So, Polygon 'playing' Doom...

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For all the people saying this doesn't matter, if you were into fishing, and watched fishing shows and read fishing magazines and all that, and you turned on the newest episode a fishing show, and the fisherman proceeds to beat his fishing pole against a tree, over and over again for no apparent reason, would you think that's 'okay' and 'acceptable' for the self-professed professional on a topic?

How much can you really care/know about video games if you're either:

A) So disinterested in what is going on that you're just slackly pushing buttons and putting no effort forward

or

B) Are terribly inept at the medium because despite the fact that you're a games journalist you actually just don't like games all that much and so haven't spent much time playing them.

Either way, they can fuck off.
 
Reminds me of how Jeff Gerstmann and Angry Joe played Quantum Break. Was not pretty, and they kept on reiterating in their reviews that it was a cover-based shooter. Sometimes the way a critic plays a game does indeed colour their opinion of the game and it can lead to misconceptions.
 
Considering that I have no idea the role or job of the person playing in the video I won't comment on whether or not I think them being competent at an FPS should be part of their job qualifications.

What I can say though is it seems an odd video choice to post online considering that regardless of their intent it will be viewed plenty of times by people looking for information about that specific game. Showing them footage of someone apparently struggling to play the game as intended wouldn't have been my first choice from a business perspective I guess.

He lets go of the wheel in frustration at the end. Lol. Who plays in third person view like that?

I wonder if the fact that the wheel/car immediately stabilized when he let go queued him into the fact that his constant yanking of the wheel back and forth was causing the swerving lol. The reaction is understandable though as I've witnessed that exact thing happen to the person I was riding passenger with while towing another vehicle down the highway one time, they basically reacted the same way and got caught in that loop of continuously trying to compensate.
 
You don't need to be 'good' at videogames to review them, but you do need to be at least baseline competent. There is no way this player (if they are the reviewer) could offer any useful insight into the way the game controls or the difficulty of the enemies to people that play videogames regularly. I'd get as much relevant commentry on these key issues from a review by my grandfather.

This kind of debate often comes up in racing game threads (driveclub had some woeful videos from game journos). The general consensus in those threads is that you don't need to be a car expert to review racing games, but you do need to know what a 'brake' is.
 
So many great responses in this thread "Looks normal to me, typical GAF want's elite players reviewing game". Get a backbone, the person can't play! Call it how it is.

The person can't control an FPS with a controller. Not any random person, the person reviewing the game. Love to hear what they think about 'balance adjutsments' to improve MP.
 
Seems like just another day for game journalists.

I am kinda surprised that this happened for a shooter vs with say a PG game or a Souls games. Pretty much anyone who has played games for an extended period of time has played shooters especially with some of the biggest games being shooters. I remember when I first played a console shooter and struggled coming from PC but after a while I was fine.


And yes some technical knowledge and skill should be a baseline requirement for putting out professional reviews otherwise that takes out the professional in professional reviews. No one is going to read a car review from someone who doesn't know how to drive well.
 
Looks like someone who played a fps for the first time with a controller, awful material to show off the game.

Fortunately for them, game journalists aren't making commercials!

Edit: I've never understood so many people's obsession with "being good" at video games. Like, it's a subset of what games can offer, not every game is about skill, and even if this specific game is, you don't have to be good at it to give your impressions on it. In fact, a wide range of good players and bad players playing the game is going to give you a better impression of the game than just 360-no-scope-1337-skills players.
 
He's playing with a controller on the PC version...why?! What's the point in showing off the PC version...

Just such a pet peeve of mine.

Some people, myself included, prioritize comfort while playing over being super-skilled. If you're not playing it primarily for the challenge, why would I need to use a keyboard + mouse? Controller is just more comfy for me, I'm more used to it, and it just feels more natural.
 
Fortunately for them, game journalists aren't making commercials!

Edit: I've never understood so many people's obsession with "being good" at video games. Like, it's a subset of what games can offer, not every game is about skill, and even if this specific game is, you don't have to be good at it to give your impressions on it. In fact, a wide range of good players and bad players playing the game is going to give you a better impression of the game than just 360-no-scope-1337-skills players.

