Comments on: game writing and passion

By: Steven O'Dell

Steven O'Dell — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 18:33:05 +0000

I am still relatively new to blogging and therefore haven’t really found what works for me just yet, but reading this post, quite simply, just makes sense.

In my limited time of writing, I have definitely felt some of my posts. What I mean by that is that I know when a post of mine seems ‘right’ and I always feel better for it so with that in mind, reading what you have wrote here makes complete sense now that you have pointed it out. I know that’s a vague description and honestly, I’m not sure I would actually be able to describe it, but the point is that the more I try to write, the more I am going to figure out what works for me. Reading this post only helps me in that cause, so thanks for that.

By: David Carlton

David Carlton — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 21:53:17 +0000

Sure, no question – I read reviews all the time, I find them useful, I’m glad people are writing them. So I don’t really mean to recommend that people never write reviews; rather, I recommend that people ask why they’re writing a review instead of following some other form, and ask what they are trying to accomplish. To me, the answers to both of those questions surprised me when I thought about them for a bit, and led to a conclusion that I should avoid writing reviews and that my web browsing would be richer if more people did so as well.

But I’ll happily read reviews you write anyways! :-)

By: Michael Abbott

Michael Abbott — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 17:23:59 +0000

Great post, David. “Follow your nose” is excellent advice that extends well beyond writing about games.

At the risk of oversimplifying, I think it’s all good. Writing critical analysis, writing personal observations, writing reviews…they’re each different approaches to writing about games that can be useful and have some legitimate purpose (though I see no reason why we can’t also write sometimes without purpose or utility).

They each require different voices and mindsets, and I personally enjoy shuffling my mini deck of cards among them. I find reviews especially difficult to do well, and I think my least effective writing tends to come in that format. But I welcome the challenge because it comes with its own unique set of parameters/expectations/audience that I find very interesting. People like reviews. They actively seek them out. I realize we shouldn’t surrender our purpose to the market, but I also think we shouldn’t sneeze at a form of writing lots of people value.

As long as one form of writing about games isn’t privileged over another (and maybe this is where some of our discontent with reviews comes from), I see no reason why they all can’t happily exist within the larger sphere of games writing in general.

By: David Carlton

David Carlton — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 16:50:30 +0000

Critical analysis / critique is another concept that I’m struggling with right now, actually. I tend to think that it’s a good idea, but I also don’t quite know what it means, and it sets off some of my humanities insecurities. I think my response to criticism turns out to be pretty much the same as this post, actually: probably, the more I write about what I’m particularly interested in about a game, the closer I’m getting to critical analysis, but, if not, I don’t think that’s a reason for me personally to alter my behavior. Until I understand better what those terms mean, I’ll only be able to see them as polemical, and what good does that do?

By: Daniel Primed

Daniel Primed — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 16:04:42 +0000

Interesting thoughts, I find myself gravitating closer and closer towards the third selection, except that I say “let’s talk about something that made this game interesting and how it did that”. I guess it’s the same thing right? Critique even? I’m not sure.

Since I’m usually playing older games, I spin that idea around those games, so overall, I don’t think that there is really much coverage on this style of writing. I like to think of it as a positive attribute to have, but considering how people are conditioned to not think about games outside of the news-previews-reviews mode, let alone discuss games that aren’t in the “now”, it somestimes feels like a great detriment. Keep up that spirit.

By: Corvus

Corvus — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 14:01:03 +0000

I recently railed against the idea of reviews of any media at Man Bytes Blog. Reviews are sheep in wolves’ clothing. They pretend to be cunning and toothy objective assessments, but in actuality are just emotional responses dependent upon personal preference and environmental stimuli.

Far better to embrace the personal nature of media and discuss the experience of it. Leave the insightful critical analysis for after the experience has had some time to settle.