Disingenuous? I'm pretty well know for being forthright in my opinions. If I was calling out RPS for being overly generous when it comes to indie reviews I'd of said so in no uncertain terms. I'm not talking reviews, I'm talking about the term 'indie' and how I find it problematic because frankly it's ill fitting: -Originally Posted by RobF
Albeit there are problems with current gaming genre definitions (FPS covers a multitude of sins, and RPG is always a bone of contention) at least they have something to say about the game mechanistically (much like with films we can talk about rom coms or horror films), and fans of that particular genre know in some capacity what they are getting. But what does 'indie' say about a game? Is it not akin to calling a film 'low budget'? Is that a positive? I'm not entirely convinced it is. Fundamentally What I'm cautioning against is that, if (as seems sensible/likely) following the feedback here the Hivemind revamp the current blog format, they don't go down the route of using 'indie' as a label and bundle a multitude of different titles in there. I'd rather see games categorised under genre (outmoded as some of them are) rather than lumped together under a categorisation that says nothing about game play, and (in my view) neuters critical discussion.Indie is shorthand for small really. If we want to really talk about 'independent' then in truth we're into the realms of private Vs public ownership, in which case some very big fish whom aren't beholden to shareholders enter the equation. Is 'small' a suitable category to throw at a game? Certainly it's a comment on the status of the creators (though some supposed 'indie' teams are surprisingly large), but it's not really telling us anything about the nature of the game and there in I believe lies a problem. I kind of feel that 'indie' is used as a shield against criticism. You can't really slate an 'indie' game, without being made to feel like your being overly harsh because 'hey there's only two of them, and they made it living off tips for two years'. It's up there with booing the kid for fluffing his lines at the nativity play. Without criticism what are you left with but faint praise?
You expect me to believe that you don't understand what critical discussion is? If you proffer an opinion it's generally done so in order to demonstrate to another party your way of thinking. It's the difference between a statement 'I like/hate this game' and an assessment 'I thought this game was interesting because... (inset rationale)'. There is little of real value in the former ('you hated the game, good on you' ), but there's likely some value in the latter ('so what is exactly that you didn't like about the interface?'How can we improve it? 'so you enjoyed some cutscenes and not others? Which ones?' etc, etc, etc).
Perhaps maybe in your 'fiercely independent' cave (Republic of RobF) you're not used to normal human interaction, but in the real world of design where you engage with people on a daily basis opinions win through on weight and merit, not singular personal belief.
Now you can tell me to the cows come home about how DAII holds no value to you, or how you don't give a stuff about this that or whatever, but unless you're proffering a viewpoint with any logical substance or rationale to it beyond a 'this rules/sucks' mentality why should I (or anyone else) care. So yes, opinions only matter if they have some weight and merit to them. That is how the real world works.
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