People Who Should Not Play RPGs

I was at Gamestop at the Galeria the other day-- by the way, after the gas they wasted me on a bait and switch, I will not go back there-- and I had a conversation with an employee that I frequently have with such individuals. I was buying a 1st anniversary present for my husband, a copy of Dragon Age II and I expressed shock that less than 5 weeks had passed and it was already sold back. He bragged that he beat the game in 3 hours.

Wario knows a thing or two about
video games and douche-baggery

I often hear video-game enthusiasts who take pride in bragging about how quickly they beat games. Most often, though, I have to pull at my hair and scream at the sky in my mind, as they are bragging about how fast they beat open-world RPGs.



Major console RPGs cost 60 bucks at release. If you work in retail, that's a whole day of work after taxes (or before taxes if you work in Massachusetts. ZING!) So I have to ask myself why you would blow a day of wages on 3 hours of entertainment. It's like you are paying them 20 dollars an hour to entertain you. It's not because the game is bad. It's because you are a bad player.

Beating a game fast does not make you a good gamer. It will not make you elite. Yeah, sure, you can beat a lot of these games really fast if you blow off the side plot, but why? Why would you miss the emotional involvement, the plot diversity, and the entertainment by skipping side quests? Why would you blow off the fat loot, new moves, and trophies that you paid for so you can brag about it?

And before you say that you can go back later-- ask this-- would the end of Black Swan be nearly as awesome of you fast-forwarded through the movie and then after watching the ending, came back and watched the movie? We're trying to elevate gaming to an art form and yet the people who claim to be the most elite gamers are the ones lowering its status by blowing off what makes these games art! If you breeze through the story without exploring conversation and relationship-building options, you're going to miss the emotional impact of the plot.

YES, you can beat most RPGs on blitz, but that's because most modern RPGs are designed so that the baddies level up with you. So sure, you can claim you beat it in 3 hours, but that doesn't make you any more skilled than my husband, who milks games for the maximum plot and development and spends 60-70 hours on any decent RPG.

Why would you pay them 20 dollars and hour to entertain you when you could be getting your value at less than 1 dollar an hour? So you see, it doesn't make you a better gamer, really, just a dumb one.