I’m not a twitchgamer. To be honest, I’m not sure I even know how to turn on my kids’ XBox 360, and when it is turned on, I’ve proven repeatedly that I don’t understand the controls. My kids don’t seem to mind this when we’re playing Halo 3 for some reason. Apparently having a combat patsy who routinely runs off the edges of cliffs and whatnot is entertaining.
Anyway, my buddy PineTar over at the Front Office Baseball League recently turned me on to game reviewer Yahtzee Croshaw’s video reports for the Escapist.
I know almost nothing about forthcoming finger-twitch console games. I care even less than that (except, you know, when I’m plunking down $60 for Bioshock because my kids just have to have it), but I can watch Croshaw’s reviews of games I don’t give two squirts about because they transcend topic.
They’re odd, funny, creative, smart and very, very droll.* Croshaw’s strength is that he makes twitch-games accessible and interesting to even non-twitchers by placing them in a larger historical context. His reviews are as much about video game culture as they are about the games themselves. Throw in some witty, low-res animations, and you’ve got entertainment gold.
Check out his current review for the new Medal of Honor game ( and no, I don’t have any idea what that means) to see what I’m talking about.
The point here for writers is that while quality content is essential to keep a core audience — no matter how witty Croshaw might be, hardcore twitchers would absolutely kill him if he didn’t have a firm hand on the gaming industry — attracting new fans is often more about style and presentation. This may seem like an obvious point in a society driven by visual stimuli and ubiquitous advertising, but too often, writers get trapped into falling in love with the emotional and psychological depth of our works of staggering genius.
Writing a novel takes time, effort and patience but there’s a huge payoff at the end. The hackneyed analogy between writing a novel and giving birth isn’t accidental. What writers tend to forget is that novels aren’t about your brilliance, your insight or the Mind-Bargling, Soul-Smashing, Universal-Heart-Glimpsing Truth.
They’re entertainment.
If the reader picks up a Mind-Bargling Truth in the process, that’s just a bonus. Because all they really want is to be entertained.
* Cuz he’s British, I’m guessing. Brits are required by English Common Law stretching all the way back to the Magna Carta to be droll whenever possible — in much the same way that Yankees fans are required to be asshats.
Filed under: Blooks and Blognovel Analysis
