Opinionation: Peer Pressure

I don't know about you, but sometimes being surrounded by other gamers isn't exactly a good thing. Sure, they'll be more than happy to play a co-op game or two with you or help you out on trickier puzzles, but more often than not my gaming friends are what could be referred to as bad influences. They'll keep you up late at night while your boyfriend impatiently waits for you (or not) to come to bed, they'll interrupt your daily life with instant messages about the latest game news when you're trying to work, but possibly the greatest harm they can do as a bad influence is convince you to buy more games when you don't need to.

Looking at my gaming library recently I noticed how many games I've picked up because of this peer pressure. Some of these games have been great surprises. For instance, I didn't think I would be all about Dead Space, but after talking to a pal about some of my dislikes of the "BOO! Something jumps out to scare you!" genre I was convinced that I should give the game a dismembering shot. Turns out it's one of my favorite game this generation. Without the suggestion from a friend, I never would have discovered the fun to be had in Future Tactics: Uprising, an unassuming little budget title that blew me away. While traditional card and board games aren't really my thing, when I saw an acquaintance singing the praises of Clubhouse Games I knew I had to check it out.

Sadly they can't all be winners. I picked up the first Assassin's Creed title after the launch hype/hate died down when a friend told me that "it wasn't that bad" and that it would be something I would like. Something about the game's repetitive missions just didn't click with me and I ended up hating the experience. The same could be said of the DS version of the RPG classic, Chrono Trigger. Now before you get all uppity and sending me hate email (which I secretly love by the way), I never played the original back in the day and while it's legions of fans are free to disagree with me, I don't think the title has aged well at all. More recently a lot of people in my office and the GayGamer Castle have been enjoying a stay in Arkham Asylum. I didn't find the game bad by any means, but I got bored with the title and left it coming to the conclusion that if it wasn't for Batman branding no one would be paying any attention to this game's otherwise mediocre gameplay and mechanics. Though, the Scarecrow sections of the game were pretty cool.

It's hard to tell if peer pressure has been a good or bad thing for me at the end of the day. On one hand, it's helped push me to play titles I might have completely skipped over. On the other, I totally want the $15 back that I spent on Assassin's Creed. I suppose it's always good to be open to taking chances on games that may not appeal to you immediately, but sometimes you need to exercise a little restraint. What say you, dear reader? Has gaming peer pressure ever pushed you into buying games you wouldn't have otherwise? How did it work out for you? Share your thoughts in the comments!