Friday, January 19, 2007

A new label - hello "Gamer Morons"!

Eurogamer has just posted their Readers' Top 50 Games of 2006 article, which features one of the stupidest comments I've read in a (relatively short - there is this whole Big Brother racism thing in the news at the moment, after all) while.

On Shadow of the Colossus (placed at a 'I forced myself to like it so that I can pretend I am a sophisticated games player' number 4), one reader had to say: "An exception to the "gameplay over presentation" mantra, Shadow of the Colossus isn't actually that much fun but you can't let that get in the way of a good game."

The comment was so dumb it even provoked a few comments, including the baffling "If you knew anything at all about art, you'd know it didn't have to be "fun", and neither do games."

I'm sorry, but do people really want to play and praise games that they're willing to admit aren't fun? (Incidentally, the initial comment means that particular reader thought a game he didn't find to be 'that much fun' was actually his favourite game of the year - I really hope 2007 picks up for him, because by the sounds of it he found 2006 to be a stinker.)

I find myself drifting (actually, paddling would be a better word) further away from the 'hardcore' gamer crowd's mindset - they just confuse the hell out of me.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's a rare game that actually makes me feel bad for defeating enemies, but Shadow of the Colossus did it for me. There were certainly a few annoying components to the game, but it was definitely one of the most enjoyable games I've played this year.

Games should be more than just art, though. They aren't really "interactive entertainment" if they're missing the "entertainment" part.

Bez said...

Fun is a baseline, no doubt, and games should be allowed to be more than just fun, as well as more than just art. I just don't register "Fun" as any sort of objectively definable quality, though. It's such a loaded term.

It's such a futile debate to get wrapped up in. As a friend once said "Saying that all games should be fun is like saying all cuisine should be tasty".