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[NoblesseOblige]

We are still talking about DOOM here, right?

DOOM doesn't have visual elements?

 

[Tempy]

Polygon gonna be Polygon.

 

[Gattsu25]

yay hyperbole

Check out the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3pQ0oO_cDE

Count the number of times they use both analog sticks at the same time.

 

[hey_it's_that_dog]

So what if it's an inaccurate showing of the game, why do you care?

Do you work for ID?

If press outlets don't care about being accurate why do they even exist?

 

[Protein]

 

[Salsa]

So what if it's an inaccurate showing of the game, why do you care?

Do you work for ID?

great post lets all not care about anything its just vidyagames we all just monkey consumers

im actually john romero

 

[G_Berry]

the car analogy is the more accurate one here

I dont want an F1 driver reviewing a car, I want someone who can at least drive

this doesnt look like someone who plays games

Exactly. Yeah they may be hired for their writing chops first but they're writing about PLAYING games. How people are defending this is beyond me.

 

[robot]

I think the worst part is someone approved this and said "yea let's upload it" instead of saying "hmmm this kinda looks like we don't know how to play videogames... maybe we should film again with another person."

It's embarrassing.

 

[Dimmle]

shit man whats with this vendetta sentiment

the thread's about what the thread's about. where do I state otherwise? I ran into this thing and it caught my eye. given the response I wasnt in the wrong

do with it what you want. I think its fucking weird and never encountered something like it to this degree, is all

given Polygon not specifying anything about it in what ive found regarding who's playing it I only knew it came from them

I'm just discussing the topic and I happen to have an opposing viewpoint. There's no vendetta to worry about.

 

[Ban Puncher]

i think i need a pie chart explaining this

 

[Morrigan Stark]

a review is about someone's experience with a game and it's valuable to get many different points of view. it shouldn't be about finding the absolute objective review score for a game. not only is that a thing that cannot, will not and has never existed it would be a completely useless metric.

one of my favorite video game review type things has become the clueless gamer segments on conan. it's really interesting getting a layperson's perspective on games.

Well, the Conan clips are meant to be humourous. If the Polygon video was meant to be funny, as in "our writer is a first-time player of FPS, here's what happened!" kind of gag, I don't think anyone would have reacted the way they did...

This pie chart is actually too coherent for Polygon, I'm afraid. Try again!

 

[Jeffrey]

Is it even fair to 'judge' someone's play on a 'first 30min gameplay' footage?

Like I've been playing on a xb1 pad most of the past few years on pc, and my aiming in Uncharted 4 for the first hour or so was about as bad as it gets trying to get used to 30fps and those ps4 sticks again.


Like if this was the 'final mission' footage, then maybe you should be worried.

 

[Vyse The Legend]

yay hyperbole

Um. It's very clear from the gif, let alone the video, that the person is moving one stick at a time, which is baffling.

 

[Draeter]

I dont think a reviewer needs any more skill in games than your average joe, but this looks like it is the first time he/she is playing a shooter, or even a videogame. Theres no way one of the people who actually work at polygon made this. Come on.

 

[Bronetta]

y cant doom shoot?

 

[TemplaerDude]

Dunno why you guys give Polygon the time of day.

 

[TheTylerRob]

I can agree with this sentiment, yeah. But what's the possibility space of a Doom game? A continuum with "shooting poorly" on one side and "shooting well" on the other?

I think being able to move and shoot at the same time consistently is a pretty low bar.

 

[Salsa]

I'm just discussing the topic and I happen to have an opposing viewpoint. There's no vendetta to worry about.

I guess the Polygon hate is strong and some people might be tired of it? I never really got into that. I just think its hard to defend this in the way im presenting it, which isnt much more than "wtf is this"

 

[Movalpolos]

For what it's worth, the PC version lets you turn off the motion blur, the depth-of-field blur, the film grain, the chromatic aberration... if there's a graphical effect present that's bugging you, there's probably a way to nix it, right in the options menu.

Dunno how much of that carried over to the console versions, though.

You can completely turn off of motion blur or reduce it on consoles.
Consoles also have an FoV slider that goes to 110. Can also toggle off CA.

 

[JesseEwiak]

Exactly. Yeah they may be hired for their writing chops first but they're writing about PLAYING games. How people are defending this is beyond me.

Because not all of us only care about views from people with l33t skills.

I see nothing wrong with this - it looks a lot closer from what I see from a majority of people actually playing games than the hardcore base who all have perfect k/d ratios, can talk and play games on camera with zero issues, and never have incorrect knowledge about any video game ever.

 

[Scorpion Soldier]

So there needs to be a skill threshold for reviews?

In my opinion, absolutely. Not saying that the reviewer needs to be an expert in the genre, but a moderate sense of skill and experience should be standard, especially when you take in that reviewers also have to cover the difficulty scope of the game. You don't have to be able to finish the game on its hardest difficulty, but you should at least be able to finish it on the moderate/normal setting that covers the widest range of players.

 

[cackhyena]

Um, something is up here. I've seen plenty of people from that site stream or play stuff in videos and they're more than competent.

