Videogames are a relatively young medium, taken in comparison to most of their nearest peers. Even still, they’ve been around long enough to have a formula, and most games are variations on their formulas than do things to innovate and drastic changes about what a game could be. Veering too far from what players expect less often makes for a novel experience than it does make for a bad game. At least that’s the general belief, and one I think we’ll question for this Blogs of the Round Table. What makes a good game doesn’t have to follow this formula.
This month will be all about games with intentional elements that could be read as “bad.” Perhaps a graphics style that’s difficult to parse, or an extreme difficulty to introduce punishing or intentionally frustrating challenges. Perhaps a game that is by design not fun to play. Let’s aim our sights on games whose design eschews the formula, but succeeds. Or at least fails in interesting ways.
Can a game designed to be “bad” by traditional metrics still be a good game? Should games have to be fun to be good games? Can a game have intentionally awkward elements of design yet still be successful or an enjoyable game? Perhaps even a good experience anyway? Are there good “bad” games? Join the discussion and talk about a bad game that you love, or perhaps a game that is way better than it should be despite its failure to meet genre conventions or good game structures. Sell us on your best experience, or at least one you went in thinking you’d hate and came out of the other side changed!
- Blogs of the Round Table is not curated. If you write it, we’ll publish it, as long as it’s connected to the topic and has been written specially for BoRT or up to one month prior.
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