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Validity of Gaming Critics

Every art form has critics and judges. Movie critics, photography critics, music judges: these are people whom the public rely on to help differentiate between mediocre and master- pieces. As a species, we want to of what we can create; therefore we rely on critics and judges to help guide us in our search of praising others’ artistic expression. In recent years, there has been a realm of critics who have surfaced: gaming critics.

The official definition of is “any of various interactive games played using a specialized electronic gaming device or a computer or mobile device and a television or other display screen, along with a means to control graphic images.” (“video game”). Since the age of the classic arcade games such as Pac-Man, , and , we have loved playing video games. They gave us a rush of excitement as we competed with one another to see who could score the highest, or reach the highest . Jason Gastrow, a popular video game critic on

Youtube known as Videogamedunkey, or Dunkey, says in a video, “Arcades were brimming with looping endless games that demanded one knee-jerk reaction after another…These were games designed to kill (the player) fast and suck down quarters, and people loved them. Then in the mid 1980s we see the focus shifting back towards consoles with the NES ( Entertain- ment System).” (Dunkey “Difficulty in Videogames Part 2”). As grew, video games went through a rather quick transformation, from a passing form to a must have form of enter- tainment, and for some, an actual career choice.

Once the age of consoles settled in (NES, , Playstation, , PC, ex.), the games started changing. With every new generation of consoles came new potential for innovation. De- velopers began to tell stories that gave gamers a fully immersive experience, with better graphics Aidan Cole 2 and much more intricate and complex gameplay. A good example of this innovation and evolu- tion is Super 64 (1996) vs Odyssey (2017). Both games are from the same franchise and are , but has better graphics, better controls, and has more hours of gameplay. This also introduced the : where consumers would argue amongst each other as to which console was better, which only sped up the competition between gaming companies, forcing them to start making better quality games at a faster rate, exclusive to their corresponding console, making consumers want to buy it. Microsoft for exam- ple launched the Xbox with in 2001 with great success. Sony launched their Playstation 2 console with a few Ratchet and games and and . It was an endless circle of cap- italism and consumerism in the gaming industry, which siphoned money from consumers leading to its growth.

What is the societal role of a critic? According to contemporary artist Dr. Oliver Watts,

“The critic acts as a mediator between art and its audience. The art critic is both an outsider and an insider, someone who is embedded within art but also observes it from the outside.” (Dr.

Oliver Watts “The Role of the Art Critic”). This is why critics exist, not to dishearten the artists themselves, but to help their audience understand the art itself. In this world full of political cor- rectness there is always a need for real criticism. According to John McDonald, an art and critic for the Sydney Morning Herald and the Australian Financial Review,

Art criticism nowadays is both a hopeless cause, and more necessary

than ever. Hopeless, because intelligent commentary now seems less

desirable than glossy advertisements. Necessary, because it is important

that someone, anyone, stand against the tides of banality and forced Aidan Cole 3

positivity that threaten to swamp the contemporary art world. (John McDonald “The Role

of the Art Critic”)

We need criticism in all forms of art because it keeps us honest. As we try to become more accepting of other cultures and ethnicities, we must not lose site as to why we objectively need criticism: to keep us pushing to be better. So, knowing all this, why is it that the gaming in- dustry is struggling to create their own stable platform for criticism? It’s because of a few things:

First, unlike the film industry, the gaming industry is mostly driven by company invest- ments instead of relationships. For film, a company must invest in actors, crew, directors, pro- ducers; and all must be able to work together and form relationships in order to make the best film possible. In the gaming industry, most of the game is made by developers at a computer.

There is less need for relationships and instead more of a need for investment in software devel- opment and time. The point is, there is more power given to a company that invests in making the video game than to a company, in this sector, attempting to invest in relationships. As a result there is less public knowledge of video games as an art form and a good portion of the public still see video games as a passing form of entertainment, therefore there is less need for real criti- cism of it.

Second, historically speaking, video games are still relatively new compared to film, mu- sic, literature, painting and dancing. Painting has existed since the dawn of man and the earliest findings of dancing appear in India around 6000 B.C. Motion Picture weren’t created until

1888 and the earliest artistic criticism of film emerged in the early 1900s. Video games didn’t first make an appearance until the early 1970s and “the first consumer-oriented print magazine dedicate solely to video gaming was Computer and Video Games, which premiered in the U.K. Aidan Cole 4 in November 1981.” (Wikipedia “Early History of Video Games”). To put into perspective, the art of film is around 132 years old and it took between 15 to 20 years for it to establish a stable platform for unbiased criticism. Video games are only fifty years old and they are still struggling to find a stable platform. Why? Because for years they were seen as entertainment only and only recently is gaming being labeled an Esport. The gaming industry has grown so fast in a short amount of time, at the speed of technological growth, that consumers are struggling to keep up.

However, in all this crazy innovation, a new community was born which leads to my final rea- son.

