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How much is $15 worth?
That's at the heart of my World of Warcraft review. As an aside, I think MMOs are an inherently negative trend for the industry. I think a lot of good games aren't getting made because they aren't the kind of thing for which someone can justify charging a subscription fee.
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Posted by
David Hostetler
at
20071119:21:44 (Mon)
Excellent! A rare comment. And since I am on good terms with the commenter, I can reply with reckless abandon.
First, yes, absolutely, I hammered WoW hard on gameplay. I would urge you to read (if you haven't already) my reviewing guidelines, a manifesto of sorts. In particular, the "It's just my opinion" and the "Gameplay" (and "Single Player") sections. I don't wish to make any attempt to convince you that I'm "right" about the gameplay score, only that the score rightly represents what I think of the gameplay.
I completely agree with you that what matters most is "how much fun the game actually is in the end". It is for that specific reason that I segregate the reviewing score categories as I do, so that a game that is fun *despite* some combination of design and/or implementation faults can in fact still have its 'fun' aspect represented in the review score. It's very important to note that I take a dramatically different perspective on 'gameplay' than do most reviews. Most websites and reviewers syntactically equate 'gameplay' with 'fun'. When a reviewer says that the "gameplay was good" or assigns 4 out of 5 stars to "gameplay", the typical inferred statement is that the game was proportionally fun.
I, on the other hand, employ a distinct difference between gameplay and fun. Gameplay is mechanistic, quantitative. 'Fun' is not. 'Fun' is a reviewer's nightmare - at least for any reviewer who bothers to pause for even a moment to ponder what the hell they're doing. I can't tell you to what degree a game is fun, at least not unequivocally. So, instead, I try to tell you everything else I think about the game, and let you decide for yourself whether or not you think it would be fun -- for *you*. I do this with varying degrees of success, no doubt.
So - to get back to your comment. Correct, I generally felt like WoW's gameplay was not legitimate, if you want to use that word. But I think that perhaps you felt inclined to say that the distinction isn't important because you were subscribing to the other definition of 'gameplay'. What I said about the gameplay was important, most particularly *because* it was a distinction. I was making a statement about gameplay specifically. Please note that I, in fact, described WoW's co-op experience as "enjoyable", ranking it a full three levels above the gameplay score on my patented score-o-meter. If you normalize that delta in a gaussian-corrected bayesian quadratic plot, in kilo-joules vs. lumens, I think you'll get the full effect of what I was trying to communicate. I don't include that calculation in the review as the margin is too narrow to contain it.
First, yes, absolutely, I hammered WoW hard on gameplay. I would urge you to read (if you haven't already) my reviewing guidelines, a manifesto of sorts. In particular, the "It's just my opinion" and the "Gameplay" (and "Single Player") sections. I don't wish to make any attempt to convince you that I'm "right" about the gameplay score, only that the score rightly represents what I think of the gameplay.
I completely agree with you that what matters most is "how much fun the game actually is in the end". It is for that specific reason that I segregate the reviewing score categories as I do, so that a game that is fun *despite* some combination of design and/or implementation faults can in fact still have its 'fun' aspect represented in the review score. It's very important to note that I take a dramatically different perspective on 'gameplay' than do most reviews. Most websites and reviewers syntactically equate 'gameplay' with 'fun'. When a reviewer says that the "gameplay was good" or assigns 4 out of 5 stars to "gameplay", the typical inferred statement is that the game was proportionally fun.
I, on the other hand, employ a distinct difference between gameplay and fun. Gameplay is mechanistic, quantitative. 'Fun' is not. 'Fun' is a reviewer's nightmare - at least for any reviewer who bothers to pause for even a moment to ponder what the hell they're doing. I can't tell you to what degree a game is fun, at least not unequivocally. So, instead, I try to tell you everything else I think about the game, and let you decide for yourself whether or not you think it would be fun -- for *you*. I do this with varying degrees of success, no doubt.
So - to get back to your comment. Correct, I generally felt like WoW's gameplay was not legitimate, if you want to use that word. But I think that perhaps you felt inclined to say that the distinction isn't important because you were subscribing to the other definition of 'gameplay'. What I said about the gameplay was important, most particularly *because* it was a distinction. I was making a statement about gameplay specifically. Please note that I, in fact, described WoW's co-op experience as "enjoyable", ranking it a full three levels above the gameplay score on my patented score-o-meter. If you normalize that delta in a gaussian-corrected bayesian quadratic plot, in kilo-joules vs. lumens, I think you'll get the full effect of what I was trying to communicate. I don't include that calculation in the review as the margin is too narrow to contain it.
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Posted by
Timfredo
at
20071119:21:47 (Mon)
Ah, I think I understand your style of review better now. In light of your definition of gameplay, I agree with what you said in your review, and I understand why your scoring system is more objective.
Also, kudos for highlighting WoW's good points despite clearly scorning the current standard for MMOs.
PS: Don't be alarmed that I wrote this comment twenty minutes after you sent me the email. I just happen to check my email at night. Good timing, not waiting in anticipation.
Also, kudos for highlighting WoW's good points despite clearly scorning the current standard for MMOs.
PS: Don't be alarmed that I wrote this comment twenty minutes after you sent me the email. I just happen to check my email at night. Good timing, not waiting in anticipation.
Other than that, I liked your review.