Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Interactive Friction: Far Cry 3: Episode 10: Jason Dillweed and the Temple of Filler Missions

You're probably wondering, "Why did Google lead me here!?" Those of you not wondering that are probably asking "Why is this so damn late!?"

Well, we forgot to record last week. Sam and I thought we had a backlog of episodes to go through. As it turns out, we did not. So, we got together on Monday (which is when this should have been posted), to record a new batch of episodes before we got too far down the hole.

I'm also not entirely sure what happened to my audio during this recording session.

Anyway, this episode has more filler missions.



Do you know how every Let's Play series will inevitably have that one episode where nothing substantial happens, and as a result the commentary feels a lot like repeated what was previously said.

This was that episode.

What I want to talk about instead is the way that writing about games fundamentally alters the way people like Sam and I play them, since it came up in our discussion. Before I started doing stuff like this, I would just go through games and think "Oh, I liked that." or "Oh, that was bad." What changes when you start making this kind of content is that you instead beginning to think less about what emotions you feel as you play (which are easy to discern). Instead, the focus shifts to why the game elicits those reactions from you. That, to me, is what distinguishes a critic from a more, and I hate to use this word, "casual" consumer of video games.

Anyone can do it, it's just a matter of actively trying to shift one's mode of thinking. There's nothing inherently special about people who criticize media beyond their willingness to just go out and do it, especially in this day and age.

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