One thing that is particularly notable in the last few years, is that there has been an increase towards viewing games from a more critical perspective. On a note, that’s certainly good, it allows for a lot of nice in-depth analyses on people’s passions and it raises good discussions, let’s us see things from different perspectives and so on.
But I feel like there’s also a tendency to over-criticize things, to the point where there’s barely any sense of fun to be had, often on the nitpicky side. I think every game deserves fair critiques, both positive and negative. However, when I say there’s a trend of over-criticizing, I mean that there’s a lot of focus on the negative aspects of a game, and without a good understanding of the subjectivity on what brings enjoyment in video games (or any form of media really) and the fact that personal preferences should also be accounted for. A lot of otherwise legitimate complaints start to feel misguided, as if the person may be missing the point of a particular game, or at least overselling a game’s flaws just because it’s not up to their tastes, even if it’s a solid game for what it is. (And there’s also a general lack of acceptance towards games that aren’t “perfect” either, even if a game is merely flawed, it does not make it automatically bad).
This is not to say that complaints about a game are bad by themselves, but more the fact that a lot of them may lack substance, or feel half-baked. Especially if it feels like a person is overselling their argument in an attempt to make a point, when a less excessive wording could help a lot in making their point feel more natural and thoughtful.
I get that a lot of these instances come from people watching or reading reviews from creators/sites they like and feeling inspired to do the same, but without the same experience in how to present their opinions or even general good wording, the difference between objective and subjective flaws (if there’s no compelling reason on why a particular thing is bad, other than it not being your cup of tea, then it shouldn’t be overstated or it risks making your point feel mute), understanding of emotional attachment towards media, and a whole lot of other things that I could keep listing forever.
I find that this affect even me and my enjoyment of games, as I frequently have moments where I start to think about these factors, and it gives me conflicting opinions.
I feel as if I’m in the wrong for enjoy certain types of games and that I need a justification, other as to why I find them fun.
It’s not a problem to accept that there are flaws in a thing you enjoy, but it certainly is a problem to keep yourself from enjoying games just because of flaws, and nowadays there’s a certain romanticizing of a “perfect” game, which doesn’t exist.
It’s important to learn how to have fun with a game, by at least trying to learn what the game is proper. Some games don’t lend well to certain playstyles, so you need to keep that in mind when approaching it, learning not just the mechanics, but how a game asks you to use them.
It’s insane how popular “hot takes” seems to be, and that just sucks. It’s important to not let yourself be consumed by negative emotions, and things as seemingly harmless as focusing on what games you dislike do a long way into fucking up your mental health.
Just believe me, if you do that too much, it won’t be long before it’s almost all that you ever do. And by that point you will be a little bit too obsessed with picking apart every single problem on just about everything in life that you happen to not fancy, it starts to affect your general thinking, and that’s just unhealthy.
I think thoughtful, rational and most importantly, non-obsessive discussion about our passions is the way to go, but keep in mind what I just mentioned. There is absolutely no benefit into acting so toxic towards anything, it drives all positive aspects away, and brings in all sorts of negativity. No rational person wants to spend time with anyone who’s obsessive and extremely toxic about their opinions, and that means eventually the only people that will actually engage with you are people that are just as obsessive, and you will just normalize this behavior, it will become your default-self. And even more, it might just destroy the actual passion you had for said thing you discuss about, and at some point you will just be participating in shallow flame wars rather than anything substantial.
This post took a turn, in tone a little bit, and it seems like the main subject just changed, but it’s actually the same throughout, just jumping through different topics related to the problem. It’s all about overwhelming negativity, and it takes many forms, even more than what I just mentioned here.
This might be a little unpolished, but it’s my first real post here, and I wanted to tackle a more broad subject to get the hang of structurizing articles, pacing, formatting and so on. Thank you for reading, and please, if you can take anything out of this, let it be to having healthy discussions and to not be obsessive about anything.
Rainy's Game Corner 