Dialog Tree: Skipping Video Game's Christmas - Article
by Spencer Manigat , posted on 10 June 2016 / 5,546 Views
Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to a brand new series of articles I am tentatively calling Dialog Tree. The premise is simple - once a week I will publish an opinion piece or article on a given topic. Afterwards, I'll join the comment section below where we can have a stimulating series of branching discussions stemming from what was brought up in the article. In this way, the main article will act functionally as a jumping off point for further discussion down below. The discussions held in the comments will be just as integral to the article as the article itself. Feel free to disagree and let's start a Dialog Tree.
I'VE STOPPED WATCHING MOVIE TRAILERS.
I realized that watching every trailer for a movie I was excited to see would really do nothing but spoil the film for me. This was most recently confirmed for me after I saw Captain America: Civil War. I went into the movie blind, and I enjoyed it immensely. After watching a movie I like, I tend to go back and watch all of the trailers I missed, and I was disappointed to see that three of my favorite scenes from the film were explicitly shown in the trailers. One of the funniest lines in the film was spoiled, one of the most important dramatic moments was spoiled, and I couldn't help but wonder how much less I would have enjoyed that movie having those things spoiled for me ahead of time.
I did the same thing with the animated movies Inside Out and Big Hero 6. For the former, I had never even looked at a poster for it. I didn't know what the movie was about or even what the characters looked like. All I knew was that all of my friends were talking about them and that all of my friends loved them. I sat down one day, binge-watched the two of them back to back, and wholeheartedly agreed.
Such a big reason why I was able to love these movies was because I went into them having absolutely no idea what to expect. I had no preconceived notions about what to expect outside of anecdotes from my peers. With every new movie I see and enjoy, it becomes easier for me to avoid watching trailers. I went in blind for the new Star Wars film and for the new Mad Max film as well; the list goes on and on.
What I'm getting at is this - I've started to realize that E3 does the same thing, but on an absolutely colossal and ridiculous scale. George Weidman of Super Bunnyhop fame compared applauding at an E3 press conference to applauding for the concession stand commercial before a movie, and hearing that was eye opening.
E3 is just a big, three-day long, reel of commercials. It's a publisher's way of getting consumers excited for the products they plan to release in a festive and exciting setting. I've always been aware of this obviously - most of us have - but only recently has this started to bother me. It bothers me because it's manipulative and because it's effective. I used to look at E3 as an important resource for educating consumers on the gaming products that will be coming out in the near future, but it's not that at all.
If I want to learn more about a game I've heard about, I can just do my research on it after the press show. Publishers don't care about honestly educating you about their products - they care about convincing you to buy their products and getting you excited to buy their products. They achieve this by using hyperbole to set unreachably high expectations for the end product. That's what happened to many people with the original Watch_Dogs. That's what happened to me with Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. They do this by showing all of the best parts of the game in a vacuum before release and having nothing else to surprise the player once the game comes out but the not-so-exciting parts. That's how I felt after playing Xenoblade Chronicles X.
BUT CAN I REALLY BLAME THEM?
Here's the thing - it sounds like I'm blaming the publishers for ruining, or at least tainting, my gaming experience. But I'm realizing more and more that it's really my fault. I could chastise publishers for trying to sell their games by any means necessary, but I'm the one who lacked the self-control to not watch copious amounts of pre-release footage when I know how dishonest they tend to be and how susceptible I am to being tricked into thinking that a game will be better or more different than it was ever going to be. I know that watching previews and trailers is consenting to spoiling the actual play experience, but I watch them anyway, and that's my fault.
I'm not afraid or ashamed to admit that my enjoyment of a game has very often been colored by an inaccurate expectation I had of it thanks to what I saw of it during E3, in trailers, and in previews. I could have easily saw the first trailer for Xenoblade Chronicles X, realized that I wanted to play it immediately (which I did), and just ignored the rest of the trailers and previews for the game until release. It might be difficult, but I could have just waited. I do it for movies already and, like I said, it becomes easier and easier with every film.
