Caltrops - We Love Katamari





	[quote name="in [semi-erudite] sophistry"][quote name="blackwater"]Maxis discovered that more accurate simulations were not more fun, which the goal of games (remember?) It's not a vast political plot to convert you to Ayn Rand's way of thinking. And people realize this. When Herman Cain proposed his flat tax rate, it was mocked as "the SimCity tax plan." People understand that this shit is not real. <font color="yellow">They don't need the Offenderati</font> to tell them that stealing cars is bad EVEN THOUGH GTA is all about stealing cars.[/quote][quote]A full discussion by an economist of why Simcity's tax code and economic model are inaccurate would be extremely boring to most people. Even a partial discussion that just touched on the high points would probably make most people close the tab pretty quickly. <font color="yellow">The solution isn't to write some clickbait piece</font> about how it's all a vast Libertarian/Republican/Democrat/Reptilian conspiracy, but to keep your mouth shut about things you don't understand or care about. If you don't care about economic modelling, don't write about it. And there will be less uninformed garbage on the tubes.[/quote][quote]I don't need a games journalist to tell me that dumb models of people as simple finite state machines are dumb. <font color="yellow">But is it fun? Does it fit with the mood of the game?</font> [/quote] Yes, of course, but this is preaching to the choir. The problem <i>is</i> their lack of reason for being. Imagine trying to explain your point to the guy who went to the ... god was it Rock Band, or Guitar Hero press event? Anyway, he spent the entire article rambling on about how it's boring, stupid, and beneath him. This is the crowd pushing a narrative that diversions are bad. "Fun" is not a worthy goal of a game. Everything has to be snared in miserable pearl clutching, and social study wank. The backbone is built on the upkeep of their own self-validation/image: <i>I'm an important cultural critic, industry vanguard, Think Piece scribe, and IT'S A REAL JOB, DAD!</i> [quote](assuming you believe games journalism should even exist any more.) [/quote]Certainly not in the form it has taken over the past dozen years. The IGNs, the Kokatus... that I've already long lived without already. [/quote]