One of the reasons ‘DON’T PANIC‘ is a personal mantra of mine, is due to the fact that panicking never helps, and that it is important to remember to keep a level head in stressful moments.


Mostly so one can avoid moments as seen above, for example

Been awhile since I’ve had such a crunchy schedule to contend with, but today the spacetime contiuunm seems unyielding to my needs. To that point, Im going to have to do a bit of a drive by posting in the way of injecting a Quick Posit into the ether before I have to boot, scoot, and boogie the fuck on out of here, but at least I have but a moment to spare to post any kind of thought with which to provoke this day.

I’m about write what is likely my coup de grace piece involving my sublimational insight, in all of its cleverly rowdy glory, of My Friendly Neighborhood (MFN), which has been energizing to engage with, for many reasons, and in spite of its shortcomings no less, which got me thinking. I know that the idea behind “guilty pleasures” exist, or consuming media “so good it’s bad” is a thing, or even the endearing preferential affair of preferring dialogue that is dripping with cheesiness, opting for and cherishing B-Movies, etc etc, you get my point. The brief observation in this moment that I share is simply one which, in reference to the world of gaming, I think it’s worthy of a much larger investigation of just what standards we put forth when enjoying a title, and even beyond that, what we essentially tolerate or accept as less than, while still enjoying ourselves or dismissing the downsides without too much concern these flaws may represent, in their detracting inherentness from the experience at large.

More to my point, the first immediate tell that MFN might not jive with more ardently experienced first person shooter fans, is that the gun play feels a bit goofy, which for a survival horror FPS, is obviously going to be a big make or break for folk who prefer excellent handling, smooth control, gun feedback etc. Even though I have played a plethora of shooters, this for some reason was excusable, or at least not a terminal flaw with which to turn me off from the experience. This of course, becomes a huge irony, as arguably, the defining revolutionary standard of video games is there level of interactivity as a medium, and all that follows. So why then, and keeping in mind that MFN is but one of so many more examples that exist, are players of any variety able to hand wave away the notion about a lackluster sense of interactivity involved, or even a complete absence of modality, in reference to an experience which is inherently suppose to be defined by said essence?

A fun inquiry, no doubts, and an investigation we will have to shelve for the time being. Take care.

~Pashford