That click in your head: Jonathan Blow on un-fun games

[J T]

Jonathan Blow (the developer of Braid) is featured in this interesting interview that discusses whether fun is important for games and focuses on the role of discovery.

[jfrost]

Wow, he doesn't seem like a total douchebag in the video!

I agree with his point, fun is a poor word to describe. I guess you can have a lot of feelings toward a game that can make it seem "interesting", in the sense that you want to continue to do that. "Fun" sounds like it's just one of a very wide scope of things that can be interesting or intriguing in a game.

[disorderlyvision]

I thought he was pretty much just playing semantics with the word fun. Most people use the word 'fun' to imply that they enjoy a game. He used the example of some war game that he liked and played a lot but said it wasn't fun that it was grueling, due to the nature of the game. And followed that by talking about how different genres of movies make you experience different emotions. Just because you experience an emotion other than happy while playing a game or watching a movie does not mean that it isn't fun. Experiencing the emotion is part of the fun.

I did find interesting the bit on discovery, and sort of agree with his sentiments. A lot of modern games in-game tutorials and tips are excessive and it takes a lot of the challenge and satisfaction out of discovering how to do things on your own. I agree with that.

However, I think he is overlooking the fact that a lot of people don't want/need that 'satisfaction,' which is why things like the game genie and Gamefaqs are so popular. I think if you took all that out of the equation, and you could only play games without any outside help or in game tutorials, so that people had to figure every single thing out by themselves the game industry would lose a lot of business.

Personally, I try to figure everything out on my own because it does give me a sense of satisfaction, but there has been many times over the course of my life that I had to consult a strategy guide to solve a puzzle, beat a boss, or find a cheat code to do something like get unlimited ammo in GTA and go on an 5 star rampage.

I'm glad there are people that think like him in the game industry. It fills its role. Not every game needs to hold your hand... but sometimes its not a bad thing

[Ivo]

Thanks for the video, JT. I really liked Braid and I like reading his stuff, also liked the interviews.

Wow, he doesn't seem like a total douchebag in the video!

(...)

I actually never quite got why people have this type of opinion of him. I actually think he is quite a nice guy from what I've read from him.

Ivo.

[jfrost]

Thanks for the video, JT. I really liked Braid and I like reading his stuff, also liked the interviews.

Wow, he doesn't seem like a total douchebag in the video!

(...)

I actually never quite got why people have this type of opinion of him. I actually think he is quite a nice guy from what I've read from him.

Ivo.

It's the professoral and confrontational tone he sometimes adopts, specially when people comment his work in ways he doesn't agree with.

[Ivo]

It's the professoral and confrontational tone he sometimes adopts, specially when people comment his work in ways he doesn't agree with.

But if he knows exactly what he meant and people are saying he meant something else, surely he actually has the right to correct them stating that their interpretation is wrong. I don't remember any instance of him insulting anyone, for example.

Ivo.

[jfrost]

I believe art, including games, is an open conversation. You might mean something and still say something else. Interpretation doesn't really depend entirely on the author's intent.

Now, I kind of liked him in Indie Game: The Movie, and he did mention the fact that he always showed up at threads where his name came up.