So, wait, is he a critic or is he a reviewer?
Anyway, the whole idea that Yahtzee’s existence is a net negative seems bizarre since it ignores the actual context in which his reviews appear.
That context is a world in which the 7-9 rating system is commonplace, there is disproportionately little negative-leaning commentary in reviews or serious regard given to their negative qualities (GTA IV, anyone?), and in which (as discussed in the game journalism thread) hype-laden previews predominate over the actual 7-9 reviews anyway.
I can’t begin to claim I know why Yahtzee is actually successful, but it makes for an easy way to construct the sentence so whatever: Yahtzee’s success is because many people are aware that games are more generally flawed than games journalism generally claims, and by putting the snark in the form of humor (as with OMM before him) Yahtzee makes presenting some of those negatives more palatable, or at least in a way which reduces fanboy flameback. Obviously the shtick is self-enforcing and it means his views aren’t always balanced or consistent.
Don’t blame Yahtzee for the fact he’s the most familiar critic to your students; blame the system which suppresses or makes less-visible the others (which the system attributes to ‘what sells’, or rather ‘what advertises’), and that brings him into existence to balance them
This all proves that the great Greatest Generation was lucky to have:
a) starved by the millions in the Great Depression
b) died by the millions when Germany invaded Pearl Harbor and started CoD War 2
c) had William F. Buckley, Jr. write video game reviews for them.
We miserable, ADD-addled gen X’ers and gen-Facebook-dumb-fucks (aka Gen Y) never had a chance.
Rimbo
3883
On the one hand, I enjoy Zeropunctuation for what it is: Entertainment. On the other I know that most people nowadays no longer recognize the distinctions between entertainment, informed opinion, reported facts and verified facts – largely because the organizations responsible for those last three things have all evolved into only providing the first. (When The Daily Show is winning the Pulitzer, you know it’s all gone wrong.) There’s nothing wrong with Zeropunctuation itself; what’s wrong is that people no longer recognize the distinction.
Yahtzee also kidnapped the Lindbergh baby.
Don’t be silly, Yahtzee is the Lindbergh baby.
Dean
3886
This very discussion is making us all stupid. We should be reading books instead.
Preferably books about how people who don’t read books are stupid.
This is a strange conversation. Very very strange.
All I will say is, I’ve been teaching College Freshman for several years now… nothing “fluffy” like Video Gaming, but rather more staid like Western History from 1700 to Present and I can, with great confidence say that most students understand satire, sarcasm, and meta-topic lampooning. These kids grew up with John Stewart as their “news” outlet. I really think that many understand what Yahtzee is doing and that he is unabashedly negative about all things, sometimes for the sake of comedy and sometimes for the sake of making a point about game reviewing society.
Does he use derogatory terms that some consider “hate speech.” Maybe, and that probably isn’t a great thing, but that is more a cultural/social problem that is far more prevalent that Yahtzee.
College Freshman, despite the “Facebook” generation stereotypes, tend to be far more educated and “clued in” than many believe. To over-generalize by saying that they are X or Y is ridiculous, some are “jerks,” some are “naive,” but some are very savvy and merge social networking skills with information gathering skills. Yes, the majority of these kids get certain ideas and notions wrong (for example what Freedom of Speech entitles them to do) but at least they KNOW about these ideas and try to implement them in interactions.
Maybe it’s a regional thing… I’ve had very good experiences with Freshman and they sometimes have me in awe at how they integrate the things I teach them with their own views of the world. They also can surprise in how they approach the things they see and read. Yes, I would say that their approaches tend to be more cynical than previous generations, but that is a general social trend.
I like Yahtzee, but I’m over 30, married, straight, and white. So maybe I feed the stereotype? ;-)
Dean
3888
I guess I’ve scared everyone away from posting the new one.
No More Heroes 2
He now fears being stabbed by Rebecca Mayes.
Well, she did strongly imply she wanted to dinner with him and stab him in the eye.
“It’s all very clever in that Tarantino style of not in retrospect being particularly clever at all”
heh heh
“A nerd is someone who obsesses about something. Like the cultural impact of gaming.
Or people who criticize same in silly internet videos.”
Dean
3892
Some of us get paid to obsess about the cultural impact of gaming.
Heh.
