Folks would do well to actually play games they're interested in, instead of consuming them through the pre-digested monetized takes of jaded content creators who play video games for a living, and have long lost critical distance from the fact that they experience said media differently as 'work'.
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I understand the no-life content creators that just grind out content and pray for success, but there are some who at the very least expose these titles to people who wouldn't --
I'd definitely be down for commercial licenses for games, but idk if that'd really happen.
Stray
iRacing
Various horror games
The rat game where you choke the rat
And others I can't really think of.
It's mostly because I often feel like I'm wasting my time when I play games, so I like to watch other people play them on a second monitor.
I have only died up XCOM 2 lately.
Can they be sources of interesting analysis? Sure.
Would I got to them for a 'gut check' on something being fun?
Never.
I often struggle with this personally and how i can try to ask guests a similar question with the same weight.
Like at what point does discussing the personal impact of Mario World cross the
I don't disagree with what you say, i just personal struggle defining the line
Novel vs Repetitive
Wonder vs Expected
Suspension of disbelief
Etc are all things that are massively impacted by exposure volume/frequency. And so experienced very differently by critics.
This has always been the paradox of the professional game reviewer. Hell it's the same problem of a professional food critic too.
You’re right, even as a dev rather than a full time streamer i definitely play LESS games now, but i also think gamers with a really wide breadth of experience or expertise in a genre have a more refined palette by which to review what actually stood out.
There are probably a lot of things I have not seen or experienced, so these are still there to be enjoyed as novel by me, even if they really aren't. I still like watching reviews, though.
But I think in the opposite direction "This is too repetitive, this is tiring to play, I've seen this all before" etc. etc. a professional game player is the highest bar to please, and thus is the least relevant to the avg. consumer.
Game reviewers and streamers got into because they loved games. Of course they have a sense of what is and isn't fun, and generally talk about what features of games different people would or wouldn't like.
I constantly remind myself that (even though reviewing games isn't my day job) my hugely enhanced access to games has forever changed my relationship with them.
One can focus on objectivity & perspective during the process, but your point remains nonetheless.
Go play games people.
Just goes to show, trusting in one's own taste and what one wants out of games goes a long, long way.
Not saying there aren't fair reviewers, just saying there is a clear monetary pressure to not be honest.