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Submitted for your approval: a gamer anxiously awaits the release of a
long-anticipated game. One by one, the gray days drag by. Finally,
the blessed date arrives, and the gamer rushes to purchase the object
of affection. Game clutched in fervent hands, the gamer arrows home.
With eyes too bright, and with a smile too broad, the game is
summarily unwrapped, opened, and fired up. The opening splash screen
comes to life, and the gamer thinks "This time... this time it will be
different. This game will recapture that feeling I used to have when
I first started playing!" But the gamer proves to be a poor prophet.
As game play commences, the gamer's jaw begins to clench, and a
furrowed brow signals that paradise will not be achieved this day.
But what went wrong? Why did reality fall so short of expectations?
Was it corporate greed, hand-in-hand with an aggressive ad campaign?
Have the standards of game development slipped so far that a killer
game is only a cherished memory of our youth? Or maybe trends and
tastes in RPGs have shifted so far that our not-quite-mythical gamer
will never find satisfaction again?
Well, sure, all those things can be to blame. Corporate greed is
always a force to be reckoned with. I've been taken in by the hype
more times than I care to admit, and it'll happen again. Games
developed to low standards are a mood killer, too. Who can pretend to
be thrilled by a game with sloppy writing or poorly conceived game
mechanics? And don't get me started about changing trends in the RPG,
because this isn't really what I want to talk about, at least not
today.
Instead, I want to talk about how some players sabotage their own
ability to enjoy a perfectly good RPG by seeking out too much
information about the game before it even sees the shores of the North
America. It starts simply enough. An upcoming game is announced, and
our hypothetical gamer immediately checks out the official game site,
reads the press releases, and gets excited. They want to know more
about the game, and seek out information from gaming sites, such as
our own beloved RPGamer. There's usually a wealth of information to
be had, too: screen shots, plot teasers, character info, concept art,
and more. And then there's the game previews that inevitably come out
shortly before the game's release date. To make matters worse, since
most RPGs are released in Japan long before they reach North America,
explicit information about the games becomes available through many
channels, and some people actually seek it out. The final insult
comes in the form of game walkthroughs and strategy guides. Is it any
wonder, after an information glut like this, that our would-be fan
can't find any joy in playing this game? There's just no novelty left
in the act of playing the game.
It's not the case that I believe that it's wrong to have information
about the RPGs that I intend to buy. Without these resources, I can
scarcely imagine how I could intelligently decide what games to buy
and what games to pass up. But it's equally clear that some fans
cross the line, robbing themselves of any chance of true enjoyment.
And that's just a shame. Life is too short to be jaded.
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