“When Games Matter” Articles

“My incredibly frustrating experience with Shadow illustrates how risky it is to put an interactive piece of art in the hands of players whose experiences can dramatically vary.”

“I know I will never save the world but I am reminded that my small actions and attempts at making a difference matter.”

“The best games give us a sense that we are making our own story and our place in that story is absolutely essential.”

“Isaac respresents a stellar achievement in storytelling by taking something as simple as “powerups” and using them to shed light on the troubling world in which a young boy lives.”

“The fact that Skyrim broke me of my anti-grinding ways is a tremendous compliment to the world that Todd Howard and his team at Bethesda have created.”

‘ . . . in this moment, Skyrim was working to encourage me to take this personally, to deal with the existence of a personal deity and determine how I would interact with it.”

“The goal behind each of these puzzles is literally to coax pixies out of their hiding places and release their magical power. . . . . The greatest achievement of S&S, however, is never making the player feel ridiculous for doing these things.”

“… the multitude of these details serves to do something rather rare in video games–it makes the game more about the world than it is about me.”

“Too often I refuse to apply the Bible to the “little things” in life–like card games.”

“I understand the appeal of MW3, but at the end of the day it really is just another shooter that emphasizes putting other people in their place.”

“Despite these inherent risks, Skyrim has been a worshipful experience. And every mountain stream, every cave, and every village is but a foretaste of the world to come.”

“Arkham City treats us the way we all want to be treated—it’s fair, honest, and consistent.”

“She has beaten me by 2 million points before—if you watched us dance you would agree that this is just.”

“If we were to replace PayDay’s security guards and law enforcement officers with mindless zombies or hostile aliens or terrorists, I would not be writing this article, no one would be interested in this discussion, and the game would remain essentially the same.”

“Such counsel overwhelms people and does more harm than good. . . . Believe it or not but a well designed videogame actually brought this to my attention.”

“. . . there is very little in our lives that we have complete control over and yet the consensus on control in games is that the gamer should always be in charge.”