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by watwut 4286 days ago
Maybe, just maybe those people brought Gone Home expecting a game by the old definition and were disappointed? The condescension towards actual gamers is getting more and more irritating. It is not users fault when he does not like the product.

I found user reviews more useful the professional when deciding what to buy. Professionals tend not to tell me what I need to know to decide and tend to like games I do not.
2 comments
ohgodgamergate 4286 days ago
You might not be aware of this, but (for some reason I don't fully understand) Gone Home became a target of the gamergate folk. This is definitely a case where I wouldn't trust user reviews, because there really was an army of trolls out to get the game.
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watwut 4286 days ago
Nonsense. Gone home had user score 5.4 in January[1] 5.3 in February[2] and then climbed back up to 5.4 and kept it till now. First #gamergate tweet ever happened in August 28.8.2014 [3].

So, if the gone home is target, #gamergate activity hardly budged its score.

[1] http://web.archive.org/web/20140122201259/http://www.metacri...

[2] http://web.archive.org/web/20140213065923/http://www.metacri...

[3] http://topsy.com/analytics?q1=gamergate&via=Topsy

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jcromartie 4286 days ago
> expecting a game … actual gamers

What's a "real game" and what is an "actual gamer" anyway?

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watwut 4286 days ago
Actual gamer is someone who plays games for pleasure e.g. the customer. I added the for pleasure so that game tester or somebody similar who do not like the games much but do it to pay food does not count as gamer.

I know that some people put more limits on the definition (minimum number of hours played, type of game etc), but I did not meant to do so for the purpose of my previous comment.

Real game for me would be something that requires more activity from player then just passively experiencing it. Either some skill based challenge or puzzle and possibility to fail or at least get week score.

Not a game is not necessary derogatory descriptor. I love reading and watching movies, but neither are games. Comics read on phone or laptop is not a game, but you click things to turn pages and occasionally have to think to put together clues. A thing can be interactive experience (e.g. not game) or whatever and still be fine.

I'm ok with the fact that there will by grey zone between games and non-games. If you say "X is somewhere between game and non-game" you still conveyed much more of useful information then as if you lump everything with pictures into large group "game".

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