What's wrong with being Pretentious?

[asacatman]

A lot of the people in this other thread were criticizing Jonathon Blow (the creator of braid) for being 'pretentious'.

But really, what's wrong with that? We're always going to have games that pander to the mainstream audience and make no attempt to deal with metaphors or the human condition or whatever. There's not danger of these guys dying out.

However, if we have more people who try and make their games 'arty' and 'pretentious', then that will provide a nice balance to things, like having a few herbs on big hunk of meat. Honestly, at the moment I would say mainstream games are not pretentious enough. I want more games that try and have a deep storyline. Sure, we'll get ham-fisted, stupid attempts. But eventually, we'll learn from those mistakes, and make truly great stuff. A teenager's idea of 'deep' writing is usually melodramatic and stupid, but when they become an adult then when they try and be deep it's usually more subtle.

When people say a game developer is pretentious, I think: that developer really cares about games (perhaps cares too much). These are people who want games to be the best they can be. And that means not just being fun, but attempting to say something about the world.

They want games to be serious business. And in doing so they might create stuff that's not very good, and we shouldn't just praise these things unconditionally because they're 'arty'.

But at least they care, and they're trying to make this medium better in some small way.

So I celebrate pretentious developers. Carry on making games, and maybe someday you will make something that's really amazing.

EDIT: eh, actually I didn't have a clear enough idea of what pretentious means, I honestly thought it meant making something to be all arty but not really doing anything to merit it being called arty, but it doesn't mean that so, yeah, I kinda messed up that. Erm... bye then... *whistles*

 

[Kahunaburger]

"Pretentious" is a failure state, not a goal. Something that tries to be deep and fails to be is pretentious. Something that tries to be deep and succeeds isn't.

So nobody is saying that people shouldn't try to make games that do complex or interesting things. It's more that maybe people who have made exactly one (1) game about jumping on things with puzzles built around an interesting time manipulation gimmick shouldn't throw stones.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

I don't think pretentious means what you think it means...


Being pretentious means attempting to impress by affecting greater importance, talent, culture, etc., than is actually possessed.

So in regards to the creator of Braid, the guy made one mediocre game and spouts off like he has a clue about what he's on about.

Also see: certain episodes of Extra Credits.

 

[Folji]

Spoiler

By saying there should be more pretentious games, you're more or less asking for developers to view their work as infallible pieces of perfection when they're really just as mediocre as the next game. People are calling Blow (man, what a name) pretentious because he's gallantly managed to put himself in the category of "people who did one thing and now apparently know everything about anything related to that thing". Braid might have been critically praised, but come on.

 

[LiL'Tic]

you can be pretentious and have an elitist opinion on games i have no problem with that we need more people like that tbh ppl that actually care about the artistic value behind there games

but i draw the line when they decide it makes them jesus christ and they can say w/e they want to anybody about there game

you can feel however you want.....just be humble

 

[pilouuuu]

They don't have to be pretentious, they have to be ambitious. It's not the same.

 

[Freechoice]

I don't think pretentious means what you think it means...


Being pretentious means attempting to impress by affecting greater importance, talent, culture, etc., than is actually possessed.

Also see: certain episodes of Extra Credits.

Booyah. Fuckin' Yahtzee clones. Bob is ok though.

 

[veloper]

The title is just the cutest thing a hipster has ever said.
Pretentious games.
From now on I'll call them Hipster games.

 

[Smeggs]

For example; the ending to Mass Effect 3 was pretentious.

It was an attempt at having some big, deep meaning and symbolism but ultimately failed and was just awkward, stupid, and downright bad.

 

[DoPo]

OK, Kahunaburger's comments was all that was needed to call it a /thread. But Daystar Clarion could be excused because he's awesome. I didn't understand why other people even needed to add anything.

Until I read this.

The title is just the cutest thing a hipster has ever said.
Pretentious games.
From now on I'll call them Hipster games.

Yep, definitely my favourite comment here.

 

[pilouuuu]

Andrew Ryan and the Illusive Man were pretentious. Look what happened to them... Their creators also were pretentious, with mixed results. Molyneux is pretentious all the time...

 

[Xpheyel]

Aha! Braid is about the search for the meaning of Braid!

Tim - The player character solving puzzles, trying to make sense out of the story.
The Princess - The meaning of Braid.
The Knight - Johnathan Blow, writing characters and ideas that behave erratically.
The Dinosaurs - People coming up with theories about the meaning of Braid or just giving up.
The Final Level - J.B. offering an apparent resolution only to snatch it away. Sending the play confusedly back to the start and onto the cloud level.
The Castle/Cloud Level - The player's mind, where they try to construct a framework for the meaning of Braid out of weird ideas.
Finding/Collecting the Stars - The effort needed to understand what Braid means.
The Conclusion of the Star Hunt - Ultimately, whatever meaning the player creates is really just an illusory outline of randomly distributed elements. The true meaning of Braid is forever out of player's reach but forever hanging tauntingly and immaterially over his head.

Ta-daa.

I also have a misogynistic interpretation and one where Tim is TIM, The Illusive Man from Mass Effect (the Dinosaurs are Commander Shepard). They fit about as well. Ultimately that's why I kind of feel like Braid is pretentious. It seems like there is a narrative and a point but the story ends up being a game of symbolism madlibs.

The timey-wimey puzzle mechanics were fun though.