I think there's a very real fear that not educating oneself on upcoming game releases can do anything from cause someone to miss the release of a great game to causing them to play a bad game they may have otherwise avoided had they known more. That's a completely valid fear to have. Video games are very expensive, and it's completely understandable that someone would want to be frugal with their spending in this regard. This is especially the case when it comes to hardware announcements. There are many rumors that both Sony and Microsoft will be revealing new hardware revisions for their respective platforms, and I am very interested to learn what they will have to offer.
I guess the thing for me is that I'm not really afraid of buying a bad game from lack of research. I'm not really afraid of missing the initial launch of a good game, either. I'm not afraid of not learning about the "PS4K" or "XB2" after everyone else and without all of the spectacle when there will be thousands of articles that will inevitably detail everything about them anyway. I don't need E3 or trailers or hours and hours of preview footage to convince me to buy the new Pokémon or Zelda or Deus Ex. I know that I'm going to buy these games already because of my experience with their predecessors, so why do I need to see more?
I don't. That's the answer. I don't need to see more. I just want to see more, but that doesn't come from a desire to learn more about a product before release. Not if I'm being honest with myself. It comes from impatience. It comes from a desire to want to play these games now. I watch trailers and I watch preview footage and I watch E3 because I want to play all of these games now, and now I've finally come to the obvious realization that watching all of this stuff is not ever going to be the same as experiencing these games on release. And since it's not the same, there's no point in taking away the surprise of experiencing these games the way they were intended, during play, by breaking up pieces of that experience before I even have a controller in my hand.
E3 IS OFTEN REFERRED TO AS GAMING'S ANALOG TO "CHRISTMAS."
If that's the case, then I think I'm going to pass on Christmas from now on. I think it's worth something to just avoid it completely and enjoy these games the way I used to when I was a child and didn't have the wherewithal to access all of these ways to spoil my gaming experiences. I'm fine with choosing what games I will end up buying, at least partially, through second-hand hype. I've been hearing a lot of awesome things about Overwatch, which is really neat to me because I hadn't followed it up to its release. Now I can't really see myself not picking that game up when I have proper kit to play it on. Until that time, I have no desire to watch any of the thousands of gameplay videos and trailers about it online. I can get used to learning about most of my games like this.
When I first came to this verdict on E3, I struggled to think of what I would do during the expo to distract myself from all of the headlines and content spoilers that will assuredly run rampant throughout all of next week. I usually request time off from my job during E3, but this year I didn't, so that will help somewhat. Last year, I even went to Nintendo World in New York City to watch Nintendo's infamous 2015 Digital Event live amidst an audience of dozens of passionate fans. E3 is going to be hard for me to miss out on this year, but hopefully this becomes easier and easier to do too, just like how avoiding movie trailers has. I thought that avoiding gaming media next week might be a difficult test of willpower, struggling to think of what I could possibly be doing in the meantime, until I remembered that I could just be playing some video games.
Playing video games since the age of 5, Spencer Manigat has been fascinated with the possibilities of this interactive medium for nearly as long as he could speak. Recently, his growing obsession with learning about tactile mechanics, interactive narratives, and all things on the academic side of gaming has lit a new passion in him to discuss, debate, and critique various topics in this brilliant medium of video games that we all find ourselves participating in. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, Pokémon: Platinum Version, and Super Metroid are a few of his favorite games. You can contact Spencer at spencer.manigat@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @spencewashere.
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Going blind in everything is a double-edge sword, especially for gaming.As you said, your experience could be better with a game if you dont have preconcieved notions about the game.The last real example that I had with such scenario was when I got as a present Red Steel 2.I had no idea what the game was about.Heck, I didnt even know the game existed.But good lord, was it so good.But at the same time, if you dont have enough information about a game, lets say you didnt read a review or didnt search enough information about a game to know if it is within your taste or not, and just went with other people statements of it being good, you might get very dissapointed.For example:GTA is an excellent franchise and everybody likes it, there is no doubt about it.But I dont like it.If I were to buy it solely on peoples aclaims, which would be obviously very positive about GTA, I would be certainly very dissapointed with the game, especially considering the fact that I had wasted 60 dollars(assuming I bought near launch) that could have been used in something else I liked more.
