It ’ s difficult writing opinion pieces . Not because it ’ s hard to come up with ideas – that ’ s the beauty of the position , to be honest – or because it ’ s particularly hard to organise those ideas into a suitable structure . It ’ s because your opinions and your ideas , providing you ’ re a progressive thinker , are never absolute ; they ’ re dynamic , malleable , and when you petrify these ever-evolving things and present them in ink on a stranger ’ s screen or page , it always feels as though you ’ ve given them one frame from a |
still-reeling film . Worse yet , it feels as though you ’ ve brandished this one frame like it ’ s the be all and end all of a matter you ’ re still working out .
Compound this with that white-hot indignation exclusive to offended gamers and you have a real problem when it comes to writing video game
comment , especially content that questions popular industry conceptions . It ’ s impossible to feel confident and satisfied when you ’ re done writing these things , unless you ’ re actually as blinkered
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and self-righteous as you ’ re likely to appear , because you know , unlike in an actual discussion , you cannot reconcile your views with your listener .
The only way we can make it work is if we collectively come to terms with the fact that the opinions expressed in a comment article or review are not necessarily consistent with the developing views of the writer . So if I was to say , for example , that videogame protagonists who never shut up are the worst thing to happen to gaming , you , the reader
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, should consider that comment on its own terms and not focus all of your attention ( ire ) on the writer himself ( me ) because the writer himself ( me ), unlike the article , is likely to change . It seems counter-intuitive ( as well as just a convenient way for comment writers to say whatever they like without having to worry about the implications ) but it will allow contentious matters to be discussed intelligently rather than dismissed in a huff because you ’ ve decided that the person saying it is a bigot .
It ’ s like those people
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who despise Stewart Lee because they fail to separate his stage persona from his real self . They come away blindsided by fury , gleaning little more than an obdurate impression of him as a sanctimonious , socialist snob with an Eskimo face , when they could be coming away with an aching jaw and genuine food for thought .
Now , I ’ m not saying I ’ m gaming ’ s Stewart Lee – that would be terribly deluded and inappropriate – but I am , in a small way , a human what thinks a lot like Stewart Lee , who
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