Game article up :)
polycounter lvl 17
Here is the link to my Article
as promised.
Feel free to comment here if you like. These are my views and my interpretation of the views expressed by some of you in the threads I have made on various forums. I am not a writer, I just wrote this to help out a site I have been a member of for a long time. Its an interest piece btw.
as promised.
Feel free to comment here if you like. These are my views and my interpretation of the views expressed by some of you in the threads I have made on various forums. I am not a writer, I just wrote this to help out a site I have been a member of for a long time. Its an interest piece btw.
This discussion has been closed.
Replies
You end the whole thing by reaching the conclusion that the next wave of releases will utterly prove your original statement wrong. But *WHAT* original statement?!
I think that pretty much sums up the whole article.
edit: and you're undemployed with a family to support? Wtf are you doing writing brainless opeds about gaming? Shouldn't you be out getting a fcking job?
Basically I would like to see more effort go into the feel of games, in old games developers had to relly on the feel of a game to make it sell because the eyecandy just wasn't there. It seems to me that certain aspects have been neglected and replaced with eyecandy.
I agree that it was a trend for a while, to just put in as much visuals as possible, and it will continue, but those gmaes arent generally the ones that do that well anyway.
The Gaming industry as a whole releases some truly fantastic original games.
Hey Justin_Meisse - Don't forget commander Keen and Jill of the jungle
Man, 16 colour graphics.... those were the days *makes gaging sound*
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I will say that I dont feel the games industry is truly stagnant, its just not producing many games that I personally enjoy.
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To me, this is sadly the point of the whole piece. Your article is a complaint that you, a player, don't like the stories featured in comtemporary titles. As a reader, I don't take much away from a statement like that. I havent read any objective discussions of good stories vs. bad, or evaluations of the importance of story on a whole, let alone read suggestions for future directions for story-driven games to take.
Early in college I received a very poor grade on a contemporary art essay where my thesis was essentially that I thought the artwork was ugly. I learned the hard way that your personal opinions, and most importantly statements based on TASTE, are neither good grounds for making value-judgments nor interesting to read.
To me right now it kinda sounds like grandpa going "bah son, it was a loooooot better in the past"
Maybe you should throw in some examples to back up your arguments?
Your way of research by trolling forums is asinine. Your conclusion "the state of games is in the eye of the gamer" is so blatantly obvious you didn't even need to waste our time with your "research" topic before. And to repeat my point from your last topic, you talk about story in games specifically, it's not stagnant, you've just been playing the wrong games! Furthermore, what expertise do you have on the state of PC games? You say in your first paragraph you've barely played any, until recently since you've been unemployed!
You need to learn how to properly write a thesis, how to conduct proper research and need to gain some credibility before you make up a generalization based on a few games you've played.
You offer us your premise as a question (is gaming boring?) but deliver us an op-ed piece (gaming is boring!), intended not to explore a topic but to reinforce your previously held opinion. If you want to write a slant, write a slant and do away with the pretense.
You create an antagonistic thread here on Polycount in order to feign having researched the article, but as far as I can tell, you dismissed every dissenting opinion in that thread. Instead, the attitude you swaggered in here with is the one you've regurgitated into this article, queasy bits of digital bile still dribbling from your virtual chin. Hideously bad journalism any way it's viewed.
The article is peppered with inconsequential personal trivia that isn't even intellectually consistant. You're an unemployed working man? My first thought is what the fuck?, closely followed by the complimentary who gives a fuck? Your position that irony is what makes life interesting is a delightful slice of your personal philosophy, but it has nothing to do with video games until you draw a convincing correlation. You didn't draw any correlation. Where's the irony that makes Tetris capitvating?
Your supporting statements tumble between the ambiguously uncertain and the thoroughly unsupported. To wit:
- "Creativity is taking a back seat to profit..." You didn't illustrate (a) how that is so or (b) how this is inherently a problem. All video games are designed with profit in mind; creativity that doesn't sell does little good.
- "The majority of the casual gamers tended to agree..." If you have statistical evidence to call something a majority, cite it.