I think the ideal scenario here is not to be over exposed to games.I dont think that E3 overexposes the games, as long as you stick to the conferences, and only the conferences.I mean, sure that they exagerate on the games potential sometimes(and you cant really blame them as you said.Its their job to sell you the game and its your job to know if that game is for you) but the information that is laid during these conferences are usually just the basic premise of the game, coupled with (possibly) its release date and a few other things in the side.They never really go "overdose" with the game, in the sense that they give out too much gameplay and story.And that happens because the conferences have a time limit.Too many games for too little time.And I feel that, in the end, the information you are given there wont be any different than the one that you end up searching after to see if the game is up your alley.
To put in simpler words, I dont think E3 in itself is the problem.The problem, as you(again) have said, is self control.If you just see the conferences and skip the event itself, it will actually end up being more benefitial to you, in my opinion.
I feel your pain on the formatting issue. You make a lot of good points. Like I said, I do understand the fear of buying a game you don't like because you didn't know enough before hand. The thing is, at least for me, I still play games I don't enjoy, even after I've done my research, so there's really no loss there. The way I see it, if the end up not liking the game, at least I didn't have any unrealistic expectations to make that disappointment sting more.
I do think there is be merit in getting a taste for the game, but I don't feel like those are the kinds of things I need an E3 trailer to feel out. Also, E3 often shows games that have already been revealed, so in those cases E3 really is overexposing some games. I feel the same about CGI trailers and story trailers.
I up-voted your comment for its content, but the readability made me hesitate a second. Anyhoo, I think the things that spoil games for me these days are "leaks," overly extensive gameplay previews, and the endless parade of articles about heavily anticipated titles.
@arcaneguyver - I totally agree with you. I think it's important to have self control with these things. If there are extensive gameplay previews, don't watch them. If their are leaks, try not to look into them. If a game is getting heavy coverage, it's up to you to stay strong and avoid reading it.
Yeah, I mostly avoid the over exposure of games by sheer force of will. Unfortunately leaks are very difficult to avoid without staying off gaming websites wholesale - they're usually summed up in whole in topic or article titles. They might be the worst, as they reduce what should be a hype official announcement to a mere confirmation, leading to dissatisfaction with E3 conferences for having 'no surprises.'
While I do agree that there are some agames that end up being overexposed, because they were revealed too soon and end up taking years to launch(No Mans Sky for example. If it shows this year, it will be its 4th E3 appearance if Im not mistaken), I think for a good part of the show, the games revealed at it are either new or that have little to no information about it. But I can totally understand your reasoning behind why to skip it or at the very least limit the E3 for you. Its just that for me, money is a privilege lol. I can buy so many games each year with the money I gain. So if I end up buying a game I hate(which has happened even when I know what the game is about and have keep myself informed about it) its really dissapointing.
And to be quite frank, seeing the show itself is really entertaining, even if you end up seeing a bit more than you wanted about the games.When Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo or any other developer manages to surprise you with a game reveal or a funny moment in stage, there is nothing like it.My first E3 that I watched was back in 2013.And what an E3 it was.With KH 3 reveal, FF 15 and many more, it was just emotions after emotions.So thats also another reason for watching, and taking the risk to be a bit overexposed.
@arcaneguyver - I almost feel as though leaks are an entirely different beast, though. From my experience, leaks only affect the essence of a proper reveal. Very rarely do they actually have consequential in game spoilers. I guess they can spoil the fun of a proper reveal, but this article attempts to dispel the need for fanfare in these kind of situations. I'm perfectly fine learning about these games in the most dry way possible, as long as the information is accurate. I just want to learn enough to know if I want to play them or not. There is a balance that needs to be struck, though. I want to acknowledge that.
