold Member
I’ll take a swing at what I think you’re referring to. I’ve looked at a lot of Penny Arcade articles and tried to listen to a lot of the humor that came out of IGN. A lot of it feels like office humor. Something that’s probably funnier in person than hearing it across the internet. Often times it feels like east coast/west coast humor.

I remember discussing Resident Evil at GameStop with a store employee. I told him about the Village DLC and he said something about “it wouldn’t be Resident Evil without Chris kicking something”. I swear I’ve played these games since the original game was on PS1/RE5 at launch too and I still don’t get the joke.

It feels cringe because it’s implying a point that not everyone gets and the joke itself has to resonate with that particular person even if they completely understand the subject.
 

haxan7

Volunteered as Tribute
If it's not a shitty meme that feels like it came from 2012 making real life parallels to a video game, or a crappy webcomic from the 2000s (cough cough CTRL Alt Del cough cough penny arcade), Then it's either some 'edgy' meme that takes real life consequences and applies them to video games (ignoring the fact that they're almost always not original and are hardly funny, there are exceptions though) or stupid references. I just don't understand what's so funny about it, it eventually becomes extremely cringey after seeing it so many times.
you gotta post some examples so we know what gamer humor is
 

93xfan

Banned
If it's not a shitty meme that feels like it came from 2012 making real life parallels to a video game, or a crappy webcomic from the 2000s (cough cough CTRL Alt Del cough cough penny arcade), Then it's either some 'edgy' meme that takes real life consequences and applies them to video games (ignoring the fact that they're almost always not original and are hardly funny, there are exceptions though) or stupid references. I just don't understand what's so funny about it, it eventually becomes extremely cringey after seeing it so many times.
Maybe you just don’t get the joke. Next time flag the post for a mod to explain it to you.
 
Last edited:

93xfan

Banned
Tell me you are playing Guacamelee without telling me you are playing Guacamelee.
Guacamelee is funny. Maybe not as funny as The Messenger (the shopkeeper) and Hollow Knight (the guy who has 100 or so rules he lives by). Still funny though
 

bender

What time is it?
Tell me you at least like the other 2 games I mentioned. Considering your Futurama avatar, my expectations are pretty high

The only thing I remember about the Messenger is how great it was until it decided to be a really bad metroidvania. Hollow Knight is top class.
 

Quantum253

Member
So it's not the writing in games that isn't funny, but gaming culture itself can't produce funny content? I imagine it's where you look. I've seen some pretty funny videos about video games (Viva La Dirt, Battlefield Friends, etc). Every once in awhile you get some funny comics, but it's been far and few between within the last decade
 

Jennings

Member
I only like gamer humor when it's mean, I don't know why. I guess I am a jerkface.

My favorite gamer comic panel is unpostable because it's extremely misogynistic. And while I recognize its problems, I still see it as funny as fuck, poking fun at both gamers and a developer alike. But all the lame Reddit-level amateur airline-food-quality comic panels made by tame wannabes looking for a patreon fanbase just don't do it for me.
 
Last edited:
Comedic writers can make much more in other sectors of entertainment

Money aside, writing comedy for a TV show is much more stable than a video game
 

93xfan

Banned
The only thing I remember about the Messenger is how great it was until it decided to be a really bad metroidvania. Hollow Knight is top class.
They definitely are. But I meant in terms of humor. You didn’t think the shopkeeper was funny?
 
Last edited:

Northeastmonk

Gold Member
I don't understand this. Like Californians have jokes about mild weather and earthquakes and New Yorkers have jokes about subways and pizza?
Like Silicon Valley type humor, where if you aren’t around the lifestyle or have been in the work environment then it would be hard to really comprehend. It’s like making a con joke and not knowing what’s it like being at a con. You’re sorta left interpreting the humor.

I don’t mean it like “this is how a New Yorker should act” or “this is how someone from Cali should act”.

It’s a lot of this “in studio” type humor where someone who may be watching or trying to interpret can’t relate or the humor just doesn’t hit anything relatable. Sure, it’s for entertainment purposes, but it’s probably a lot more enjoyable if you’re from or around that particular part of the country.
 