Ok but this is what I looked like the first time I picked up a controller to play the original Halo after a childhood of GoldenEye.
 
Some people, myself included, prioritize comfort while playing over being super-skilled. If you're not playing it primarily for the challenge, why would I need to use a keyboard + mouse? Controller is just more comfy for me, I'm more used to it, and it just feels more natural.
That's great for you, and I prioritise the other way round. Although I'm not losing comfort when I'm sitting properly at a desk.
 
He's playing with a controller on the PC version...why?! What's the point in showing off the PC version...

Just such a pet peeve of mine.

Not this again.
DontBeThatGuy_Feature.jpg
 
That's great for you, and I prioritise the other way round. Although I'm not losing comfort when I'm sitting properly at a desk.

That's great for you. I'm the other way around - three decades of using a keyboard and mouse have taken their toll, so a gamepad is the only way to game comfortably. A keyboard and mouse were never intended to be used for things like this, not in this way and for this length of time, they're bad on the wrists no matter how properly you sit.

So turning your nose up at people who use a gamepad to play an FPS on a PC, is kind of a jerk move.
 
He's playing with a controller on the PC version...why?! What's the point in showing off the PC version...

Just such a pet peeve of mine.

Why? Because...well..normally I would say it's because it's easier to control for him, like it is myself. However in this case he should have given it to his grandmother.

The point of showing off the PC version, which should be obvious, is better graphics and frame rate.
 
If you suck at games you should not be reviewing them. Simple as that.

Where does this stance come from? I'm a game developer, and I frequently get comments from people who don't understand games that "you must be so good at games!" Naw, dawg, that's not how it works. I'm pretty awful at games because I play a ton of different ones - so I never have the time to dig into one specific one and get good at it. Why do you assume that reviewers have to be good at games? Playing a lot of games does not mean that you will be good at playing them. I've been playing games all of my life and I play most games at just a decent level. Because I don't play games for mastery.

People play games for different reasons, including reasons other than to get good at them. Having a wide range of players review games is important: the people who play for mastery and challenge, the people who play for the social element, the people who play for the narrative, the people who play to explore/see the content. And then, using context, like looking at previous reviews and other things the reviewer has done, you can find a reviewer that you like! And then you can check out other reviewers if you want, or you can completely ignore them. Bashing on them because they need to "get gud" isn't useful at all.
 
A game is only as good as its gameplay.

Gameplay is a continuous series of interactions that the player has with the game through its mechanics.

If gameplay footage ends up looking like a disjointed, unnatural mess, it means there must something lacking in the game's mechanics or in the player (or both).

I left room for the game to be at fault, because there is certainly a case to be made for bad controls or design. But we're talking about a control scheme that has literally been an industry standard for about fifteen years now. In what is arguably the most popular and prolific genre the medium has ever seen.

With these facts in mind, I don't see how it is any stretch at all to suggest that there is no way in hell a person who struggles with a console FPS to that degree is in any way qualified to communicate to me, a potential videogame consumer, how a console FPS's mechanics stack up compared to other titles in the genre, and how the entire package succeeds or fails based on them.

Sorry, Polygon fans, but this level of unfamiliarity with vital aspects of a medium it supposedly critiques professionally is just downright inexcusable. It's like reading the work of a literary critic that's scrawled in crayon and rife with grammatical and spelling errors, or watching a man smear pasta all over his face before submitting a scathing review of the restaurant that served it to him. The fact this was posted to youtube and still remains there is proof that many people in the organization see nothing wrong with it, and are totally fine with it representing them, so I'll hold them to that.

Maybe people like their editorial point of view when it comes to game stories, or the politics surrounding the industry, and that's fine. I'm sure that has its place. But when it comes to the actual games and how they feel to play, their word is now worth trash as far as I am concerned
 
A game is only as good as its gameplay.

Gameplay is a continuous series of interactions that the player has with the game through its mechanics.