@Nautilus - Yeah, I can sympathize with that. Funnily enough, I actually believe that No Man's Sky has been surprisingly tame when it comes to revealing new information about the game. So much of what that game is has been left unanswered, and I truly do think that this will lead to a lot more players enjoying the game because the game has a sense of wonder and mystery about it. As for the show, I feel like there are often too many games that are not new for it to be worth it to take the risk. If all I want to do is be updated on what new games will come out, I can just wait until after the expo and read about them in a far less fantastical atmosphere. The show being entertaining is a big part of my problem, because I feel that that is one of the primary drivers of disappointment in the end. All of the theatrics conducted during E3 naturally gives the games a sense of hyperbole that will, more often than not, SKU an accurate image of what the game really is. I loved watching that Kingdom Hearts III reveal as well, but I just don't feel like I need to watch it live to be excited about it. For whatever reason, I was preoccupied during Sony's press conference last year and missed a lot of the showstopping reveals, but that never stopped me from being excited about the re-reveal of The Last Gardian or the reveal teaser for Final Fantasy VII Remake.
That's odd, I'm the exact opposite. I watch E3 to see what's on the horizon and get the earliest look at what the games are aiming for and then I basically stop following any news on their release until they're out. Same with movies. I'll watch the teaser and the first trailer and then I'm done. I don't watch anything else. My gut hasn't failed me on first impression being something I'll enjoy so far. Sure, closer to release, I'll read some summaries/highlights from reviews to see if I want to spend full price or wait for a price drop, but for the most part, E3 is all I use as the gauge of "I'm interested in this."
@NinjaFox - Even with that being the case, I feel that E3 isn't the best place to form an accurate first impression due to all of the fanfare, hyperbole, and associative excitement that infects the event. I feel like distancing myself from what is essentially a three-day marketing and advertisement party is the best way to keep a level-headed opinion on these games when it comes to first impressions. I want to be as far removed from any form of manipulative hype-marketing as possible. For me, that means no E3. I respect your ability to just stop at E3, however. I was never able to do that in the past.
I assume you never saw the movie Pixels then after watching the trailer.
@sethnintendo - The trailer didn't grab me, so no. I might watch it in the future, though. My disinterest has more to do with the fact that I am just not too big a fan of comedy movies. I was when I was younger, but I don't find most of them exciting anymore, for whatever reason. At least not enough to want to see them when they are new.
@SpencerManigat, I was just joking around and question was directed towards NinjaFox due to his gut not failing him once. All good about not liking comedy movies. One can say that Adam Sandler's movies have been going down hill ever since Happy Gilmore and Billy Madison. I like video games and I like comedies but by god did that trailer make the movie look absolutely terrible. The only way I would ever see that movie would be for free and I would probably have to be so high that I would be on verge of transcending reality.
I'm probably in same boat considering I only game on Nintendo and PC. E3 never really wowed me or made me care about it that much. I even made a thread about not caring about E3 (this was before Nintendo switched to directs over doing their press conferences). I tend to hate mass commercialization and consumerism so E3 isn't really for me.
I haven't really read your article but I did enjoy your previous article. I'll give it a read before going to work. Seems like you put a lot of effort into your articles.
@sethnintendo - Oh, my mistake then! I actually haven't seen an Adam Sandler movie since Anger Management, so I can't really comment on the falling quality of his movies. I don't really have anything against watching bad movies, though. My phylosophy is that it gives you another opinion to talk about, and it refines taste.
And thank you! I hope you do get around to reading. I'd love to hear your thoughts. We all put a lot of effort in these!
@SpencerManigat, all good about "mistake" considering I didn't really specify who I was talking to (plus you made multiple references about movies in article).
