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February 19, 2009
6:49 PM
amorda commented on:
These games are not what you think they are
Great article, but it made me thinks some interesting things. I feel like it demonstrates the lack of proper dialogue that we as players use to discuss videogames, in that we focus too much on what a game is "supposed to be." No other media seems to be so rigid in attempting to fit it's products into genres and discuss them from that angle. It's interesting to see how a player's opinion changes just based on camera angle. For example, if one were to see a gun sticking out of the bottom of the screen, the reaction seems to be, "Okay, this is a first person shooter," not "I'm holding a gun." When reading a book or watching a movie the reaction of the user is typically not "you got drama in my comedy," it's to react to the things that are actually occuring. I think part of the issue is that most genres for other mediums are not based so much on basic technique. No one says that low angle shots are for romantic comedies only, or that the placement of the subject to the verb defines that book as science fiction. Perhaps that just an inevitable part of the way that we interact with the medium of videogames, and not the specific videogames themselves. I don't know. I feel like the breakdown of P.N. 03 said it best, and, again, it's a great article. I'm glad that it points out that a game can be brought down by what some expect from that "genre."
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2 years, 12 months ago These games are not what you think they are
Great article, but it made me thinks some interesting things.

I feel like it demonstrates the lack of proper dialogue that we as players use to discuss videogames, in that we focus too much on what a game is "supposed to be." No other media seems to be so rigid in attempting to fit it's products into genres and discuss them from that angle. It's interesting to see how a player's opinion changes just based on camera angle. For example, if one were to see a gun sticking out of the bottom of the screen, the reaction seems to be, "Okay, this is a first person shooter," not "I'm holding a gun." When reading a book or watching a movie the reaction of the user is typically not "you got drama in my comedy," it's to react to the things that are actually occuring. I think part of the issue is that most genres for other mediums are not based so much on basic technique. No one says that low angle shots are for romantic comedies only, or that the placement of the subject to the verb defines that book as science fiction. Perhaps that just an inevitable part of the way that we interact with the medium of videogames, and not the specific videogames themselves. I don't know.

I feel like the breakdown of P.N. 03 said it best, and, again, it's a great article. I'm glad that it points out that a game can be brought down by what some expect from that "genre."
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3 years, 3 months ago Why scary games are never scary
I was genuinely in a state of panic and scared several times while playing Killer 7. There were situations where you could hear a creature approaching quickly and laughing. The fact that they were invisible and needed to be scanned, then shot, and you couldn't move really made for intense, frigthening times, at least for me. And that laugh always gets me.
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3 years, 3 months ago Why scary games are never scary
I was genuinely in a state of panic and scared several times while playing Killer 7. There were situations where you could hear a creature approaching quickly and laughing. The fact that they were invisible and needed to be scanned, then shot, and you couldn't move really made for intense, frigthening times, at least for me. And that laugh always gets me.
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