Worth Reading: 06/27/2014

I hope it isn't insulting when I say the Tweets part of this feature is my favorite part

In reference to the Maddy Myers piece, General Ironicus wrote a pretty good article about PewDiePie a few years ago that has a pretty good explanation of why he's so popular nestled inside (it's not what the whole article is about, mind you):

The fact remains that millions of people dig this stuff, and after a bit of reflection I think I have an idea why. His childish persona is the secret. His fans are admitted kids, just entering the period where they first face responsibility and consequences for their actions. That’s a pretty rough time in life. Meanwhile the little box in the corner shows a guy who can do whatever the fuck he wants and nothing happens. He screeches like a banshee with its balls in a vise but mom never tells him to turn the racket down. He can tell people something’s a joke even when it isn’t and they still laugh anyway.

Man, that Leigh Alexander piece made me real depressed about the lack of those kinds of games these days.

Seeing Greg and Richard Garriot together is pretty awesome.

Now I want a buddy cop game starring a lesbian couple. Get to it, EA.

Just wondering why you added the Mila Kunis interview?

I'm really conflicted with my feelings on that Samantha Allen piece. None of her examples seem particularly...good? Are the names Destiny and Dishonored *really* indicative of a male-only mentality? But the overall discussion may have some merit? I don't know.

That was one of my major problems with it. Why is Journey an evocative title, but Grand Theft Auto lacks connotation? Or Gears of War? She feels too willing to fit things into preconceived categories, and to apply broader trends based on limited data (I noticed a distinct lack of Japanese titles).

What at that Dan Stapleton quote? Yeah, mods are great, they are also generally free or really cheap. Not $60. C'mon Patrick.

She also claimed Red Dead Redemption was a story centred around the ''tragic rumination on the hollowness of revenge'', which... that's not how I saw that game at all. The epilogue deals with the act of taking revenge of course, but the repercussions of Jack's actions weren't ever explored; that's more of GTA IV's territory anywhoo I'd say. Unrelated, but... it stood out to me.

Though like you said it's a potentially interesting topic, but her overall article seems a bit hit & miss. Truth be told I don't really pay too much attention to game titles unless it's especially bad or at least generic (Lords of the Fal-zzzzzzzz) anyway. And the ones I do like just tend to quickly fall into habit and I stop thinking about it. Bloodborne is a good example of a recent game title I thought sounded really cool, but I'm already so accustomed to it that it now basically exists purely as ''the title of this Souls game successor''.

The Patrick J. Barrett III comments in that The Sims piece seemed very much to be rewriting the history of PC games.

No other game had facilitated same-sex relationships before...

That's a weird way to talk about a game from after the big 2000 party or even to talk about an E3 '99 showing. Here's a quote (source) from Tim Caine about the big 1998 release, Fallout 2:

We kind of liked pushing boundaries a bit. Not always with violence. We wanted a game which is full of social commentary. So [same-sex marriage] was just another thing we were doing. I don’t even think anybody in the team really argued over it. We didn’t think ‘Oh my god, this an amazing thing.’ It was just ‘We’re going to cover every possible base here.’ And then we moved on.

And then we've got the testimonials from people like Patricia Hernandez, who explained her relationship with Fallout 2 here.

But according to the interview reported by Parkin, 2 years later was when maturely handled same sex relationships came to computer games. Not to say that EA were the ones to suggest a piece about The Sims history as part of their PR offensive for the new sequel, coming soon, but it does seem like this piece could do with more research (hey, at least the piece got corrected to no longer claim The Sims came out in late 1999). It's nice to have behind-the-scenes dives into games, but I'd much rather a piece that didn't pay for that exclusive access by removing the critical eye and fact checking.

Just read that Mila Kunis thing as well, and I don't see the point of it. They seemed amicable towards each other by the end. What am I supposed to take away from that? And to be fair to Mila, the interviewer was asking questions we knew the answers to literally a decade ago.

I agree with you. I don't think she makes strong examples. Only that titles are probably marketed to the largest target audience, formerly being men ages 18-35. I am profiling her here because of a flimsy argument she made about the Tomodachi Life same sex debacle. But a comment on Polygon made her article seem subjective and baseless:

"The examples she gives for ‘good’ titles deal with titles and memes that women prefer, labeling them as examples of maturity. She rags on game titles with memes typically associated with men, labeling them immature. Institutionalized misandry is very much the basis."

I did get the gist that favoritism to men is the basis of her argument here, and that most video game titles are bad because of it.

Nathan´s article is terrible ... heck he doesnt even know who Lelianna is , when are these dumb journalist actually pay attention to the games they are covering and know the essentials before spouitng mostly nonsense? (because the sex scenes in origins are indeed bad in execution) The game hasnt come out but now we must hate it? Sweet Jebus stop it gaming media... just fucking stop!!!!

Oh, another opinion piece by Samantha Allen...

Yep, that's something she wrote.

Is Richie Shoemaker related to Brad?

I think Samantha Allen is hitting on something which could be potentially interesting, but I feel her approach was a little wrong.

