05.13.07
Talking out your arse
Okay here’s a thought.
If you find yourself writing something about the medium of the video game, be it in a printed article, a paper for school, or on an internet forum, and you haven’t played at least a hundred video games:
STOP. MAKING. GENERALIZATIONS.
I was once told that to say something qualified about movies (specifically in academic circles), you’re expected to have watched at least a thousand of them, so you know what you’re talking about. Apparently, if you’re talking about games, you can say whatever you damn well please as long as you’ve watched a friend play some sports games on his Xbox.
What does Grand Turismo have in common with Neverwinter Nights 2? Pretty much nothing worth mentioning! They’re both video games, that is it. Do not make statements such as “Game designers usually consider the story after everything else has been created”, because you are absolutely guaranteed to be wrong about a huge amount of game designers. Do not say that game developers don’t care about stories when there are people out there, people with big names, who are working their arses off trying to develop new storytelling techniques for games.
So please, unless you are actually a game developer or you are actively engaged in game development communities or at least read a lot about how developers work, and unless you have played at the very least a hundred video games of as many different genres as possible (not just two hundred different Madden games! They’re all the same goddamn game, FFS), please just shut up. Please.
EER said,
May 13, 2007 at 23:29
You know how pacman has a lot incommon Oblivion? Both games feature playable characters with foes, and both are video games. Who can tell the difference? I sure can’t
Jonas said,
May 13, 2007 at 23:42
Grrrrr!