Should we play bad games for ourselves?

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Crummylion
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Should we play bad games for ourselves?

Postby Crummylion » May 10th, 2017, 7:16 am

I'm not exactly saying spend money on bad games. I'm saying try them (in anyway possible) to understand how bad they really might be. I watched a Youtube review of Voodoo Vince and the guy reviewing it said that to get into the 3d platforming, you need to experiment with a handful of games, both good and bad, and see what makes them good and what hinders the experience. Before I saw the video, I even had a similar idea and thought trying some bad games and see what everyone is talking about certain games. I think it's better because it gives you the hands-on experience of the game compared to what one guy is simply saying.

What's your take?

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Rookie1
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Re: Should we play bad games for ourselves?

Postby Rookie1 » May 10th, 2017, 10:03 am

Lots of times I play "bad" games and actually like them.

CharlieR
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Re: Should we play bad games for ourselves?

Postby CharlieR » May 10th, 2017, 12:45 pm

Rookie1 wrote:Lots of times I play "bad" games and actually like them.


I think that is the point the thread is trying to make. I was just thinking, might games be made out to be worse bad, and people exaggerate upon how bad they are?

I actually bought Silver Surfer for NES a few years ago because I saw AVGN review it. I think it can be enjoyable if you get past the one-hit deaths, which is a huge "if" of course. He also reviewed Sonic 06 recently, and whereas most of the internet would say it's terrible, I think it looks playable at the very least.

Herschie
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Re: Should we play bad games for ourselves?

Postby Herschie » May 10th, 2017, 1:13 pm

I actually had a little fun with Silver Surfer, and a few others. Depending on why a game is bad, you can really learn quite a bit from it, and get an appreciation for the good games out there. Like when you beat Bowser, it sends you to Toad. Someone had to program that command. If not, you get Cheetahmen, when nothing happens after you beat a boss because they never bothered to program anything after that.

eneuman96
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Re: Should we play bad games for ourselves?

Postby eneuman96 » May 10th, 2017, 3:35 pm

I personally think everyone should play Sonic 06 just to say they've experienced its unique brand of glitchy insanity firsthand. Videos can't really do it justice, try though they might. It's fairly cheap now, so your wallet won't hate you for it. Other games that are designed incompetently enough to be downright entertaining include Action 52, Superman 64, Big Rigs.

goldenband
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Re: Should we play bad games for ourselves?

Postby goldenband » May 10th, 2017, 9:41 pm

CharlieR wrote:I think that is the point the thread is trying to make. I was just thinking, might games be made out to be worse bad, and people exaggerate upon how bad they are?

This happens constantly. For many people, a "bad" game is a game that makes them feel confused or helpless because it doesn't reward them with godlike abilities from the word go, or because it's not exactly like all the other games they've already played. Games are for telling them how great they are, just the way they already are -- not for making them learn something, for heaven's sake.

For some players, a tough game with a learning curve is intriguing -- I've never seen anything like this before, maybe I can figure it out? -- but for a lot of people it enrages them. They interpret that sense of mystery and challenge as an ego threat, as if the game is calling them stupid, and so they want to destroy it and mock it because the alternative would be admitting defeat or ignorance.

(And they have the same reaction to music, movies, books, etc.: if they don't understand it right away, then it must be stupid. They're God's gift to humankind, and nothing is ever their fault or reflects badly on them, so anything they don't understand must be stupid by definition.)

I'd go so far as to say that I enjoy most "bad" games more than I enjoy most "good" games. Many "bad" games are short and offer an intense challenge -- something I've always appreciated: I love a really tough game that, once mastered, can be beaten in under 10 minutes without exploits -- whereas many "good" games strike me as overlong, handholding affairs designed for someone who certainly isn't me.

I suppose it's sort of like cinema: I'd rather watch a trashy horror movie for most of the tedious, self-important junk that passes for mainstream cinema these days. At least the trashy horror movie might surprise me or make me laugh -- at least it's not boring and predictable.

eneuman96
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Re: Should we play bad games for ourselves?

