Lott's Lovely Limerick Smackdown
Nachdem Gunnar Lott im Rahmen eines Interviews unlängst Video Game Tourism Massenuntauglichkeit vorgeworfen hat, möchte ich hier nun den Beweis derselben antreten.
In Form von Limericks. Soll ja keiner sagen, ich würde nicht Wort halten.
A man called Lott had plenty to say
About blogging and style and the way
We handle such matters on VGT.
I'll take the time to respond, you see,
As it's a welcome chance for wordplay.
Though you might of course scoff
Because my meter is off
My rhymes are not clean
and my lines far from lean,
Well, I'm not here to show off
Nor am I the main attraction
Of the site, and I offer reflection
Not to build animosity
With my bumbling verbosity
But to offer my humble reaction.
The complaint, it is one of style
which excludes and has failed to beguile
Gamers, who’d read us more
If only we didn't choose to bore
Them with high-brow academic wiles
What I infer from the aside:
Our writing spells "Access denied"
And drives away those who might
Appreciate our ideas in spite
Of the style, which they cannot abide.
So why preach to the choir and stay trapped
In this niche, when we could have the public in rapt
Attention to our every word?
If we'd stop being absurd
Just accept compromise - change and adapt?
Well let me tell you how I feel
About mass-market appeal:
It's what publishers do
Who hope to accrue
Cash with their wide audience ideal.
Five million copies - unrealistic projection,
"Something for everyone!", the artistic direction -
I'm not everyone! And my tastes are specific
but usually ignored. Well, ain’t that terrific.
Is piling stuff on really the road to perfection?
Do we really need more distractions?
And built-in microtransactions?
A coop mode to play with a friend,
and on their schedule or dumb bots depend?
You might soon hear objections.
And notice with dejection
The general public's reaction
That everybody's not interested in your mess
Bland and whitewashed and, I should stress
Sketched around financial abstraction...
You may find it striking, or even indicting
That I talk of such things unrelated to writing.
But the connection is there
If only you'll bear
With me as I get to describing:
Creative focus is bought at the cost
Of alienating the players you've lost
With choosing A over B
When both and C, D and E
Would have appealed to many and most.
"But to somebody you will have to appeal
You serve an audience, imagined or real
And a text that pleases only you
But nobody else will simply not do
To read your scrivenings should be no ordeal."
But where to draw the line
Between a text that is mine
And selling out
Gathering clout?
(Which, admittedly, is also just fine.)
Though I would prefer
With caution to err
On the intellectual side
Of this great big divide
Even if I should readers deter.
I don't aim to boast, but when I took up this post
As regular co-host, I did it because I found most
Local offerings lacking at best -
I did not feel rightly addressed
As shown in the questions proposed:
They ask: “How does it play?
Is the balancing okay?
The graphics quite pretty?
The one-liners witty?
Worth its money, would you say?”
When I'd sooner ask: “Well, what does it mean?
And have you noticed this rather peculiar scene?
The philosophies expressed
In this little sidequest?
How opinions conflict and worldviews convene?”
I don't mean to sound snide
As I frame this divide -
Either set is fine.
But the latter is mine
That most blogs would not provide.
That a text should be easy to read
Is a point I'll gladly concede.
But I prefer academics
Over simple polemics
And the lack of wits makes my heart bleed.
It's nice to entertain
But I'd sooner reach your brain
Smash preconceived notions
Break cult-like devotions
And generally be a right pain
In the side of this medium,
Cry foul over its tedium,
Provide decency classes
To the ignorant masses.
(Everything past that is premium.)
Perhaps the service is too bold
To be marketed or sold?
I don't hope to be liked
When my writing is spiked
With righteous fury untold.
Forgive the aggrandizing speech
I know of my limited reach -
Would not keep it that way
If I had my say
But still: I'd sooner preach
On the issues that matter
Instead of general chatter,
Be sharply critical
Appropriately analytical
And never write just to flatter.
Now you know how I feel
About mass-market appeal
And how the game
of gathering fame
Is a deal I won't readily seal.
Samstag, Juni 1, 2013 - 11:54