Why "Perfect" Games Are Boring

People have been complaining about the imperfections and inefficiencies of Dragon's Dogma 2. I think the way we talk about games as a medium is weird.

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With the recent release of Dragon's Dogma 2, I've seen a lot of talk of required "optimisations" and "quality-of-life features," and a lot of angry talk of how the game is "wasting players' time" thanks to its limiting of industry standards like fast travel. All this talk got me thinking—in what world would I want art to be more "efficient"? Why would I want a "perfect game"?

In this analysis piece, I examine why we continue to hold games to such a different, altogether more corporate standard than we do other art—demanding a smoothness of experience that one might typically associate with artistic sterility. As Killer7 and Deadly Premonition prove, sometimes the very soul of art can lie in its imperfection.

0:00 - Intro
0:08 - The way we talk about games is weird
1:03 - Dragon's Dogma 2 and "wasting player time"
2:43 - The friction is the point
4:10 - The standard for games vs other art
5:45 - Killer7 and upending mechanics
6:53 - The imperfect soul of Deadly Premonition
8:31 - Games don't need to be perfect
9:39 - Outro

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Thumbnail by @hotcyder - http://twitter.com/hotcyder
Intro text animation by Isaac Holland - http://twitter.com/drazgames

#dragonsdogma2 #riseoftheronin