If gameplay footage ends up looking like a disjointed, unnatural mess, it means there must something lacking in the game's mechanics or in the player (or both).

I left room for the game to be at fault, because there is certainly a case to be made for bad controls or design. But we're talking about a control scheme that has literally been an industry standard for about fifteen years now. In what is arguably the most popular and prolific genre the medium has ever seen.

With these facts in mind, I don't see how it is any stretch at all to suggest that there is no way in hell a person who struggles with a console FPS to that degree is in any way qualified to communicate to me, a potential videogame consumer, how a console FPS's mechanics stack up compared to other titles in the genre, and how the entire package succeeds or fails based on them.

Sorry, Polygon fans, but this level of unfamiliarity with vital aspects of a medium it supposedly critiques professionally is just downright inexcusable. It's like reading the work of a literary critic that's scrawled in crayon and rife with grammatical and spelling errors, or watching a man smear pasta all over his face before submitting a scathing review of the restaurant that served it to him. The fact this was posted to youtube and still remains there is proof that many people in the organization see nothing wrong with it, and are totally fine with it representing them, so I'll hold them to that.

Maybe people like their editorial point of view when it comes to game stories, or the politics surrounding the industry, and that's fine. I'm sure that has its place. But when it comes to the actual games and how they feel to play, their word is now worth trash as far as I am concerned

Polygon ain't making a commercial. If it looks bad, it's because of the game.

It's sad, because for so long people lamented highly-scripted E3 demos. And now when we get Normal Gameplay from a Normal Player, it must suck because of the guy playing.

Edit: for what it's worth, it doesn't look bad to me from this gif. I think those of you that think it makes the game look bad are overreacting/projecting. Just because you cringe at someone playing a game poorly doesn't mean everyone does.
 
That's great for you. I'm the other way around - three decades of using a keyboard and mouse have taken their toll, so a gamepad is the only way to game comfortably. A keyboard and mouse were never intended to be used for things like this, not in this way and for this length of time, they're bad on the wrists no matter how properly you sit.

So turning your nose up at people who use a gamepad to play an FPS on a PC, is kind of a jerk move.

That's why these kind of gloves for computers are a thing for devs and techies who are doing one thing for a long time.

Img_SoftFlex_Computer_Gloves.jpg


I don't play games for 5 hours straight or something, so after decades of playing with m&kb, it hasn't taken its toll on my physical health.
 
Where does this stance come from? I'm a game developer, and I frequently get comments from people who don't understand games that "you must be so good at games!" Naw, dawg, that's not how it works. I'm pretty awful at games because I play a ton of different ones - so I never have the time to dig into one specific one and get good at it. Why do you assume that reviewers have to be good at games? Playing a lot of games does not mean that you will be good at playing them. I've been playing games all of my life and I play most games at just a decent level. Because I don't play games for mastery.

People play games for different reasons, including reasons other than to get good at them. Having a wide range of players review games is important: the people who play for mastery and challenge, the people who play for the social element, the people who play for the narrative, the people who play to explore/see the content. And then, using context, like looking at previous reviews and other things the reviewer has done, you can find a reviewer that you like! And then you can check out other reviewers if you want, or you can completely ignore them. Bashing on them because they need to "get gud" isn't useful at all.

There's a difference between mastery and looking like you've never played a game that uses dual sticks in your life.

The person playing the game in that gif simply cannot offer any sort of commentary or criticism on the game. It is by nature out of their element.
 
Where does this stance come from? I'm a game developer, and I frequently get comments from people who don't understand games that "you must be so good at games!" Naw, dawg, that's not how it works. I'm pretty awful at games because I play a ton of different ones - so I never have the time to dig into one specific one and get good at it. Why do you assume that reviewers have to be good at games? Playing a lot of games does not mean that you will be good at playing them. I've been playing games all of my life and I play most games at just a decent level. Because I don't play games for mastery.

