Unwinnable

“How much stuff do you have here, and what can we make with it?” “That depends.” “On?” “What you can imagine.”

One of the simplest ways to recognize media that’s getting videogames wrong is to look at how it treats the rules of gaming. If a television show depicts a videogame where the rules don’t make sense, a gamer will probably recognize that as wrong. Community’s “Digital Estate Planning” seems to flirt with that wrongness, but it actually incorporates several different styles of gaming, utilizing the medium for conflict and comedy. There is a constant interplay of a gamer with the game, testing their limits, seeing how they interact with one another, where they bend and where they break. Community gets that right. (more…)

You enter the Chinese restaurant. You sit at a table with Alexa and several co-workers. A Waiter approaches.

> Order Special

The Waiter says the Special is only served on special occasions.

> Lie to Waiter

You tell the Waiter that it’s Alexa’s birthday. He tells you that is indeed a special occasion. The other people at your table leave.

> Pause game (more…)