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Do We Need Honest Critics or Hyped Up Cheerleaders?

Do We Need Honest Critics or Hyped Up Cheerleaders?

There exists this image of a critic. They sit at their desk, steam rising up from their morning coffee and they have this air of superiority about them as they begin writing. They are probably adorned in a scarf and, as they write, they take delight in finding everything wrong with the newest big budget video game. To them, the only good games are those that are independently funded and exist below a certain threshold of popularity; they are too good and special and unique for the mainstream. By all accounts, this individual seems to hate video games.

Now, I have never met this person, but they must exist since so many internet readers would have you think that critics who are, well, critical of a big release are hipsters. Or shills for a rival company. Or “SJW”s. This view is rarely representative of reality, though. For some reason, going against the flow in terms of taste isn’t an acceptable position and, instead of chalking it up to a matter of taste, people who disagree with a review often feel required to attack the writer’s character. It’s particularly strange when you consider that in a lot of cases, these games haven’t even been made available to the general public so you have to wonder where the grounds for the disagreement even is.

I’ll be honest. I didn’t really love Fallout 4. I certainly expected to, though. I’m a huge fan of the series and, like many gamers, I pre-ordered and eagerly awaited the game’s launch. Even the anticipation and discussion leading up to the game was part of the fun. It all felt like an event. A shared experience for gamers. A party. But, when the game came out and I tried to sink myself into it, I noticed I wasn’t having fun the way I expected to. I began trying to figure out why and was critical of the title because I wanted to dissect it and figure out what it was that was getting in my way. Fortunately, I didn’t have to do this professionally and was never assigned to Fallout -related coverage. That job fell to other writers, and I do not envy them.

Had the job fallen to me, I would have been forced to be honest. I try to pride myself on a certain level of honesty in matters of subjectivity and, in matters of objectivity, try to present all the pertinent facts. It’s not always fun, though, and often it feels like it is my job to rain on the parade of others. As I watched friends of mine enjoy the game, I kept my mouth shut. They were having fun and there was no reason for me to tell them how I found fault with the game. But if someone who hadn’t played the game asked me, point blank, if they should spend money on it then I would try to give them a fair pros and cons list. And if they were offended or yelled at me for my impromptu review, well, that would certainly be a strange interaction. Online, when you are reading a review, you are essentially asking a writer for their opinion. Nobody is forcing you to read, and reacting with malice is an odd response, socially speaking. In fact, some writers are inundated with death threats when they say something disagreeable.

Do We Need Honest Critics or Hyped Up Cheerleaders?

It’s not that I’m totally without sympathy for gamers. I, believe it or not, love games, too. And when hype builds up and everybody is excited, people can be pretty resentful towards anyone who seeks to rain on their parade. There are similar real world scenarios, like a guy who is complaining at a party. “Debbie Downer” is a phrase that gets thrown about a lot. Why can’t these people just let us have our fun?

Well, if that’s the case, then one has to wonder exactly what we expect from our critics. Do we want cheerleaders or do we want careful scrutiny? In an industry where so many large games receive nearly perfect scores, you have to wonder what’s going on. What is wrong with the middle of the scoreboard? Why do negative or middling critiques seem to follow game releases only months after the excitement and hype has died down? And why do consumers expect games to get nearly perfect scores all the time? Plenty of games are good, but so few are nearing perfection. This should be okay, and I’m surprised it’s not what we demand of the writers who report on these things.

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