Last edited:

Neilg

Member
Comedic writers can make much more in other sectors of entertainment

Money aside, writing comedy for a TV show is much more stable than a video game
Also games are written by full time staff on really long timelines to adapt to change. A comedy writer is going to demand a stupid amount of money to do a full time video game gig like that, it would be shit to work on.

Imagine if a game was written like a big budget comedy movie - script finished early and then a team of the best writers in comedy start doing passes over it to fill it with jokes.
It wouldn't work because game directors are too used to being able to throw out a ton of work at the drop of a hat, but it would be nice if they prioritized the script of a funny game for once. Many rpgs manage this where a lot of story gets locked early.
 

supernova8

Banned
Still not sure what you're exactly referring to but Mega64 is basically peak game humor. Taking game concepts and applying them to real life. A lot of it is humor from the awkward situation (fair point) but it's also because it sorts of points out how stupid (or rather unrealistic) the original games were.

Two great examples from Mega64 are the Assassin's Creed one (where he starts touching people's shoulders as he walks past them, just like in the game)


and the Shenmue one (where he is super awkward, just like the game's protagonist)


The other funny people I can think of are GameGrumps but most of their funny content has nothing to do with games per se. It's usually them doing some stupid/funny skit (or telling a funny story) while happening to be playing video games.
 
Last edited:

ANIMAL1975

Member
If it's not a shitty meme that feels like it came from 2012 making real life parallels to a video game, or a crappy webcomic from the 2000s (cough cough CTRL Alt Del cough cough penny arcade), Then it's either some 'edgy' meme that takes real life consequences and applies them to video games (ignoring the fact that they're almost always not original and are hardly funny, there are exceptions though) or stupid references. I just don't understand what's so funny about it, it eventually becomes extremely cringey after seeing it so many times.
You don’t like i headshot killstreack iu noobs every time,
Get gud OP
Good Morning Ghost GIF by Call of Duty
 
Last edited:

Inviusx

Member
Humor at the expense of a game or a studio/publisher/personality is the only source of comedy within this hobby, whether it be a hilarious glitch or a developers attempt at something serious that backfire etc etc

Parody videos, comedy skits, web comics are all hilariously bad. Anything by Mega64 or similar is the purest source of cringe on the internet.
 
Last edited:

jigglet

Banned
Cause as you get older your sense of humor matures and you look more for subtly rather than crude jokes. This subtly is difficult with current gaming tech, we're not at a point yet where a director can say "try again" and have another take within minutes. You hear of some directors doing 30-50-100 takes...that's just not possible in gaming. Some of the best humor (think Bill Murray, PT Anderson etc) is so subtle you can barely even see it if you're not looking for it. The tech and directional fluidity just isn't there yet.
 
Last edited:

22•22

NO PAIN TRANCE CONTINUE
That's what GTA and it ilk does well in that you can fuck with shit and make you're own humor.

I'll never forget this....

Saints Row OG

I was playing with a friend and we were at the bottom of an alleyway with high buildings on each side.

One of those has those zigzag staircases going up to the roof with lots of baddies you had to kill to get to the top.

When we were one or two staircases below the top of the building we heard some shuffling and some essay saying NPC stuff.

So we were like; "let's throw a nade!"

So I aim very high because if felt he was roaming the side of the top.

Anyways i throw the nade, a bit of silence and then TING TING TING of the nade landing followed by the NPC shouting NIGGAH WHAT?!

BOOM!

It was hilarious. Guy was walking and out of nowhere, well, you can picture it

Hardest I laughed in a game ever
 
Last edited:

STARSBarry

Gold Member
Still not sure what you're exactly referring to but Mega64 is basically peak game humor. Taking game concepts and applying them to real life. A lot of it is humor from the awkward situation (fair point) but it's also because it sorts of points out how stupid (or rather unrealistic) the original games were.

Two great examples from Mega64 are the Assassin's Creed one (where he starts touching people's shoulders as he walks past them, just like in the game)


and the Shenmue one (where he is super awkward, just like the game's protagonist)


The other funny people I can think of are GameGrumps but most of their funny content has nothing to do with games per se. It's usually them doing some stupid/funny skit (or telling a funny story) while happening to be playing video games.


Sadly Mega 64 have become far less frequent and they seem to do their real life skits less and less...

 

Calverz

Member
‘Step up and play’ each machine seemed to say as I walked round and round the penny arcade.
 
Last edited:
Top Bottom