The old saying is you should never judge a book by it’s cover.


Educated guesses are probably okay though, right?

Related to the point, I’ve definitely become more of a proponent of salvaging some value from any given situation: I think normally due to the notion that the every day ends up being a ghastly mess, and the confrontation of how to process the information leaves one with a knee-jerk reactionism that condenses the whole affair to a grossly simplified binary, with either a pile of good or bad things, depending on moody context. In relation to this sentiment, I can normally tell how excited I am at a given moment depending on how I stress the idealization of eternity…i.e. this feels like it’s going to last forever! Or, *this* is going to take forever, isn’t it?

The space-time continuum seemingly dilating and constantly a flux based on varying levels of frustration.

Anyone who has played Ocarina of Time should be deeply familiar with which I speak to

With example in tow, this happening is definitely quite relative in the gaming realm, that’s a certainty. Try as I might, I can’t seem to avoid doing some quick number crunching at any given moment when playing a video game in terms of engaging the time investment required as a result, as the relativity of “how long” something will take does greatly impact one’s schedule, of course. Probably why I’ve stayed away from MMO’s all these years, as I know the nefarious time sink involved with most. Which is why I’ve more often then not been able to air on the side of caution with write ups involving the previewing of games more so than the completion of games, if one was to take a gander at some examples on ATE 1.0, and what came of my many endeavors in the virtual realm.


Strangely relevant levels of Scooby Doo related erotica, for one.

This sense of lack (and in terms of relation to Scooby Doo related erotica, I’m hoping for your sake, an entire lack) can’t be understated when assessing relative value, a premise I’ve explored before. Digressing a bit, all of this still relates to the notions of time, in terms of how much of availability overall, and seem to be related to the notion of why I observe many gamers who slowly drift away from games as a serious investment as they get older, too many higher priority events occurring in their lives and just never enough time for some of the small affairs the likes of which gaming does offer. Further more in building on that point, likely why games that come with a built in higher skill ceiling to touch end up getting deprioritized as well: competitive gaming is difficult to keep up with when you only have maybe an hour a day and the average user one may be up against seemingly has your entire weeks worth of recreational time at their disposal in a single day available to them.


Who among us doesn’t look forward to getting teabagged by racist 12 year olds after losing an online game and an exhausting day of work?

Which is why I’m also guessing many in the older crowd do enjoy investing more of their emotional energy in story driven or single player experiences: its really more about the narrative and characterization than the interactivity necessarily that keeps them engaged, which does come off as somewhat of an intense irony, engaging in an interactive medium more so for the passive elements than the directly engaging ones, taking a seat as an audience member as opposed to an active omnipresent agent orchestrating the various affairs on sceen.

There’s some ironic joke about watching streamers playing video games here, I’m sure of it

Far be it from me to gatekeep of course, for example; old school Final Fantasy’s are just as worthy of the mantle of video game as something like Pac-Man, though that does relate to an idea for an article (possibly a series) I’ve been mulling over in my head for what seems like forever on this very idea, involving the notion of “What is play?”, as there seems to be such a complex creative parsing process behind the matter, the intensity of the thought experiment playing out in real time and what follows makes an easy time of tickling my metaphysical fancy. I could of course very easily borrow from philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein’s ideas involved with theories of his ” language game”, and that all of this is just a sense of “speaking the same language differently”, but this comes off as perhaps too close to a pure dismissal of the matter entirely, though the reference creates a fun sense of parody about the deconstructionism involved.


Another queer notion: if one automates “play” (ala Cookie Clicker), is one still in fact “playing”?

Building off of my not so random throw away visual gag there, and to wit: I am reminded of some peculiar tomfoolery, these particular shenaigans occuring back in the day nearly twenty years ago, during the launch period of the Xbox 350, inmy “gamerscore whoring” era, when I was willing to do the outlandish and the perverse just to get all of a games achievements to increase my gamescore, and the absurdity that developed there after. Turning tricks for Muppets and sucking felt in the back alley of Sesame Street would have been less obscene than some of the insane nonsense I got myself into, but the sheers acts of inanity help to frame the picture of “what is play?”, when I think about the achievement in Madden 06′, one of the lamest achievements I ever committed myself to, and one that had the player simulate 30 years of franchise mode, which is about as exciting as it sounds.

I am barely exaggerating when I say staring at this picture long enough is nearly akin to watching an actual clip of this happening

And this is an ideal example of the concept a speak to: I was “playing the game”, in this instance, playing the game was watching a screen flash through a bunch of menus of stats for twenty minutes. Was it fun? Of course not. Was it rewarding? In a strictly technical sense, yes, but in a literal, realistically honest acknowledgement, absolutely not. Was it playing? I guess so…or at least, I pause to try to consider what wouldn’t, in that entire process, be considered “playing”, any less than say, watching an overly long JRPG cinematic, then having to save the game…just to watch another overly long cinematic.

God dammit, Xenosaga

Which again, helps to prop up the debate of what exactly “is playing” where gatekeeping ends, hairsplitting begins, and what play entails, a concept I will enjoy diving into further down the road in ATE’s future.

-Pashford