just shut up and take it

there are certain professions i think you need to just put your work out there and then take all the praise or criticism that rolls on in. most of these professions are in the entertainment business. ok, as i've previously said i'm watching that reality show On the Lot where directors have their work critiqued in front of the nation. there are some directors who, instead of gracefully taking the criticism, most of it spot-on, would rather speak up and try and justify themselves after every little comment from the judges, somehow pointing out that they're wrong or they missed the point. no YOU missed the point. i understand you poured your heart and soul into this but you put it out there for the rest of us to see and now you've just got to shut up and take it.

what really prompted this post is that one of the producers on the video game Shadowrun came out and said "the reviews on [Shadowrun] suck my ass." apparently he feels that the 7 out of 10 rating that almost everyone is giving the game isn't justified... but if it wasn't justified, why are all the reviewers saying basically the same thing? hmm...

anyway, he goes on to say that "there's repercussions here for the gamer. we're shooting our own people in the foot by not recognizing what these developers are doing. i worry about that." so basically he's saying don't hurt my team's feelings, we might not want to try as hard next time if these are the reviews we're going to get - boo hoo.

well boo hoo to you. as a member of the entertainment business, you made a product. you did your best with it, there's no doubt of that, and you put it out there for all to enjoy. and it seems like people are thinking it's a pretty average game, which isn't bad for a $60 title that's multiplayer only, has only a handful of maps, only a handful of game types, and really doesn't bring any innovations to the FPS genre. you should have never responded as you did. as a member of the same industry, i am ashamed.

i am reminded of David Jaffe coming out and responding to a poor review of Calling All Cars. his response was a little better in that he did it on his blog (and maybe the comments section of the review, i don't remember), and tried to open up a discussion rather than just say "the reviews suck my ass." granted, Jaffe still came off a little whiny, as he was offering up what sounded like excuses rather than reasons... but it might be a start. in this day and age where consumers can talk to creators, maybe an open dialogue is needed... well, there IS quite an open dialogue now with developers sharing videos, behind-the-scenes stuff, and even blogging on a game's progress, but maybe there needs to be more of an open dialogue AFTER a product is released.

- kawitchate