the 2 best developers in one sentence

Malstrom has taste!

I actually disagree with many of his points. It's really strange, because I love the other articles I've read from him.

Awesome

So, I read 90 percent of the thing. And I couldn't disagree more.

First off, I love my Wii, and have nothing against Nintendo. But this guy makes us look bad.

He uses MGS4 (albeit not by name) and calls the game "broken" due to long cinematics. He uses GTA IV or any other high - profile game to make his point, while not talking about games that aren't high-profile and are good.

I don't know. It's a good read, but only because it's so poorly put together. It's like watching a car wreck.

He likes himself too much...

I am going to rewrite a couple paragraphs.

“Casual” gamers have been referred to in a way as if they are ‘retarded’ gamers. While they are the ‘downmarket’, this also doesn’t sufficiently explain what is going on with these new gamers. Demographic stereotypes also won’t solve the issue. What is the secret to the so-called ‘casual gamer’?

What is a casual gamer?

On another unrelated paper, someone, with great authority, said to me, “You are writing it for casuals.”

“WHAT did you say?” I demanded.

“You wrote it for casuals…” he repeated. “Instead of using a formal tone, you novelized it. You inserted dialogue. This helps people learn the content.”

My friend said that I write for casuals.  Upset, I asked him to clarify.  He continued, “Instead of using a formal tone, you novelized it. You inserted dialogue...”

But let us take this idea further. With books, we know there are tons of ‘literature’ and elitist type books where the author is attempting to create ‘art’. However, the best sellers are made for ‘casuals’ and lack ’serious’ literary writing. From the elitist view, these best sellers are ‘dumbed down’ for people. From the consumer’s point of view, they just want a good story to perform a job such as something to occupy them while riding a plane or on a beach. They have nothing against the ‘literary’ books except the prose is so thick, and so many obstacles of the author trying to use countless ’symbols’, that the story is difficult to get at.

Some people are self absorbed (like the author) and write to sound smart or talented; others write for understanding through clarity.  It's a crime if the reader has to pick up a dictionary.  I repeat myself and use examples, so I like to consider myself accessible but I am not because I over do it and lose the necessary concise style for informative or persuasive writing.

A better analogy exists for college students. You find there are two types of professors: those who focus on the students learning and others who are interested in enthroning themselves. In other words, those who are focused on users and those who are focused on themselves. This creates two wildly different teaching styles.The user centric teacher will use games, dialogue, riddles, anything that engages the users and answer their issues correctly. This teacher gets rated highly by the students.

I am going to give another example to fill up space, which has an obvious meaning but I'll explain it anyway.  College students, like me, have two types of professors.  The first spoon feeds the material with childish activities so that it can all be forgetten after the final, students like this type.  The second forces you to actually learn the material on your own and then uses class time to elaborate and expand with personal experience.  I don't like the second type, they make my head hurt.

And it goes on...

I hope he reads my comment so he can learn a thing or two.

Did you read the end Meister? It has a great punchline/climax you have to read.


I loved the article.

One of my favorites actually, since it covered all art forms and not just games. That's always a huge plus for me because I think games can and should be high art and that few people, including developers, take that seriously. And the ones who think they take it seriously are full of shit.

The red quote and the last sentence? 

Yeah, that was pretty good.  But it still doesn't make me like him or the article any better.  His article could be great, as it has great intentions, but it falls short, because he constantly repeats himself, and harps on subjects that could easily be glossed over. 

he's right but he forgot to mention Square-Enix aswell in that.

Oh my god, I shouldn't have read more...

Ironically, you can combine the two. Academics write many, many books. None of them are read. Why? They are so steeped in academic style as the masses don’t want to slog through that. Their content is also not what people care to know. After their ‘brilliance’ fails to create a best-selling book, they just declare that the masses are ‘idiots’ and that those best-selling books are written in a ‘casual’ style (written in a retarded way, dumbed down, for the masses).

As a student of international affairs who goes to every conference that I can get into,  I must say: this guy is talking out of his ass.  Every diplomat, politician, and business person I meet is extremely well read.

The masses are the masses for a reason, because they choose not to pull them selves up.  Acedemic writing is there for all to read, and is a means for pulling oneself up.  Games are a diversion.  Two different things altogether.

This guy is a dumbass who is promoting illiteracy.

Super Mario Galaxy has a tutorial...Super Paper Mario has lots of text..."long" cinematics is entirely subjective so I don't know which game to give as an example for this....

I find his last point even somewhat broken. Just because the first minute of it isn't fun, doesn't mean the rest of the game isn't fun. What it means is that the beginning of the game is broken and should be handled better, but I wouldn't go so far as to say the entire game is broken because of it.

Hell, Kingdom Hearts has tutorials and cutscenes, does that mean that game is broken and bad? I know countless "casuals" who love that series.