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Author Topic: A hate letter to notgames admin  (Read 14099 times)
Michaël Samyn

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« on: January 31, 2012, 09:37:23 AM »

Look what I found in the mail today!

Quote from: sym
Hey man, I was going to post on your forum, but apparently you're too much of a sissy to let me post, so I'll just write you an email instead.

I have been on somewhat of an internet crusade against what I call 'storygames', that is, this type of interactive fiction that can be likened to choose-your-own-adventure books, except with a load of pretentiousness and disgustingly bad storytelling on top.

I just wanted to tell you that: while I appreciate the fact that you're actively distinguishing this trash from actual games, I think you're a tremendously huge faggot, and I believe fully that people who think like you have been DESTROYING actual gaming for decades.

The MO you promote has infected the mainstream industry so much, to the point where there is hardly a single decent example of great game design that I could even show you.

I play games like Quake and Starcraft because they emphasize what gaming is supposed to be about: gameplay.

Nobody plays those games because they like 'the atmosphere of the game world' or 'being enthralled by mystical storytelling'. They play those games because they genuinely enjoy the challenge of actually having to learn how the game's mechanics work. They enjoy having to devise clever strategies to give themselves an advantage over their opposition. They enjoy the challenge of actually having to practice to succeed.

They are not simply content by pressing some buttons and getting some text shown to them. They will not pay you to act like you're a good writer, so you can then simply waste a few hours of their time with your pretentious, horrible garbage.

You basically make my point yourself, right here in your keynote: "When you come to video-games late, like we did, when you missed Mario, skipped Zelda and can’t distinguish too well between childhood memories of Hide & Seek and Pac-Man, video-games seem like an exciting new medium for artistic creation! In video-games you can make living worlds to explore, you can breathe life into artificial characters, you can set up conditions for situations without knowing how they will play out, you can create a visceral form of visual poetry that makes the separation between the art and the spectator very small."

You aren't gamers. You never were, and you never will be. I'm not saying your interactive fiction doesn't have a place, because it very much does, and the divide will be very apparent in the near future (think virtual reality).

So, I both applaud you, for recognizing the fact that what you enjoy isn't games, and I spit on you, because your mindset has fucking gutted the industry that I grew up on of its fundamentals, in such a way that it's literally impossible to repair and there's nothing people in your camp could ever do to apologize for it. Ancient gamers who traveled around their countries, competing in games like Chess and Go, would be rolling in their goddamn graves if they could see what trite filth 'gaming' has become.

-sym



Smiley
« Last Edit: June 01, 2015, 08:14:28 AM by Michaël Samyn » Logged
Thomas

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« Reply #1 on: January 31, 2012, 10:11:40 AM »

I play Star Craft & Quake because I liked the worlds they are set in Sad Huh Guess I am not a gamer and should go an hide Sad

On another note: Very interesting that people have time to write stuff like that.

Almost reminds me of the hate mail we got for not using mouse control only in Penumbra and Amnesia.
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Albin Bernhardsson

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« Reply #2 on: January 31, 2012, 10:33:44 AM »

Oh man, I love hate mail. If you're creating that strong emotional responses purely by creating fictional material, I say you're at least doing something right. I'm a bit confused by this one, though. Non-game interactive fiction has a place in the market... yet we've all destroyed the games market with it. ... what? (S)he could at least have the decency to keep it consistent. I'm also surprised to see both coherent sentences and proper grammar and the word 'faggot' used as an insult in the same text. I think that's a first for me.
« Last Edit: January 31, 2012, 10:38:21 AM by Chainsawkitten » Logged
Jeroen D. Stout

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« Reply #3 on: January 31, 2012, 12:34:08 PM »

Four legs good! Two legs bad!

People complaining like this is just a sign of the airtight bubble of 'gamer culture' rapidly being brought into contact with the rest of the world. Soon we the days of 'gamer' being a identity will be gone and we can all just go back to enjoying what-ever media we like.
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Nuprahtor

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« Reply #4 on: January 31, 2012, 01:40:16 PM »

Quote
You basically make my point yourself, right here in your keynote: "When you come to video-games late, like we did, when you missed Mario, skipped Zelda and can’t distinguish too well between childhood memories of Hide & Seek and Pac-Man, video-games seem like an exciting new medium for artistic creation! In video-games you can make living worlds to explore, you can breathe life into artificial characters, you can set up conditions for situations without knowing how they will play out, you can create a visceral form of visual poetry that makes the separation between the art and the spectator very small."

I started with games like Mario and Zelda when I was a kid, but now I can't play such types of games, I just can't enjoy them. And then I accidentaly found an "art game" (it was Everything The Same Dream), which I enjoyed.
For me "art-games" is new branch of games with new attitude to gameplay. Storytelling could be a part of gameplay. So I don't understand why people write such letters and hate such games.
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ghostwheel

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« Reply #5 on: January 31, 2012, 02:18:57 PM »

Who cares? It's total nonsense as story games have been around since the beginning of computer games. Any adventure game could be called a "story game".

Adventure - 1975 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colossal_Cave_Adventure

I'm surprised he didn't rant about casual games while he was at it.

Derp.
« Last Edit: January 31, 2012, 02:24:58 PM by ghostwheel » Logged

Irony is for cowards.
Nuprahtor

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« Reply #6 on: January 31, 2012, 02:43:40 PM »

Also
Quote
Hey man, I was going to post on your forum, but apparently you're too much of a sissy to let me post, so I'll just write you an email instead.
He didn't read about manual account activation due to a spam attack?
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ghostwheel

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« Reply #7 on: January 31, 2012, 02:56:50 PM »

Actually, I don't think this is even real hate mail, per se. The message just doesn't add up. It reads like a troll.
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Irony is for cowards.
Chris W

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« Reply #8 on: January 31, 2012, 06:02:52 PM »

Heh.  Well, for whatever small part I may have played in this, I am delighted and flattered.

What's that Ghandi quote?  First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they get angry, etc.  A bit pretentious maybe, but you get my drift.
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