Hey folks, I'm Ragnar
And I'm Shane
So, we all love playing video games and of course,
we all love playing the best games out there.
Well, duh!
But if someone comes along and tell us
to play a bad video game, we're mostly like
Nooo god!
No god, please, no! No! No!
Nooooo...
But in this video, Shane and I are gonna give you
"A fistful of reasons to play bad and ugly video games!"
We have a somewhat narrowminded review system for video games.
We mostly try to fit them in a very restrictive absolute score
to judge on the quality of a game.
But of course, the value of a game is a
very very subjective thing and trying to
realistically measure "quality" in a game
can never be 100% accurate,
because Game Design itself is a craft
that lies somewhere in between art and science.
We usually measure video games on a scale from 1 to 100,
but often consider scores below 75 or even 80
to not be worthy of our time.
Which leaves a lot of titles, that could turn out to be
perfect for your personal taste, out of your focus
- and even I'm guilty of that.
But you'd be surprised at how many hidden gems you can
find that have received a mediocre or
devastating score on metacritic.
In fact, here's an example:
So many people told me for years that E.T.
for the Atari 2600 was the worst game of all time.
But then I played it, just to see what the fuzz was about.
I found out that it actually wasn't that bad of a game.
I kinda liked it and I found it pretty fun.
I could see myself playing that game again actually.
This game proved to me that even the worst games of all time
could possibly have some kind of redeeming factor that
would pull me back.
And I challenge you to go out and play a bad game and
see if you can find something really enjoyable about it.
Have you ever had a glass of water after you've been
insanely thirsty for a long period of time?
Maybe on a hike where you forgot your canteen?
All of a sudden, a mundane gulp of water
starts tasting like unicorn's tears and
liquid sunshine in your mouth.
And it can be very similar with games.
Playing the best ones out there is a lot of fun.
It can be an intense, satisfying and memorable experience...
but we eventually get used to that high level of polish
at some point and unlearn to value the greatness
of outstanding game design until we take it for granted.
But play a few really shitty games,
where the shortcomings stick out like a sore thumb
- at least for a while -
and suddeny playing a well designed game again
will feel like having a mouthful of water
after a week in the desert.
It's basically the principle of asceticism.
When you play a video game that is really well designed -
and where all the elements are tightly sewn together,
it's often hard to figure out it why it just comes together and clicks.
But you know that by playing it, everything just works
and it's making the game a lot more fun!
Even if you can't figure it out.
But play a badly designed game of the same genre
or with the same set of mechanics
and suddenly it becomes way easier to pick out
all the flaws and shortcomings.
The understanding you gain from these observations
can give you a better idea of what the bigger picture is -
and can even help you to understand why the better game
works so well in comparison.
It is human nature. We often only see what we had
once we don't have it anymore.
Man, that got deep!
Right?! It's like having a fond memory of an old soft drink
or candy you used to love when you were a kid.
If they pulled it from the market, you'll always directly compare it
to that new product that came out today
and usually it never stacks up.
Playing bad video games is pretty much the same thing.
Your exposure to better experiences can help you
dig deeper into the rabbit hole of mechanics
that are otherwise very hard to deconstruct.
If you are or aspire to be working in the game industry -
be it as a developer, an artist or
especially as a game designer:
There is no excuse in the world for
"only playing good video games",
"only playing the genres you like" or
"only playing on the systems you like."
You don't like mobile games?
Too bad, because you have to understand
in which way they maybe influencing
the games you like to work on.
You hate racing games?
Well, you will be a better designer for understanding
what makes a successful racing game better than a bad one.
Designer play is often not fun,
it's hard work that can be quite tedious.
But only because you hate Candy Crush Saga with a passion,
it would be stupid to assume there is nothing to learn
from a game that makes more than a million dollars a day.
This is not about finishing games,
it's about understanding the gist -
about learning from other people's failures (or success).
You probably know the Mystery Science Theater effect.
Get together with a few friends and watch a terrible movie
and you'll have a great time.
Movies like Flash Gordon for example.
Well, it's pretty much the same thing when you do it
with a really bad video game.
I'd even say it can be more fun, because the
interactive nature of video games
adds an extra layer of fun to your party.
In fact, when I'm having trouble reviewing a bad game
I usually invite a friend over to explore it together
which makes the experience a lot more bearable
and honestly, a lot more fun!
So the next time you get together with your buddies:
Play Sonic 06 instead of Mario Galaxy -
or pick Ride To Hell: Retribution instead of Mario Kart.
I promise you that your evening will be at least ...
a little bit of an interesting experience.
So here's what I encourage you to do:
Pick a game that every body tells you is terrible
and try to find something good about it.
Also Check out Shane on his channel Rerez
and make sure to watch out his POSITIVES series,
where he does exactly that.
Find the positive aspects in the worst video games of all time.
So as always.
Thanks for watching.
Keep on playing.
And I see you.
Next Time.
On RagnarRox.