Gaming, for me at least, is a relaxing pastime. I play a game to escape the real world and dive into an environment where things make more sense (your mileage may vary on that one). I complete tasks without 17 others getting in my way and have fun. If I don’t, I turn it off and contemplate life and whether to go back in.
But for some people, gaming appears to be an extension of real life. Simulation games are an example where the more realistic they get, the more if feels like you have a second job. Why would I want that? I’m not even getting paid for the second one!1
The discourse to discord pipeline
Another element of extended realism is discourse and hoo boy do people have a lot to say about every nook and cranie about games. It’s ironic that people would ignore or lack appreciation for the vastness of modern game environments and opt for endless content on why a game is good or bad.
If you’ve found something unique and interesting to talk about, I applaud you. But why is it expected and recommended for everyone to make the same guides, the same tutorial videos, and the same tier lists? And not even give a fresh perspective? I recently watched Adam Neely’s video on a controversial musician who “faked” his performances. He gave his opinion on it all and I enjoyed it but he also did supercut of other people’s videos on the same subject and they were all saying the same words and phrases. These kinds of controversies lend themselves to multiple viewpoints but for everyone to be a parrot of someone else is embarrassing to watch.
Clair visibilit
Which brings me onto the hottest new JRPG right now: Clair Obscur.
I’ve played a bit (my son more so) and enjoyed it so far. But because I’ve been looking up videos to build up the hype and find optimal settings, I’ve opened the floodgates to wild takes such as “is this game the best RPG in 20 years?”, “Is This The Final Fantasy We Waited 20 Years For?”, and “Clair Obscur: How 30 First-Time Devs Built a GOTY to CRUSH AAA!” I chose to ignore the contrary videos calling it overrated because haters gon’ hate but it’s like… chill? It just came out a few weeks ago.
On the last one, there’s a weird ideology that AAA games with big teams make worse games and somehow Clair Obscur’s team of 30 proves GOTYs are made with smaller teams. Rock Paper Shotgun rebuked this in their article, showing that it wasn’t just a team of 30 devs that made the game but more like 500. But saying 30 sounds more provocative and subversive even if it undermines a lot of peoples’ hard work in an industry that is struggling, at least at developer level.
Listen to me. I am the captain now.
This makes me sound like an old man who is 30 or 40 years old yelling at a cloud but isn’t. I have a young son who watches and talks in meme and I join in because I was that kid half a lifetime ago. I grew up with Newgrounds and YouTube Poops and still watch them now for a quick laugh in these horrific times. But as I try to compartmentalize my life and cut out things that don’t give me joy, I want gaming to be part that I keep and the cacophony of takes, AI generated guides, and viral posts is deafening.
And here’s another hackneyed segue to my next question: how do you join in with other people enjoying a thing if that’s the prevailing method of communication? I remember being in a Discord a few months ago and saying that I’d just beaten Final Fantasy IV and said “Final Fantasy II in the US”. Guess what happened? Someone pointed out that well actually everyone knows IV so no need for the distinction. Then other people came in to say well actually it’s fair to make it. That’s all well and good but… I wanted to talk about how I beat the game and open a conversation with others about that. It was the same place where I’d said I’d beaten my first FF game and it was the first one and someone said that was an unusual first FF game to beat. Okay? There are 16 of these damn games and I picked one. Why are you saying this to me? It seems like if you don’t meet other people where they are with gaming chat, you’re just gonna feel alone on an island and that’s super weird to me. I don’t agree with the idea of echo chambers but this is mighty close.
And sure I might have been oversensitive in both situations but I’m an autistic introvert and find it hard to relate to people. Games are a great outlet and means of sharing experiences and it feels off to get those kinds of responses when you’re hoping for collective resonance. Where’s the sense of genuine community?
Unpaid in exposure
While trying to figure out a way to end this stream of consciousness, I found a Reddit post called I feel like overexposure is causing harm to video game discourse.
In it, the Redditor compared how in earlier generations, the most information you got about a game was from the back of its box and people’s disappointment with games now stem from information overload. I agree with the general point and I guess it’s that overexposure that has made me weary. What can I even say about a game when 100 other people have picked it and its lore2 apart like vultures around an animal carcass? And why people so irate over games that they have no financial investment in? You paid for a game, transaction over. Square Enix isn’t gonna come to your house and thank you for your financial contribution. They’ll still make remakes and rebirths of the FF series without your input. And I think that overexposure has given people the false impression that they can dictate how their games such look while buying the games they think are so bad. Make that make sense.
This ever-growing feedback loop of loud opinions from every side and studios tacking another A to the end of their games is too much. We all need to take a step back, play the games in front of us, collectively enjoy them (or not) but not make those declarations The Thing™️. Nobody will mourn the silence, I promise you.
- Does professional streaming/YouTube count here? Even then you can choose to stop playing as the specific game(s) themselves aren’t the direct source of income. Answers on a postcard! ↩︎
- I’ve digressed enough in this but on the point of lore-building and fashioning theories as logical next steps, please stop this. There’s nothing wrong with imagining things and having head canons but making videos and saying “well, this theory makes sense” only to say “I can’t believe they didn’t do that” when the company that made the game up decide to make some more stuff up is ludicrous. Pokémon aren’t real animals so they won’t follow real-world biology! Black folks can exist in imaginary fantasy worlds—with a multitude of hairstyles! Let’s stay focused! ↩︎