I think people are a little thin-skinned when it comes to indie devs criticizing the industry. Indie devs are, well, indie. They're just guys with opinions. I worry a lot more about what major studio heads and publisher CEOs are saying. They actually have the power to (try to) turn their dark wishes into reality. And their games cost more.

 

[Halo Fanboy]

Blow rouses from sleep preternaturally alert. ?I rarely sleep more than four minutes a day,? he declares as he pulls over a lurid Ed Hardy shirt, stray sequins fluttering off in apparent defiance of Blow?s ordered universe. ?When I worked on Braid I hired a Sherpa to strike me if my eyes were closed for longer than sixty seconds.?

Reaching for a can of non-hydroflurocarbon deodorant, Blow sprays a perfunctory jolt under each armpit while clothed. When queried why, Blow barks a harsh laugh, as if disappointed at the writer?s obtuseness. ?I?ve got more shirts than armpits,? he notes ?it saves time this way. Besides ? don?t you people ever get tired of doing things the same way ? as if you?re just rote little worker bees??

As I?m cogitating this, apropos to nothing he clearly enunciates the word ?Cantaloupe.? Is this a hint of a future game? A dire warning? A term of affection? Who knows?

Levelling me a withering glare, as if to underline the message of my insignificance, Blow pops a cassette (?the sound is warmer than vinyl?) of Kris Kross?s greatest hits into his deskside Akai tape recorder. Muttering almost subvocally along to the beat, Blow beats a path to his ?kitchen? ? in reality a ragged crater carved into the stone floor. Recumbent inside are coals still aglow from last night?s traditional hangi. ?I prefer stone to most materials,? Blow explains. ?It stands the test of time. Wood? Too weak. Titanium? Too artificial??

?-how about plastic?? I interrupt.

Blow stops moving. With cobra-like speed he whips around, his free hand (the other is using a hand-made bronze shakeweight) lashes out, striking me a resounding blow across the cheek. It will leave a mark for a week, and in the days to come I imagine I feel the individual whorls and pores of those talented fingers compressing the skin of my cheek, distorting it, making it something new ? something better. (Does talent possess the power of osmosis? I will ask myself hopefully as I trace my boorish fingers over the welts left by his. I can only hope.)

?Don?t ever use that word!? he urges, a demonic fire blazing behind those previously piercing eyes. ?Think of where you are,? he spits in utter disgust.

I feel wretched, the child who has disappointed their father. I glance nervously around, my cheek throbbing like a pulsating, prodigal sprite eschewing the glorious, ironic 8bit aesthetic of Braid. Sure enough ? there is no plastic materials to be seen. Everything is carved out of stone or wood. Glass too is verboten - the windows are actually wormholes in galactic matter, channeled and moulded by sublime forces beyond our ken. I have brought discord into this magic land. I am bereft. The turgid Gargamel to his winsome Smurfette.

Then: magic. Like a storm cell over a maverick farmhouse, Blow?s annoyance passes without warning, his face wreathed in a beatific smile. ?Come, let me show you where the work happens!? he chirps.

Even a pair of coarse gloves (?I wove these myself out of my hair clippings?) can?t conceal the innate elegance of Blow?s index finger as he purposefully extends it to press a button on his wicker elevator. We enter the lift ? there?s no buttons.

?Dolce,? Blow murmurs. The doors close and with barely any sensation of movement the lift races towards our destination. At least I think so. ?Are we moving?? I ask querulously.

Blow stares at me for a beat before a look of comprehension tinged with pity spreads across those stern features. ?Oh that?s right. You only have five senses.? Once again that feeling of having disappointed sweeps across me.

The doors open and it?s the same room we left ? or is it? Blow whips out a rattan iPad, his fingers speeding across the definitely-not-glass surface in a hair-gloved blur. My presence, nay my existence is seemingly forgotten. At least it?s not registering.

?Okay,? he murmurs, with a faint moue of annoyance at the implied human weakness in uttering a redundant word,? let?s code.?

http://opinex.tumblr.com/post/21039627308/the-atlantic-on-blow-the-missing-copy

 

[370999]

"Pretentious" is a failure state, not a goal. Something that tries to be deep and fails to be is pretentious. Something that tries to be deep and succeeds isn't.

So nobody is saying that people shouldn't try to make games that do complex or interesting things. It's more that maybe people who have made exactly one (1) game about jumping on things with puzzles built around an interesting time manipulation gimmick shouldn't throw stones.

this is pretty much it folks. I would also say that quite often pretension is not the failure to communicate intellectual depth but often an intellectual posing while bing completely vapid. If I was to ram Nietzsche into my platformer game, it would feel awkward and in the end probably be utterly meaningless.

Which is what pretension is, a delusion of meaning.

It is not to be admired.

 

[Woodsey]

I felt like Blow was simply saying that developers aren't bothering to make use of the medium's real strengths. Of course, the way he said it made everyone's dicks shrivel up prematurely as they prepped themselves to go into Outcry Mode (and then, naturally, they blew their load), because, hey, it kinds of seemed like he was calling them stupid.

Personally, I have no real opinion on the guy himself (Braid doesn't appeal to me enough to play it - pretentious tosh and all that), and I fully agree with his sentiment. For the most part, games don't make best use of the medium, nor are they particularly well-written or effective in delivering thematic elements. It's certainly a rare fucking day when they actually make me think.