Few years ago I played Jedi Academy multiplayer and guys there thought I was trolling because they could see that I knew the game well, but had little to no skill. I've played it since my late childhood into mid-teens and never got good at it

I think one of the most valuable things in games criticism is a person just describing their individual experience having played a game and how it affected them. I feel like that's been the model for some of the most well regarded reviewers in the medium, someone using their perspective as a lens to give a subjective impression of an experience, sort of indirectly communicating the shape of something large and vague by lighting it from their particular angle.

@AddyLovestar

25 күн бұрын

I try to avoid personal experience and focus mostly on the artistic whole, but doing that also provides a wholly unique lens, I think, because we all have different knowledge. There's a balance

"It's fine and cool to be bad at stuff." Meanwhile: The players in a COD Black Ops 2 Lobby when you don't get ten kills. /j

I love you.

It would be nice if the learning process was actually seen as a learning process, rather than a "prove you _deserve_ to play this" process. Or for that matter if people acknowledged that the learning process is even a thing, rather than the imposed consensus that "real" players are masters from thr jump, and failure to be so is a sign of personal deficiency. When did we turn gaming into a hazing ritual?

@AddyLovestar

28 күн бұрын

I think it was always like that? This isn't something unique to games. People compete by asserting their skill over others, because it gives them social value to treat their skill as inherent, instead of learned But does it matter? You know it's a learning process. So just go forth with the truth, regardless of what others say

@RunePonyRamblings

28 күн бұрын

@@AddyLovestar I think it matters because of the cultural assumptions it creates, and their knock-on effects. It breeds contempt for the learning process itself, and hostility toward new players. Instead of trying to help them learn, new players are only welcome if they either prove their mastery, or grovel for their betters (like legit, it's disturbing how often I see requests for help couched in copious self-deprecation, and the acidic responses received by those that aren't). It creates the notion that if a player is struggling, it must be due to mental deficiency, or an unwillingness to learn, rather than possibly poor explanation, conveyance, or reinforcement on the part the game. It associates frustration with immaturity. And it fosters a fetishization of difficulty that becomes a thought-terminating cliche whenever someone tries to critique a game perceived to be of high challenge or skill.

@LaPollaAtomica

28 күн бұрын

​@@AddyLovestarI kind of agree. I got into Dark Souls on passing familiarity, died a lot, got better (though not great) and then started looking up strategies and things I missed to see what other people discovered in the game (admittedly, the exploration part of the game isn't what drew me in). Then I saw the constant stream of "git gud," "lol, that boss wuz ez," and "if you're not willing to put in the time" toxicity that accompanied any question of the game. A not insignificant amount of replies (honestly, I don't think some of the people ever played and just used the reputation as e-cred) would just be absolutely hostile to anyone wanting to improve their experience. It just made the community around the game uninviting. Fortunately it got better, but it was hard to share the love of the game without qualifying and countering the "git gud" crowd. Ultimately, yeah, those people didn't matter but there was fun in sharing what you learned or participating in jolly cooperation.

I am bad at racing games

Pretty sure the best parts of every deck builder game and rouguelike games is the part where you lose a lot. The moment you get good and win a run without dying once, its usually the moment i stop playing and enjoying the games. Games need to be challenging. This is why i no longer play adventure games. Playing hard adventure games like Longest Journey or Syberia is an exeperience, but modern advneture games are pretty much just interactive movies, with optional mini games. I cant get into a story that isnt trying to stimulate you with challenge and sense of accomplishment.