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Genuinely how do I get better at this
(hexbear.net)
I feel like I'm reasonably good at picking at a game on the gameplay level, as per what works and does not and why and surface videogame essayist stuff like ludonarrative dissonance (or the rare examples of ludonarrative harmony).
I may offer you my finest insight into video games such as "Lara Croft has some sort of father complex going on" and "Shadow of Chernobyl is unintentionally about life in the collapse of the soviet union" which even by my own admission feels shallow and trite. You watch someone like Jacob Geller or Noah Caldwell-Gervais and they have fascinating things to say even on games you wouldn't expect it, like NCG on Quake.
How do I become that knowledgeable? Interesting? Analytical? about video games?
Unrelated to video games, strictly speaking, but one thing I’m trying to do is to set aside time for reflection (I like hand written in a pocket notebook). For instance, I’m applying that towards general navel-gazing (self-reflection to help with my audhd lol) and self-paced studying.
That way if there’s a specific topic I’m intrigued by, I can start looking at how that manifests (eg themes in literature, compulsive thoughts and actions in meatspace). And in the process keep my neurons tuned for that kind of lateral thought (the adage about neural pathways is that “if they fire together, they wire together” or something) - not that I need much assistance in the lateral thought department lmao.
Also Paulo Freires approach to pedagogy (science of teaching/learning) highly emphasizes this type of learning through praxis (not just a buzzword!) and conscientizacao (and I thought bourgeoisie was hard to spell!).
Praxis (Action/Reflection)
Praxis is a continuous cycle—we would say a spiral—of action and reflection. It is not enough for people to come together in dialogue in order to express the problems they face. They must actively work together to change their situation, reflect critically upon their reality to gain further knowledge, and in doing so transform their reality through further action and critical reflection. This cycle of action and reflection is never ending.
Conscientization (conscientizacao)
Conscientization is the process of developing a critical consciousness of the social and political forces that shape our lives, and developing the critical thinking skills to challenge injustice and create change. This is not simply an intellectual process, or a moment of enlightenment, but one that presupposes an ongoing commitment to action. Nor is it an individual process; we discover and seek to change reality through our collective activity. The concept is a difficult one as it is often misused by people who treat it as an intellectual process. Paulo Freire says that we all acquire social myths which have a dominant tendency, and so learning is a critical process which depends upon uncovering real problems and actual needs.
Two terms from: https://www.freire.org/concepts-used-by-paulo-freire
See I read this and I think "Tomb Raider has a lot of unadressed colonialism that only gets worse as Lara turns from antihero into relatable hero" but again, this feels obvious and doesn't really say anything interesting.
And maybe that’s as deep as it goes - I couldn’t tell ya lol but that’s more critical thought than 90% of people would give it
I do often reflect on it when I'm trying to fall asleep to keep my mind from wandering into the really unproductive shit so I think the time is there, but it feels all obvious to the point my droopy sleeping hat oughta be a dunce cap.
At one point I tried writing down those drowsy thoughts and the results were … as expected lol