Third, a fast growing community formed around gaming, who were without critics for a long time. In the art of filmmaking, the critics were established before the audience, but here the opposite happened. The gaming community was established before gaming critics. As a result, the community itself took on the role of being the critics, a role which led to very disorganized criticisms in video games. Simply put, by the time gaming critic platforms such as IGN and

GameSpot, were established, the gaming community had already begun to self-criticize, there- fore they had little to no validity or influence by the time they became recognized.

Since the industry had disorganized criticism the gaming community was never consis- tent in their voice. Dunkey pointed this out: “Gamers will sit there and complain about ,

EA, and to their dying breath and yet, what are the top selling games every year?

Ubisoft, EA, and Activision.” There is a common idea amongst gamers where if a video game seems like something they wouldn’t like, then why play and review it? Dunkey responds to this idea by saying,

You can’t only review games you enjoy. You need a contrast to Aidan Cole 5

differentiate good from bad. Sometimes when you take a chance on

a game you might not like, you end up finding something really unique

and special… If you truly want people to stop criticizing video games then

you might as well hand the entire industry over to EA. (Dunkey “Game Critics (Part 2)”

For a consumer, this logic seems reasonable. If you think a certain game might not be fun, why play it? However, a reviewer must play all video games in order to differentiate good from bad, in storyline, gameplay, and functionality for the audience. For example, film critics don’t just review motion pictures produced by successful or well respected directors only. They instead re- view films from an array of directors, studios, and artists in order to compare and contrast the skillset and artistic visions connected to the art of filmmaking. IGN gives nearly every major game release a nine or higher because of they only play games that are popular. The reason for this is a simple fact that IGN, GameSpot, , and others make their money by assisting driving gamers to purchase the next best and greatest game developed by the major gaming companies. Even a popular franchise like , games which the community (until re- cently) always complained about for being too repetitive, IGN would give an 8 or 9.

Another problem is that the language of their reviews never seems to match the overall score or result. To help demonstrate the point, in IGN’s review of III the re- viewer complains about the storytelling, saying that it’s “as simplistic and predictable as ever.”

The reviewer also states that the game itself wasn’t all that challenging. The story had little sur- prises and the pacing was sluggish. All that and he gives the game an 8.7 score. Another example would be IGN’s review of 4. A portion of the review read:

“Performance on consoles is sometimes disappointing, with frequent Aidan Cole 6

frame rate slow-downs and hitches in areas that run smoothly on the PC.

On all platforms we occasional crashes and every so often there’s a

quest that won’t properly begin or end due to scripting bugs.” (IGN “ Review”)

Just by these few sentences one would think IGN would follow through and give this game medium score, but instead the reviewer gives the game a 9.5/10, downplaying the bugs and sud- den drops in frame rate. The words in the review do not match up in any logical manner with the final scoring process resulting. The result is a set of scoring metrics that are irrelevant to the gaming community.

Critics within the gaming community have made their own platforms on Youtube. As of right now, in my opinion, some of the best video game critics out there right now is Jason Gas- trow (Youtube Channel: Videogamedunkey), the Angry Joe Show, and The Cosmonaut Variety

Hour. These Youtube channels are not paid by Microsoft or Sony (unlike the critics at IGN) to give their games good reviews. They also know their own weaknesses. Dunkey admitted in one of his videos that his weakness is that he has no patience. Any game that bores him, he is unlike- ly to finish playing. Jose Antonio “Joe” Vargas founded the Angry Joe Show in 2008, and started as an American media commentator. Now he and his friends/co-workers commentate and review movies and video games. There are many other Youtube Channels that are dedicated to review- ing movies and video games: LazerzZ, Whitelight, Jeremy Jahns Show, That Boy , Luke

Stephens, Pro Jared, TotalBiscuit, all of these self-proclaimed critics came from the community, with no preconceived loyalty to any company. All their reviews, in my opinion, are more valid than the reviews in IGN and Gamespot, yet they are the most popular because they have money behind them. Aidan Cole 7

Dunkey said it best in his video about video game critics:

“In this year alone (2017) IGN has featured over 37 different reviewers

(critics). When you see a video from Pro Jared or TotalBiscuit or AngryJoe,

you know exactly whose point of view it’s coming from. Now pick a

reviewer from IGN, you’ve just entered the fucking lottery. It’s important

to build an understanding between the critic and the viewer. Every review

you do should be like an extension of the last one until your audience understands

what kind of games you respond to…You don’t have to see eye-to-eye on

every single game to put your trust in someone. A critic’s power lies in the

consistency of their voice…I feel like a lot of critics are too afraid to say

something real and I think there’s a lot of factors that influence this.

