(no subject)

[olivermoss]

* One thing that makes it tricky to buy horror games unless you are really, really plugged in is that the review scores can be very skewed by external factors and people actually playing the game might not be the core or intended audience. Horror game streaming is so huge, and some of the biggest YTers made there careers off of it, that some games are made for streamers. Some have a weird symbiosis with lore videos and other content creation. Some are part of a scene, like Backrooms or Slenderman games.

Which is a lot of words to say that I am very grateful for Steam's return policy sometimes. I returned Fears To Fathom and watched Insym's LP to finish the game and was very quickly 'oh, okay, NOW I get what this game is'

* Related: I've been meaning to make lists of my favorite shows / movies / etc for my own mental reference. I might make a post of my favorite horror games. Some horror games, like Inscryption, have made for the best gaming experiences I've ever had. There is a reason why I rummage in that category. But sometimes I am all 'what is this? I don't get it... but it clearly has a following...'

*

Some BG3 drama that is safe for work and doesn't really contain spoilers. Cut to spare you the dumb.

The short version: The current drama that people are currently trying to make into the 'the next Anders level wank, at last' involves...

- A game state that you can only get by sequence breaking. People are trying to argue that it's canon when the most popular way to get this save state is by abusing a known bug.

- Datamined dialogue that is not in the game and has no sound files associated with it. The dialogue assumes a canonical save state and my theory is that it's a possible end run around people trying to break the game. It would tidy up the game state at the end of act 2 and create an act 3 where the dialogues and questlines make sense. But, crucially... wait, is it a more crucial point that it's not actually in the game or... how to phrase this... You can't build a good faith meta out of this dialogue + a non canon state because the dialogue assumes canon events. Putting them together is putting together things from two separate timeless. Like imagine getting mad at Spock for what Spock-from-someone's-fanfic did? And how that would impact a story no one's actually written.

Anyway for some reason despite people banging wardrums that this is it, this is going to be the defining wank of the fandom... it's just not catching on. Like, there are additional layers to why this is just not taking off but, yeah.

The long version would be very long, and dumber, and would involve explaining all the ways the meta ignores canon.

Comments

[mistressofmuses]

It makes sense that the popularity of horror streaming and letsplays and such would impact the market... but I can see that being frustrating when you're looking for games that aren't necessarily trying to be the next streamer hit.

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Surely they'll find SOME wank that will stick, right? Gotta just keep trying, right?

(I've seen people talking a little about some of those scrounged up bits of dialogue and such in the gamefiles, but fortunately I've missed seeing WANK around it.)

[olivermoss]

Being streamed is a major source of discoverability for horror games. A lot of the top games blew up from streams. When Steam has demo events, watching people try the demos is a big thing. Horror is really effected by streamers and other content creators. It makes the indie horror scene a mess because stuff designed for streamers will get picked up and reviewed well to keep the supply coming. Or, sometimes, people will want to play first hand what they saw on stream even if it was a mess designed to be meme fodder.

Some people are just chomping at the bit for wank to sink their teeth into. But yeah, that is just not sticking.

[mistressofmuses]

While I certainly can't be *mad* at that sort of discoverability existing and bringing success to the teams that make these games... it does frustrate me a bit that courting that *specific* appeal has become so prominent. There's nothing wrong with content that suits that format, but it's often not actually the type of game that appeals to me. It does turn into that feedback loop of "this streams well, so we'll promote it" and "games that stream well get promo'd, so that's what we'll make."
It feels like the same mentality that goes into artists making music that is *designed* to be a tiktok sound. Throw everything into a thirty second blip that'll work well for people to make their own videos to, and treat the rest of the song as filler, because all you need is that one bit to get popular on the platform.

I want stuff that's good all the way through, not meant to just be a platform for someone else to make popular!

It's at least a little bit funny to watch people just throwing all the wank spaghetti at the wall and failing to have any of it stick.

[olivermoss]

I like watching horror streams, especially during Steam demo events. I don't want to paw through all those games. I want someone else to do it while I either watch or use it as background noise. Games having communities is cool, but there needs to be a way to distinguish them... outside of watching streamers. But if a game is meant to be part of community thing or is meant for streamers, the game itself isn't even a complete product. It's meant to power something else or be part of a larger conversation about backrooms.

I'm not surprised that is happening in music, with Tiktok as big as it is. I am just very unfamiliar with current music stuff unless Tod In The Shadows makes a video about it. I know that making music that would be good re-purposed in a TV ad used to be a thing.

[mistressofmuses]

There are plenty of games that I don't have the time or interest to play, and while I don't really watch streams, I do enjoy letsplays as background noise, or sometimes just like watching a playthrough more than I would doing it on my own.
And same - I'm happy for games to have communities and sprawling lore and things... but I really do want those things to be marked. (OR they need to still stand on their own well enough to serve as a jumping in point to that bigger thing, but that's hard to pull off in a way that works for both a new audience and one that's familiar with the wider source.)
It feels kinda crappy to have games that you can only discern whether you'll like them (or even some basic things like "is this actually a standalone game") by watching streamers... and games designed purely to be played by streamers.

