Hi guys,

I appreciated that you guys picked up my topic, but I was kinda bummed that my main point was never really addressed. I guess that is what I get for writing a five paragraph essay rather than a quick hit response, so let me try again in shorter form:

The big difference I see between games criticism and other media's criticism is that game's criticism is focused almost exclusively on how "fun" or instantly gratifying the experience is whereas other mediums try to cultivate tastes above and beyond this.

Let me be clear that I have no problem with enjoyment for its own sake, but I just don't see that as something worthy of truly high praise. Instant gratification is something that tends to find its audience automatically whether we are talking about getting hammered and going to to eat greasy hamburgers or an inane music video about how awesome "Friday" is. Instant gratifciation is not something critics generally need to champion, it finds its audience on its own. Critics in other mediums--at least the pre-blog-o-sphere traditional ones--seem to be generally aware of this.

And the ultimate problem is that when you start throwing out the 9/10 and Five star reviews behind the big blockbusters because they are "fun" and they instantly feel good to play, that is putting the stuff that truly is something special that goes above and beyond this at a distadvantage.

Goddamn it. I still ended up with five paragraphs. I hate the confines of the Twitter era.