Gaming Skill Matters To Gaming In The Same Way Reading Is Necessary To Understand Literature

[+Red King Subscriber²]

Quote

 

Gaming Skill Matters To Gaming In The Same Way Reading Is Necessary To Understand Literature
Ollie Barder, Contributor
May 19, 2016 @ 01:30 PM

 

Since Doom was released recently, various reviews and impressions have been given. One of these in particular has caused a fair few raised eyebrows; as it seems in the case of Polygon that one of their staff can’t even play the game properly. However, there are calls from some quarters of the press that this is preferable, as gaming skill has no bearing on gaming as a medium. The reality though is that gaming skill is entirely necessary.

 

Overlooking the obvious fact that if you are writing about or even making games for a living then having at least a competent level of gaming skill is necessary, much in the same way being able to read is important if you want to comprehend literature.

 

The real issue here is that there are those that don’t want to acknowledge that gaming skill is a valid form of expertise. There are reasons as to why this situation has come about but it’s mainly to do with how the games industry is now currently structured.

 

Read further,

http://www.forbes.com/sites/olliebarder/2016/05/19/gaming-skill-matters-to-gaming-in-the-same-way-reading-is-necessary-to-understand-literature/#6a5f96015b22

http://archive.is/A3ev8

[T3X4S]

Im gaming illiterate

[Ravensky]

30 minutes ago, J. X. Maxwell said:

Read further,

http://www.forbes.com/sites/olliebarder/2016/05/19/gaming-skill-matters-to-gaming-in-the-same-way-reading-is-necessary-to-understand-literature/#6a5f96015b22

http://archive.is/A3ev8

ability, skill, intelligence, reflex, ingenuity... gaming will hone all these skills nicely...

[compl3x]

Combine the "hardcore's" hatred of non-hardcores and their hatred of Polygon and watch the circlejerk unfold.

[trag3dy]

I think that if you're going to review something you should at least have some competency with the thing you're trying to review.

 

That polygon video was just bad but it's about what I expect from them. 

 

There's a lot to be said about the entitlement of people who want to enjoy games at the highest level but can't be bothered to develop any skills at playing said games. Not to long ago I read an article about why Dark Souls 3 (or any of the souls games) need an easy mode difficulty setting. And I can't help but feel that if that's how you feel then you shouldn't be playing those kinds of games because learning how to get past obstacles is their entire charm and why people play them.

[compl3x]

3 hours ago, trag3dy said:

I think that if you're going to review something you should at least have some competency with the thing you're trying to review.

 

 

Ideally, yes. But you don't need a special license to review stuff. The obscene amount of YouTube garbage proves anyone can review anything they want at any time. There is a danger that if someone is bad at a game then they could potentially get stuck relatively early on and then confuse their lack of skill (basic skill on the part of that Polygon player) for poor game design (level design, control design, etc.) and punish the game in the review. Conversely, if someone is ridiculously skilled & only gets a kick out of the most punishing games they could also give a bad score to a game they judge as too easy.

 

 

3 hours ago, trag3dy said:

There's a lot to be said about the entitlement of people who want to enjoy games at the highest level but can't be bothered to develop any skills at playing said games. Not to long ago I read an article about why Dark Souls 3 (or any of the souls games) need an easy mode difficulty setting. And I can't help but feel that if that's how you feel then you shouldn't be playing those kinds of games because learning how to get past obstacles is their entire charm and why people play them.

 

Adding an alternative difficulty mode wouldn't somehow rob the "hardcore" base of the option to play it on the usual difficulty. When people complain about adding easy modes or modes which allows the game to adjust to the player's skill it sounds more like people are just being elitist ("You can't match my skill level so why are you play 'MY' game?") or they are scared its existence will be too much of a temptation for them to use if they get stuck. It seems way more entitled to argue games should be made so difficult that only people who have unusual amounts of time to play and practice them will ever be able to beat them. Lastly, no publisher wants to make their games so difficult that it turns off a lot of potential customers.

[HawkMan]

4 hours ago, trag3dy said:

I think that if you're going to review something you should at least have some competency with the thing you're trying to review.

 

That polygon video was just bad but it's about what I expect from them. 

 

There's a lot to be said about the entitlement of people who want to enjoy games at the highest level but can't be bothered to develop any skills at playing said games. Not to long ago I read an article about why Dark Souls 3 (or any of the souls games) need an easy mode difficulty setting. And I can't help but feel that if that's how you feel then you shouldn't be playing those kinds of games because learning how to get past obstacles is their entire charm and why people play them.

Polygon has more important stuff to write about... and it's not gaming related...