 

[akidnamededdy]

There are actually people in this topic trying to make the argument that it shouldn't matter if a professional game reviewer has any skill at actually playing games. This is a thing that is happening.

We deserve every ounce of bullshit the industry (devs and press alike) shovels down our throats if this is what it's come to.

 

[Jebusman]

a review is about someone's experience with a game and it's valuable to get many different points of view. it shouldn't be about finding the absolute objective review score for a game. not only is that a thing that cannot, will not and has never existed it would be a completely useless metric.

one of my favorite video game review type things has become the clueless gamer segments on conan. it's really interesting getting a layperson's perspective on games.

I mean yes, but at no point does Conan trying to convince you that he is a serious outlet for video game journalism or coverage. He's playing a game poorly, because he doesn't play video games, to get a laugh out of the audience.

Polygon, what is essentially supposed to be a focused video game outlet, recorded 30 minutes of someone who has apparently never played video games before, call it "DOOM GAMEPLAY - The First Thirty Minutes". and post it on their official Youtube account. There seems to be no intention of it being funny, or what. Just literally "Watch me be bad at Doom for 30 minutes. Oh yeah this is also acting as official content for our website"

They then proceeded to disable comments and likes/dislikes, likely due to the immense backlash they probably realised they were going to get. The subsequent video about Doom is now getting downvoted to hell in retribution.

 

[CharminUltra]

WOOD

 

[LUFTRAUSER]

I'm just discussing the topic and I happen to have an opposing viewpoint. There's no vendetta to worry about.

I'm worried that you even have that viewpoint. What makes you think that reviewing a game when you can't play it is a good thing? Would you trust a person that can't drive to review a sports car? Because just talking about a car isn't something we need a reviewer for. We need someone that can relay the experience. And that requires having some experience!

 

[Morrigan Stark]

DOOM doesn't have visual elements?

...Are you ignoring the fact that I highlighted "narrative" in your post?

Besides, no, you don't need mad skillz at a game to evaluate the visuals, but then again, a review or impressions need to deal with more than that, especially for a game that's pretty much a pure shooter.

 

[Pegasus Actual]

The biggest problem with Doom is the control setup, which is so incredibly awful it boggles the mind. With the Dual Shock controller, the left analog stick is used for moving Doom Guy around, and the right stick is used for turning and aiming your weapon. That right there is enough to make the control a major headache; I simply don’t know why you can’t handle strafing with one pair of the trigger buttons as in many other first-person shooters. Oh, wait, the reason for that is because the designers decided it would be a good idea to use every single other button on the controller for other things.

 

[partyphone]

Well, the Conan clips are meant to be humourous. If the Polygon video was meant to be funny, as in "our writer is a first-time player of FPS, here's what happened!" kind of gag, I don't think anyone would have reacted the way they did...

it doesn't need to be humorous to be valuable. people just straight up hate polygon and will use anything as wedge to be offended.

 

[OverBlood 3]

Um, something is up here. I've seen plenty of people from that site stream or play stuff in videos and they're more than competent.

Yep, the OTHER Polygon video is absolutely fine. It's just the 30 minute one the OP posted that is odd.

 

[MushroomSamba]

Exactly. Yeah they may be hired for their writing chops first but they're writing about PLAYING games. How people are defending this is beyond me.

Because you don't need to know how to play games when you review a videogame. You can have an opinion on the boxart. Or something. Yeah, the argument is kinda dumb.

 

[Bronetta]

Because not all of us only care about views from people with l33t skills.

I see nothing wrong with this - it looks a lot closer from what I see from a majority of people actually playing games than the hardcore base who all have perfect k/d ratios, can talk and play games on camera with zero issues, and never have incorrect knowledge about any video game ever.

Who said anything about 1337 skills? Is the minimum requirement of basic competence too much to ask for?

 

[Salsa]

Because not all of us only care about views from people with l33t skills.

I see nothing wrong with this - it looks a lot closer from what I see from a majority of people actually playing games than the hardcore base who all have perfect k/d ratios, can talk and play games on camera with zero issues, and never have incorrect knowledge about any video game ever.

man, I mean

you're talking two opposite extrmes

there's a middleground that's basically reached by having played an FPS before

this is one of those "oh I bet it aint so bad" videos till you watch it full

this is a person who doesnt play analog stick games or is having some serious outside issue

its not "OH so he's not a quickscope360 guy big whoop"

 

[hampig]

People should be allowed and encouraged to play whatever they want. They should also review whatever they want. I want reviews from total novices as well as pros. The whole point of reviews is to get a wide variety of perspectives on a game. Gamers should not be so obsessed with forming a critical narrative about a game.

Why would you want a review from somebody who can barely play the game? They wont be able to tell you if it's a well made game of it's type. You don't want bro mcbrodog reviewing bravely default.

 

[Mr. Nice_Guy]

So there needs to be a skill threshold for reviews?

5 pages in I know, but I feel the need to reiterate, absolutely yes. How can someone write a review on a game and give a thorough breakdown if they can't play it even remotely well? This is how games like The Wonderful 101 get a 7 something from IGN, with complaints about it's difficulty to control.