A lot of game titles can be ridiculously generic (The Sniper Elite argument makes sense.) but then how much of that is just how we consume media? If I see a game called Sniper Elite I know it's going to be about a sniper, if the game was called something like 'Enemy at the Gates' I might turn around and go "Oh well, that sounds like a horde mode based FPS, maybe a TD game.". I guess I'm generalising a little here, but easily digested titles that get the game across whilst still at least trying to be original seem to be held as the 'best' ones.

All game devs could start naming their games like Hollywood movies, but would we really want that? Or would that start game journalists going "What the hell is up with this name?". I think it's very easy to turn around and accuse people of having simple titles and then in two weeks time think to ourselves "Why on earth did they call it that?" when we encounter something odd.

Maybe we should just look at our steam games lists, or our bookshelves full of boxes and think about why a game is titled the way it is. Most seem to be an explanation of the core themes of the game, or at the very least describe a portion of it's setting.

(Plus when she mentioned masculine titles I think she meant machismo titles, and yeah the manlyguyhardstuff from the 90s did get a bit silly, but then I think that was very indicative of the games themselves, being overthetop gore-fests where big muscled guys with big weapons killed things. In those cases maybe they should have machismo names, since the games themselves are all about that.)

I think we understand perfectly well why PewDiePie is popular, it's not a mystery or a case of old man syndrome: he screams and makes funny noises and dirty jokes, and kids have eaten that stuff up since forever. There isn't a generational gap except in the sense that eventually people get more mature and look for more mature entertainment.

He's basically just a clown, for children. That's not the worst thing in the world either.

I just realized something: a lot of Samantha's issues apply to classic literature just as well. For example:

• Last of the Mohicans: A story about the Last of the Mohicans.
• Moby Dick: There's a whale called Moby Dick.
• Metamorphoses: A bunch of people turn into shit.
• Journey to the West: It's right there in the title.
• Any Sherlock Holmes story: At this point, I'm stretching the definition of "classical", but I think I made my point.

I don't know if I said this before, but her essay is needlessly reductive, at least in the "functional" part of it.

I brought up the Liara relationship from Mass Effect 3, how it was less of a starry eyed space opera love affair and more of, well, a relationship. As in, with ups and downs and people being kind of passive-aggressive and shitty to each other sometimes. Lee said we should expect to encounter even more variety along those lines in Inquisition.

I thought I couldn't get any more excited about Inquisition.

Hmm... the content presented here feels kinda weak. At least the stuff I decided to read or watch (the two main articles, the Hatsune Miku/Justin Bieber thing and the 9000 spin).

This is tangential, but how come gaming websites are jumping on the Hatsune Miku thing NOW? This is like, 5 years too late. Fuck, I sound like a hipster and I don't even think vocaloid music is any better than that autotune shit.

Maybe she should have given it the title "Oversimplistic, Underresearched Essay".

Yeah, I fully recommend that people watch that entire video.

Thanks @patrickklepek

Even going beyond nostalgia - I never played FFX - it kinda makes you wonder about how, somewhere between games still being considered 'for kids' in a lot of ways, and the push for more 'maturity' in games and such, there's a gap where gaming's YA Lit equivalent would be - which is inarguably a massive demographic, but not one that anyone seems to think worth capitalizing on at the moment, for whatever reason.

Not just literature, but also movies and music.

She tries to back up her argument, but some of the examples she gives don't fit. Others seem to be based solely on the type of game it is, because I don't see how one could have a problem with Destiny and not Journey - both are just fine. In the end, it just felt like she was trying hard to hammer out an opinion piece loosely based on an idea but with no real substance.

Samantha Allen; walk home. 'Dishonored as a title suggests masculinity'. Not only does it not suggest anything like that, but where the fuck does she come off telling people how masculine they should be. Samantha Allen is a concern-trolling hypocrite.

And she backs it up by claiming those titles which intentionally lean into adolescence (Broforce) are not themselves safe reflections back on adolescent id and joy but only revealing how terrible and stupid and lame and gross and smelly those awful, awful boys are.

After all, a rose by any other name might smell just as sweet, but only a very limited audience would stop to smell a rose called Bonestorm.

So... isn't that the point? Appealing to that 'limited audience' is the entire reason those titles are what they are. And, I understand that she just inherently dislikes these "macho" sounding titles on principal (how dare they target games at... boys!), but names like Bulletstorm communicate exactly what that game is to their target demographic. "Thomas Was Alone" is wonderfully evocative, but "Splatterhouse" also paints an pretty damn vivid picture in my mind.

She even shortly addresses this flaw in her own argument...

Adolescent titles often accurately reflect the content in the game itself: Splatterhouse isn’t exactly a game that deserves an arthouse title like Being Rick. In these cases, video game titles do serve as an indicator of the maturity of the medium.

...and neatly resolves it by completely dismissing all those well-titled games as immature.

great

...does this count?

Good to see Greg back in his old job again :D

Two tim rogers links in one Worth Reading. I love it.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised that same sex relationships in The Sims wasn't intentional at first, but interesting.

