writingongames

New video! You Shouldn't Want "Perfect" Games (ad-free!)

Added 2024-04-02 19:42:22 +0000 UTC

Hey everyone!

Once again, thanks so much for your patience while I sorted out the video portion of this. It's finally here though! With the recent release of Dragon's Dogma 2, I've seen a lot of talk of required "optimisations" and "quality-of-life features," and a lot of angry talk of how the game is "wasting players' time" thanks to its limiting of industry standards like fast travel. All this talk got me thinking—in what world would I want art to be more "efficient"? Why would I want a "perfect game"? In this analysis piece, I examine why we continue to hold games to such a different, altogether more corporate standard than we do other art—demanding a smoothness of experience that one might typically associate with artistic sterility. As Killer7 and Deadly Premonition prove, sometimes the very soul of art can lie in its imperfection.

People seem to be resonating with this one so far, which is nice to see. It's the result of a lot of ideas I've been thinking about for a long time coming together and it was a lot of fun to talk about. Thank you so much for your support, which allowed me the opportunity to do so. You are all the best.

As stated in the last post where I uploaded the audio for this episode, don't worry—you will not be charged for this post.

Next up, getting the Rise of the Ronin review video finished and uploaded for you guys, hopefully tonight/early tomorrow. Hope you're looking forward to it!

Thanks again,

Hamish

Writing on Games