That really is the crux of it, though... I tend to want to play games that are themselves a complete product. (Sure, indie games have things that are released in chapters or parts, but that's not the same thing.) I want to listen to music that's intended to be something more than a ten or thirty second repeated clip. If I pick up a book that's actually a tie-in to a bigger franchise, I'd want it to be labeled as such! (They generally are, but it feels like a similar thing.)

Lmao, Todd in the Shadows remains my biggest connection to the world of pop music, not gonna lie. When I worked at the bakery I heard a lot more current music, but that hasn't been the case for years, ha. If it plays on the alt charts I probably hear it, but not otherwise.

Oh yeah! Writing songs that could work as ad jingles was such a thing! And still is, I assume. Every time I hear a song in an ad that I know from elsewhere (if it's a recent song) I side-eye it and wonder if it was intended for that from the start, ha.

Utter tangent, but it does make me laugh when ads use songs that feel completely inappropriate for the subject. Currently the religious hospitals in our area are going through a big rebranding under some new name, and they've got a bunch of ads about it. The commercials are all about great health outcomes and people going on to do great stuff with a bunch of hashtag-blessed hashtag-godisgood sort of vibes. And there's a really enthusiastic upbeat song in the background... except I've heard that song in full, and it's about a hookup. It's funny to hear a religious organization advertising to a song with a line about liking watching someone's ass shake.

[olivermoss]

I mostly use LPs for games I can't finish, like Alan Wake with it's intense light mechanics. I enjoy twitch, it's scheduled and moderated interaction about specific games.

Deep lore and content focused communities are great, but yeah on steam it's never said in the descrip or the reviews!

A few Todd videos have been really good explainers about what is going on. I wish I was into at least some modern music. I always feel like there is still I'd like if I was familiar with the current major bands. But when something baffling happens like a song gets popular because its a former Disney child actor basically announcing a break up, watching his videos is like a reality check. (I still never get Taylor Swift's massive popularity, her stuff sounds so generic to me. Buy, maybe that's it? She just reflects the current vibe? IDK)

Yeah, recognizing songs in ads is weird sometimes, but it's been a long time since I had the experience. Don't know the tunes, rarely hear those sorts of ads.

[mistressofmuses]

I like letsplays for games I don't have a system to play, or for alternate routes on a game with varying endings, if I don't want to play through the whole game repeatedly for them. Or games I just don't enjoy the mechanics of/suck too bad at, ha. I can definitely understand it as accessibility for some games.

Right? It shouldn't be that big an ask to have things listed as being part of some sprawling lore monster. I even can be pretty into some of that stuff, but I want to know that's what it is before I get into it, and I don't know why it's treated like it should be kept secret!

I appreciate Todd's reviews because they are so good for context. Same with some of the older stuff he looks at, like the one-hit wonderland or the one-off ones about songs from years past. I like seeing the context about what was or is going on in music that this particular song is a part of or a response to. It's stuff that I find interesting, but often don't feel like I have a good handle on at the time that it's going on - I'm just not interested enough in the industry itself and I don't listen widely enough to catch the trends unless they're *really* obvious.
There are a handful of Taylor Swift's songs that I like well enough - like, they're catchy enough pop tunes that sound *fine* - but her stuff has just never been something I'd seek out more of or really choose to listen to. I especially don't get the mega fandom she has. Considering just HOW vast and intense her fandom is, I guess maybe it is just encapsulating the "vibe of now" in a way no one else has managed. Her image has evolved along with her audience in a way that a lot of artists don't really seem to succeed at.

I try to insulate myself from ads fairly well, but still get them via streaming.

[olivermoss]

I tend to know the context on older songs. It's Todd's coverage of recent stuff that is baffling and enlightening to me. Especially people blowing up out of nowhere because they were teen actors on Disney channel shows. I like that he's covering the modern country scene a bit, especially because it feels like modern country is starting to suck a little less? Modern country was a trainwreck for a while, just pandering plus 90s Soft Rock vibes. Nothing about the actual music or singing even sounded country for so long.

Yeah, that's a good point about Taylor Swift. Most artists lose their audience as they evolve/change. For fans there is probably just something to having been a Swiftie for so long.

[mistressofmuses]

Oh yeah... finding out that some "out of nowhere" star was actually a Disney channel actor (or has a lot of familial connections within the industry, or both!) definitely explains some stuff that otherwise seems inscrutable. The modern country stuff is a bit interesting too, because you're right: it does kind of seem like we're moving past the post-911 guns-beer-trucks-freedumb sound. The artists still pushing that sound and content seem to be treated as a bit more out of touch with currently popular stuff.

Yeah, either they change their style and sound really strongly and mostly find a new audience that keeps them popular, or the changes mean their popularity wanes. Taylor Swift has managed to keep most of her original audience AND gain more, which is kind of a rarity.

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> One thing that makes it tricky to buy horror games unless you are really, really plugged in is that the review scores can be very skewed by external factors and people actually playing the game might not be the core or intended audience.<<

Watch for text reviews that cite specific reasons for liking or disliking a game. You might need to visit a review site or watch for a game blogger whose tastes match your own.

For board games, I have found it very helpful to check Board Game Geek for descriptions, mechanics, and playthrough videos. Likely there is something similar for video games.