People play games for different reasons, including reasons other than to get good at them. Having a wide range of players review games is important: the people who play for mastery and challenge, the people who play for the social element, the people who play for the narrative, the people who play to explore/see the content. And then, using context, like looking at previous reviews and other things the reviewer has done, you can find a reviewer that you like! And then you can check out other reviewers if you want, or you can completely ignore them. Bashing on them because they need to "get gud" isn't useful at all.
I'm not saying you should be some kind of MLG pro dudebro. I'm saying you should be able to operate a controller and be somewhat competent.

If I'm going to be a restaurant reviewer, I would guess my readers trust that I have a good taste pallet.
 
It's sad, because for so long people lamented highly-scripted E3 demos. And now when we get Normal Gameplay from a Normal Player, it must suck because of the guy playing.

Edit: for what it's worth, it doesn't look bad to me from this gif. I think those of you that think it makes the game look bad are overreacting/projecting. Just because you cringe at someone playing a game poorly doesn't mean everyone does.

This in no way is a normal representation of a normal player playing Doom.

To your edit, I think it's clear that you didn't even bother to watch the video people are commenting on. Are you telling me that people are overreacting to a person who isn't able to move both joysticks at the same time? Because that's what's happening here.

You want to say people are wrong or overreacting but you've not even bother to watch what they are reacting to. How would you know if it's an overreaction?
 
I'm not saying you should be some kind of MLG pro dudebro. I'm saying you should be able to operate a controller and be somewhat competent. If I'm going to be a restaurant reviewer,

I'm guessing my readers would want me to have a good pallet.

That's a poor analogy.

A better analogy would be wanting a restaurant reviewer to have won a food-speed-eating- contest before trusting them. See how silly that is? Sure, a speed-eating contest might give them a unique perspective on food, but it's not the only way to be a good food critic.

Let's go back your analogy though. I would agree, a restaurant critic should have a good pallet. Following that line of thought, a good games reviewer should have a good pallet of games - that is, a fairly good understanding of the games industry, games history, and games in general, and has played a diverse set of games. Having a "good pallet" for games does not require being good at them.
 
That's great for you. I'm the other way around - three decades of using a keyboard and mouse have taken their toll, so a gamepad is the only way to game comfortably. A keyboard and mouse were never intended to be used for things like this, not in this way and for this length of time, they're bad on the wrists no matter how properly you sit.

So turning your nose up at people who use a gamepad to play an FPS on a PC, is kind of a jerk move.

Did they ever do that here? Because I see no indication of the poster saying stuff like that. They just said it was a pet peeve of theirs (which seems to be a perfectly fine thing to say)

At any rate, you seem to be the person who's pretty adamant on bringing down mouse and keyboard as a control method, rather than the person you responded to.
 
That's a poor analogy.

A better analogy would be wanting a restaurant reviewer to have won a food-speed-eating- contest before trusting them. See how silly that is? Sure, a speed-eating contest might give them a unique perspective on food, but it's not the only way to be a good food critic.

Let's go back your analogy though. I would agree, a restaurant critic should have a good pallet. Following that line of thought, a good games reviewer should have a good pallet of games - that is, a fairly good understanding of the games industry, games history, and games in general, and has played a diverse set of games. Having a "good pallet" for games does not require being good at them.

Cmon dude you're totally twisting words.

No one is talking about speed runs or being good at a game even, just to have basics like being able to operate a controller as if it's something you're at least comfortable using (for example).

Also lol at "good pallet of games". Does that mean a restaurant reviewer only needs a large selection of reviews instead of having a good taste pallet? You're starting to confuse me here.

I agree with your stance for the most part but I really think you're arguing the wrong things.
 
This in no way is a normal representation of a normal player playing Doom.

What would be considered a normal representation? I would say the closest you can get to the normal representation of playing Doom is by having someone go up to Doom and play it. Because that's what players will do.

To your edit, I think it's clear that you didn't even bother to watch the video people are commenting on. Are you telling me that people are overreacting to a person who isn't able to move both joysticks at the same time? Because that's what's happening here.

