Monday, March 8, 2010

Complaining About Games Instead of Movies

One of my favorite things is hearing people complain about something you barely understand but complaining in sufficient detail that you almost come to share their passion about the obscure problem, like the time a video editor complained to me at length about his dongle being taken without permission, or the letter to the editor I once heard a comedian read onstage by some irate citizen denouncing banks in the harshest possible terms for doing away with change-sorting machines.  When Green Party activist Chris Brodeur ran for office in NYC, his platform included getting rid of mesh garbage cans because he was tired of throwing things into them and having them pass right through — and he wanted more publicly-visible clocks because wearing a watch makes his wrist sweat.

In a similar vein, if you spent last night’s Oscar broadcast hearing friends or family complain about bad movies, you might enjoy, as a change of pace, this brief, list-like denunciation of annoying common problems with role-playing videogames.  I have almost never played these sorts of games, but after reading the article, I too want medieval shopkeeps to stop giving speeches about their wares before I can buy things from them, for example.

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