" HH looks like crap...WSB ownz!"
I'm sure that you recognize this. These are only two examples of the....(ahem)..wit that seems to pass for rational discourse on some baseball forums recently. That such venom and vitriol can be expended over something such as a baseball game is quite confounding.
There is nothing at all wrong with discussing the merits of baseball games, nor is there anything wrong with having a favorite game that you play. But when discussion leads into endless bickering over which game is "objectively" the best game of baseball is when the arguments tend to go terribly off course.
Take batting for example. There are now several different methods being tried in baseball games to represent "real" batting and which fans of those respective games claim to be the "true" way of representing hitting. But what is the "true" way anyway? Ask ten different major leaguers what hitting is all about and you're likely to get a variety of responses. After all, has any sports game achieved "true" authenticity when it comes to performing activities? Is using a power and accuracy meter the proper representation of hitting a golf ball? Or lining up arrows the right way to shoot free throws? The simple answer is that there is really no "true" way of representing hitting, as any video game method of doing so is really just a mere simulacrum of the real thing. As long as there is ambiguity as to how to represent it, there are going to be different methods tried in different games, methods that depend on the programmers view of what hitting is truly like. Similarly, there are methods that will appeal to different gamers as being "authentic", and that elusive quality, "fun". Arguing over a standard that is itself created by the programmers and does not really exist outside the game is an exercise in futility. Some people like cursors, some don't. Calling someone an idiot who doesn't know "real" baseball does not change this. Seriously, if I was to go around praising Coca-Cola and calling people who drank Pepsi "idiots who know nothing about what a real soft drink is like", I would be wearing a jacket with sleeves that tied in the back.
Basically, the games are made to stand up on their own and really need nobody to wave the flag for them. If you like a game, that should be good enough. If someone prefers another game, that's fine. Do I really care if they are playing "my" game? No, so long as they are having fun. Mature debate is good for the industry and it is a good way of working into the developers minds certain ideas of what we like to see in our baseball games. The issue is whether we can overcome "holier than thou" attitudes and come to an understanding that each game has merits and faults, and that "subjectively", each game is relevantly real, fun, and true to separate people. Instead of "I'm going to have more fun than you because I'm playing the right game", it should just be "i'm having fun".
Thank you for a forum to entertain these thoughts(some would say trivialities). As Socrates said, " I drank what?"....a little humor never hurt.
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