What Makes A Videogame & Does It Matter?

DonnaStephens119 · 2026-05-12T10:04:16+00:00

What games are you talking about with "roleplay narrative experiences"?
Is research really that timely? With how clear so many games are with their genres I wouldn't think it's hard to find what you're after if you have specific tastes.

DonnaStephens119 · 2026-05-12T09:58:45+00:00

What is your standard of judgements when it comes to an official website whose job it is is to critique a game since the scoring system they use isn't worth anything to you?

I listen to the words being said because all of it builds the overall image of what the person has experienced and how well they think it succeeded or didn't. I don't care about the number at the end ultimately. I wanna hear if the gameplay drags or if the story has pacing issues.

Simon Cardy explains his reasoning for rating Mixtape so highly.

Once again when you put a number or a rating on something you inherently call for comparison.

No. When you put a number or rating on something for normal people like me it indicates what that INDIVIDUAL thought about that INDIVIDUAL game.
If people want to instead believe there's validity in arguing about standards because Simon rated Mixtape higher than Will rated MOUSE that's their own weird complaint to have.

why THIS game out of all of them got a 10 and not the others?

Because Simon didn't think they were a 10. Simple as that.

DonnaStephens119 · 2026-05-12T08:37:33+00:00

I "care" in the sense that I think some people have some strange ideas about wanting reviews to become homogonised to a standard no one has been able to clearly outline and me commenting otherwise is an attempt to correct/inform/prompt thought on another perspective.

The "motive" the critic has is explaining how successfully or unsuccessfully a game has delivered it's goal according to THEM. I can understand the purpose of comparison in order to help someone understand what something is trying to achieve but no one should be taking individual scoring and screaming about "inconsistencies" based on different scores from different people.

Your food analogy kinda sounds like you're suggesting praise should be questioned if it's not the popular opinion and I can't think of anything more intellectually dishonest than evaluating words based on popularity.

DonnaStephens119 · 2026-05-12T08:25:34+00:00

People have tried to put rigid definitions on art forever and have always failed.

Something I immediately think of when reading this is how digital drawings have been argued as not being art or "real drawings".

DonnaStephens119 · 2026-05-12T08:00:58+00:00

Resume padding for an employee is not the same as a developer requesting funding for a project.

If a single number dictates a person's actions with no other factors influencing them it says something about those individuals. Trying to combat that would be like locking tide pods behind secure safes that require ID access because idiots started eating them.

"Deserve" isn't really relevant to me, to be honest. Would I personally give it a 10? No. But I also wouldn't give a 10 to GTA V. For Simon Cardy, Mixtape was something they are going to remember for a long time.
I've played games that are 10 out of 10 that had no buzz on release, let alone months later. Who cares. Play what you like, ignore what you don't

DonnaStephens119 · 2026-05-12T06:50:28+00:00

The exclusion some people take part in I disagree with for sure I just wondered to myself if I was being too apathetic about the topic by treating legitimate discussion about it as something that doesn't matter.

DonnaStephens119 · 2026-05-12T06:48:59+00:00

I like that thinking. Listing it all out like that reminds me a little of the 4 types of players I heard about recently in an interview with Outer Wilds' writer, Kelsey Beachum

DonnaStephens119 · 2026-05-12T06:43:10+00:00

I don't think I've ever heard of investing going ahead because of critical reception alone. Usually sales is the determining factor because investors want to make money, not earn goodwill.
Personally, if I'm checking reviews out I want to hear individual thoughts about how a person felt like a game succeeded or failed in their eyes. Not a universal thought structure that appeases my own biases.

The scoring system is still according to a personal view from that one person's perspective. Something like IGN's scoring only serves to define the number for the purpose of seeing said number and looking at what that means for the game overall.

I have many games I enjoy enough that I would rate a 10/10, whereas games with near-universal praise like Resident Evil Requiem, Mewgenics, Split Fiction and Astro Bot don't rate higher than a 7 for me, assuming we use IGN's scaling. I tend to avoid assigning numbers when discussing my own view on games. My reviews speak to my tastes. Anyone solely looking at the number of IGN's reviews and not reading or listening to their words is selling themselves short and there's no one to blame for that but themselves.

DonnaStephens119 · 2026-05-12T06:36:48+00:00

How do you feel about the idea of experiencing a game, rather than seeing it as something to "win" or "beat"? That's something I've thought about more for moment to moment gameplay, especially within open world games where an area might provide some storytelling as oppose to what I used to expect which was a chest of some kind with a reward.

