Critical Miss: Top Five Games of 2012 #5

[Andy Shandy]

Yay! I'm glad it's getting a bit more recognition. Was my joint-top GOTY (alongside The Walking Dead) despite the valid criticisms that have levelled at it.

 

[SonicWaffle]

Yes, there's a choice not to play, but if you've just spunked your cash on something you want your damn moneys worth.

Isn't that a matter of opinion?

No opinion matters but mine. I am great. I am good. I am all. I am your god now, feeble mortal!

...ahem. Sorry about that. Just slips out sometimes.

I say I didn't get my moneys worth out of, lets say a 4 map expansion for BF3, but you could say that you did because you like the maps and they were worth 15$ to you. Imo you can only really say you didn't get your moneys worth if the game isn't functioning as intended (bugs etc...) But maybe that's just me, oh well...

If I've paid money for an experience, I'm not going to be happy about not actually getting that experience. If the game itself is not actively bad (or as you mention, so buggy as to be unplayable) then I'm probably going to keep playing it even if it does make me uncomfortable. For example, Immortal Technique's first album had a song about a boy's gang initiation in which he and a group of other gangsters kidnap a woman off the street by throwing a bag over her head and then raping her. Afterwards, they tell him to kill her and remove the bag, and it turns out to have been the boy's mother. He kills himself out of shame and disgust. That song made me incredibly uncomfortable in its subject matter, but that didn't mean I wasn't going to listen to the rest of the album (especially given that the song about rape wasn't attempting to glorify or triviliase it, instead condemning such brutal and horrendous actions), to take it out of the CD player and never touch it again. I paid for it, so I want the full experience that I paid for.

There's a difference between getting your moneys worth and thinking that a product was actually worth the money.

(I don't mean to insult you guys or anything, sorry if it comes across like that. Its just my opinion on the matter.)

I forgive you. I am a benevolent god.

 

[SonicWaffle]

On another note, does the society in Starship Troopers worship the army? Because when I read the book and watched the movie, they both featured numerous civilians who discouraged the main character from joining, or disparaged his choice from another branch, like the navy, or from the outside.

I mean, maybe they had some harsh punishment for criminals, but so does Singapore, and we don't call them fascist, at least when we use the word correctly.

The only people with the right to vote were those who served in the military. It was the basis of their democracy. So yeah, I'd call that a form of worship, making veterans the only people whose voices matter.

 

[Mojo]

Dude I don't even have the game I was just making the point that it's a bit far fetched to just expect people to turn the game off.

Ah, but that is the point. The game tells you: "Go kill those people!" and you think, oh well, I guess I gotta do it since the game told me to and I don't see any other options. Of course its far fetched to turn the game off, hardly anyone is gonna do that and will then continue and murder innocent people. Only because the game doesn't tell you there are other options doesn't mean that there aren't any. The whole game is about Walker only seeing the one option of killing Konrad no matter the cost. Even though he could have just walked away. (pun not intended) I can see I'm getting on your nerves, Ill stop now.

-- snip --

There's a difference between getting your moneys worth and thinking that a product was actually worth the money.

Fair enough. I get your point of wanting to get everything possible out of something you paid for and quitting would interfere with that. The game probably never expects you to quit but it wants you to at least consider that you have the option to do so and don't HAVE TO kill innocent people only because that is the only choice the game gives you.

I forgive you. I am a benevolent god.

All hail SonicWaffle, king and benevolent leader of all Waffles!

 

[DeadpanLunatic]

I have removed my words from this site.

 

[Shinsei-J]

Haha, true but it works.
It makes you feel as if the idea was yours then lets you wollow in grief over what you've done.

Snip

Before talking about it play the game.
I may sound like a dick saying it but it's something you have to experience and see for yourself to understand completely.
The main reason I found the joke in this comic to be hilarious because it's what the game basically does but it does it so well through the writing and mechanics. I think that was what Grey was trying to convey aswell, I mean he did put it in his top 5.

 

[Zhukov]

[snip]

I am curious, however, as to what you think it could of done to make the game better?

That's a good question.

I suppose the obvious answer would be to provide some choice then only try and guilt trip the player for the nasty things they choose to do. However, that would kind of... miss the point I suppose? What do you do if someone plays the game as a complete saint? Have Konrad shake their hand and give them a pat on the back at the end? It would derail the whole character arc.

