Comments on: communal discussion of video games

By: Frere Jaque? WTF? « Ordinary Swords

Frere Jaque? WTF? « Ordinary Swords — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 03:00:59 +0000

[...] Some other great thoughts on Wii Music (a big thanks to David Carlton, who suggested this in a wonderful blog post): [...]

By: Rob

Rob — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 00:47:33 +0000

You know, David, that’s a real good point. I’m lucky in that my reviewer capacity at gamesareevil.com is for portable titles. It’s been a while since I’ve played an iPhone game or DS game with that pure immersive joy, as I need to think about how it plays, what it does, what the story is. I need to get screenshots and option screen details and all that. I say lucky because I do NOT review games for the 360, or for the Wii, so I can just…play them.

Now, of course, me being me and just getting into this whole new approach to games blogging, I’m thinking about things like, “how does this affect me emotionally, what does the score say about the designer’s intent, etc. It’s a whole new arena. But I think, still, that I like to approach games as games first and foremost. I like being swept away by the initial scenes and introductions to the game.

Anyway, thanks for the ongoing discussion. :)

By: David Carlton

David Carlton — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 04:06:57 +0000

Glad you’re enjoying it! I will say that “playing games as games” isn’t a description of what I do that I’m comfortable with: while I’m very glad that I’m not on a review deadline, or indeed doing traditional reviews at all, it’s also the case that I’m aware that I’m going to be blogging about the games I’m playing when I’m done with them and that I’m thinking even when playing them about how the games relate both to other games and to other interests/ideas of mine, at least some of the time. And I really enjoy the fact that the VGC gives me an excuse to think more in depth about games when I’m playing them.

But yeah, this loose-knit network of bloggers is producing some really amazing stuff, isn’t it? And it just keeps adding – the VGC new members brought in by the game 4 discussion caused me to add another half-dozen blogs (including yours) to my feed reader.

By: Rob

Rob — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 02:54:02 +0000

I really like the description of your progression from pro-gamer site reader to blog reader to blog creator here, David. It’s echoed in the first comment above, as well. How fun and ultimately better is it that the people who play the games AS GAMES, rather than as reviews to be completed, are writing about the games themselves. In the group of enthusiast gamer blogs, led by Michael Abbot, of course, I find such a large variety in the specifics each writer chooses to write about. There’s game design discussion, music theory discussion, thematic relevance, and the like. The gestalt of it all is so enlightening, so utterly brain-feeding (and perhaps soul-feeding as well, but that’s another topic altogether), that I can’t help but find myself reading late into the night or long past my lunch hour at work, jumping from topic to topic and blog to blog. A loose-knit set of links taking me back and forth within each topic: priceless. Great idea! Just as long as, you know, IT”S NOT A HUB! hehe.

Great post. I’m really enjoying your blog!

By: Paul

Paul — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 17:00:49 +0000

Haha, thanks for the encouragement to write more. I should, but I just haven’t had anything to write about in a while . . . or so I thought. I was rather verbose yesterday, which was nice for a change as my prior output had dwindled to just about nothing.

Anyway, moving on. ;)

By: David Carlton

David Carlton — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 18:47:48 +0000

Yes, addictive behavior is just the right description! That’s exactly the part of my brain that that sort of coverage is tickling; I feel the lure, but it’s also a sign that I should actively redirect my attention somewhere else.

Quite a comment; you should post on your blog more often!

By: Paul

Paul — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 14:37:01 +0000

The past year in gaming has been an interesting one. Last year my girlfriend and I broke up and I moved into my own apartment. This was the first time in my life I’ve ever lived alone for an extended period of time and I love it. Sure, it get s a tad lonely at times, but most of the time it’s an exciting and engaging experience since I don’t have any children or anything to tie me down except work and the like (my family live 1,500 miles away). So I ended up playing a lot more video games, probably the most in my entire life. When I was a kid I could only have dreamed for this much time to “devote” to gaming. To be fair, I still do read, write and watch movies (anime, football, etc.), but gaming took a huge step forward . . . and at times I felt fairly guilty and that I was wasting my life.

A few months ago I ran across a link to the Brainy Gamer site and after browsing through some of the other posts Michael had up I quickly bookmarked his site and have been a avid reader since. I had never really been much interested in mainstream gaming sites outside of previews, reviews and the occasional feature. Mainly I just wanted to see trailers and gameplay videos (which would explain why Gametrailers quickly became my most frequented site a few years ago). But then something happened, I began receiving Games For Windows in the mail . . . for free. I suppose this made sense as I was (am) primarily a pc gamer and I must have been on some list somewhere. Regardless, the magazine led me to the podcast (rest in peace) and therefore 1up. And soon I was reading 1up regularly as that site is fantastic about sharing their staff’s personas. It keeps things interesting when you feel like you “know” someone at a gaming site, and this was a completely new phenomenon for me that was more or less brought on by the advent of podcasts.

I never realized how unfulfilling mainstream enthusiast gaming press is until Shawn Elliot and Jeff Green left 1up and I began exploring other avenues of writing about games. Naturally, this led me to blogs. And in the past few months I don’t even find myself looking at Metacritic or following new trailers about games I’m interested in. That sort of environment leads to addiction. A want of consumption that can never be filled as more and more games are perpetually on the horizon. The news, previews and reviews create more page views, but they don’t foster much insight and enjoyment on the part of the individual. It’s all about what’s next.

So, what’s my point? I agree whole heatedly with this post. The gaming blog community is alive and filled with rich commentary about all manner of things related to gaming. Am I more interested in the game I’ve been tracking for the past year and a half or the 20 minute discussion on an end of the year podcast that I follow up by reading a few blog posts? For me, definitely the latter.

And that concludes the longest comment I’ve ever left anywhere. Apparently, your post struck a chord. ;)