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Questions to help yourself take games more seriously It's a suggestion. She is sharing an opinion. Nowhere does she cast judgement on how or why you're enjoyin

Questions to help yourself take games more seriously It's a suggestion. She is sharing an opinion. Nowhere does she cast judgement on how or why you're enjoying your games. She's proposing a way to get a little more intellectual stimulation from games, and you can take it or leave it. While I personally think the specific questions are a bit too broad and shallow, there's no reason for the possibility of an alternative mode of thought to be offend me. Because somebody says "try doing X," does not mean she says "you are bad for not doing X."

klrr 14y ago
No but it's written a way that it's easily interpreted like that.
kabdib 14y ago
_Where is the artistic value in this game?_ Blowing stuff up is fun? Try Robotron, or Serious Sam. You're saying I need to examine someone's motivation and weigh a game's social conscience before I install the thing, or I'm a bad person? Get real. Blowing stuff up is fun. Once upon a time at Atari, one of the head Marketroids in the home computer division decided "No violent games!" The problem was, all of the non-violent games they were able to come up with _stunk_. They sunk millions into developing titles that didn't sell. I "played" _Dear Esther_ and it was interesting, but I uninstalled it and there's no point in going back; I won't play another game like that. I want to play games with a social conscience as their primary mission about as much as I want to attend another mandatory sensitivity training. [For the record, I only had to do that once, a long time ago. :-) ] For the most part, games are made to make money. This is what companies _do_. If you're saying that _Dear Esther_ is the answer, then the question is very silly indeed; it's not what the market wants. [For the record, I do think that "bikini armor" in RPGs is stupid, and I wish they'd stop. But my Old Fart notions are swamped by the cash represented by a legion of 15 year old boys.]
- pharrington 14y ago
  "You're saying I need to examine someone's motivation and weigh a game's social conscience before I install the thing, or I'm a bad person?" Well thats the thing... I'm not saying that, and I'm 100% sure the blog author isn't saying that either. Asking yourself what the artistic value in the game is is not the same thing as (yet does often lead to) evaluating the game in a socio-political context. It is examining your responses to the game, be they intellectual or visceral, and asking what elements of the game trigger those responses. Ask yourself how those elements form a coherent experience. I love shmups and action games. Right now I'm trying to get good at Devil May Cry 4, and the newest game I've played though is Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. These games have a strong focus on enabling creativity by giving the player avatar as much power and control as possible while balancing the enemy scenarios to still provide a challenge. Since stylish gameplay is the core of these games, asking exactly how the game gives the player so much control and creativity is fundamental to examining their artistic value. But they are also games with narratives: MGR:R is about a psychopathic former child soldier who's turned into a cyborg mercenary. He "refuels" by ripping out his enemies' spines and eating them. DMC4 begins with the series' half-demon protagonist crashing into a church and assassinating the pope. They are games with narratives, and whether or not the narratives are good, they impact the player experience and are certainly worth considering. All anyone is saying is to try paying more attention to, and reflecting on, what you're thinking and feeling when playing games. You might enjoy them more. You might not.

klrr 14y ago

No but it's written a way that it's easily interpreted like that.

kabdib 14y ago

_Where is the artistic value in this game?_ Blowing stuff up is fun? Try Robotron, or Serious Sam. You're saying I need to examine someone's motivation and weigh a game's social conscience before I install the thing, or I'm a bad person? Get real. Blowing stuff up is fun. Once upon a time at Atari, one of the head Marketroids in the home computer division decided "No violent games!" The problem was, all of the non-violent games they were able to come up with _stunk_. They sunk millions into developing titles that didn't sell. I "played" _Dear Esther_ and it was interesting, but I uninstalled it and there's no point in going back; I won't play another game like that. I want to play games with a social conscience as their primary mission about as much as I want to attend another mandatory sensitivity training. [For the record, I only had to do that once, a long time ago. :-) ] For the most part, games are made to make money. This is what companies _do_. If you're saying that _Dear Esther_ is the answer, then the question is very silly indeed; it's not what the market wants. [For the record, I do think that "bikini armor" in RPGs is stupid, and I wish they'd stop. But my Old Fart notions are swamped by the cash represented by a legion of 15 year old boys.]

pharrington 14y ago
"You're saying I need to examine someone's motivation and weigh a game's social conscience before I install the thing, or I'm a bad person?" Well thats the thing... I'm not saying that, and I'm 100% sure the blog author isn't saying that either. Asking yourself what the artistic value in the game is is not the same thing as (yet does often lead to) evaluating the game in a socio-political context. It is examining your responses to the game, be they intellectual or visceral, and asking what elements of the game trigger those responses. Ask yourself how those elements form a coherent experience. I love shmups and action games. Right now I'm trying to get good at Devil May Cry 4, and the newest game I've played though is Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. These games have a strong focus on enabling creativity by giving the player avatar as much power and control as possible while balancing the enemy scenarios to still provide a challenge. Since stylish gameplay is the core of these games, asking exactly how the game gives the player so much control and creativity is fundamental to examining their artistic value. But they are also games with narratives: MGR:R is about a psychopathic former child soldier who's turned into a cyborg mercenary. He "refuels" by ripping out his enemies' spines and eating them. DMC4 begins with the series' half-demon protagonist crashing into a church and assassinating the pope. They are games with narratives, and whether or not the narratives are good, they impact the player experience and are certainly worth considering. All anyone is saying is to try paying more attention to, and reflecting on, what you're thinking and feeling when playing games. You might enjoy them more. You might not.