Read the article and I'd have to agree for the most part. I don't like spoiling a game by over watching videos of gameplay, etc myself. I don't have to hold myself back because I never reached that problem (I don't really enjoy watching gameplay videos; especially other people playing). I also know that companies like to stretch the truth about their games. An example would be all the companies that love showing CGI scenes and trying to pass it off as actual gameplay (many companies are guilty of doing this in their commercials). It might fool some people but an educated person would know right away that they are looking at CGI and not gameplay. Like you said... These companies are just trying to get you to buy the game and they will try any tactic available to them. Thanks for the good read.
@sethnintendo - Thank you for reading!
CGI trailers in particular are a source of irritation for me, just because of how inherently dishonest they are. To be honest, I think trailers should all be playable. Kojima was on right track with P.T. For me, watching a trailer for interactive media like video games is as backwards as only listening to a trailer for visual media like film.
I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with hyping yourself up for a game either, in fairness. Not that you're insinuating that there is, of course, but in my case, i watch E3 mostly for the memes and secondarily for the big reveals. I don't get overexcited about a Watch Dogs, though, and that's where the problem is. Getting hyped and getting sucked INTO the hype are two totally different things. I once wrote daily threads on the official PlayStation forums to help hype other fans up for PlayStation All-Stars, but I never thought to myself that it'd be the best game ever. I knew exactly what I was getting before I even touched the beta, due in part to my own research AFTER E3.
Like you said, personal research is just as effective, but there's nothing wrong with the big shocking reveals that come before the research, so long as there IS research done. Just like there's nothing wrong with eating dessert before dinner once every year or so. It's a treat.
@DivinePaladin - For me, what matters far more than the dishonest marketing and tendancy to get over excited for an ultimately poor or mediocre game is spoiling any game, especially a good game, at all. E3 is an unecessary information overload, especially when it comes to games I know I will buy anyway. I don't need to see anything about the recently subtitled Breath of the Wild. I already know that I am going to buy it. I don't need to see anything about Pokemon Sun and Moon. I already know I'm going to buy it. There comes a point where researching about a game goes beyond being an educated consumer and errs towards ruining the intended experience, and I feel that E3 is the nucleus point by which that occurs for 90% of the games I play every year. That's something I think we can all live without, meme or not.
I think there's a fundamental flaw with your absorption of E3 if the experiences are spoiled by the event for you. E3 is full of nebulous trailers and not much else, and with all due respect if something like Breath of the Wild's trailer were to spoil you then it's a personal issue, not one with the event itself.
I can't think of a time I felt there was too much of a game shown at E3. There have been times games have been shown for too LONG, but even then we get a basic understanding of what the game might eventually develop into and not much else.
And it's a personal choice. You may want to do without it, and I have occasionally with some games as well - Uncharted 4 springs to mind as a game I avoided info on in recent memory - but it's not something you can pin as an inherently bad concept. There's a reason GameXplain is popular!
Again, I mean no disrespect, but I cannot for the life of me remember a time where a game actually had an info overload. Zelda may end up close this year but if the game is as big as stated I doubt even that, considering they're avoiding plot. There are times games have been overexposed, but never anything I felt was decidedly too much info. Everything is so vague most of the time, so I'm surprised that's a common stance at all.
You make some good points here. Seeing trailers of a new game is great and exciting, especially if it's from a series you really enjoy, but see too much of it can be a bit harmful to the game, since it could end up spoiling great moments for you. I also think showing a game off too early could be really bad. We have Zelda, which was planned to release in 2015 now releasing 2 years later, and having the game delayed twice has been really painful. Though, it hasn't killed my excitement for the game, but just made it painful. Then there's also cgi trailers which I think could be harmful as well, since they could be setting expectations too high for a product that could end up not delivering in the end. I know we've seen this before with people complaining about some games not being as good as when 1st released. And yeah... showing too many trailers, which can just take away some of the nice surprises not known by players and would have been better if they were discovered in game.
I dunno. I enjoy seeing trailers for new games and get excited, but i recall old days when I didn't know about games and just saw then in stores as demos or just on the shelves, and honestly, they were much better that way than seeing them in a trailer months before.
