Here are five massive hunks of words that intrigued me this year. I tried to put them in a sort-of-chronological order, but, as you’ll see, some of them are difficult to place (the first really spans a year). You’ll also see that I didn’t list all of these because they’re good– one of them is there in spite of being bad and one of them is there because it’s bad. Anyway, I’ll shut up so you can read them. Or about them. Whichever. Happy boxing day!

The Publications

The Round Table: Gender & Games. (1 2 3 4 5 6 7) and the following deluge of further examinations of the subject (too many to list)

While this writing didn’t happen in 2008, I didn’t read it until this year. Furthermore, the dialogue that it spawned bled into the rest of the year and gave everyone a lot to think about. Indeed, there are a few things that any medium needs to achieve before it can claim relevance; one of those things is a feminist voice, and another is a voice that can speak across gender to the human condition. The more we make noise about it on the Internet, the more we might be able to push videogames off the path it’s heading down right now. While I like Jason Statham movies, can you imagine if they were the only option, every time you went to the theatre?

Mitch Krpata’s New Taxonomy of Gamers

The first proper entry for 2008, The Insult Swordfighting series of essays did all but make the terms “hardcore” and “casual” (in reference to gamers) obsolete. Over the course of the eleven-part epic, Mitch introduces some new concepts to the way we think about games. This was important to me in two ways: for one, it gave a vocabulary to issues that I (and apparently others) had with the labelling we give ourselves (I hardly consider myself a casual gamer, but find the term “hardcore” just as ostracizing). While I’m not sure I’m willing to call myself a “tourist” gamer yet, I’m definitely more aware of the inherent flaws in the hard/casual spectrum. But, secondarily, this series of essays opened me up to criticism of other terms used in the industry. I don’t think I would have written (or even thought of) my criticism of the term “retro” if I hadn’t read the NToG, or questioned countless other things that we say (for example, I would have considered the previously mentioned Football Manager a sports title until I realized that it’s really just a turn-based strategy title with a sports gloss).

Actionbutton.net’s Braid Review

Sadly, this review was pulled, and it’s a great shame. It was replaced with the equally brilliant review by Soulja Boy (I’m not being sarcastic or cutting here, I think Soulja Boy might just be the Jonathan Swift of our generation) and I can’t find the original anywhere on the Internet so far. This review really opened my head; Braid was a game that I had many very conflicting feelings about, and this review gave a voice to them. That voice was also petulant, pretentious, contrarian, and base. I think it’s the first time I’ve ever disliked a game (well, partly), AND disliked the ONLY negative review I could find about the game. It also got the ball rolling on a series of discussions I had about the rather misogynist angle the game had. It also made me very jaded with how homogenous opinions seem to get among a lot of tastemakers. It seemed nobody wanted to agree with me, or even discuss with me, that the game isn’t perfect.

My Dtoid Article, Feel The Hatred: Gamers

Don’t get me wrong, that article was kinda shit. I wrote it in a vitriolic rage, and I didn’t edit it, and I was honestly embarrassed that it got put on the front page of Destructoid. But, it made me realize I like the way blogging works. And that I wanted to write in my own space instead of Destructoid’s community blogs. And that people reading stuff I write, even when it sucks, is fun, because then we get to talk about it. There’s not a lot else to say about this other than that I’m sorry that it was so mad. I’m not actually that mad in real life.

Jason Fagone’s Jason Rohrer Feature

Oh man. I love the games that Jason Rohrer makes, but he’s not really the kinda guy who talks about himself outside of the stuff he releases. This is the feature that I’ve always wanted to see, ever since I played Passage; I want to know what makes this guy so great. The answer: EVERYTHING. I love that there are people making games who aren’t living like everyone else making games. I even remember after reading it that I felt like the being in the city was a bad call and that I should move somewhere with a meadow (I was drunk) (I was also going to NYC in a week, good timing!). Now all we need is people writing with weird worldviews.

Tomorrow: Day 3, The Moments.