You want to say people are wrong or overreacting but you've not even bother to watch what they are reacting to. How would you know if it's an overreaction?

I watched the gif and parts of the video. I am a firm believer that there is no "wrong" way to play a game. If it looks bad, that's the game's fault, not polygon's. But I think it looks fine, I don't give a shit if someone plays a game poorly or not.

And if you don't like it, I dunno, don't go to them for reviews and move along? No need to get all upset about someone playing a game differently than you.

No one is talking about speed runs or being good at a game even, just to have basics like being able to operate a controller as if it's something you're at least comfortable using (for example).

Looks like he was operating the controller just fine to me.
 
the person playing the video is having a real hard time moving the player and the character at the same time. It looks like they're using one hand.

I don't want to be a total dick in case there's more to it but that is really basic stuff. tutorial level "look at these lights, chief" stuff. this sort of control has been in hundreds of games for nearly two decades. I'm find it hard to believe you wouldn't be able to pick it up straight away unless this is the first time you've ever used a controller and if that's true then why would you play DOOM of all games.
 
What would be considered a normal representation? I would say the closest you can get to the normal representation of playing Doom is by having someone go up to Doom and play it. Because that's what players will do.



I watched the gif and parts of the video. I am a firm believer that there is no "wrong" way to play a game. If it looks bad, that's the game's fault, not polygon's. But I think it looks fine, I don't give a shit if someone plays a game poorly or not.

And if you don't like it, I dunno, don't go to them for reviews and move along? No need to get all upset about someone playing a game differently than you.

We're not talking about someone doing wrong attacks or maybe not using the correct items, we're talking about someone who cannot use a controller properly. This is not about not being able to play Doom correctly, this is about not being able to use a controller correctly.

If you don't like that people are having this discussion why don't you move along? No need to get all upset about someone showing that someone doesn't know how to use a controller.
 
You can't really review a fast paced game if you aren't going to play it fast, unless you're approaching it from a different angle. It's telling that they've disabled comments on just that video.
 
So there needs to be a skill threshold for reviews?

When you can't control your camera and movement at the same time, I'd say you aren't qualified to review the game. Wasn't it the Halo fan playing this, too? Don't see how some of those skills wouldn't transfer over. DOOM is faster, sure, but it's practically the same control scheme other than that.
 
Looks like he was operating the controller just fine to me.

The person in the video is literally incapable of moving the reticle and moving the character at the same time.

How on Earth can you argue with a straight face they're operating a controller fine?
 
If you don't like that people are having this discussion why don't you move along? No need to get all upset about someone showing that someone doesn't know how to use a controller.

It hurts no one to have a preview exist where someone plays a game poorly.

It is exclusionary and hurts games in general if the only way we can show games is in their best light, where people have to be up to a certain skill level or else their gameplay can't be on video.

It is a preview. The purpose is to show you what the game is like, that's it. I watched more of the video, it looks fine. But then, people complain all the time on sites like Giant Bomb about Brad or someone else playing poorly, and I've never once had a problem with that, and wouldn't notice otherwise.

Edit: and there are plenty of moments where the person playing the game moves the camera and the player at the same time.
 
I kinda doubt the person who does these previews would be part of the review staff. I think if it was a personality for the website they would probably have speaking over it, like Griffin McElroy's gameplay videos.

But still, a lot of people who write about video games are pretty bad at them. Most peopel who play video games are pretty bad at them.
 
But still, a lot of people who write about video games are pretty bad at them. Most peopel who play video games are pretty bad at them.

Huh. The people covering them are showing it in a way that lines up with how most players will experience it, then.
 
It hurts no one to have a preview exist where someone plays a game poorly.

It is exclusionary and hurts games in general if the only way we can show games is in their best light, where people have to be up to a certain skill level or else their gameplay can't be on video.

It is a preview. The purpose is to show you what the game is like, that's it. I watched more of the video, it looks fine.

And you cannot show what a game is like if you do not know how to use a controller properly.