I guess for this kind of thing to work you have to make the plater want to commit atrocities. I don't know how to do that, but I do know that Spec Ops didn't manage it (In the scene with the angry mob I just fired into the air to scare them off. Given what Walker and Co had done earlier I thought that, in the absence of any law enforcement, the locals were well within their rights to do a bit of lynching).

Perhaps you could give the player the option to simply have Walker turn around and walk away at any point. After all, I spent a lot of the game wondering why he didn't report back to his superiors at some point since I'm pretty damn sure his original orders didn't cover fighting rogue US soldiers. That way it would be the player's own curiosity driving them on. Of course, then you have the problem that if the player chooses to have Walker quit the scene they'll never see the cool ending and will essentially be screwing themselves out of content.

So I guess my answer to your question is... I have no bloody idea.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

Dude I don't even have the game I was just making the point that it's a bit far fetched to just expect people to turn the game off.

Ah, but that is the point. The game tells you: "Go kill those people!" and you think, oh well, I guess I gotta do it since the game told me to and I don't see any other options. Of course its far fetched to turn the game off, hardly anyone is gonna do that and will then continue and murder innocent people. Only because the game doesn't tell you there are other options doesn't mean that there aren't any. The whole game is about Walker only seeing the one option of killing Konrad no matter the cost. Even though he could have just walked away. (pun not intended) I can see I'm getting on your nerves, Ill stop now.

You aren't annoying me at all. I just don't see why you think it's normal that someone wouldn't want to play the game they just paid for. No one is going to pay for a game and then just switch it off half way through.

 

[SonicWaffle]

We've just become used to that being the way things work; sure we can refuse, turn off the game and go outside to play with puppies in the sunshine, but then we're depriving ourselves of the content we paid for. We just do what the game tells us to do without thinking, because that's all we've ever done - shoot this, go here, collect that, brutally murder all those indigenous tribespeople. Of course we unthinkingly follow what you tell us to do, game - you're a game!

And isn't that willful and eager obedience just ever so slightly problematic considering our new fascination with the 'realistic' portrayal of modern war?

Personally, I don't think it is problematic. It's a game. We are aware it's a game. If you actually put a gun in my hand and said "shoot that guy!" I'd tell you to go fuck yourself, because I'm aware of the distinction between games and reality.

If we didn't follow the instructions that video games give us, we'd never play them at all. We'd just stand there, as our avatar, ignoring the map marker/giant flashing arrow/annoying fairy companion telling us to go somewhere and do something. I don't see there being anything sinister about that, even if the action we're being told to carry out is something we'd never do outside of the game, as long as we're aware that it isn't real even if it represents a real (or potentially real) event.

Brendan Keogh makes an interesting point concerning the game when he classifies it as post-Bioshock: Bioshock tried to show that you never made a choice in a game but were only following the path others had in mind, Spec Ops argues that you are still complicit, because of the choices outside of the medium. You are committed to finish the game now you bought it, but really why buy something like this or any modern military brown shooter in the first place?

Because to some people, these games are fun. That's all it comes down to. Certainly we're complicit in the industry trends, but these games have become an industry trend because people enjoy them. It doesn't always have to be deeper than that. It goes back to the idea that we're aware of it as a game - running around with a shotgun is the sort of thing that's fun so long as we know it isn't real and nobody is getting hurt.

Does playing Arkham Asylum mean the player is supporting vigilantism? I think it just means having fun with a game while also getting to be Batman, because fuck yeah Batman. Playing Minecraft isn't showing your support for the construction industry. Playing a Modern Military Shooter (or, to use Yahtzee's absolutely hoorendous term which several idiots have been parroting everywhere, "spunkgargleweewee") is similarly not automatically a show of support for the actions of the modern military or subtle approval of violence and racism.

To say that these safe, othering and dehumanizing games simply exist and we might as well play them neglects the power we as consumers hold over the market.

Consumers do hold power over the market. This type of game (or at least, the type of game Spec Ops is presenting itself to be) is very popular. Taking the two facts together, what does that tell you? To me, it says that first-person shooters are fun, and that in the most part they're not too bothered if they're shooting terrorists or aliens or demons as long as the game is an enjoyable experience.

 

[Mojo]

You aren't annoying me at all. I just don't see why you think it's normal that someone wouldn't want to play the game they just paid for. No one is going to pay for a game and then just switch it off half way through.

Of course you want to play a game you just paid money for, nothing wrong with that. But as "DeadpanLunatic" pointed out a few posts above (and I tried to in my posts) is that Spec Ops is about blind obedience. You paid money for the game and the game told you to do something, better do it since you don't have a choice, right? But you DO have a choice. Spec Ops doesn't expect you to quit, but I wants you to think about the choices you made and consider if you maybe did have other options even if they weren't made clear in a ingame dialog or menu.

