Calling things 'overrated' sustains objectification
I stumbled upon a past tweet by someone calling Wii U overrated, and it got me bothered once again, and I wondered why. Then I realized that calling nouns overrated is a byproduct of objectification. We do not call people overrated, unless, for example, we refer to athletes as objects to be judged. But that's a terrible thing to do, even in that instance.
The Wii U was a marker of a certain time in my life, and it brought me great joy. It is one of my favorite game-consoles of all time. I spent more money on buying games for it than any other gaming-platform. With all these elements taken into consideration, it really bothers me when someone calls Wii U overrated. It's like if someone came up to you and said your significant other was overrated because his or her spouse was 'objectively' better. It's asinine.
If we want videogames to be more than toys for children, we have got to ascend beyond objectifying games and ascend into the philosophy of looking at them as experiences and valuing the feeling they give us, rather than objectively analyzing them for what kind of objective 'value' they provide.
'Overrated' is one of the most repulsive words in the English language. The videogame-sector of society is probably where it is used the most. I have never someone saying a movie was overrated. Do people call Citizen Kane overrated? What if people called an apple overrated? That would sound terribly immature and ridiculous. Why has it become so commonplace in the videogame-world to call things within it overrated?
It's a last-resort for many people. You don't have to like every game and system that comes out, but to just casually say something is overrated is so lazy and immature. It's like someone having to get the last word in during an argument. If someone says something is overrated, it's difficult to argue against him or her because he or she is presenting a subjective belief as an objective truth.
Videogames and game-consoles are difficult to make, and so to say one of these is overrated is very immature and disrespectful; as if months and years of work can be summarily waved away and marginalized in an instant by an armchair-critic.
When did critics emerge? It's when art became commercialized. You may have to buy a ticket to enter an art-museum, but you don't have to pay to look at each individual painting. You do, however, have to pay for each individual movie or videogame. Critics emerged for the general public's benefit - to protect the hard-earned money of the populace. The one and only purpose of professional criticism of media should be to help the general public.
The Wii U was a marker of a certain time in my life, and it brought me great joy. It is one of my favorite game-consoles of all time. I spent more money on buying games for it than any other gaming-platform. With all these elements taken into consideration, it really bothers me when someone calls Wii U overrated. It's like if someone came up to you and said your significant other was overrated because his or her spouse was 'objectively' better. It's asinine.
If we want videogames to be more than toys for children, we have got to ascend beyond objectifying games and ascend into the philosophy of looking at them as experiences and valuing the feeling they give us, rather than objectively analyzing them for what kind of objective 'value' they provide.
'Overrated' is one of the most repulsive words in the English language. The videogame-sector of society is probably where it is used the most. I have never someone saying a movie was overrated. Do people call Citizen Kane overrated? What if people called an apple overrated? That would sound terribly immature and ridiculous. Why has it become so commonplace in the videogame-world to call things within it overrated?
It's a last-resort for many people. You don't have to like every game and system that comes out, but to just casually say something is overrated is so lazy and immature. It's like someone having to get the last word in during an argument. If someone says something is overrated, it's difficult to argue against him or her because he or she is presenting a subjective belief as an objective truth.
Videogames and game-consoles are difficult to make, and so to say one of these is overrated is very immature and disrespectful; as if months and years of work can be summarily waved away and marginalized in an instant by an armchair-critic.
When did critics emerge? It's when art became commercialized. You may have to buy a ticket to enter an art-museum, but you don't have to pay to look at each individual painting. You do, however, have to pay for each individual movie or videogame. Critics emerged for the general public's benefit - to protect the hard-earned money of the populace. The one and only purpose of professional criticism of media should be to help the general public.
Comments
Post a Comment