11th April 2017, 5:23 AM
Sad thing is, I actually found his videos pretty hilarious. He has good comedic timing, and managed to keep his deplorable views out of his videos, which is why those views were basically unknown until recently. Now I've got a hard time going back. I mean, yes, there's been plenty of creative artists I've enjoyed works from who were horridly racist (HP Lovecraft is probably the most well known example), but it somehow feels a bit different when that artist is still alive with agency in the world. Or, maybe it's just how recently I found out about it? I really don't know, but it's uncomfortable to me. At any rate I certainly can't recommend his videos to certain friends any more.
If the reviews of the game are saying that it's worse than Banjo Kazooie, that's one thing. However, if the reviews are saying "I personally hate this genre and think it should stay dead", then I can safely ignore them. Why are there so many reviews of collectathons that seem to despise the genre? Well, probably for the same reason so many review sites are generally critical of any game that doesn't let you beat it easily within 15 hours. "Length" is seen as detrimental to a very specific subset of gamers, called professional reviewers, and it's obvious why. They have deadlines, which most of us don't. They speak of how little time they have to play games as adults or how they don't like having their time wasted by certain mechanics, and both of those things are fair points, but that ONE thing, the review deadline, completely changes the dynamic for them. I've been noticing it for years with how very consistently different their opinion on certain things is, and how ALL of it seems to come from a place of frustration at how long it's taking to beat the game.
Read this article: http://www.polygon.com/2017/4/3/15166062...witch-kids
In this, Ben Kuchera looks at how his kid isn't "budgeting" his game time or getting mad because he didn't complete "enough" content in a play session as something he lost as an adult. I read it and see it as something he lost as a reviewer, because that's STILL how I play games. I take months to finish some games (like BOTW) simply because I don't care how much I was able to do in a single session. Ben makes the mistake of assuming the way he as a reviewer plays games is the same way most adults play games, and that's simply not a safe assumption. He's different. He's a reviewer, and that is something they need to account for when writing reviews.
If the reviews of the game are saying that it's worse than Banjo Kazooie, that's one thing. However, if the reviews are saying "I personally hate this genre and think it should stay dead", then I can safely ignore them. Why are there so many reviews of collectathons that seem to despise the genre? Well, probably for the same reason so many review sites are generally critical of any game that doesn't let you beat it easily within 15 hours. "Length" is seen as detrimental to a very specific subset of gamers, called professional reviewers, and it's obvious why. They have deadlines, which most of us don't. They speak of how little time they have to play games as adults or how they don't like having their time wasted by certain mechanics, and both of those things are fair points, but that ONE thing, the review deadline, completely changes the dynamic for them. I've been noticing it for years with how very consistently different their opinion on certain things is, and how ALL of it seems to come from a place of frustration at how long it's taking to beat the game.
Read this article: http://www.polygon.com/2017/4/3/15166062...witch-kids
In this, Ben Kuchera looks at how his kid isn't "budgeting" his game time or getting mad because he didn't complete "enough" content in a play session as something he lost as an adult. I read it and see it as something he lost as a reviewer, because that's STILL how I play games. I take months to finish some games (like BOTW) simply because I don't care how much I was able to do in a single session. Ben makes the mistake of assuming the way he as a reviewer plays games is the same way most adults play games, and that's simply not a safe assumption. He's different. He's a reviewer, and that is something they need to account for when writing reviews.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)