Postby eneuman96 » May 10th, 2017, 11:05 pm

goldenband wrote:This happens constantly. For many people, a "bad" game is a game that makes them feel confused or helpless because it doesn't reward them with godlike abilities from the word go, or because it's not exactly like all the other games they've already played. Games are for telling them how great they are, just the way they already are -- not for making them learn something, for heaven's sake.

For some players, a tough game with a learning curve is intriguing -- I've never seen anything like this before, maybe I can figure it out? -- but for a lot of people it enrages them. They interpret that sense of mystery and challenge as an ego threat, as if the game is calling them stupid, and so they want to destroy it and mock it because the alternative would be admitting defeat or ignorance.

(And they have the same reaction to music, movies, books, etc.: if they don't understand it right away, then it must be stupid. They're God's gift to humankind, and nothing is ever their fault or reflects badly on them, so anything they don't understand must be stupid by definition.)

I'd go so far as to say that I enjoy most "bad" games more than I enjoy most "good" games. Many "bad" games are short and offer an intense challenge -- something I've always appreciated: I love a really tough game that, once mastered, can be beaten in under 10 minutes without exploits -- whereas many "good" games strike me as overlong, handholding affairs designed for someone who certainly isn't me.

I suppose it's sort of like cinema: I'd rather watch a trashy horror movie for most of the tedious, self-important junk that passes for mainstream cinema these days. At least the trashy horror movie might surprise me or make me laugh -- at least it's not boring and predictable.


I can't say I agree with this. Games are generally considered "bad" due to unresponsive controls, overabundance of glitches, dull level design, lack of creativity, inconsistent internal logic, etc. The vast majority of people don't declare a game bad because it's difficult. If that were the case, Dark Souls, Super Meat Boy, Spelunky, and countless other games of the sort wouldn't have such high critical acclaim. On some occasions, a game may be unintentionally difficult due to the possible flaws I mentioned, but that doesn't seem to be the situation you're talking about. A "a really tough game that, once mastered, can be beaten in under 10 minutes without exploits" sounds like you're describing a genuinely good if possibly obscure game, not an incompetently designed one.

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scotland
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Re: Should we play bad games for ourselves?

Postby scotland » May 11th, 2017, 12:56 pm

Man, now I am totally in a quandary. I think we should try bad games, see for ourselves, but as I explore the Gameboy library I came to Breakout and Battlezone cartridge. Oh, the videos of Battlezone look like a crime to Battlezone.

It really looks pathetic. Do I buy a cart? Anyone play this?

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Gentlegamer
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Re: Should we play bad games for ourselves?

Postby Gentlegamer » May 11th, 2017, 2:38 pm

goldenband wrote:For some players, a tough game with a learning curve is intriguing -- I've never seen anything like this before, maybe I can figure it out? -- but for a lot of people it enrages them. They interpret that sense of mystery and challenge as an ego threat, as if the game is calling them stupid, and so they want to destroy it and mock it because the alternative would be admitting defeat or ignorance.


Dave is the latter, so never trust his reviews for games graded low for being "too hard/confusing."

DaHeckIzDat
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Re: Should we play bad games for ourselves?

Postby DaHeckIzDat » May 11th, 2017, 4:16 pm

goldenband wrote:(And they have the same reaction to music, movies, books, etc.: if they don't understand it right away, then it must be stupid. They're God's gift to humankind, and nothing is ever their fault or reflects badly on them, so anything they don't understand must be stupid by definition.)



To be fair, the "norm" has become the norm for a reason: because it works, and it's fun. That's the same across games, books, and movies. More often than not, when I see someone trying to "break out" of the norm and do their own thing, they end up doing the exact opposite of the norm and create something that's either completely broken, or entirely pretentious. They'll then go on about how nobody understands their "art" and how it's perfect and they're perfect and everything is everyone else's fault, while everyone else goes about playing/watching/reading things that, for all they conform to "the norm", are still objectively better than the "new" "different" thing. Of course there are notable exceptions, like the Souls/Bloodborne series, but speaking largely when being different is someone's first priority, they very very rarely come out with anything worthwhile.

(I'm an author, and I've had this discussion multiple times with other writers whose only selling point for their stories is that "it's different")


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