On Relevance and Justification

As an avid gamer, I try to keep up on the latest and greatest within the industry. I do my part to act like a sponge to soak up as much knowledge as possible. Or is that a shamwow? I utilize multiple outlets to quench my thirst for gaming information, countless websites and podcasts are at my fingertips jockeying for my attention. Yet despite the wide variety of sources for previews, reviews and the occasional editorial I’ve noticed a familiar trend that has me a bit puzzled. When it comes to all of this coverage, in almost every preface to nearly every review, preview, hands-on demo, developer walkthrough or any kind of documented detail of a game one will hear something along the lines of “I am a huge [insert game or game genre] fan.” My question to you eager-reader is, Why?

I understand that reviews should be handled by someone at least slightly versed in the genre, someone who has no desire to play sports games really shouldn’t be tied to coverage of the latest Madden. I would rather have someone with knowledge of the genre and basic mechanics and expectations of a game before they sit down to play the game. Prior knowledge also works well for drawing comparisons with other games within the genre to help illustrate in written word what the gamer can expect to experience should he or she pick the game up for themselves. To reiterate, I have no problem with assigning the right person for the right task, my problem lies with the lengths to which people will justify their credibility.

I don’t care how long you have been playing RPGs. I don’t care how many platinum trophies you have. I don’t care about your gamerscore. I don’t care how many hours you have put into previous games by the same developer. None of those facts are in any way relevant to the game that I, the curious gamer am interested in. Why must we find the most arbitrary and useless means to justify our opinions? If I’m reading your article, you already have me hooked, there is no need to spend a paragraph reminding me why I’m reading your words. Your opinions do not increase in value based on intimate familiarity with the subject matter. All I ask for is competence and relevance, I don’t need juicy details about the fan fiction you co-wrote to prove that you know what you are talking about.

As I said, if I’m reading your opinion, then I already value it. There need not be time wasted proving that your subjective experiences with a video game need a mountain of evidence to support the mere existence of your prose. The worst part is that we only have ourselves to blame for the sad state of affairs. We gamers are inherently competitive by nature. Anything you can do, I can do better and nonsense like that. Opinions can no longer be supported by the fact that our word is our bond. Now impressions must have a resume and cover letter attached, ready to be presented to anyone that questions the qualifications of a simple opinion. When it comes to coverage of games, this competition should be qualitative not quantitative. We should be measuring quality of words, not word counts.

Where did we go wrong? How is it that we now require a preface or disclaimer before everything that is written or said? These types of clarifications should not factor into whether a game is fun or worth our money. Simply put, it does not matter.

In writing this, I’m sure I’ve already made a bunch of readers angry. And I do see a bit of irony in justifying a piece calling out those that over-justify their opinions. A bit of cyclical humor for you this weekend perhaps. But I think it’s something that we should all be aware of. Maybe the person that spends more time listing accomplishments instead of addressing the relevant subject matter is someone not worth listening to in the first place. Why we decide to listen to you should be less important compared to what we think about what you have to say. While the author has to be wary of self-inflating their existence, the reader is occasionally at fault for contributing to this dilemma as well. It is up to the reader to determine whether or not they agree with what has been said based on the discussion points, not whether or not the author is credible enough to have their opinions heard in the first place.

So do me a favor. Next time you listen to a podcast or read a review and you disagree with what you just heard or read, ask yourself why. Why do you disagree? Do you think this person is unqualified to offer their opinions because they are not as big a fan of the subject matter? Did you simply have a different experience with the game in discussion? If we want to have a more intelligent discussion about video games it is going to take all of us working together to move our dialog in a more respectable direction. Opinions are not truth, and believe it or not they do have merit and worth. They do add something to the overall back-and-forth. They should be valued and respected.

Editor’s Note: I have a confession. This isn’t a top notch post. It’s okay, I can admit it. But I have a valid excuse: I was on Uncle Gamer Radio last night. I’ll explain later, but it’s a big deal. As a result, I didn’t have as much time as I wanted to work on this post. But the podcast (which I will RT and link to excessively) was a doosey. Stay tuned for that one.