This piece by games blogger and developer Amanda Lange raises an interesting point that I’ve never really thought about before:
“If one’s work is not personal, then the work is expected to be excellent. But work that is very personal, without necessarily being excellent, often gets discussed anyway… it gets a pass.”
It’s made me think about a lot of things. Particularly about my own reaction to games, particularly many recently made Twine games. But also about my own insecurity about my worth as Someone Who Makes Games. I don’t have any solid conclusions yet though, because thinking is hard.
Anyway, her post is well worth reading. So read it:
http://second-truth.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/on-games-as-confessional.html
In the article she links to a comment by ‘often annoys me by being weirdly myopic, but sometimes relatively insightful’ Raph Koster that asks for non-personal, non-melancholic Twine games. There are lots, obviously, but here’s one I really like:
Haruspex Games 