Sickday:"Adult with interesting perspective" = Carrie sniffing about authenticity.
I'm a huge Sleater-Kinney fan, but man did I hate her tone here. I'm over 30, but it's always amazing to me to find that people just a few years older than me have this ridiculous gripe about games and 'the real'. There's so much to talk about in terms of the pure joy of musical mechanics, of mastering something complex -- of why doing something in time is fun and can set your brain on fire. Instead I got a story about how the marketing guy was lame (sigh) and how games keep people apart. It's like arguing that DDR is inferior to the pure, windswept beauty of dancing alone on a desert road. I mean, sure, but in DDR there's a score. You can get combos. Doing the crossword is inferior to reading the Great Gatsby, too, huh?
Christ, are Xers going to be this crotchety and romantic in their old ages?
Great post, Sickday--it reflects precisely the same response I felt upon reading this. I too loved S-K back in the day, but Brownstein's tone throughout this article could easily be taken as sneering and dismissive. So she doesn't "get" videogames, or doesn't hold them to be any great shakes. So what? Comically, back when I was in school and tried to learn guitar, one of the first and only songs I could ever manage to play competently was S-K's own "Good Things" from "Call the Doctor". I will tell you all without shame that I straight up sucked. I have severely damaged the ligament structure in my hands and fingers through years of basketball (post player/rebound machine), martial arts (shotokan) and rugby (prop), so my technique was never any good b/c I simply couldn't get past my inherent physical limitations. Still, I could pretty well nail that thing, so, really, I have to question just how advanced their own song structure and abilities were. They were a simple three-piece post-punk outfit; there were no Randy Rhodeses, Joe Satrianis or Yngwie Malmsteens in Sleater-Kinney. So, that right there cuts against the somewhat arrogant approach she takes.
While I have a PS3 and a 360, I will not be buying Rock Band or GH3 or any of their ilk. That said, it's not because I look down on those games, it's just because I think other games (namely sports games and shooters) are more fun and more worthy of my time, and I also hate shelling out big bucks for specialized novelty controllers. Would people be better served by dedicating time spent playing Rock Band to actually learning an instrument? Possibly. There is a cost-benefit analysis to be conducted in each individual's case; for most casual players, it seems self-evident that Rock Band will cost a fraction of the price of a decent real instrument, nevermind the outlandish expense of lessons, which from my experience were typically in the neighborhood of $50/hour where I went to school (Madison, WI). Plus, it takes a long time for adults to pick up the ins and outs and instruments. If I had kids, I would push them towards the real thing, but its really folly to presume that a typical American adult, with a job (remembering that Americans work more hours per capita than any other industrialized nation on earth save South Korea), a mortgage, a dog, maybe kids, whatever, has the time and money needed to become competent with a guitar, bass, whatever. If it were that easy, I suspect there would be very few "professional" musicians making a living practicing their art (who would need them any longer?), so they should be grateful for the learning curve.
Is it as cool as the real thing? Nah, I suppose not. Like I said, I played b-ball for years and was pretty decent--good enough to start or serve as sixth man for some decent organized teams, some of which won conference championships. Do I still play the "NBA 2k" series when the mood strikes? You'd better believe it. I stopped growing at 6', and am stocky as can be. I have never performed an unassisted dunk (one not involving either a short rim or the use of a close wall or trampoline) in my life, and having now passed 30, I have no hope that I ever will. So being able temporarily control a D-Wade or AI or KG, and throw down all kinds of well choreographed and animated dunks, is a blast. Similarly, my friends all work. All of them. Unlike certain Special Musician People, none of us have the luxury of a bohemian existence. So, being able to easily get together with a buddy, in person or on XBLive, and instantly play a game or two, without having to beg, intimidate or cajole a critical mass of other players into showing up, is a real boon. Someone else talked about how their friends who were into martial arts always preferred a real match to a videogame. Well, I suppose. But is that to say none of them ever stooped to playing a SFII, Tekken or Virtua Fighter? I highly doubt it. Even if you were the biggest MA fanatic on Earth, your body can only withstand so much. If your friends are just competing in the silly and pointless kata routines advanced by many of the shyster MA organizations in this country, sure, they could do that all day into their 80s. But if they are practically real kumite, against competent opponents, this is only slightly less taxing on a body than boxing. I used to wake up after intense sparring bouts with my entire upper body covered with sickly-looking yellow bruises. Once a gf of mine saw these and actually cried. Some days it would take me half an hour just to get out of bed. It was fun as hell back in the day, but nowadays, with a demanding job and a slowing immune system, I think I'll be content with some VF5, thank you.
Also, to those who complain about how videogames are killing other media, well, maybe the other media sucks. I would submit that most gamers are well aware of their alternative entertainment options, but choose gaming above television, film or books because they find the experience more rewarding. There is a growing stack of evidence which strongly suggests that games far exceed passive viewing in terms of tangible benefits like hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills, logical problem solving, and spatial perception. I would refer those interested to the study conducted by Beth-Israel a couple of years ago which found that game-playing surgeons conducted operations more quickly and with less errors than their non-playing brethren. Besides, there is no law saying you can't have your fingers in all these pots, as many of us do.
A nice enough concept for a review, and the choice of reviewer was pure gold on paper, but this was really poorly executed. Most audiences don't like to be talked down at, especially by those who are essentially neophytes at the subject matter in question, as Ms. Brownstein plainly is.
