You Meet the Nicest People Making Videogames

in that case, please provide a list of reasons that justify a person making a game.

no, i'd say it's pretty relevant.

i'm sorry that swear words get in the way of your understanding of a point.

i have an idea, let's just use kindergarten rhetoric.

you are a big poopie head.

I guess it helps you feel better about yourself, because you get to enact your rage on others… so in that way it's relevant.

But as to the discussion about whether or not Anna is a hypocrite, not really.

Irony… gotta love it.

That's just more of the same, I'm afraid. I'm asking you to actually think out your argument and present it honestly, rather than trying to intimidate others into agreeing with you.

Again, I don't think the bullying tactics really help the situation.

I didn't suggest you didn't feel fine about yourself, I imagine you feel quite proud of yourself actually.

naturally, that's how!

it's a man, man!

being belligerent invalidates a point now, or what?

“I didn't suggest you didn't feel fine about yourself”
“I guess it helps you feel better about yourself”

why would i be posting comments on the internets to make myself feel better if i already felt fine?

your logic doesn't follow through.

your analogy is flawed.
this isn't about gender, it's about trust.

self-identification…

seriously guy, are you trolling?

fuck!

The only difference between Redder and a frustration platformer is Redder's lack of challenge in execution: it's too fucking boring to be frustrating. I actually stopped playing it out of a lack of anything remotely stimulating. I mean, COLORED SWITCHES THAT TOGGLE COLORED PLATFORMS? NEVER SEEN THAT DONE IN A VIDYA BEFORE. That's beside the point, though. The important part is that Redder has less mechanical complexity than games made 20 years ago, as do most of Anna's games.

Response to p.s.: You've misinterpreted the definition of “depth”. No, I don't think Braid is the pinnacle of storytelling in games. Hell, “storytelling” in games has nothing to do with my previous post at all. I was talking about whether or not Anna's games cut the mustard in terms of depth and mechanics, and they don't, for the reasons I've described.

maybe you can self-identify as an extinct species.

learn what the term transgendered means before you try to use it.

The truth is, man, that “storytelling” is taken far too seriously in video game writings. This is because video games are not “media”, but “simulations”. Video games simulate worlds with rules and possibility spaces simpler than our own. A player is allowed to do whatever he wants to within the rules of the simulated world. And so there really is no “story” to a simulation. The “story” is what the player does within the simulation, an account of the actions the player took during his time inside (likely told by the player to his friends at the 7-11 a few hours later). The developer doesn't tell a story at all.

Anna's concept of “storytelling” in games involves using game design to “suggest” emotions and ideas to players. And it's not an entirely shitty way to add to a game, in the way that the “practical jokes” I mentioned in my first post are funny and clever the first time you see them. But there are so many ways to improve on a game before resorting to petty little “look what I did here” puzzles with obvious answers, that the effort and theories she's devoting to the suggestions put forth by the first two screens of Super Mario Bros are practically absurd. Note that there is a fuck of a lot more to SMB than she's analyzed, or would probably see fit to analyze: all she cares about are that the first two fucking screens constitute a funny little mini-tutorial. Some games don't force themselves down your throat. Some games leave parts of their mechanics to be discovered. Do the level design parlor tricks of “Monuments of Mars” make the likes of Imperishable Night or Monster Hunter any less awesome? Anna, who says that STGs (“shmups”) are a “dead genre” because they have evolved to appeal primarily to the people who ENJOY PLAYING STGs, would answer with a resounding “yes”.

And it's that kind of idiotic logic that's kept her games an uninteresting wasteland of MEANINGFUL shitty little one-screen level design jokes, ever since the utter shitshow known as “Calamity Annie” was met with unbridled praise for including a scene where you light a cigarette by clicking on it.

I'm going to optimistically assume that the transphobic bigotry here is due to simple ignorance and not raging fuckwittery.

Transsexualism is not a psychological problem. It is physiological. There are significant structural differences between male and female brains, and transsexuals have been found to have brains physically matching their self-identified gender. When a transsexual says “I'm a woman's brain trapped in a man's body,” that is the literal, medical truth. It is not a delusion, and “attention” is the last thing most transsexuals want.

Sources for medical evidence:
http://jcem.endojournals.org/cgi/content/full/8…
http://www.hawaii.edu/hivandaids/Sexual_Differe…
http://brain.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abs…

Also, http://www.transsexual.org/ is a poorly-laid-out but very informative site about transsexuality for laymen.

If anyone would like to seriously discuss this, feel free to message me on the forums as “Phasma Felis”, because I'm sure as fuck not reading this sewer anymore.

What the hell does any of this have to do with video games?

Y'know, no matter what side of this argument you're on, and this is not directed at anyone in particular, it's important to remember that this kind of negativity never accomplished anything worthwhile. So you think Anthropy is a fraud? Well chances are that no amount of negative commentary, no matter how well constructed or correct it is, is going to change the mind of anyone who disagrees. Same thing on the other side, if you think someone's a close minded bigot, then what makes you think you can ever present your argument in a way that will get into the closed mind? In cases like this, the best thing you can usually do is ignore and walk away. I'm not saying negative CRITICISM, or criticism of any kind, isn't worthwhile. But the only real criticism I read here, good or bad, is about the camera the clip was shot on, and how it compares to the one used in Indie Game: The Movie. The reality is that people are beginning to get this view of the indie game community as being a bunch of snobs, for right or wrong. And the arguing and trolling (some of it HAS to be) that we've got here, it just reinforces that. If I was someone just learning about indie gaming, and I came to this site, and read these comments, I wouldn't want to be a part of this community, because it comes off as being a group of people who, when they disagree on something, start pounding out the best witty insults they can think of. People tend to think that the things you say online don't matter, but it puts forth a tone and image that makes people seem unapproachable at best, and mean, rude people at worst. Whatever happened to “To each his own”?

Again, I'm not posting this comment to bag on anyone in particular, or the group as a whole. I'm a pretty peaceful guy, I don't usually ever have need to argue with anyone. At the end of the day I hope you ALL are happy and enjoying yourselves, because that's what drew me to indie gaming in the first place, that it was a community of people who got so much joy out of a common passion. When it starts turning into a fight, maybe it's time to reevaluate your motivation for being part of this community? I don't know. Be happy, guys, it's a lot more fun than being pissed off.

I could say the same to you. :)

Disallow anonymous comments then. Tie it to forum accounts.

YES. I think a bunch of mildly reasonable people just flat out ignored this blog post because they didn't want to be part of the reekingly awful comments.

I seriously can't believe that everyone got their panties in a bunch about someone's gender identity. Seriously. MILES OF ANGRY DISCUSSION.

You guys!

Talk about games or something.

again, it has nothing to do with tubby here wishing he was a little girl, it's about him being a liar! and i'm sure nobody would give a shit if it wasn't for the whole S&M lesbian bullshit which just makes him so annoying and fake.

that said, i'm willing to bet that it's not his gender he is unhappy with with but either his self or body image, or both, and if he has been for a long enough period of time, some kind of mental instability was bound to occur – although i honestly don't think for a second he actually believes he's a woman or transgendered.

but how can i be happy if ancil is lying to me?