- "To quote something I agree with 'The stagnation of the game industry is dependant on the point of view of the individual'." I've also got a quote that I would like to share: "A quote that you don't bother to attribute is a waste of my time." Mind you, I'm quoting myself on that one. If you won't bother with context, don't bother with the quotation marks.
Finally, your closing point is wildly unsubstantiated. Games are dull now, but we're just around the corner from all sorts of gaming goodness? And you base this insight of yours on what? You didn't offer a hint, not the slightest clue, as to what leads you to believe this. An article that spent eight paragraphs lamenting the state of modern video gaming is swept under the rug with a zephyr of optimism, and your readers haven't the faintest idea why you think this is so. Barring an offhand reference to Windows and DirectX, both technical components and already dismissed as unrelated to the "feel" of games, there's nothing you mention as even peripheral to this forthcoming upsurge in gaming quality.
If you're going to write again, do it better - the standard for legitimate journalism is higher than it is for web forum debate. And find yourself an editor that knows where to put apostrophes.
On the other hand, Vermilion, I love your review, an enjoyable read.
You say you're out of the loop and not really in the know about games. Wow no wonder you have no idea about up coming games or some of the games that don't make into mass media circulation. You would think that after you do research and these things are pointed out you might start to change your mind. But you seem to grow more entrenched? Open minded journalism FTW! To sum up your article "I'm bitter and too lazy to research games I might be interested in, listen to me rant for the next 3 pages"
I think you are light on backing up your stated research which actually comes off as opinion not fact or even the majority of people polled. I would like to actually see all the other threads and read the disscussions if there where actually more than just the one here at Polycount, which your wording leads me to belive there was only one post in one forum but you're leading the reader to think there where more. But again, we can't check your facts since no links where provided.
In short, you're out of the loop and writing an article about a subject you desperatly need to be in the loop to talk about.
EDIT: Just read verms post, and I totally, 100% agree.
It's obvious that this whole article was written by you, about you, for you, and you released it hoping someone would like it. All because you can't be bothered to consider what your target audience wants to hear. Which is pretty ironic considering you're accusing game developers of the same thing.
nice avatar though
r.
like daz i don't get the point you're trying to make, but i also don't get the point of the article in the first place ... short of padding for the site you're trying to help, or inciting moaning replies like this from people that fancy a bit of a rant before they start their working day ...
I have been out of the loop for quite a while and pretty much have only bought the "hype" games. I will have a look at some smaller titles.
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Then you have nothing to say on this topic. Good day.
Frank the Avenger
I was sure I would get this kind of response but I did promise to post a link to it and I keep my word.
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Well, it is not a good article, but it's nice that you at least understood it was bad before you posted the link.
The reaction is based on the fact that many people here have completed hard course work in college or are avid readers and would have no trouble at all writing a better article than this. Off the top of my head, this is what the article needs:
Actual quotations from forum members
Forum poll statistics, preferably from more and less "hardcore" game communities, ideally from a lot of them.
Statistics on sequels and movie based game sales compared with critical success titles like Ico.
Historical analysis of dominant game genres.
Analysis of the number of movie based games and game sequals over time. Combined with...
Number of titles released for each console in every console generation.
Have the recent quotes from EA about developing new IPs.
Having those would have made it worth reading. I also would have liked to see a cross analysis comparing the movie and game industries in terms of mainstream and obscure titles.
If I wasn't busting my ass making games with new and groundbreaking gameplay I would write the damn thing for you! The paper I just outlined sounds like it's worth reading.
And just to join in. Get off your ass and support your family instead of fucking around writing articles that no one gives 2 shits about. It's seriously funny to see how people with industry experience have the complete opposite opinion. You are just mad because you miss your childhood nostalgia. Things are just different, not worse. Keep playing old games, no one is holding a gun to your head to play these lack luster titles.
Edit* Verm is my hero.
And just to join in. Get off your ass and support your family instead of fucking around writing articles that no one gives 2 shits about.
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Jesus. So the guy wrote a crappy article. Is it really necessary to get quite so personal?
Grow up and get a life.
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There we go. This thread is now complete.