Oh video games, how far you've come. It only feels like yesterday when the world as a whole denounced those strange interactive screen thingies as nothing but a mere passing fad; a child's toy to soon be forgotten in time like most of its ilk.
A medium of self expression that can withstand the scrutiny of the critical eye, with deeper assessments of the product's story, meanings, design process and mechanics. Video games are of course, still fundamentally a fun time but there are a lot more layers to a game like Spec Ops: The Line than there would be in a classic Konami arcade machine.
And for the fulfillment of an artistic medium, you need people who would be willing to take their favorite past time a bit more seriously and to delve into the burrows of game design and critique; enter /r/VideoGameAnalysis.
A serious, but constructive community dedicated to digging beneath the layer of any one game. The content covered is varied, from the critique of popular games to analysis of certain trends within the video game industry, anything that look at video games beyond the superficial is welcome and heartily discussed with disagreements being handled mostly in a mature, civil way.
But enough of that, who better to tell us about the sub and the evolving nature of the industry than the mods or /r/VideoGameAnalysis themselves?
Q1: What can you tell us about yourself? What are your earliest video game related memories?
Undefinedmaster: Videos games are definitely a big hobby of mine. Some fun memories I have are of the early Pokemon games; those made for some really great times, and I think are what initially sparked my interest.
TheSwaguar: 'm 23 years old, and I've been playing video games as long as I can remember. I got a Nintendo 64 for Christmas when I was 7 years old, and one of my fondest memories was playing Yoshis Story and covering my eyes when the giant fish in Jungle Puddle ate Yoshi.
jesseguarascia: Some of my earliest memories are of playing video games, which is either a good or bad thing I'm still deciding. As a Canadian, prices for games are getting kind of high but I get by. Other than that I try to have a general appreciation for all types of media. I'm really into movies, comics, TV shows, whatever -- it's all great!
Q2: What drove you to the VGA sub and in more general terms, what made you start looking at video games at a deeper level?
Undefinedmaster: A lot of people will say that video games are inherently bad for you, that they are a waste of time and just rot your brain (the funny thing is that many of those people spent many more hours watching TV than I do playing video games). That idea is simply not true. Sure, they're not quite as physical as playing a sport, but many of them really make you think. This not only helps keep your brain active, but also serves as a great form of art, often a very sophisticated one, with many levels of understanding, like literature. For this reason, I (and many others) try to understand video games as deeply as possible.
TheSwaguar: I was always a huge fan of long form game analysis videos, and was posting Noah Gervais videos to other subreddits like /r/Games before /r/VideoGameAnalysis was a thing. I started looking at games at a deeper level because games are progressing further and further as a medium and developers are able to do more with their games.
jesseguarascia: It actually spawned from a debate I was having with a friend of mine about a year or two ago. We were talking about how Payday 2's DLC is crap and that got me really thinking about the games industry. Eventually I met people that thought about design through my discussions of the industry and ever since then I've been thinking about games critically. I was always looking for a place to find content (written or otherwise) from people that were really interested in game design and critique, and VGA was the perfect place for that sort of stuff. I actually joined the subreddit (and become a mod) within the first few days which was cool!
Q3: Video games are the fastest growing entertainment medium right now, do you think they'll ever be looked at the same way movies, TV shows and novels are looked at?
Undefinedmaster: Absolutely. Obviously books, TV, and video games are all different, but I think they'll all come to be seen as legitimate and constructive forms of entertainment and mental stimulation.
TheSwaguar: Eventually, yes. It's a question of when. Storytelling in games is getting much better than it used to be, but it still has a long way to go in my opinion.
jesseguarascia: I think we're already at the point where that's kind of about to happen or is already slowly happening. With VICE's new gaming site, we're seeing more and more publications interested in giving a platform to the discussion of games outside of "wow these are violent!" or "I sure do love Mario." Critically accepted insight for all forms of media always take a while, so it may not be a mainstream consideration for a good while, but we're getting there.
Q4: What game in the last 10~ years, in your opinion, has moved the medium forward the most?
