I subscribe to this feed, and so read the post a few days ago but have refrained from commenting while I waited to hear what others have to say.

My initial reaction to The Graveyard was an extremely positive one - I thought it was a great look, one which has inspired another project I’m working on at the moment, and I’ve shown it to numerous people, some of which have ‘got it’ and some which haven’t. Ok, no I haven’t bought the full version (and haven’t watched the death sequence on youtube either), but I understand why some people don’t get it.

I think the term ‘interactive’ is such a difficult one anyway, because by it’s nature as a piece of computer software, it is by definition ‘interactive’ (see Lev Manovich for more info on that concept if you’re interested) and although I have certain problems with this argument, in those terms The Graveyard is certainly interactive. It could indeed be argued that it’s not a ‘game’ in the traditional sense of the word, however I would strongly argue that it is indeed an ‘art game’ (www.selectparks.net for more info on this if needed although Kai already refers to it in this capacity). The other alternative is that I guess to some extent it could be considered ‘interactive narrative’ although I have less experience in this argument since it’s not really my area.

I won’t deny that I have certain criticisms of the game (yes I’ll still call it that regardless) but the frustration that is a part of this game and the way that the game itself plays on that is in itself interesting.

An imperfect experiment? Yes, perhaps, but is any experiment ever really perfect? I think the important criticism to take away from this is that it’s a stepping stone to something else. No, you won’t grow if everyone only praises you, that is true, but what I DO like about Kai’s review is that although she clearly doesn’t empathise with the character, doesn’t enjoy the gameplay and regards this game largely as a failed experiment, she does say,

“In any case, it’s worth admitting that I admire Tale of Tales’ willingness to use the medium of video games to convey emotions other than “fun”. In fact, I wholeheartedly encourage other developers to do the same – we can certainly do with more “art games” in this comparatively superficial landscape of ours. The fact that The Graveyard was, in my eyes, an imperfect experiment in some areas by no means implies that we should simply go back to killing things and solving Sudokus.”

She doesn’t like the game and yet she still finds something positive within it. Just saying a game is bad without saying why you think so means you haven’t actually bothered to engage with it on any level, and Kai has obviously tried to engage with it somewhat because she justifies her response to the piece, whether as a game or as an interactive painting, narrative, whatever. I saw another review on YouTube where the guy’s rationalisation about why the game was bad was because “games are about high scores”. To me that’s not a review, that’s an uninformed opinion.

Just because I appreciate the concept over the actual interactivity (or relative lack of in this case) doesn’t mean that I’m under the illusion that everyone thinks this game is great, but I don’t think the authors are under the impression that everyone would like their work.

Just a thought - use it, don’t use it…