[trag3dy]

6 hours ago, compl3x said:

 

Ideally, yes. But you don't need a special license to review stuff. The obscene amount of YouTube garbage proves anyone can review anything they want at any time. There is a danger that if someone is bad at a game then they could potentially get stuck relatively early on and then confuse their lack of skill (basic skill on the part of that Polygon player) for poor game design (level design, control design, etc.) and punish the game in the review. Conversely, if someone is ridiculously skilled & only gets a kick out of the most punishing games they could also give a bad score to a game they judge as too easy.

 

 

 

Adding an alternative difficulty mode wouldn't somehow rob the "hardcore" base of the option to play it on the usual difficulty. When people complain about adding easy modes or modes which allows the game to adjust to the player's skill it sounds more like people are just being elitist ("You can't match my skill level so why are you play 'MY' game?") or they are scared its existence will be too much of a temptation for them to use if they get stuck. It seems way more entitled to argue games should be made so difficult that only people who have unusual amounts of time to play and practice them will ever be able to beat them. Lastly, no publisher wants to make their games so difficult that it turns off a lot of potential customers.

I don't think it has anything to do with being hardcore or elitist. I just think it has to do with the idea that not all things are for all people. There are a lot of great games out there and I can tell just by watching a bit of game play that they're not for me. So I can do one of two things about that. 

 

1) Let other people enjoy them for what they are

 

or

 

2) Complain on various forums about how unfair it is that other people can enjoy a game and I can't because I don't agree with the game play mechanics

 

And that last part about devs not wanting to turn people away from their game, while true for the most part, is not true for them all. The Souls series entire thing as I said before is their difficulty. Without that they would be rather ordinary rpg games that would quickly fade into obscurity and be forgotten and would lose a great deal of appeal to those that enjoy them for what they are.

 

What's more, the trend is catching on. There's the game called Nioh that is coming out soon which is going to be a AAA game and from what we've seen of it, it's going to be on par with the souls games in difficulty and maybe even more difficult than them and it looks amazing.

 

5 hours ago, HawkMan said:

Polygon has more important stuff to write about... and it's not gaming related...

Yeah, I've noticed. It's been a while since I've considered polygon a good place to look for reliable news on video games.

[compl3x]

4 hours ago, trag3dy said:

And that last part about devs not wanting to turn people away from their game, while true for the most part, is not true for them all. The Souls series entire thing as I said before is their difficulty. Without that they would be rather ordinary rpg games that would quickly fade into obscurity and be forgotten and would lose a great deal of appeal to those that enjoy them for what they are.

 

Miyazaki once talked about the idea of adding a different difficulty setting & the usual suspects went ballistic at even the suggestion of it.

 

Regardless, my initial point remains the same: adding a variety of difficulty levels doesn't take away your ability to play it on the hardest setting. If the DS series' punishing difficulty is what you want then you can play it on that. That can even be the default setting, if the user wants to dial it down they have to do it manually. Where is the harm? Ya know, besides knowing someone out there somewhere is playing a game on a difficulty that is different to the one you're playing on?

 

 

[trag3dy]

12 minutes ago, compl3x said:

Miyazaki once talked about the idea of adding a different difficulty setting & the usual suspects went ballistic at even the suggestion of it.

 

Regardless, my initial point remains the same: adding a variety of difficulty levels doesn't take away your ability to play it on the hardest setting. If the DS series' punishing difficulty is what you want then you can play it on that. That can even be the default setting, if the user wants to dial it down they have to do it manually. Where is the harm? Ya know, besides knowing someone out there somewhere is playing a game on a difficulty that is different to the one you're playing on?

 

 

No harm in that it's just as I said, all games aren't meant for all people who are interested in gaming. I don't like Call of Duty so I don't buy them nor do I expect them to be changed to suit the things I want. Same goes for any number of other games.

 

That being said I'm not saying people can't make suggestions or criticisms against games that they think would result in a better game.

 

 

[compl3x]

I don't like sports games. I wouldn't be attracted to or repelled from them regardless of difficulty. Some people might like the ARPG style of DS but not the crushing difficulty. You can like a game or its style or its lore but not want to have to invest your life into it to beat it. The only people who seem to disagree with the 'play a game in the way that best suits you' philosophy is the "hardcores" who consider it "their" game which diluted to cater to anyone else.

 

For the record: I am happy with Dark Souls and its difficulty. I'm indifferent to Polygon, so this cannot be confused as a defence of them. And I don't think a review is particularly useful if the person who wrote it is as terribly bad at the game as that player seemed to be.

[Torolol]

speaking of game difficulty, Nintendo was flamed for providing "Invincibiilty/God Mode" on difficulty setting for their latest StarFox series.

[compl3x]

1 hour ago, Torolol said:

speaking of game difficulty, Nintendo was flamed for providing "Invincibiilty/God Mode" on difficulty setting for their latest StarFox series.

And those invincible Tanooki suits in Mario games.