This one is courtesy of a fabulous blogger from the other side of the pond, Winkills.
I first ran across his reviews and insights on Twitter and soon discovered his website.
I could not escape that feeling you sometimes get where someone is saying exactly what you have been thinking but hadn't fully articulated yet. There's probably a better word for that in a different language, but you get my point. So, after a flurry of emails, he graciously accepted my deman- I mean request to give me a guest blog post. Please enjoy and don't forget to visit his blog for MORE!
Who is to blame for the state of gaming right now?
Is it the developers' fault, for releasing broken game after broken game? Is it the fault of game media? I mean, let’s face it, they spend so much time in bed with game developers that you would think they lived together. Or is it our fault as consumers for putting up with it every year and still buying the same old games that we know are going to be a let down.
I have come to think that games being released broken is the norm now. This way of thinking has wormed it’s way into the fabric of gaming culture and is now - probably - the reason a lot of gamers have become jaded. You only have to look at online forums (such as Reddit) to see just how negative the gaming community has become.
The atmosphere around gaming at this time can only be described at toxic. Developers and the large companies they work for have done nothing to change people’s minds. Not a day goes by where you don’t hear about some shady practices like adding "pay to win" when you said you wouldn’t (Payday 2) or letting a game hit the shelves, knowing full well that it is fundamentally broken (Batman Arkham Knight on PC).
Firstly, the developers have to take a lot of the blame. They know how many people will buy the latest Call of Duty or Assassin's Creed game, even if it’s broken and full of glitches. Think about it. Why would they bother to fix the problems with the game when doing so could cause a delay which would probably hurt sales? Especially if the game is coming out just before Christmas. Developers tend to take the "alternative route" every time. They just put the game out there, maybe fix-it-on-the-fly at a later date (if they can be bothered) or if they think it's in the best interest of their bank balance.
Firstly, the developers have to take a lot of the blame. They know how many people will buy the latest Call of Duty or Assassin's Creed game, even if it’s broken and full of glitches. Think about it. Why would they bother to fix the problems with the game when doing so could cause a delay which would probably hurt sales? Especially if the game is coming out just before Christmas. Developers tend to take the "alternative route" every time. They just put the game out there, maybe fix-it-on-the-fly at a later date (if they can be bothered) or if they think it's in the best interest of their bank balance.
The big game developers and even some of the smaller ones are serving up the same old things to consumers, year after year, and we are just happy to buy it. We buy in the hope that the game will be worth the money we payed. I mean, every year, Call of Duty comes out and within a day or two gamers are complaining about how they never bothered to fix any of the problems that have plagued the franchise for the better part of a decade. Don’t worry though! Maybe they will have a go at fixing them next year? No. They will fix the problems when we all stop pre-ordering the games. Then, and only then, will they take notice - when their profits start to drop off.
Another large problem seems to be the way games are reviewed these days. For some reason, people seem to believe a lot of what games journalist have to say. In my opinion, this is a massive mistake. Let's be honest. These so-called critics hand out eights, nines and tens like a broken candy machine.
What does giving a game a number out of ten even mean anyway? Games are a subjective media just like music and films. The things I like - other people may hate and vise versa. I write about games and gaming from time to time and I have never given a game a score. In my mind, video games aren’t quantifiable. What does "Ten Out of Ten" even mean?
Nothing at all, because it comes down to the person. The real reason for games being scored is to fool people who don’t know what they want to buy. Mainly Mums, Dads and Grandparents who go into their local game store or supermarket and see Black Ops 3 getting "Tens" across the board with no splash and they think “Little Jimmy or whoever would love that game. It’s got a perfect Ten Out of Ten!”
But Jimmy hates Call of Duty. He likes to play Halo 5 or Destiny. I mean let’s face it gaming journalists can no longer be trusted. We have all heard the stories of paying for good reviews and arrangements between critics and developers that normal people would see as a conflict of interest.
To balance this whole thing out I will say that we as consumers need to be more savvy. We need to be smarter with our money because there are too many people who want to part us from it. We must not buy into the hype that surrounds some of these games. We must think for ourselves.
With all the tools at our disposal these days we have no excuse for making wrong or uninformed decisions. In the age of YouTube you don’t need to put your trust in so-called gaming journalists or critics: you can watch a "Let's Play" and make your choice on the grounds of gameplay; you can watch a livestream on Twitch and actually see the game being played by real people just like you who have no vested interest in lying to you; or as a last resort you could listen to me because I won’t lie to you or pull punches and I definitely won’t score a game out of Ten.
-Winkills
http://www.winkills.com/
