By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close
JWeinCom on 08 February 2021
Edit Thread
Chazore said:
JWeinCom said:

I certainly haven't deflected any criticism of TLOU2. As established, I haven't played the game so I generally don't know if any particular criticism is valid or not.

I don't know what being a mod has to do with anything. I have not moderated you, nor have I threatened to. And, I've never moderated anyone just for speaking negatively about a game they haven't played. Not speaking for other mods, but my response to you was simply in my personal capacity telling you that I found your analogy to be shitty. Which is demonstrated by the fact that you can't actually defend it in any meaningful way except to point at other people.

As explained, you can indeed make a decision based on reviews or lets plays or whatever. In deciding whether or not to buy the game, that's the best information you could get (unless you can play it for free) so you got to go with it. That's what I did. But, since I only read reviews and watched gameplay videos, I recognize that my information is limited, and won't make any statement more bold than "I didn't think I'd enjoy it based on what I saw/read". Generally, if I haven't played a game, I'm not going to comment on its overall quality. Which again, isn't a an official rule, but I think a pretty sensible way to act. 

I'm assuming you'd agree the best way to have an informed opinion on a game is to play it. Watching videos of it would be a very distant second. Reading/listening to the assessment of someone who has played the game is a really distant third. Reading the assessment of someone who has only watched the game and read accounts from players is an incredibly distant fourth. 

No, I wasn't referring to threat of moderation, but more of you having these kind of talks with those who "spoke ill" (which is what I'm getting from you and 3 others in this thread so far) of games they haven't played on other platforms (PC included, and there's a lot on this site who don't play on PC for that matter, ergo, not having played those games that never touched consoles).

For another, yes I actually can, just saying "your shitty analogy" and "can't defend it", doesn't make it so. You and 3 others, who all just happen to love this one game, and defend it to bits, think it's "fucking shitty".

Information is only as limited as what you decide to look for and how long for. There are plenty of LP's on Youtube and other sites, giving you literal start to end, full cheevos, full walkthroughs to give you every nook and cranny of story to watch. Again, you chose to look for a few, and thus your information is limited in scope, no ifs or buts, it is limited in scope due to your choices.

I haven't participated in American voting, yet I'm able and right to comment on how shitty it's turnout was, or the riots that followed afterwards, and I'm not even from the US. People on here freely shit on PC's games because it's all "MMO's and RTS", without having played many a game on there, let alone those two types of genres, and yet they freely are able to toss out whatever ill informed comment they make.

No, I do not agree, because I'm actually able to find information I want and when I choose to. Just because you didn't, doesn't change my opinion, and from our previous interaction, I can tell you and me are going to disagree a lot, so I'm just going to leave it at that. 

 People on here freely shit on PC's games because it's all "MMO's and RTS", without having played many a game on there, let alone those two types of genres, and yet they freely are able to toss out whatever ill informed comment they make.

So then you agree that comments made by people who haven't experience something are ill informed. Great! Feel free to explain to them why their opinion is not valuable as I'm doing now. But, that means your opinion is also ill informed.

Your analogy is shitty because it's shitty. As explained you are comparing a situation, death, where we cannot possibly experience it to judge for ourselves, to a game, where we can easily experience it. I explained this, but apparently, you didn't get it because you made pretty much the same shitty analogy again. Turnout is a statistic and something I literally cannot experience. The best, and literally only way, we can evaluate something like turnout, is by looking up the statistics. The fact that I voted in the election in no way makes me more informed about the overall turnout. 

That's why this is a shitty analogy(ies). Sometimes we have to make decisions on something without reasonably being able to experience it, but if it's feasible and we want to be taken seriously, we should actually experience the thing. Suppose for $30 dollars one could try out death for five hours, see what its like, and return to life. If someone who hadn't taken the death demo was trying to tell me what death was like, I wouldn't care about their opinion. 

I'm sorry I assumed you would agree to the rational statement that playing a game is the best way to have an informed opinion on it. I assumed you would take the rational position, and not advocate for one that is completely absurd. And it is absolutely absurd. It is impossible to transmit an experience completely and perfectly. Something has to be lost at each level. You could potential argue that seeing a game is "good enough" which would be questionable, but arguing that seeing a game being played is as good as playing it is batshit.

And that's probably why you're getting the response you're getting from other mods. I haven't discussed it with them, but it's possible they find your position to be so absurd that they're probing to see if you're serious or trolling. We do that sometimes. Whatever the motivation though, they and I are giving actual responses, and giving you a chance to respond. So, try giving a good reasoned argument instead of just complaining that everyone who expects one is just biased or a big ol' meanie.

It is quite telling that you cut off my post at the question, because it exposes how irrational your position is. The obvious answer is no, you would not accept a review from someone who has not played a game. You would not consider theirs to be a properly informed opinion, and by the same token, nobody should consider yours to be. 

You don't have to respond (speaking for myself here, other mods may feel that if you're going to continue insisting people take you seriously you need some sort of justification) but feel free to prove me wrong by saying you would accept a review from someone who has not played a game but has watched very thorough walkthroughs. Because if you wouldn't, then you are acknowledging that videos are not a substitute for playing. And if you would, I guess we'll get a good chuckle.

Last edited by JWeinCom - on 08 February 2021