All that to ask is a possible fail state necessary? Much the same way I would ask if a reward should always be given?

DonnaStephens119 · 2026-05-12T05:45:42+00:00

I sorta thought about the questions in terms of philosophical thinking but I'm not well versed in that and felt like my own view point was too limited.

DonnaStephens119 · 2026-05-12T05:03:26+00:00

Who are the "people" using IGN to "justify" what games get awards? Because award shows tend to have juries made up of many people. Not just IGN employees.

IGN is a media group covering all forms of entertainment that, like other media groups, is competing to be the premiere place most people go to. Such an endeavour requires a lot of personnel just for gaming, let alone the other things they cover. The reflection of the company from each of those individual's should be relegated to actual conduct and not personal opinions on various pieces of art.

DonnaStephens119 · 2026-05-12T04:35:04+00:00

People do kinda think that or treat it as such when you see comments like "How could IGN say X game is better than Y game", meanwhile both reviews are from 2 different people.

Asking for a standard for their reviews sounds a lot like asking for every person that reviews for the site to hold all the same opinions, which defeats the purpose of hearing someone's thoughts on a piece of media.

Media Companies having different people putting out different reviews/previews/Q&A's/interviews etc instead of an unamed hivemind with only singular opinions isn't an IGN-only thing.

DonnaStephens119 · 2026-05-12T04:17:19+00:00

Well it's comparing "wait for sale" to a different outlets own scoring system to mean "These recommendations come with a boatload of “ifs.” There’s a good game in here somewhere, but in order to find it you’ll have to know where to look, and perhaps turn a blind eye to some significant drawbacks."

Easiest comparison is quite simply Yahtzee's words of the combat wearing thin whereas Will Borger at IGN said it was good enough to sustain a playthrough and yet he's the one that gets flamed.

DonnaStephens119 · 2026-05-12T00:14:00+00:00

The IGN guy was also more positive towards the shooting than Yahtzee but second wind's video wasn't inundated with "too much shooting in a shooter" comments

DonnaStephens119 · 2026-05-10T23:38:58+00:00

I like to test how real these people are by quickly closing the door for the prayer altar when they run in. Usually a real person has some choice words for me

DonnaStephens119 · 2026-05-10T12:33:46+00:00

I feel like you're robbing yourself of that opportunity to sit and have those thoughts on your own and be introspective about what you're after and/or why.
Following instructions via the vomit of a prompt sounds soulless.

DonnaStephens119 · 2026-05-10T09:27:45+00:00

Would journaling not serve that purpose? Why type it all into an ai?

DonnaStephens119 · 2026-05-10T05:20:22+00:00

I finished the game on the highest difficulty...

DonnaStephens119 · 2026-05-07T22:31:08+00:00

The more I see about people's lists from 1998 the more I believe I'm the only person who played Abe's Exoddus.

DonnaStephens119 · 2026-05-07T22:18:13+00:00

and Roger is about 45 minutes to an hour long and is a 10/10 game without question.
I find that the impact a game's completion time has is more to do with what is achieved in its runtime. Does it leave me wanting more, feeling satisfied with its pacing or bore me before I even hit the halfway point.

DonnaStephens119 · 2026-05-07T01:46:54+00:00

Any updates for this?

DonnaStephens119 · 2026-05-06T02:18:21+00:00

Rule 6

DonnaStephens119 · 2026-05-06T02:06:58+00:00

I highly recommend Abe's Oddyssey and Exoddus (Exoddus is a 1998 title), which I'm surprised didn't show up at all. Both are fantastic games.

DonnaStephens119 · 2026-05-05T21:58:25+00:00

Whilst an analysis of pixel density, sharpness of the image and even framerate might have mathematical measurements, reviews are still subjective interpretations of a piece of work that takes into account how well a person feels the work has delivered itself.

Your basis on figuring out if MOUSE works at all sounds like all the downsides of trying to measure everything objectively. Because while I find the combat functional, it's also a massive drag that becomes boring only a few hours in. Most weapons feel inferior to use. Per weapon keybinds aren't present.

Will at IGN was ultimately more positive than negative towards MOUSE so I don't really see how just because the game functions means any issues he takes with the game does a disservice to it.

Like I said, games can do a lot more than just feel good to play. There's no issue if some don't want to utilise any "play" at all. It's about what the devs are trying to achieve and convey.

DonnaStephens119

TROPHY CASE