I guess I'm at a point where I am fine with just one trailer showing off the presentation and a taste of the gameplay, and then just waiting for the game's releases. I think I'm just doing that now naturally. I stopped watching anymore videos I am excited for, such as Tokyo Mirage Sessions, because I want to wait to experience the rest for myself.
I guess.. I'm fine sitting back and being a little more in the dark now xD Knowing less about a game seems better now.
@Cloudman - I think you hit the nail on the coffin. It's not that seeing trailers is an enjoyable, but that it's almost too enjoyable. I absolutely love watching video game trailers, but I started to wonder if the trade-off is really worth it. I've come to the conclusion that no, it's not worth it. I've actually started going dark with Tokyo Mirage Sessions as well, and I'm very excited to see where that game goes. I was definitely hard on it when it was first revealed because it was not what Nintendo or Atlus lead fans to expect, but thinking about it more since then has won me over.
Yeah, trailers are nice to have, but too much can be detrimental. I think a few are enough to convey the game. Heck, going completely blind may not be a bad thing. I went into Undertale knowing practically NOTHING about it, except a friend who told me it was kind of like Earthbound, and another friend who demanded I play it. It definitely shocked me more playing it blind. I dunno if I would have had that same experience if I knew about goat mom, or sans. Either way, I was glad I got to play it fresh.
@Cloudman - I feel the same way about my experience with Shin Megami Tensei IV and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. I went into both blind, and had experiences I don't think I could have had if I had seen trailers for them beforehand.
I have been avoiding Marvel movie trailers since like Iron Man 2, the reason I give is because as a fanboy I don't want to be spoiled on the film I know I'm going to see. This came to it's sweet perfection when I saw Cap A: Winter Soldier, it was a superb film made better because I had no idea what was in it, nothing... other than the Winter Soldier, film title kinda gives it away. Anyway, I did the same thing with the one game I really wanted to play from the last few years, Dragon Age Inquisition. I love the first 2, even if 2 was lacking and I really looked forward to DA:I so I avoided spoilers, this included all trailers, footage and read only tiny segments of interviews to make sure it at least wasn't a complete changing in direction. They knew their gameplay had to stay similar and this reassured me it would be good. It was, I loved it. Yet, there are opposite sides of the same theory, I'd like to do the same with Final Fantasy XV but something inside tells me, "no, look at trailers/gameplay" because if I went blindly into a game I know I'd ge when I expect a certain style of game or gameplay from a series and it's not there, I'm going to be disappointed, great game or not.
@The Fury - I feel exactly the same! I also went in blind to see Winter Soldier. In fact, I went into that movie with low expectations because I didn't enjoy the first Captain America film at all, so the movie actually blew me away with how good it was. I think the game that tipped me off to the benefits of withholding information from myself with regards to videogames was Shin Megami Tensei IV for the 3DS. The actual reason I play the game was because it is a favorite of a friend of mine, and I wanted to experience for myself why he enjoyed the game so much. Prior to this mission, I have absolutely no interest in the game, so avoiding spoilers for it was effortless. What I actually decided to do, because the game's difficulty is infamous, was do thorough research on the mechanics of these games. After all of that, I played the game, and fell in love with the entire franchise in one fell swoop. I do think the game has pretty serious problems, but I was enjoying myself too much to slack it too hard. Going into that game blind made me wish to go into it's successor, Shin Megami Tensei VI: Apocalypse, blind as well. I have been perfectly diligent about it so far, and I want to spread that to all of my games going forward. Maybe one gameplay trailer to get a taste for if I will like the game if it's part of a franchise that I've never played before, but that's it. I just don't need any more than that. Final Fantasy XV, however, is a good example of a game where it's understandable to want to be a bit more cautious. I know that Final Fantasy XIII was a high-profile game that disappointed a lot of fans, so I understand the need to be skeptical about the next game in the series for cases like those.
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Yeah, I was so taken aback by how beautifully told that film's story was. I have tremendous admiration for any studio willing to respect the intelligence of children.
