Most of us are aware that gaming is a subjective medium, however, the culture surrounding gaming could have you believe otherwise. Today, we will look over three distinct and also, very enjoyable as well as influential games. We will start with the big daddy himself. Red Dead Redemption 2, it was a behemoth upon release, who did you know who did not play this game? Everyone was talking about it, the reviews were golden and if the game had any faults, they sure as hell weren't being mentioned by the majority; while there were the naysayers, for the most part, few games except 2018's God Of War, were received anywhere near as well. As a matter of fact, both Red Dead Redemption 2 and God Of War are anomalies in the way they were received, not just by critics, but by a large margin of gamers.
Sure a great many games get glowing reviews, and a great many games are beloved by many a gamer. Yet, it has been a very long time, since there were games loved by this huge of a majority. When these games came out, you could not go anywhere in the world or on Social Media, and not hear about the worlds, the immersive qualities, the production values, the list would go on and on. This is wonderful and also slightly perplexing when you play so many video games. I am not trying to deny the fact that these games are masterworks; but, it seems odd that so many gamers would ignore issues that these games do have. Those same issues plague most games; pacing issues, combat balancing issues and any other normal problem a gamer may have with pretty much any game. I am not stating these games are overly flawed, or that flaws were wrongly ignored, it is that so many other games have these same issues, and they are more likely to be ripped to shreds. Take Anthem, for example, an imperfect but fun game, it has pacing and balancing issues, yet, these are not isolated faults only affecting this one game, most games share similar problems.
However, once in a while, a game that shares faults common in most games is lambasted for it, and all the good the game does, is ignored. It is almost the direct opposite effect of what befell GOW and RDR 2, those games were not masterworks because they were flawless, rather they were simply good enough to look past any present flaws. If you speak to a variety of gamers, you will find that regardless of popular opinion, there are those who love and hate these games for the exact same reasons. Again another odd and yet wonderful part of being a gamer, and moreover being alive, we all have different tastes, it really does not matter how good a game is, there is nothing to guarantee just because it is well received that you will love it, or even enjoy it. My experience with RDR 2, was that it was a well made and fun game, but, I hated the pacing and in fact, I hated the closing hours of the story. I understood the point of it, and admired it for it, but it was not something I enjoyed and was one of the first games in my life, that I said nope I don't need to ever touch that game again. Does that mean you will feel the same way, does that mean I would not recommend you try it? Hell no, for every reason I disliked the experience, those same reasons are again, going to be the ones that another loves it for.
What this really means to me, is that critics are blinding us to our own tastes. Think about it, while it is wonderful to agree on things, in our world where we can agree on so little, does it make sense that the grand majority will truly love a game like Red Dead Redemption 2? And I do mean love, not respect; see, it is easy to respect most any game. They are works of art, that took great effort, with many hours of blood, sweat, and tears to create, and that deserves the utmost respect. Yet just because we can view the game, and are aware of the great qualities it possesses, that does not cross over to us all finding the game an addictive, enjoyable romp. No one is and no one should ever force us to like something, just because the majority does, that is a road we never want to go down. So, when I see a game like Spider-Man for the PS4, get a slightly mixed but ultimately warm reception, I realized that when gamers are not forced to view a game as perfect, they are likely to openly discuss all facets of the game. See I am not just referring to the critics, but to us the gamers who talk at length about these games. Games like GOW and RDR 2 spawned conversations about how amazing the games are, and that is a good thing; yet, it is unbalanced when only the naysayers voice negative opinions of the game. You will always have those who disagree with the majority, for the sake of disagreeing; but, games like Spider-Man inspire a balanced discussion between those who truly love and dislike the game. We can learn from those kinds of interactions, they help us grow personally and as a society, it may seem silly, but it is true. We learn to express our true feelings, and generally without being cunts about it; all because there is no grand voice validating anyone person's opinion. We all love to be validated, but in mass validation, we lose sight of what is really there, and most of all we lose the ability to see it for ourselves. Gaming will always be subjective, and that is something to celebrate; because when we do truly agree on something, that is a rare and beautiful moment, but we should never be forced to agree or love something. For when that happens, we not only lose sight of our tastes, but also of ourselves as a whole. Our tastes and our views define who we are, no one has to share them, no one has the accept them, but they do need to be tolerated by all; otherwise, we slowly lose our ability to freely express our true selves.
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