Game Challenge? (Thought experiment)
Jan. 25th, 2016 03:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
foxinthestarsIn the book-reading challenge I am in fact working on the "book you've been meaning to read," but a thought occurred to me and I wondered, what about a similar challenge for playing video games?
A video game version would for starters be a lot harder for me because I tend to take months finishing a game. I'm not planning to do it, but it seemed fun to think about. A lot of the book-reading challenge could translate pretty directly:
-A game published this year
-A game you can finish in a day
-A game you've been meaning to play
-A game chosen for you by a loved one
-A game you previously abandoned
-A game that intimidates you
-A game you've already solved at least once
Some of them don't translate so neatly, though:
"A book recommended by your local librarian or bookseller" - Well, if you can take the first option you have an even cooler library than I do (although my library has hosted video game nights for Millennials, so it might work --- but only because I have an uncommonly cool library). You could take a recommendation from someone at a game store, but that seems a bit dicey to me, and could have more of an accessibility issue because games are more expensive than books.
"A book you should have read in school" - Substitute a game you should have played when it came out but you missed it?
"A book published before you were born" - Doesn't really work when there are people alive and playing today who are older than video games. I would substitute a specific date, like a game published before 1990.
"A book you own but have never read" - For me this is less of a thing with video games... But maybe that's just me.
"A book that was banned at some point" - This one is tricky. Banning video games is more a fear than a reality in the West at this point, and to the extent it has happened... A) There are fewer banned games, so a less diverse pool to pick from. B) There's been less time for values dissonance to set in, so video games that do get banned are more likely to be ones that someone might want to avoid for legitimate reasons (gods forbid we pressure someone to play a rape sim). C) According to Wikipedia, you get more options on this if you look at Muslim countries, but that turns it into a new kind of problematic exercise. Broadening it to "a game that has been the subject of controversy" would mitigate things somewhat, but I don't know.
Then there's the issue that just translating the book list might tend to privilege games that are to some degree book-like, e.g. solvably finite (but those are the kind of games I like). It also ignores video-game specific qualities that might have a place in such an exercise --- should it include "a game with an unusual control scheme," maybe? I personally resist adding a multiplayer item, but that might be my own issues talking.
Given the above-mentioned time commitment issue, if I was thinking about it practically I'd want to cut it down to a shorter list anyway, and a lot of those items are pretty universal. Like maybe cut it down to six, and the highlights would be:
-A game published this year
-A game you've been meaning to play
-A game you previously abandoned
-A game that intimidates you
-A game you've already solved at least once
-A game published before 1990
[ETA] -An award-winning game.**
That might be worth thinking about, really... (I could start with PopoloCrois as the "game you've been meaning to play" --- I've been meaning or at least wanting to play it for almost 20 years...*)
*And this is why! Way back in the 90s in anime club, we watched Rurouni Kenshin in fansubs that left the Japanese TV commercials in, and I saw this one. It may not look like much, but the snippets of the anime cutscenes had such a unique and adorable style that I was fascinated...
**Edited to Add: On further thought, I decided to add an item for "An award-winning game." (I found out that my graphics-card-less computer can actually run Undertale, and a challenge I couldn't fit that into is clearly flawed.) The hard part is what to eliminate to get back down to six... well, maybe seven would be okay... [end edit]
A video game version would for starters be a lot harder for me because I tend to take months finishing a game. I'm not planning to do it, but it seemed fun to think about. A lot of the book-reading challenge could translate pretty directly:
-A game published this year
-A game you can finish in a day
-A game you've been meaning to play
-A game chosen for you by a loved one
-A game you previously abandoned
-A game that intimidates you
-A game you've already solved at least once
Some of them don't translate so neatly, though:
"A book recommended by your local librarian or bookseller" - Well, if you can take the first option you have an even cooler library than I do (although my library has hosted video game nights for Millennials, so it might work --- but only because I have an uncommonly cool library). You could take a recommendation from someone at a game store, but that seems a bit dicey to me, and could have more of an accessibility issue because games are more expensive than books.
"A book you should have read in school" - Substitute a game you should have played when it came out but you missed it?
"A book published before you were born" - Doesn't really work when there are people alive and playing today who are older than video games. I would substitute a specific date, like a game published before 1990.
"A book you own but have never read" - For me this is less of a thing with video games... But maybe that's just me.
"A book that was banned at some point" - This one is tricky. Banning video games is more a fear than a reality in the West at this point, and to the extent it has happened... A) There are fewer banned games, so a less diverse pool to pick from. B) There's been less time for values dissonance to set in, so video games that do get banned are more likely to be ones that someone might want to avoid for legitimate reasons (gods forbid we pressure someone to play a rape sim). C) According to Wikipedia, you get more options on this if you look at Muslim countries, but that turns it into a new kind of problematic exercise. Broadening it to "a game that has been the subject of controversy" would mitigate things somewhat, but I don't know.
Then there's the issue that just translating the book list might tend to privilege games that are to some degree book-like, e.g. solvably finite (but those are the kind of games I like). It also ignores video-game specific qualities that might have a place in such an exercise --- should it include "a game with an unusual control scheme," maybe? I personally resist adding a multiplayer item, but that might be my own issues talking.
Given the above-mentioned time commitment issue, if I was thinking about it practically I'd want to cut it down to a shorter list anyway, and a lot of those items are pretty universal. Like maybe cut it down to six, and the highlights would be:
-A game published this year
-A game you've been meaning to play
-A game you previously abandoned
-A game that intimidates you
-A game you've already solved at least once
-A game published before 1990
[ETA] -An award-winning game.**
That might be worth thinking about, really... (I could start with PopoloCrois as the "game you've been meaning to play" --- I've been meaning or at least wanting to play it for almost 20 years...*)
*And this is why! Way back in the 90s in anime club, we watched Rurouni Kenshin in fansubs that left the Japanese TV commercials in, and I saw this one. It may not look like much, but the snippets of the anime cutscenes had such a unique and adorable style that I was fascinated...
**Edited to Add: On further thought, I decided to add an item for "An award-winning game." (I found out that my graphics-card-less computer can actually run Undertale, and a challenge I couldn't fit that into is clearly flawed.) The hard part is what to eliminate to get back down to six... well, maybe seven would be okay... [end edit]
no subject
Date: 2016-01-26 01:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-01-26 02:10 pm (UTC)I did play FF2 years ago and I recall liking it, and it was interesting to see that point in the development of the series, like that was where the emphasis on pre-defined characters and story started to come in. I didn't understand the "stronger through practice" mechanic until I was most of the way through it, though. The fact that all of my characters had turned into physical-combat bruisers by that time tells me something about my play style.
Myself I've got some good candidates for the "game you previously abandoned." I could do Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (last Symphony-style Castlevania I haven't solved), or Devil Survivor 2. Or, Final Fantasy VI. Loved it when I was young; still has a special place in my heart and stands in my mind as one of the greatest games ever made --- and I never actually finished it.
Of course, given my previous post about "video games and fear," the "game that intimidates you" is ridiculously easy for me to find... ^_^;
no subject
Date: 2016-01-28 07:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-01-28 11:21 pm (UTC)