tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439941893980599296.post5348925114353886883..comments2023-09-24T07:49:19.084-04:00Comments on Games By Design Has Moved!: This Blog Now Featured On GameDevBlogsChristopher M. Parkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16719365007524426389noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439941893980599296.post-54916979492163240202010-08-24T05:02:44.479-04:002010-08-24T05:02:44.479-04:00I am surprised at how few comments litter your blo...I am surprised at how few comments litter your blog considering the effort invested in these intermittent posts. Let me turn out a comment here simply to address the shame of the internet.<br /><br />I like the interesting distinction you make between critique and evaluation, although I'm not altogether sure the latter is the right term - I'd be looking for something akin to a "first impression" or "reaction". What you discuss here mirrors my own experience. I think all of this still applies in the field of gaming.<br /><br />Anecdote A<br /><br />I'm part of a writing group and am always impressed with the feedback I receive, constructive and honest - and I'm well past the "just tell me how stunningly good looking I am" phase. I try to be as specific as possible in my own feedback: this character doesn't work, this situation doesn't make sense, you perhaps need to re-order events here, etc.<br /><br />I always like to highlight what's good, I agree it's far too easy to just shoot down what doesn't work and not make an effort to protect what's wholesome and good. And sometimes you don't realise that a throwaway aspect, something that was just ancillary from the writer's perspective, is something that's engaged people. On a later draft, you might have deleted it.<br /><br />But some of the members of my group are poets. This showers me with guilt. I have no real knack for poetry - all I can tell them is "I liked that, sounded nice". Even worse, I'm not that good at interpreting work being read aloud so often find myself confused by the more abstract pieces. They get nothing but the surface reaction; I can't offer any more, I simply don't feel qualified.<br /><br />Anecdote B<br /><br />I was once a member of an online writing community and I used to turn out enormous verbose critiques - but trying to get similar feedback was like trying to get blood out of a rock in a hard place. No one would warn me I'd mixed my metaphors. I eventually quit the site because I spent more time critiquing than improving my own writing. (Although it should not be ignored that critiquing other people's work *does* improve your own)<br /><br />Anecdote C<br /><br />There's no third anecdote. But I'd add that critiquing is a minefield in both directions. A lot of effort for something so hazardous to personal relationships.Harbour Masterhttp://www.electrondance.comnoreply@blogger.com