"What Makes a Good RPG" You Ask? What Have You Been Smoking?

by Mitchell Gyde

A common problem with editorial writers (myself included, though this is the first time I've written on the subject) is that we bitch and moan about WHY a game isn't fun. It's rare that anyone says why an RPG is fun. We keep saying and hearing about how they don't meet expectations. I have a hypothesis for this problem. I think the problem is that expectations are being made in the first place.

The whole point of any form of entertainment is to enjoy it. You know... ...to have fun. We all know that people have different opinions. We also know that everyone wishes to force their opinions onto others. So, when someone doesn't enjoy something, and they try to tell someone that they don't, they need to explain why they don't. However, few people try to say, "It's just not my kind of thing." Instead, they have to get ridiculously nit-picky about the whole thing. As a result, the listener starts to judge the piece of entertainment by those false-standards instead of by whether-or-not they simply enjoy it.

If someone isn't being too critical of a movie, tv show, or game because they're desperately trying to get people who liked it to stop liking it, they're doing it because they're too dependent on social acceptance to make up their own mind. Those people set the standards someone else originated without ever thinking about whether they enjoyed it for what it is.

If you expect Final Fantasy 9, Chrono Cross, Legend of Mana, or anything else to suck, you'll do nothing but look for stupid excuses to justify hating it. If you expect something to WOW you from minute one, you'll be disappointed when it doesn't meet your over-inflated expectations.

What's the solution? Clear your head. Pretend that the moment you picked up the controller is really the first time you've ever heard of that game. (or series) Hold NO expectations. Let the game win you over with what it is. If you still don't enjoy it after that, then either something's wrong with the game, or something's wrong with you.

If, somehow, I've offended you with anything I've said, then good. I've heard too many disclaimers in my life to give one now.