Hello everyone and welcome back to another Gamerman Weekly. This is a brief change from our regular programming, but I promise we will be right back into it next week. This week I wanted to talk about something very special to me that happened last month, the release of "No Man’s Sky." I will do a review on the game later.
The first time that I heard about "No Man’s Sky" was in the 2013 E3 Sony Presentation. The original hype of the game was that its size was on a comparable 1:1 scale of the Milky Way Galaxy. My mind was instantly awash with hope, that an open world game I had hoped for was on its way, space explorer.
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Up to this point I had played many other open world games, like Pokemon, Fallout 3, Dragon Quest, BioShock, and so much more. The one thing that really irked me about these games, regardless of their fun filled mechanics, was their limit in size. You could only go so far, even though the background obviously alluded there was more to see. But alas, I understood that limitations exist everywhere. Until "No Man’s Sky"’s premise came about.
A whole universe to explore, with riches and adventure, entire planets and worlds to explore, creatures to find, allies to make, technology to master, and foes to fear and overcome. These were the main hype points that I created in my head. My imagination became filled with amazing sights and mysteries, daring self-created story lines, the comforting solitude of solo-exploration. I was in heaven.
And then "No Man’s Sky" was released. I myself pre-ordered the game, breaking my own sacred and solemn rule. Not out of spite for it, but because I found a game worth breaking moral code for. It wasn’t only excitement, which there was plenty of, but I also felt that my ship had come in, my deepest gaming wishes were coming to reality.
And then it came out, and it delivered on everything I had hoped. It delivered on its main promise that I so happily desired, exploration. Literally incalculable to discover and make part of your life’s journey, worlds to enrich your memories, distances to cover, to find the next looming discovery over the horizon. I had found my nirvana. And then the reviews came out.
The reception was harsh, unforgiving, completely unabandoned in its inhibitions of anger and frustration. Some were lighter in tone, but still negative in message. I felt, sad. I understand that these reviewers do their job to make sure customers make informed purchases. That is the goal of a review. It is not in their best intentions to have other gamers, and their counterparts, to feel put down.
However, perhaps this is my ego talking, that was the effect. I had put so many of my aspirations and yearnings and good will into waiting for this game, for 3 years. And then to hear from my peers “This is a bad game” I felt as if my own hope for "No Man’s Sky" was in itself, bad. That my happiness for the game is bad. That because the game is bad, me liking it is bad. I was crushed.
But perhaps there is a lesson in this. Think back to the days of the Call of Duty Fanboys phenomena. Whenever an untterance of ill will towards the game made its way to the internet, the producer of that opinion was blasted and given nasty comments that would even make the Pope cry. It was horrible. I, personally would not go that far to offend anyone intentionally because I thought they deserved it for not liking a game that I did. That’s just not a natural reaction for me.
I can understand, though, why these fanboys were upset. Someone criticized something they cherished, and so the natural functions of defense were sprung into action, to protect a love. They were inspired to have negative feelings by other’s projections of negativity on something that made their life that much easier to enjoy living. I had the same reaction to a degree. So maybe we all need to think on the things that make our lives happier, and reflect on how we regard them, how we protect its integrity, how we regard other people’s certain loves in life.
Wow, this turned into a completely different article than I intended it to be, but that’s fine. I enjoyed making it all the same. So all in all, "No Man’s Sky" to me is the game I have waited 3 years for. It delivers on all the promises I was excited about, and some more. For all the negative comments there are on the internet about it right now, I’ll just have to push them out of my mind, and focus on what makes me happy, "No Man’s Sky". Adventure awaits.
Thanks for reading guys, and I’ll write you again next week.
--G
