2023 is a year that many consider to be one of the greatest ever for video games, unless, of course, you work in the industry. Regardless, the year took a couple months to get going properly, and I found myself incredibly put-out back in January. There were several factors for this, chief among them how terrible work had been going for the previous 12 months. Regardless, I decided something needed to change, so I wouldn’t sit around being bored, and depressed during all of my spare time.

So I devised a little plan to broaden my horizons. I’d watch 10 movies, 10 television shows, and read 10 books. Instead of being entirely focused on games, which I still love, I thought there might be benefits from broadening my horizons. Maybe I’d even improve my ability to analyze what I was playing through experiencing what else existed out there? Who knows. I didn’t – this was an experiment: one where I hoped to gain some perspective by giving my brain a break from constantly churning through a tidal wave of new releases while looking for new content to write about on my blog.

So…how’d I do?

I finished it. I did the thing. I’m sure that won’t come as a surprise as the original goal was deliberately set to be quite easy to complete. The objective was less about doing the thing, and more about broadening my horizons, which I managed to do. Mostly. I don’t think I really broke any new ground with movies, but television, and reading were definitely where I plowed into new frontiers. Hell, I hadn’t voluntarily read a book in over a decade, and now I’m back to reading daily before bed. That’s probably the most positive change to come from this whole escapade as it lowered my anxiety since I’m not doom-scrolling before bed anymore.

Now for the all important question: what did I learn? Aside from the whole social media is bad for you thing.

Anime is Not a Genre

When it comes to writing about Anime, I tend to leave it to the professionals. And by professionals, I mean anyone but me. I already write about video games, which has the potential to be overwhelmingly toxic. The last thing I want to do is invite an even more excitable group of people into my audience. I’m a fair-weather Anime fan at the best of times, so I simply don’t have the energy to argue with most of these people about why Marin Kitagawa is best girl, or whatever the fuck y’all are throwing stones over this week.

However, there is one opinion about Anime that I will die on a hill over: Anime is not a genre. I’m pretty sure this is mostly a North American thing to do because we’re all dumb as a sock over here. Still – y’all are fucking wrong. Anime is a presentation style – not a genre. The majority of the shows I watched were Anime, and the contents of them spanned multiple genres. Fact of the matter is that Anime isn’t limited by what stories it can present to the audience. It’s a presentation style, not a genre. At least 2 of the things I watched were goofy romance stories (The Ancient Magus Bride & Romantic Killer), another was a dramatic tragedy (Cyberpunk: Edgerunners), and then there was whatever the fuck Future Diary was.

Anyway, speaking of The Future Diary…

I Love Trash Anime

Until earlier this year, I’d never heard of The Future Diary. Apparently it’s somewhat infamous for being a hot trash fire. It’s horribly paced, badly written, frequently loses track of its own plot threads, and the main character is absolutely insufferable. But I love it. It’s just so completely stupid, and was easily one of the most entertaining things I watched all year. It exudes the same energy as completely 1-sided fighting game matches. Doubly so if I killed my opponent by repeatedly throwing them. It’s dumb, but you can’t look away or stop laughing because of how unbelievable the whole thing is.

That said, I think the next trash Anime I want to watch is Highschool of the Dead. The only thing I know about it is that one booby gif where the guy shoots a sniper from 1 lady’s chest through another lady’s chest. It looks truly awful, so it should be right up my alley.

Editor’s Notes: While proof reading this section of the article, Miranda was quoted as saying the following: “Oh god. Why would you do this to me?” I think she is excited for Highschool of the Dead.

Video Game Writing Kinda Sucks

It isn’t a bold statement to paint every game with the same brush when it comes to writing. There are certainly smaller titles that try to push the narrative bounds of what video game storytelling can do. However, for every Dredge, Cassette Beasts, or Alan Wake 2 there are a deluge of games where the story was an afterthought, or wasn’t even a consideration. Good writing isn’t a requirement for a good game. Developers can build an entire game around a strong mechanical hook, including a flimsy story to justify the player’s actions. Heck, it’s almost better to write your game’s story this way so that it isn’t totally incongruent from the player’s experience.

By contrast, books have nothing to stand on aside from the quality of their writing. It’s either good enough to draw the reader in, or they’ll bounce. There’s no pretty graphics, mechanical hooks, or FOMO to become attached to instead of strong writing. This is why I’m even less tolerant of video game writing now compared to 12 months ago. I’ve really started to notice how weak the bulk of game writing is now that I bothered to poke my head out into other mediums, and experienced what they have to offer.

The one positive from all of this is that I no longer feel personally responsible for not enjoying narratively driven experiences. I read through a dozen novels in 4 months, so I obviously enjoy a good story. If a game can’t manage to hook me in with its narrative that isn’t on me. That’s on the game, and its team of writers.

Support Your Local Library

Did you know you can read thousands of books for free by signing up for a library card? I didn’t. After I got back into reading, Miranda recommended that I might want to visit the local library, and sign up for a card so I don’t go broke buying new books. So I did. The library is great, and has been a super easy way to check out books from new authors.

That’s it. This is likely the least contentious thing I’ve written today: go support your local libraries. They’re a completely free way to find a mountain of entertaining, or insightful stories. And there were numerous times in the past 12 months where I stopped playing a game to continue reading whatever book I was working on because it was more engaging. Don’t let public officials kill them.

Anyway, I think that’s enough rambling for today. Those were the key takeaways I’ve had floating around in my head over the past few weeks as I was thinking back on the past year. I didn’t go into this whole thing with many expectations, but I never would have imagined that I’d become even more critical of video game stories. Oh well. I guess that just means I want to see better from them instead of settling for what we get now.

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next one.

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