Gaming Education

[Dog Pants]

I found a very interesting article on RPS today. It skirts around the 'are games art' discussion and instead addresses what qualifies someone to be able to commentate on them in the same way people commentate on literature and film. The argument being something along the lines of "how can someone criticize Tolstoy if they can't read?" I personally like the point he makes about stories in games being about what inspires the player, rather than what the designers explicitly tell. Worth a read, and the comments are pretty good too.

[FatherJack]

I wouldn't give much credence to a review from a non-gamer, like those you often see in local/free papers, but then I wouldn't pay much attention to the views of someone who only plays Call of Duty if they said Minecraft had "rubbish graphics" or X-Com was "slow and boring".

I don't think that's necessarily me being elitist, as one of the comments touches on, it's the professional game reviewers who gush about beautiful scenes and emotional connections in games who perhaps need to take a look at themselves when their reviews on Metacritic are opposed by a wall of non-professional reviews saying "It's shit".

The author holds up Eve, DayZ, DOTA and Dwarf Fortress as examples where a non-gamer would struggle to understand the appeal, largely because many gamers struggle to get to grips with them, but this is where elitism creeps in - those games are hard for people to get into deliberately, either through their unforgiving nature, the attitude of the community that plays them, or a dog's dinner of an interface.

I don't think you have to be an expert to know what you like, but whether you are open-minded enough to be able to accept things you are not used to, are prepared to put in a little effort learning new things and are fair enough to give balanced accounts are key attributes required in judging games or reviewing them.

[TezzRexx]

I don't think you have to be an expert to know what you like, but whether you are open-minded enough to be able to accept things you are not used to, are prepared to put in a little effort learning new things and are fair enough to give balanced accounts are key attributes required in judging games or reviewing them.

This. I think the longer you have been playing games helps too, as it will maybe help you understand why people enjoy certain types of games, gameplay, their style appeal, and help you understand and provide insight as to how games got to where games are today.

[Chickenz]

I always thought 5punk would be a good focus group as we (cheeky lurking bastard that I am ) dabble in a little bit of everthing!

We have people that play mobile games, MMOs, shooters, console users, pc users, casual gamers and people that prefer to win.

Me personally I like all sorts of games. some I prefer more than others but thats the same for all genres. I like action films but hate horror, I like sci-fi books but hate dark fantasy books, I like all kinds of music but hate indie and I like FPS games but hate driving games.

I've seen, read, listended to and played something to do with each different genre but they just don't grab me. I'll never like horror films, indie music, books about elves or driving games as I would much rather spend my time doing something I enjoy. I've ayed GT, Forza and others and I suck at them. Plain and simple. If i was to sit down with Forza and play it solid then Im sure I would get better and I maybe would find a fantasy book I liked and the same goes for films and music.

I certainly wouldn't belittle anybody for liking a specific book, song or film I didn't like especially if I had never read, seen or listened to it. The same goes for games but double so. I had plenty of people laugh at me for playing WoW but after a trial and go on my account the got a sub. My missus watched me play the BF3 sp amd was blown away by the "interactive film" that she call it.

You can't moan about what you haven't tried.

[Joose]

You can't moan about what you haven't tried.

I think this sums up my view nicely. I've got no problem with non-gamers commenting on games as long as they keep an open mind about it. It can be a good thing to get a fresh perspective on things, one that won't be influenced by previous experiences.