 

[Staskala]

What makes The Line brilliant isn't the way it - quite boldly, for a game - suggests that the American military might not be the force for universal good it's often made out to be, and that our collective obsession with violence, both real and imagined, might not be healthy.

A German dev making a negative statement about the US military really isn't being very bold. The game is a lot of things, but I'll never get how people can seriously call it daring. The "you think you're a hero but objectively you're actually doing pretty shitty things" angle is also extremely basic for German - and pretty much all other - anti-war material.

 

[SonicWaffle]

Snip

Before talking about it play the game.
I may sound like a dick saying it but it's something you have to experience and see for yourself to understand completely.
The main reason I found the joke in this comic to be hilarious because it's what the game basically does but it does it so well through the writing and mechanics. I think that was what Grey was trying to convey aswell, I mean he did put it in his top 5.

Thing is, I think I've left it too late. Everyone has been talking about this game, for months now, and it's been impossible to avoid spoilers. I've got an understanding of the plot, the character arc, the message the game is trying to convey - given that the actual gameplay is generally described as mediocre-to-bad, I don't think I could force myself to sit through it just to find out things I already know.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

You aren't annoying me at all. I just don't see why you think it's normal that someone wouldn't want to play the game they just paid for. No one is going to pay for a game and then just switch it off half way through.

Of course you want to play a game you just paid money for, nothing wrong with that. But as "DeadpanLunatic" pointed out a few posts above (and I tried to in my posts) is that Spec Ops is about blind obedience. You paid money for the game and the game told you to do something, better do it since you don't have a choice, right? But you DO have a choice. Spec Ops doesn't expect you to quit, but I wants you to think about the choices you made and consider if you maybe did have other options even if they weren't made clear in a ingame dialog or menu.

But you don't have other options unless you want to waste your money. Not entirely sure how else I can say it to get you to understand.

 

[Erttheking]

Glad to see that this thing is getting more attention.

I...is there anything that gamers won't tear each other apart over?

 

[SonicWaffle]

On another note, does the society in Starship Troopers worship the army? Because when I read the book and watched the movie, they both featured numerous civilians who discouraged the main character from joining, or disparaged his choice from another branch, like the navy, or from the outside.

I mean, maybe they had some harsh punishment for criminals, but so does Singapore, and we don't call them fascist, at least when we use the word correctly.

The only people with the right to vote were those who served in the military. It was the basis of their democracy. So yeah, I'd call that a form of worship, making veterans the only people whose voices matter.

That's what you'd call worship? It's a bit like saying that the United States worships non-felons over the age of 18, but okay.

Isn't that a bit backwards? Ordinary citizens did not have to do anything to earn the vote beyond surviving for 18 years and not getting caught for any major crimes they may have committed.

In the world of Starship Troopers, those same ordinary citizens have their rights witheld from them until they complete military service. It isn't just the right to vote, there are a variety of other priveliges which are only available to veterans. Essentially soldiers are the aristocracy, placed at a seperate level of society which makes it clear they are better than everyone else. So yeah, I'd say that as a culture, there's a serious case of military worship going on.

 

[SonicWaffle]

Glad to see that this thing is getting more attention.

I...is there anything that gamers won't tear each other apart over?

Not on this website at least, and damned proud of it! If there were an all-internet friendly bickering championship the Escapist wouldn't attend because we'd be unable to agree on a team name

 

[Erttheking]

Glad to see that this thing is getting more attention.

I...is there anything that gamers won't tear each other apart over?

Not on this website at least, and damned proud of it! If there were an all-internet friendly bickering championship the Escapist wouldn't attend because we'd be unable to agree on a team name

I know I know, complaining can't just be thrown away and I've said myself that it can be important, but you know sometimes I just want to go onto this website and talk about video games WITHOUT getting into a fierce internet debate. I'm starting to think that this website just isn't going to scratch that itch for me. I have anger issues, I get angry way to easily and it's a problem I don't like to fuel. Sometimes I just want to kick back and relax sometimes, but this website is just so freaking negative and confrontational that I just can't relax.

 

[itsthesheppy]

You chose to buy the game, you chose to keep playing. That's the point. I bought the game, I tried to get as many headshots as possible, I got a little thrill out of killing my enemies. And by the end, I felt dirty. Masterfully done.