And how is this exclusionary? Exclusionary to who? You say that this person playing the game is "normal", normal by what metric? I'm sure if I went up someone on the straight who had never played a video game before and handed them the controller, it might look like what we saw in that video. That is not normal, those people aren't going on a video game website and searching for Doom gameplay.

People who have basic knowledge of how a controller work are the ones who are watching this video and it's normal for them to be able to move two joysticks at the same time. What is not normal is having a person who seems to have never touched a controller before.

This preview did nothing to show me what Doom's gameplay is like because the person couldn't actually play the game.
 
Huh. The people covering them are showing it in a way that lines up with how most players will experience it, then.

Probably. Doom is a mainstream video game that will sell a lot of copies, if I had to guess. A lot of people buying it because of brand recognition are probably not going to be very good at it.

I still don't think I'd upload a video of myself playing a game this poorly, though.
 
For all the people saying this doesn't matter, if you were into fishing, and watched fishing shows and read fishing magazines and all that, and you turned on the newest episode a fishing show, and the fisherman proceeds to beat his fishing pole against a tree, over and over again for no apparent reason, would you think that's 'okay' and 'acceptable' for the self-professed professional on a topic?

How much can you really care/know about video games if you're either:

A) So disinterested in what is going on that you're just slackly pushing buttons and putting no effort forward

or

B) Are terribly inept at the medium because despite the fact that you're a games journalist you actually just don't like games all that much and so haven't spent much time playing them.

Either way, they can fuck off.

This is a decent point.

I think there's a skill level that would be 'bad' at the game but not necessarily inept. This Polygon player appears completely inept, not just 'bad,' to me.

I'm 'bad' at Uncharted 4 on Hard Mode (the first difficulty I chose) because I often get reckless and don't enter cover in smart, efficient ways, but I know how to operate all of the game's functions, move and control my camera. So I die a lot, and I'm a player that's now finished Dark Souls III three times, my second and third playthroughs in under 8 hours. I know exactly why I'm dying in Uncharted, but I'm just 'bad' at the game because I keep falling back on awful habits -- not because I don't know how to control it or how it's supposed to be played.

This Polygon player very strongly seems to be demonstrating a complete inability to even just play the game, and I wouldn't even call it a matter of skill, necessarily.
 
What would be considered a normal representation? I would say the closest you can get to the normal representation of playing Doom is by having someone go up to Doom and play it. Because that's what players will do.

I watched the gif and parts of the video. I am a firm believer that there is no "wrong" way to play a game. If it looks bad, that's the game's fault, not polygon's. But I think it looks fine, I don't give a shit if someone plays a game poorly or not.

And if you don't like it, I dunno, don't go to them for reviews and move along? No need to get all upset about someone playing a game differently than you.

Looks like he was operating the controller just fine to me.

I.....I don't even know how to respond to this. Especially the bolded part. The person playing does not have the ability to utilize both analog sticks at the same time...how is that possibly considered operating the controller just fine?

Representing the game by being incapable of controlling the action on the screen is not an accurate representation of the game no matter how you frame it.
 
Fortunately for them, game journalists aren't making commercials!

Edit: I've never understood so many people's obsession with "being good" at video games. Like, it's a subset of what games can offer, not every game is about skill, and even if this specific game is, you don't have to be good at it to give your impressions on it. In fact, a wide range of good players and bad players playing the game is going to give you a better impression of the game than just 360-no-scope-1337-skills players.

Did you watch the Gif? The guy can't even aim at the characater that takes up half the screen. He uses his entire clip before he decides to just melee him. It looks terrible.

I wouldn't go get a review for any other product in the world from someone unfamiliar with said line of products.

I wouldn't go buy a golf club that a 40+ handicap golfer said helped him shave a few strokes off his game. I wouldn't even bother looking at his review, it's pointless. You want reviews from people that are at least good/competent with like/familiar products.

If you are not into FPS games at all or are new to them why would a review from someone incompetent/new to them change your mind?
 
Anything related to Arthur Gies and/or Ben Kuchera is fucking trash, not worth it and a complete waste of anyone's time.
 
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