Growing Pains in Art Criticism 2: Games and Writing

I think it goes without saying that I'm not an expert at this. By "this", I mean this whole "person writing art criticism online." I don't have any sort of formal background in critique, didn't pursue a major in journalism or film studies, or even write for any publications. Truly, I am a rank amateur. That obviously doesn't stop me from trying, though.

It should be said that I quickly realized that just because I have the will to try, it doesn't mean that my results would be anything of quality. I'm certain readers of this blog have seen that in some of my...less sophisticated work, but I view it all as a learning and growing process. Thankfully, I feel that I've grown quite a bit, writing-wise, as I'm able to form better constructed ideas, right off the cuff. Unfortunately, this has pretty much only around film and television, while only touching on video games and music, and not even beginning to really mention books.

The truth of the matter is that I'm more comfortable writing about film and television, as the language of those visual mediums is much more decipherable, for me. If I'm to be honest, books are up there, too, but I read far fewer than I should. Music is something I've been involved with my whole life, so there's some level of coherence in what I can say about it. With regards to video games, though, there's a real challenge.

My typical approach to talking about games is more in line with the way many reviews have been written: give a brief description of the general plot and then talk at length about the mechanics, and maybe touch on how the relate to the overall narrative. In no way do I consider that a bad model, yet I'm inclined to think I'm limiting myself in some regard. That's a bit ironic considering the everything-and-the-kitchen-sink model I tend to emulate. That leads me to want to pursue something more focused.

Very often, video games are born out of a single idea or mechanic that's then explored, in some way, via aesthetics and mechanics. I want to focus on that. What is the core idea in a game I'm talking about? In asking that question, I'm certain I'll find myself looping back around to the mechanics. It may take on a different appearance from what I've typically written, but I'm sure that it will also be better.