Gaming outlets, and even Youtubers now, have relationships and contacts Aidan Cole 8

with these companies so they can get interviews, early copies, early game

footage. This doesn’t mean their paid off, but maybe won’t criticize stuff

as harshly as they should. They’re part of a circle and some of these

are funded in large by advertising and game developers, which fuels these

really lame trends. Mainstream critics are pretty much restricted to only

play the latest releases, so their standards are done by what’s been done

recently. And then you have this fucking shitty rat-race to be the first

review on Metacritic so that your dumb-ass can get more traffic

and the end result is a column of weak ass first impressions. The best

reviews are entirely subjective, but that doesn’t mean you throw

objectivity out the window. You have to build your case with honest

statements so that even someone who disagrees with you could relate to.” (Dunkey

“Game Critics”)

Let’s break down these assertions: Dunkey starts by pointing out the problems with IGN having over 37 critics on their platform. In order for a critic to communicate effectively with their audience, the audience has to get to know the critic. How can anyone get to know any critic from IGN if in every video, they’re featuring a different reviewer? How do we know if each re- viewer is saying what they think and not instead just representing what the company thinks? If we can’t get to know the individual critics on IGN then we can’t take their reviews seriously be- cause their not showing any personality. If we watch any of the Youtube critics I previously list- ed, they all have a realized identity as critics; their own biases, their own character traits, their Aidan Cole 9 own personalities in how they present themselves, where—as viewers—we are able to point out their strengths and weaknesses, thereby gaining the most we can out of their review. In my opin- ion, a critic with a realized goal and identity for every review they make is what adds critical thinking into the discussion, and that is what Dunkey is getting at. Reviewers at IGN and

Gamespot are not adding any critical thinking elements to the discussions about the video games they’re reviewing. They’re simply explaining what the game is and then giving it a number, which is what Dunkey means when he labels their reviews as “weak ass first impressions.”

Dunkey also touches on something that is very important: Connections between the re- viewer and the developers. These connections offer the reviewer early copies of the video game so that they can get their review out before anyone else. This race to get your voice out as fast as possible is what leads to these weak reviews with no real substance. This is also true with other forms of art. Nowadays, many reviewers associated with music, film, and video games are in this race to consume the most recent art released. This unfortunately leads to both them and their au- dience immediately forgetting the media/art they just watched or played and moving on to the next new thing. It eventually leads to an unhealthy lifestyle where your life becomes filled with unimportant internet noise.

The final point I want to make involve the rules of Fair Use, demonetization, and copy- right claims. For those who don’t know, Fair Use is the doctrine that states: “Excerpts of copy- right material may, under certain circumstances, be quoted verbatim for purposes such as criti- cism, news reporting, teaching, and research, without the need for permission from or payment to the copyright holder.” ( “Where’s the Fair Use?”). Meaning if you use copyright material for a review, satire, or education, it’s completely legal. Unfortunately many companies Aidan Cole 10 in Hollywood don’t see it that way. A YouTuber named Nostalgia Critic (Doug Walker), outlines this issue very well in his video about Fair Use: “For years video producers have been battling off attack after attack resulting in multiple deleted videos, sometimes even deleted channels, ef- fecting the income of people who now do this for a living.” (Doug Walker “Where’s the Fair

Use?”) This is true for both YouTube critics in film and gaming. The studios have made it clear that they are not interested in playing fair. There have been many instances where a studio claimed a video of a YouTube critic for copyright and then stole the money the creator made off that video. As Walker states:

“The system that is in place is being used by studios and other

content creators as a scare tactic to silence criticism and stunt

channels that could grow into popular media outlets but aren’t because

they could say something somebody doesn’t like…Piracy is a problem,

and if someone is pirating your work, or worse, making a profit off it,

you have a right to stop it. But NOT at the cost of freedom of speech and

Fair Use is freedom of speech.” (Doug Walker “Where’s the Fair Use?”)

I will never understand people’s need to silence criticism. When it comes to art, criticism should be used to push artists to do better. I believe video games are the closest we’ve ever come to an artistic interactive experience. The gaming industry is still very new, and partially thanks to

COVID-19, the public is starting to realize the importance of video games. Because, like movies, they can offer us an escape, or give us an amazing experience that other forms of art, or even life Aidan Cole 11 itself, is incapable of doing. All of art is meant to be shared and enjoyed for everyone. Criticism in gaming needs to be more honest and consistent if it is to be taken seriously by everyone, and not just young people.

Works Sited

Doug Walker (Nostalgia Critic). “Where’s the Fair Use?” YouTube.com. Channel Awesome

LLC, 16 Feb. 2016. Web. 7 Aug. 2020.

Dr. Oliver Watts. “The Role of the Art Critic.” https://ravencontemporary.wordpress.com/port- folio/the-role-of-the-art-critic/. Web. 10 Aug 2020

John McDonald. “The Role of the Art Critic.” https://ravencontemporary.wordpress.com/port- folio/the-role-of-the-art-critic/. Web. 7 Aug 2020

IGN. “Fallout 4 Review.” YouTube.com. 6 Aug. 2020

“Video Game.” dictionary.com. dictionary.com, LLC. 2020 Web. 7 Jul. 2020

Videogamedunkey. “Difficulty in Videogames Part 2.” YouTube.com. 11 Dec. 2018. Web.

—. “Gaming Critics.” YouTube.com. 8 Jul. 2017. Web

—. “Gaming Critics (Part 2).” YouTube.com. 29 Jul. 2019. Web

Wikipedia. “Early History of Video Games” wikipedia.com. Wikamedia Foundation, Inc. 16 Oct.

2020. Web. 9 Aug. 2020.