Why do some people think Extra Credits is pretentious?

[boholikeu]

It's not common, but when every new EC episode comes out I see a few comments criticizing the show for being too pretentious or preachy.

I could understand that opinion if the show waxed poetic about games in the same way that, say, the Brainy Gamer (http://www.brainygamer.com/) or Contrarian Corner (http://pc.ign.com/articles/111/1112404p1.html) does, but the show is really just a beginners guide to certain elements of game design. It doesn't even get as deep as some of the articles you see in the "magazine" section of this site, and people hardly ever accuse those as being pretentious.

Is it just because EC is a show, not an article, or is there something else at play here?

*edited to clarify that I realize this isn't a commonly held opinion*

 

[Plurralbles]

.. . .......................... really?


Meh. Think what you want about it. Doesn't affect my enjoyment of it. It's not trying to be smug in its ability to get legitimate points across.

 

[dududf]

I've never seen someone say that. Have a link or something?

It's never come across as pretentious in my books.

 

[AcacianLeaves]

Why do some people create straw man arguments to stir up controversy where there is none?

 

[Thunderhorse31]

I would imagine it's because when they offer solutions on how to fix problems in the gaming industry, they treat it as if no one has come up with the idea beforehand.

As if "big publishers should take more chances on indie developers" is somehow a new and unique strategy, or that morality systems in video games haven't been criticized 12,000 times already.

That how I could see it as pretentious anyway. It's still enjoyable to watch.

 

[boholikeu]

I've never seen someone say that. Have a link or something?

It's never come across as pretentious in my books.

Why do some people create straw man arguments to stir up controversy where there is none?

I'm not saying it's common, but there are always a few comments like <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/6.233861-Extra-Credits-Videogame-Music?page=17#8337191>this one every time a new EC comes out. Even though it's pretty rare I'm still curious why there are people that think that way.

I think they do it for mad street cred, yo. That or PR for other mentioned sites perhaps?

Right... I'm a PR drone for both Brainy Gamer and IGN...

 

[Drexlor]

I've never heard anyone say that. That is their opinion, I just happen to disagree.

 

[ShakerSilver]

I've never heard of it being called that. I don't even see why. I find them informative and they actually try to get valid points across to the public.

 

[SimuLord]

Some people [sup](who?)[/sup] find Extra Credits pretentious[sup](citation needed)[/sup]

I've never heard anyone say that, and I can't see where pretense enters into it (except MAYBE the "wow, how profound was Mass Effect 2" episode, but since that's the most eloquent defense yet of gaming as something other than mindless violence I'll give it a pass).

 

[Sightless Wisdom]

Why do some people think that Adolf Hitler was a benevolent ruler? I don't fucking know! Everyone has their opinions man, that's just how it is.

 

[boholikeu]

Everyone has their opinions man, that's just how it is.

Is it odd to find opposite opinions on the internet now a days? Just chalk it up to the devils' advocates out there. What fun would life be if we all agreed on everything?

I'm not saying they have to agree with me, I'm just curious why they think that way. You're right that life would be pretty boring if we all agreed on everything, but it'd be equally as boring if we couldn't challenge other people's opinions:

"Hey, I like EC"
"I don't, I think it's pretentious"
"How wonderful that we both have differing opinions!"
"Yes, quite"

Mad street cred it is then.

The link you gave had a guy who had some good points, not sure why he added 'pretentious' at the end tho.

For the record I enjoy, while not always agreeing, with Extra Credits.
Also for the record, I don't have mad street cred.

Yo.

Peace out G.

Honestly, why would I expect a post like this to gain me any "street cred"? If you look at the number of people criticizing me here I think you'll agree that it's doing quite the opposite. If "street cred" was really all I cared about I'd be much better off abandoning this thread rather than continuing to post in it. =)

Why do some people think that Adolf Hitler was a benevolent ruler?

Do I get a prize for having someone evoke Godwin's Law after only 14 posts?

 

[Legendairy314]

They can say whatever they want as long as they don't go so in depth as to put words in other peoples mouths and make demands that the show make dramatic changes (which is not uncommon on the interwebz).

 

[DustyDrB]

I haven't seen people say that, but I wouldn't be surprised to hear it as the series gets more popular. That would be a fun bet.

How long until we hear "I used to love Extra Credits back before they joined The Escapist, but since then it has become more and more pretentious"?

Put your money down.

 

[Spinozaad]

I can understand why these hypothetical people would find Extra Credits pretentious. I personally thought that the episode/clip/video (what's the correct term here, people?) revolving the word 'Gamer' was borderline pretentious.

But it did not cross the line, and it is mostly just insightful.

 

[Addendum_Forthcoming]

Well if we're actually going to have a serious discussion about the fact. I quite enjoy the show myself, but I do find it completely uncompromising and somewhat childish. The points and problems they bring forward tend to either be completely subjective and basic as to sorta just draw a blank where you can only really agree....

Kinda like having someone point out to you how "honey is really, really yellow ... possibly one of the most yellow-y or golden-y thing in nature!"

"Yeah" ...

I'm not saying that the points they bring up are somehow fundamentally bad, but they are pretentious in that they drill at a subject matter without adding anything beyond flowery words.

There's nothing substantial or meaningful ... and at it's worse it's 'preaching to the choir'.

So it's not a very good piece of video journalism, but it's not bad either ... I mean not everything you watch you want to have to think too hard about right? Sometimes it's just nice to hear someone tell you what you already know in a roundabout way so that you can nod in agreement like whatever they say really matters or completely disregard how they fail to explore the subject matter beyond scratching the surface.

If I had a 7 minute speech on something I'd like to think my comments would be a little more profound ... but meh ... I'm not perfect so I don't expect others to be.

In the end, entertaining but basic and lacklustre.