"The Bible": Yep, it's a book.

@kdr_11k:

Open that book up, and it becomes a lot more functional. Genesis describes the beginning, Exodus describes Moses getting the hell out of Egypt, there are a billion books named after some guy that go on to describe that guy's story (Joshua, Job, Jonah, etc.).

If there was ever something that would never get complained about, it was video game titles. And yet, Samantha Allen does just that. She even cherry picks to support herself and then completely misses the point of why Spec Ops: The Line even has that subtitle in it. Brilliant way to pull the rug out from under yourself, Samantha.

And for the record, if a game called Bonestorm came out and you played a Lich who wanted to kill all the humans in the world, I'd be all for it.

@joshwent@brodehouse: I think it depends on the woman. I've never been turned off by action movie-type titles in gaming or film, and I don't know any guys who are turned off by artsy indie game titles. But I tend to have a lot of female friends who are tomboys, and a lot of male friends who aren't afraid to peruse quiet, artsy games, so I realize my perspective is limited. I can see why they might feel alienating to others, though.

@shivoa: I think a bunch of games that have really been inclusive somehow get sort of overlooked, and I can't really explain why. Take Guacamelee, for example. All the characters are Mexican. There is not a single white person in the game. Xtabay, who is female, is playable. Yet a lot of my friends who had been looking for more games that are inclusive to non-white and female players had never even heard of it, which is a shame.

What the f is soccer? "Soccer" isn't a real word. You made that up.

The Richard Garriott interview is brilliant! I learned stuff.

The first RPG I ever played was Ultima IV. Fond memories.

Yeah I'm curious as to why @patrickklepek added this article.

Samantha Allen explores an interesting topic in her piece, but I don't think she did so very effectively. It seems like she is trying to make something more complicated than it really is. The predisposition of writers (and people in general) to group things together or make lists is often unnecessary. Sometimes things really should be taken at face value. For the topic of titles, I think they're either good or they're bad. There's not much to it.

Plus, the rules for the groups she established are vague. She sets up "functional titles" as a bad group of titles that just tell the content of the game. Later, she cites Journey and Gone Home as good titles. How do these titles not fit into that group? (I like these titles, by the way.)

Journey: You go on a journey.

Gone Home: You go home.

I commend her for writing the piece though. I think the topic should be explored further. But this is something that is not exclusive to games. Perhaps a broader approach in respect to many mediums, using that as a base, would allow for a better analysis of game titles.

Man, I usually don't mind Samantha Allen's writing but that article was awful

Agreed. Many of the comments at the bottom shared the same sentiment.

It was really weird seeing Felicia Day crash the interview between Greg and Richard Garriot but then find out they've actually been friends for twenty years, that's kinda nuts. Also having them share a chair was a nice touch haha.

I still don't get why you guys always play games on normal to "simulate" a "typical" experience.

1. Your audience isn't "typical" gamers. Stop trying to cater to people that aren't here.

2. Don't try to simulate my experience, have your own and tell me about it. If you thought Child of Light, for example, was super dumb easy, but never bothered to crank up the difficulty, then I think there's something wrong with you, not the game.

The normal setting on most games is designed for people who aren't very good at games. Quit trying to make some sort of absurd statement about that and just choose a proper difficulty if the game is too easy. There's little about gaming I find more annoying than someone complaining about something they can fix by toggling a single option.

And don't start in on that "Well raising some health values doesn't fix the problem!" guff, because for some games that's all it is -- the initial values are simply ludicrously low. If the difficulty option ALSO sucks, then tell us about it! You are actually being less useful to your readers by not exploring the difficulty levels!

@xbob42: Perhaps they should relabel "Hard Mode" in all games to "Normal" just to satisfy your needs.

I've reread your post like 5 times and I still can't see how it makes any sense at all in the context of what I was saying, which was a problem with Giant Bomb "faking a typical playthrough" rather than the actual difficulty of the game itself.

Even if they did that, having GB play a bit of each difficulty to see how they feel is useful information. Some games are better on easy, like Spec Ops: The Line. Some are better on hard, like Child of Light. A good chunk are decent on Normal, but Normal is becoming easier and easier so that's why they should toy around rather than trying to convince us that they're playing everything on normal "for us."

Theoretically, "Normal" should be the difficulty setting best tuned to fit the mechanics and level design of the game, and should thus be the optimal playing experience. In Shovel Knight, for example, you can tell that the number of hits enemies take to kill is very specifically chosen. Artificially cranking up the enemy HP values would completely ruin the flow of the action. If the optimal playing experience isn't "Normal" and the game fails to properly convey that before you jump in, then that's on the game.

Very few games pull a Ninja Gaiden Black and go above and beyond to actually alter anything more than some variables on different difficulty settings. Usually, games feel grindy and slow on higher difficulties.

that Keita Takahashi interview is great, he's such an interesting guy. he kind of reminds me of the King of All Cosmos when he's putting down everyone else in the industry

You raise some very good points. I've often wondered about difficulty as it relates to experience. Sometimes I do want to know what the other tiers do or don't. Nice post, duder.