Forums > Contributor Zone > EmP's Wacky Genre Tournament Results! (The Horror Chapter)

It may be helpful to extend the range of negative scores so you can be more harshly penalized for trying to bend the rules like for example subtracting 10 or 15 points from someone who tries to review GTA4 in an obscure games contest.

edit - and yes it definitely works better with some things than others. Some of the horror bonus scores were really different among the judges. Something like obscurity is a bit less subjective.

_

I should say I was more bemused than angry about Zigfried's review, if it sounded angry.

When you (judges) talk about this scoring system that was behind the scenes, I had no idea it was as worked-out as that. I can't really comment on it, only that using systems in general can make it hard to fit things in boxes with other things if they aren't an easy shape. Like Genj was saying, he followed the rules he was given.

Re: 'horror', it is the same lack of definition of the term in general as per the obscure tourney which causes everyone to interpret it differently. Genj was saying here 'obscurity' is less subjective, but I don't know, as a judge on that tourney once. frankly I didn't have much answer to people who complained. Their complaints were as valid as my subjective assessments, though I saw the assessment as kind of silly to begin with and tried to give it a light touch.

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To Zig:

>So I guess I'm saying that if this were a traditional contest,
> I would have still considered this a valid entry. I don't see how it wouldn't be,
> unless we invoke a "no parody / no genre subversion" rule.

Well, neither would I. I mean if this were a enter-whatever-you-want contest, I wouldn't have blinked. Because it was horror, and you constantly told us in the review how the game was to do with horror, that signalled to me that if you hadn't done that, you'd be struggling to have the game perceived as horror. There's no such tension with anything else entered in the comp, and I think maybe WQ was the only other person whose review perhaps conspicuously spoke to the entry requirements (almost talking to the judges saying 'this is horror'). I just reviewed Bloodrayne as I would have reviewed it any other time. Are you saying you would have written the same review of Cotton if it wasn't for this competition? It would be surprised if you say yes, from the way it reads. That's not illegal obviously, but it feels cute if the purpose is to just emphasise a maybe-tenuous ability to qualify in the first place.

In the end, I think you're right actually. If Twilight is horror in common parlance (and it is, and it will appear in horror encyclopedias), then maybe Cotton is.... Maybe! Would it ever appear in an index or encyclopedia of horror games? That's one measure I would apply.

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To Zipp:

Don't worry, there's no need for ongoing argument. It's just my usual behaviour that if I get a verdict and advice to make the review different in a topic, if I disagree, I always say how. Then there's verdictor's statement and verdictees both there to be read. It doesn't have to go any further unless people think I'm really off my trolley in what I said, or I think they're off their trolley. I don't think either of us are off trolley today!

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Are you saying you would have written the same review of Cotton if it wasn't for this competition? It would be surprised if you say yes, from the way it reads

The difference between this and later Cotton games is that personality is the only think that makes it stand out. I would have absolutely written a review with the same underlying theme ("this game is notable because it fills a cute game with normally spooky things" -- because that is why it's notable) but the delivery of that message would have likely been different. How much, who knows?

But I can also say that if I had reviewed Silent Hill for this contest, the review would have been different from if I were to review Silent Hill just for the heck of it. Whenever possible, I like to let the circumstances of the moment influence my writing. It makes for cooler memories.

//Zig

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Aw, Zig! Don't think that I didn't think your description of the plant man was cool! That was just the problem! Your description was SOOO crazy cool and full of youthful spryness (and yes, damn sexy, too!) that it just couldn't live up to the actual image.

I guess the simplest way of saying it was the Cotton review was a little over the top when placed alongside the other entries. On it's own, it's a brilliantly hilarious and exuberant review.

It's sort've like if Yahtzee ever turned in a review for competition here. I would praise it for being hilarious and then dock it massive points for letting the style take away from the actual "review" quality of it.

I rarely, if ever, base actual game purchases off of a Yahtzee review.

Note to gamers: when someone shoots you in the face, they aren't "gay." They are "psychopathic."

Well then. I can always be counted on to finish second in these things, can't I? I'm not complaining at all -- I'm just weirdly consistent.

Thanks to the judges for their comments, and congrats to EmP for winning. I greatly enjoyed his review and I'm not surprised to see that it won.

You exist because we allow it. And you will end because we demand it.

I did not spot this for some reason. Many thanks for doing this and for the insight on my review. I agree with a lot of what the judges have to say and, thanks to a brillaint edit feature I discovered scant hours before this event's deadline, I plan to make good use of your help.

Well done to the winner. I actually enjoyed Silent Hill Homecoming (not half as much as the originals, though) but I can certainly see why so many others will not.

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