"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 thi

"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.