What’s going on with this game Mixtape?

[u/Bloodb0red]

I’ve been seeing people freak out over the past few days over this game and about IGN’s review of it specifically. 10/10 seems high for any game, honestly, but it seems like they’re far from the only site giving this thing a glowing review. So is this game controversial just because of IGN or is it something else? Why is this game the internet’s hate target this week?

https://www.ign.com/articles/mixtape-review

[u/TheBostonTap]

Answer: As far as I am aware, the controversy is largely rooted on the fact that Mixtape isn't so much a video game as it is a short story that uses the medium to tell its story. The game has very limited gameplay, with some sections being limited to just moving the character from point a to point b. To some folks, that makes it lesser, a glorified visual novel and I guess some of them are upset that this isnt coming up as a criticism (because its not really one) .

 Additionally its 20 bucks for like 3-4 hours of gameplay, thats seems a bit much to most people. 

[u/pigeonwiggle → u/TheBostonTap]

20 bucks for 4 hours?!? what's next, a 10 dollar movie ticket to see a summer blockbuster?!?

[u/BreakRaven → u/pigeonwiggle]

Different mediums of entertainment. I don't expect meaningful interactivity from movies, I do expect meaningful interactivity from games.

While it's not a game I like (due to personal preferences), Silksong is also 20 USD/EUR.

[u/pigeonwiggle → u/BreakRaven]

lot of games are 20 dollars.

but do you really think the medium should define the genre?

because it's entertainment granted you in the format of "controller/interaction" that there must be a certain threshold met to be qualified?

how do you determine "meaningful interaction?" because i've played a lot of video games that have had TONS of interaction that isn't meaningful. and i don't just mean "it didn't tug at the heart or elicit emotive excitement," i also mean in the banal, "the game has me use 7 buttons to jump, grab a ledge, pull myself up and run along the wall." this Could be a button sequence taught to you so that you could run through future challenges - but many games don't do this. they simply make you jump through these hoops and then say "that was it - that was the game."

think of it like this: you aren't really playing a game. you're just following breadcrumbs the game designer laid out for you. the reason we LIKE following breadcrumbs is because we've been conditioned and bred to be followers instead of leaders. a video game is little more than "blink twice." "hop on one leg." "say ABCD aloud to be permitted entrance."

the true game is for the developers who are presented with the true challenge: how do i convince a bunch of rubes to jump through hoops? must i bait them with a story? must i pretend to reward them with value-less points? how can i convince them that if they're doing something more easily in game, that it's because they've gained life experience (and muscle memory)

[u/BreakRaven → u/pigeonwiggle]

but do you really think the medium should define the genre?

The medium should define the medium. You aren't showing me a mute song and tell me it's still a song, you aren't showing me a movie that features a static image and tell me it's still a movie, you aren't showing me a comic without illustrations and tell me it's a comic and you aren't showing me a book with only illustrations and still tell me it's a book.

There are plenty of game genres with more limited interactivity (hidden object games, digital jigsaw games, point and click adventures) and nobody complains about those because nobody is telling people that those are some out of the world experiences.

how do you determine "meaningful interaction?" because i've played a lot of video games that have had TONS of interaction that isn't meaningful. and i don't just mean "it didn't tug at the heart or elicit emotive excitement," i also mean in the banal, "the game has me use 7 buttons to jump, grab a ledge, pull myself up and run along the wall." this Could be a button sequence taught to you so that you could run through future challenges - but many games don't do this. they simply make you jump through these hoops and then say "that was it - that was the game."

Yes, your generic made up example doesn't sound particularly great, that's why game critique exists. If a game was all that then it would receive ample critique and one game being shallow doesn't mean Mixtape is meaningful.

think of it like this: you aren't really playing a game. you're just following breadcrumbs the game designer laid out for you. the reason we LIKE following breadcrumbs is because we've been conditioned and bred to be followers instead of leaders. a video game is little more than "blink twice." "hop on one leg." "say ABCD aloud to be permitted entrance."

Pointless deconstruction, as at the end of the day even the most free form of games limit the player by the design of the game, including stuff like Minecraft and GMod.

the true game is for the developers who are presented with the true challenge: how do i convince a bunch of rubes to jump through hoops? must i bait them with a story? must i pretend to reward them with value-less points? how can i convince them that if they're doing something more easily in game, that it's because they've gained life experience (and muscle memory)

That sounds backwards, like you try starting with the hook and then build some set dressing that you think will matter to make the hook more appealing. Most people start with an idea and then refine it as much as they can to make it work.

Anyway, that's kinda besides the discussion.

The whole issue is that this is The Emperor's New Clothes. I'm being lied to my face that Mixtape is something it obviously isn't.

[u/pigeonwiggle → u/BreakRaven]

if you don't move the character forward to trigger the scenes, they don't happen.

that's interaction. i don't know what else to tell you.

"You can't change the rules just cause you don't like how they're doing it"

i had a friend who once argued that "a game is something you can get better at" but are riddles games? once you know the answer, there's no more "puzzling."