Undefinedmaster: This is a tough one. There's so many games that have influenced the industry in so many different ways, from visuals to mechanics to storytelling. One game that I think did a great job of pushing the limits of the medium was the original Deus Ex. It created some fantastic gameplay and storyline sophistication that, despite its aged graphics, make it still a great game today.
TheSwaguar: That's a really tough question. If I had to pick just one I'd probably say Super Mario 64, for popularizing the analog stick.
jesseguarascia: Depends on how you define "forward". For me, it would be something that helped games escape the chains of their neighbouring mediums. Some work that creates a new way for games to separate themselves from movies and music and television even moreso, and that would have to be Half-Life.
Q5: What's the best thing about the VGA community?
Undefinedmaster: The best thing is that we all truly care about and are interested in gaming and its deeper levels in a way that really holds the community together with a strength that I don't think many other communities can claim.
TheSwaguar: That there are so many other people who enjoy this type of content!
jesseguarascia: Without a doubt, it's the discussion. While not often that we get a huge thread with a ton of replies, the discussion regarding game design that does happen is always a pleasure to read. It's also great to see creators interested in posting their own stuff here and engaging with other creators.
Q6: What's your favorite video/article that's been posted on the sub?
Undefinedmaster: I would have to say Matthewmatosis's Bioshock Infinite Critique. It really makes you think more critically about a very interesting and popular game whose storyline is enchanting with a great level of complexity.
TheSwaguar: From Shock To Awe, Noah Gervais's retrospective on the System Shock & Bioshock series. This is the one that got me into analysis videos in the first place, and System Shock 2 and Bioshock are some of my all time favorite games. Plus it's one of his oldest videos, and really shows how far he's come.
jesseguarascia: Probably Mr Wendal's video on Disobeying Orders in Games not because it's the best video on the subreddit or the most well produced, but because it taught me something that I really had 0 idea about. It also introduced me to a fantastic channel with some really smart insight.
Q7: At the request of one of my co-writers, Can we talk about how the N64 controller is designed for three-handed people?
Undefinedmaster: Hey if you want to be good, sometimes you have to do things like growing another hand.
TheSwaguar: Heh, the N64 controller is kind of funky. But I don't think it's too surprising since it was essentially the first of its kind. That being said, the Gamecube controller is the best controller of all time IMO.
jesseguarascia: I don't know what troglodyte at Nintendo thought this was a good idea, but it just wasn't. What a disgusting controller. Have you tried to use the thumbstick on a relatively old controller? It's like trying to balance a basketball on a tennis ball.
Q8: What article or video posted on the sub do you disagree with?
Undefinedmaster: I don't think there are any that I greatly disagree with that I've seen. Sometimes there are aspects of a game that you interpret different from the articles and videos, but that's what makes analysis so great; if there were only one possible interpretation, it wouldn't be nearly as interesting.
TheSwaguar: Matthewmatosis - Dota 2 as a Competitive Game. Matthewmatosis is usually on point, but his Dota 2 video is easily his weakest. It just sounds like criticism from someone who's bad at the game, and that's hard to take seriously.
jesseguarascia: Probably Matthewmatosis' Bioshock Infinite Critique which is funny because that's Undefinedmaster. I think it's a well-made video, I just fundamentally disagree with most of his core arguments, and think that his approach doesn't work as well for dealing with story-centric titles. I know Infinite has gotten a lot of criticism since release, a lot of it justified, but I just love the hell out of that game, and love what it does with narrative and world-building. Strict logical plot continuity in a time travel story isn't something that matters too much to me xD.
Q9: The big one: what's your favorite video game?
Undefinedmaster: This is another tough one, but I'm going to go with Deus Ex for the reasons above.
TheSwaguar: Dota 2, no question. 4000 hours and counting.
jesseguarascia: Bioshock. Most people probably have a hard time with that, but without a doubt Bioshock. I don't even think it's that good either, it has a ton of problems, mediocre combat being the main one for me. But I have my fondest memories of gaming with it. It was probably the first game I ever played that left me in awe. When you crash out of the plane and still don't realize that the cutscene is over? I think about that probably once a month.
ここには何もないようです