Jeffool.com

Let it be known that I enjoy non sequiturs. Also, it should be known that apparently after I horribly flub a job interview I react poorly. So poorly, in the typical “lash out at one person, because you screwed up something else with a completely different person,”-fashion, I almost sent this off to an different job prospect. I post it here mostly because I’m bored of seeing myself bitch about World of Warcraft. So instead, I bitch about games in general. Man. I’m a bitchy guy. Next post is nothing but butterflies and rainbows! (Or at least something slightly more constructive.) I promise!

Hello,

Your job ad asked for a cover letter outlining my gamer history/identity, so I’ll be writing to that effect. I fall squarely in the area of ‘disenfranchised gamer’. Here’s why.

Imagine a restaurant that has an amazing soup. Another chef tastes this and says “I can do better!” He then opens his own restaurant, and makes his own soup, similar, but slightly better than the original. The game industry is this, but with dozens of chefs each competing with what they think is the best recipe for their soup. A dozen chefs compete over tomato soup, another dozen over gazpacho, and the entire time all I can do is sit here, eating soup, and think to myself, “What do I have to do to get some fucking meatloaf?”

What this leads me to is two options. Either: A)most Game Makers (by which I refer to people who actually have the power to determine what a game will be,) think that there currently exists a game that is damn near perfect, save one tiny flaw… And this Game Maker sees this flaw, and will fix it, or B)the Game Maker is just trying to make a fun game, or is even just happy to be making a living in the game industry, and I shouldn’t bust his balls for either trying something a little different, or just doing what it takes to get by.

A? They don’t exist. Or at least I really hope that they don’t. If they do? Damn. The Games Industry is in bigger trouble than I ever considered…

But B? The rest of the industry decision makers? Fuck those guys.

Okay, I talk a tough game but obviously I have a weak spot for many games otherwise I couldn’t get so angry. And yes, my weak spot is repeatedly attacked for massive damage by what some would call ‘obvious’ protagonists; a first person shooter/puzzle game was my favorite of last year, Fumito Ueda can do no wrong in my eyes, Tim Schafer is indeed a genius (it’s fact.) But don’t you worry about every Game Maker who works for a developer owned by Activision, EA, Ubisoft, and every other huge company that has titles that guarantee profit and can afford to try new things? Why aren’t they trying to raise the bar regularly by pushing games out in crazy new areas? I mean, when Nintendo, the company who has probably whored their mascot out more than any other company ever, is considered ‘out there’ and ‘risky’ by trying to appeal to the mainstream… That really shows how little anyone else is trying at all.

So that’s why I’m applying to your company. Because fuck you for not caring more.
—
Jeffool (blahblahblah)

Yeah, it was at that last line that I realized “Wow, I think I safely qualify as emo. I really need to calm the fuck down and collect my wits.” I think that, with this cover letter, I may have achieved the most self-aggrandizing post I’ve ever written. Let’s hope so, anyway. More than this and I don’t know what I’d do with myself.

Also, note to self: Less commas, less Portishead, more instrumental surf rock.

Apparently Katie Couric doesn’t like Manhunt 2. She was obviously displeased with the idea that the murder was realistically portrayed with knives, glass shards, and other realistic killing devices (as opposed to sci-fi shooters, I guess?) And she particularly didn’t like the idea of combining this with the Wii’s control method. She warns it could not only be dangerous to your kids, but to others as well, indicating it could make the more easily-impressionable kids run out and kill people. Though she read the piece as a toothless parental suggestion with no bile, she came across as having the same level of disgust as she did on her opinion piece of General Mukasey’s possible OK-ing, despite his refusing to rule out torture (waterboarding.) Hey, at least she mentions you have to be seventeen to buy it, even if she does point out ‘some retailers sell it to kids anyway’.

My problem is that she targets the game, and the method of input. I disagree with the priorities of people that consider particular games like Manhunt 2, or movies like Saw, to be problems, but not aspects of the culture in general. My problem isn’t the existence of games where you can kill others (in this case, it’s even self-defense!) Hell, I don’t even care if someone does make Murder Simulator 2020. My complaint is the culture of gaming (game developers and gamers themselves,) that is so dependent on violence as content that it’s largely retarded growth into other areas that games could gain from. And of course this is because after graphics, physics are the next easiest part of programming to improve on. Games are just advancing along the path of least resistance.

Y’know, I just hope that in the end, games can drive people to kill, to love, to loathe, to orgasm, and to regret. Not due of repetition and warping of the player’s sense of ‘normalcy’, but because of passion and persuasiveness. Because after playing the game, the player actually cares enough to act, in some way. Of course, I’d rather players try to save the world…

I just found out that I indeed did NOT graduate from Full Sail. It’s shaping up to be quite a day, ladies and gents.