Why Logic doesn't matter (pt1)

Okay, today we're going to be looking at something different but similar. The reason I say that it's different than what I want to build as the normal MO for The Devil's Gamer, is that it doesn't involve me looking at a mostly maligned/praised individual product and trying to encourage open discussion by looking at it from the opposite side. Instead this is me looking at certain practices and mindsets that disgust me in modern game making/criticism/calculating, but I will be taking the opposite opinions of the majority anyway, so I guess that it's kind of similar. So without further ado...

Simcity 5 sells 1.1 million, despite launch issues

Now obviously I'm not saying that this is untrue, what I am saying is that this number doesn't matter. Now there could be many reasons why this number doesn't matter, it could be a useless number because the only reason that this would be heralded by its developer is to try and raise sales even higher. Which can't work when the problems that the game has faced have been so heavily publicized! Despite coming out within months of Aliens: Colonial Marines this game has faced more bad press than any other game in recent memory, it just flat doesn't work. 

Now yes, Maxis has been working to try and fix the game's numerous issues (which I would argue doesn't matter because they still shipped the damn thing broken) but that still isn't going to repair the damage that the game's bad PR has wrought. The game's lack of an offline feature, the smaller map size, certain aspects of the game being shut off when it was released, the various articles that document this still exist. Or maybe EA, who published the game, is trying to use this as a backhanded way of saying that despite the games faults, it still sold and therefore everyone needs to get off of their case. Well this isn't a useable metric of the games success for one term...

Pre-Orders.

The articles that say that Simcity 5 sold 1.1 million don't tell us how many of those were pre-orders. Now yes, some companies like to brag about their pre-order success as well, but in this case it could be used as a way of trying to stem the tides. "Look!" EA could say, "despite its problems the game still sold, so some people must have liked it!" A kind of way of saying "you should buy our game, because the market has spoken!" speaking of which...

"The Market has spoken" is bullshit!

I hate when I hear this on game forums, whenever someone talks about why we can't have non-hypersexualized female protagonists, or why shooter games have to stay grounded in the CoD mindset, or why certain series like Metal Gear Solid can't have a new protagonist. The stupid reflexive argument is always, "The market has spoken" and just leaving it at that. Guys, if you want Video Games to be taken as an art form, which I know that I want, you need to accept something.

IF "THE MARKET" WANTS SOMETHING, THEY ARE USUALLY WRONG!!!

"The Market" wants more of the same. "The Market" wants Solid Snake's story to continue, even though it was finished. "The Market" wants more Star Wars movies. "The Market" doesn't want Spec Ops: The Line, they don't want XCOM: Enemy Unknown, they don't want Skullgirls, they don't want FTL, they don't want Dishonored, they don't want "new. "The Market" wants Stagnation.

Now yes, sequels, continuations, side-stories, prequels, midquels, expansion packs, DLC, etc. have their place, but if "The Market" was all that mattered, it would be all that we have. Sometimes you have to accept that "The Market" is wrong. For example, Solid Snake should not have another game. His story is Finished. We've seen Big Boss, we've seen Snake fight Liquid, and we may not have seen it onscreen, but we know that he died. Another game makes his story worse, not better. I can certainly understand not wanting Raiden to be the continuation, but then it should just be a new protagonist, not the one who's story is finished. Sometimes "The Market" is wrong, you can't pander to them all the time, because that isn't Art.

To be continued

I've already gone on for far too long today, but I will finish this, either next post or the post after. Where we'll take a look at the numerous issues with game criticism.