 

[robot]

They then proceeded to disable comments and likes/dislikes, likely due to the immense backlash they probably realised they were going to get.

The comments/ratings were disabled a few hours after the video was posted - it was well into the negative with all comments asking why they posted such a horribly played demonstration. It's clearly an issue and further evidence showing how far polygons head is shoved up it's own ass to realize what a joke they are.

 

[JesseEwiak]

There are actually people in this topic trying to make the argument that it shouldn't matter if a professional game reviewer has any skill at actually playing games. This is a thing that is happening.

We deserve every ounce of bullshit the industry (devs and press alike) shovels down our throats if this is what it's come to.

Give me a well written piece from somebody who knows a lot about games even if they aren't too great at actually playing the games over somebody Twitch streaming their awesome play any day of the week.

The only movie Roger Ebert ever made was a shlocky Roger Corman piece of crap. That doesn't mean his opinions on movies were invalid.

 

[MonkeyBloke]

are you serious? this is supposed to be someone who plays games for a living and he's struggling to shoot at an enemy who's literally right in front of him

No, this is someone who writes (or creates video or similar), it's a creative job, not a professional gamer.
You might expect a high level of skill from this person, but it isn't their job to play games. Thier job is journalism (or at least the enthusiast press version, not necessarily investigative reporting)

 

[Ducktail]

LMAO. My first reaction was : "who recorded my gf playing this?"

She can barely hold the controller properly.

 

[NoblesseOblige]

...Are you ignoring the fact that I highlighted "narrative" in your post?

Yep just like you ignored the relevant point (visuals) to highlight the irrelevant (narrative) in my post, opposed to having a more honest discourse in which you would have ignored the irrelevant to more aptly address the relevant. I stated previously I did not expect DOOM to have a narrative. I was not speaking exclusively of DOOM.

 

[JustenP88]

As a big fan of sports gaming, I've always taken reviewers/media members/whomever being terrible at playing the game in pre-release videos as a fact of life. It is what it is.

That said, it's really hard to enjoy a game you suck tremendously at. It could definitely influence bias, in my opinion.

 

[Dimmle]

I guess the Polygon hate is strong and some people might be tired of it? I never really got into that. I just think its hard to defend this in the way im presenting it, which isnt much more than "wtf is this"

It's bad play, for sure, but for a "first impressions" preview feature I don't think you need to be skillful or rehearsed. That's where our opinions split, I guess.

 

[Jebusman]

it doesn't need to be humorous to be valuable. people just straight up hate polygon and will use anything as wedge to be offended.

Literally every other video Polygon has done on Doom has been fine. This one is just straight bad. If any outlet had put out this kind of footage, I would still call it straight bad. It being Polygon has nothing to do with it.

It's bad play, for sure, but for a "first impressions" preview feature I don't think you need to be skillful or rehearsed. That's where our opinions split, I guess.

There's a difference between being skillful at a game in advance, and being capable of playing a shooter with a controller at all. It seems like this person is literally incapable of playing a video game with a controller. I would expect at least the barebones of ability.

 

[Doomshroom]

haha i watched 10 mins of this it was great.Its like looking at my wife playing 3D games

please we need more Gifs

 

[impact]

No, this is someone who writes (or creates video or similar), it's a creative job, not a professional gamer.
You might expect a high level of skill from this person, but it isn't their job to play games. Thier job is journalism (or at least the enthusiast press version, not necessarily investigative reporting)

It's their job to write.... about the games they play

 

[Zojirushi]

Waiting for Polygon to post an apology for the video.

 

[Smooth Operator]

No, this is someone who writes (or creates video or similar), it's a creative job, not a professional gamer.
You might expect a high level of skill from this person, but it isn't their job to play games. Thier job is journalism (or at least the enthusiast press version, not necessarily investigative reporting)

... And how are you supposed to write on video-games if you're not at least competent at it ?

It's like being a Football journalist and not understanding how you play Football.

 

[Salsa]

The only movie Roger Ebert ever made was a shlocky Roger Corman piece of crap. That doesn't mean his opinions on movies were invalid.

... how is this a valid comparison? no one's talking about developing a game?

a more valid comparison to this would be if Roger Ebert was reviewing a film and every 10 minutes he just randomly closed his eyes for a while or started blinking really fast or some shit

 

[SolidSnakex]

I feel like this isn't really anything Polygon specific though. For some reason so many sites tend to get people who - to put it bluntly - just don't seem to be too hot at games. And obviously as GAF is an enthusiast community with people who play some games for literally hundreds of hours, it can seem like people are utterly dreadful when this is quite reflective of a lot of people IRL.

But it does bum me out because you get situations like Mirror's Edge Catalyst, where early previews were giving some people haemorrhoids because the gameplay looked dreadful and then people actually played the beta and found that it was just people playing the game badly in preview footage.

Yeah, it's really not a Polygon specific thing. It's especially bad when it comes to racing games. This is from a video of someone at Gamespot playing GT6 at TGS

 

[T.O.P]

It looks like the bad guy just gives up and launches his own head off!

lmao