GameblurgKids Talking About the Future

Because of our juvenile reputation, the thought of there being depth behind the creation of videogames reignites a combination of confusion and skepticism. The confusion and skepticism equally befuddle those who believe “murder simulators” and “game stations” to produce nothing more than entertainment.

To the ignorant eye, one without an abundance of knowledge in our profound department passes games off as an interactive way to spend your free time. While this assessment may hold true in some cases, the generic classification of videogames as a whole reeks of a narrow view from those who stare inside of our world’s misinterpreted window.

An aid to this problem is to validate these videogames, and brand the authentic art that goes into creating a videogame, and to discuss the matter, intelligently. Critiquing our work and the projects of our peers provides the impression that there is room for legitimate interpretation of what was thought to be play things. I’m not posing an argument that provides an answer to the question if those eyebrows will ever diminish completely, but I’d like to assist in the goal to reduce the apprehension.

Shawn Elliot, an Associate Producer at 2K Boston, recently provided grounds for respectably intelligent minds to speak on many matters that are surrounded by the thought of grading and examining videogames. In the symposium, the minds of Jeff Gerstmann of Giant Bomb, Leigh Alexander of Sexy Videogameland, Dan “Shoe” Hsu of Sore Thumbs, as well as the blog author, Shawn Elliot, plan on holding discussions about said topics. Although, the topic is currently “Review Scores”, the savvy gabfest provides insight to their own particular process of producing cerebral judgment.

Luckily, there is an increasing interest from our industry’s professional writers, but unluckily, feeble writing still exists in an attempt to impersonate the thoughtful evaluation of videogames. “Even worse is when the paragraphs that constitute a template are themselves composed of yet more methods of avoiding actual analysis,” notes an abhorrent Shawn Elliot. “I mock the overuse of words such as compelling not because there is anything wrong with the words themselves but rather with the way that they’re used to replace real explanation. We know that any guy in the game store can say he likes or doesn’t like a game’s graphics or story. We recognize that it’s our responsibility as paid writers to say something more than “I like it” or “it’s good.” Replacing “like” and “good” with “compelling” isn’t even trying.”

When I think of criticism, I imagine dismantling a specific piece (videogame) and determining how they function. Deciding how the game works as a whole by way of keen study and analysis, and express the honest reaction that I receive from playing a videogame, without showering it with an irrelevant deduction about a game’s technicality. In other words, as Robert Ashley, one of gaming’s prolific freelancers, says, “explain myself into a lie”. The goal is to critique videogames without dumbing the text down with technical babble, help people think about what they’re playing and intelligently interpret the videogame’s meaning, This is the most important part because this is where the honesty is received, this is where the player’s gaze is captivated by the magic that a game intends to display.

As I discovered the symposium, I grew curious about another way for to become a more responsible blogger/enthusiast/critic. While a critic needs to understand how videogames work, and have an abundance of knowledge of creating and designing them, that doesn’t fill the void of cultivating a framework necessary to exhibit thought behind videogame using literary theory and computation.

In March of 2006, “Unit Operations – An Approach to Videogame Criticism” was published by Ian Bogost in an attempt to create an anatomy for analyzing the creativity in videogames. Bogost argues that a marriage of literary theory & computation creates a useful framework for the interrogation of cultural artifacts that “straddle” these fields. Interestingly, Ian wants to “encourage the use of criticism as a tool for understanding how videogames function as a cultural artifact & how they do so along with other modes of human expression.” The book is divided into 4 parts: 1.) From Systems to Units, 2.) Procedural Criticism, 3.) Procedural Subjectivity,and 4.) From Design to Configuration.

Throughout the book’s opening, Bogost makes it clear that his substantiation behind his theory isn’t exactly for people outside of our world, but the theory in its own right is an attempt to get those same skeptics to understand our world. “Critical theory, informatics, and videogames are all highly specialized fields, whose practioners when they write seriously tend to do so for one another rather than for outsiders.” Bogost’s quote above refers to the practice of critiquing games, and the process behind such. Judging art as complex as a videogame “require(s) a considerable amount of abstruse knowledge and experience to practice effectively.” The problem, or barrier rather, is that “the humanities and informatics are afflicted not only by intellectual obscurity but also by professional mystery, perhaps because they are so deeply rooted in our daily lives.” For example, an attribution to our barrier that shields outsiders from understanding this subject lie with our infatuation with jargon. Because videogames are a tightly knit and young province, few readers/players, aside from our industry’s practitioners, can (or “would bother to”) explain the aesthetics behind the abstract visuals of Q-Games’ PixelJunk Eden or the excitable atomosphere that Sony’s simple The Last Guy cultivates.

Intuitive critiques aren’t for everyone, and in no shape and form, will ever be. There are many people who are satisfied with the simplicity that the surface offers. You can’t force the acception of deep meaning of movies, or paintings to some people: they’re fine with pretty pictures and shiny colors (I am unshamefully guilty of this. I just don’t care about Vin Diesel’s horrendous acting: I’m satisfied with his ability to look cool while blowing stuff up). Underneath this shallow cover is for the interested and intrigued enthusiasts who grow captivated with the depth. The exploration of this layer is for students and/or professionals. I’m comfortable understanding that this form of criticism will appeal to a different crowd, mostly in part because I’m a student (videogame design), and an editor (videogame blog), and a player of videogames. Obviously I like this stuff on more of a grander scale than your stereotypical adult does, so I want to explore what I love. Aside from myself, there are many peers who are involved on the same level, if not more, so I’d like to think that I’m writing for them, and vice versa. Anyone else is more than welcome to join the audience.

The videogaming field can be overbearingly esoteric at times to even the informed individuals, which explains the sleepless nights spent on researching ways to analyze the field. It’s rare to come across interpretation of an avatar’s mobility and how it relates to the story/universe or particular reasons why a game’s universe reacts to player instincts the way they choose to. Critiquing isn’t an impossible task, but because I want to avoid sucking at it, I’d like to take it one step at a time, and I believe many of the examples I’ve listed above will aid in completing broad goal of obtaining a wider social acceptance. This will not only help me grow a deeper conscious my field of hobby and career, but assessing a medium in which I plan on creating art for will help understand why people enjoy playing games: therefore, augment the ability pull people into games that I’d like to help create. So I’d advise videogaming students, professionals, and other curious spectators to pay attention to insightful conversations such as Shawn Elliot’s Symposium and theoretical pieces like Ian Bogost’s “Unit Operations“. Open your minds to the depth of our art, and if desired, accumulate the talent to asses it.

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