You're Going to Love This!

Being told that you will love something makes it exponentially harder to actually love that thing. This is a fact, as unimpeachable and immutable as the fact that cake is better than pie. Again, these are facts, and they are not up for debate.

It is for this reason that I have to this point held fast on not playing Heavy Rain. It's not willful stubbornness, or at least not any kind of bullheadedness that I have the faculties to control. It's just that as each person, a long line in seemingly endless succession, informed me of how very much I would love the game, I felt the barriers go up like watching the opening credits of Get Smart in reverse. No, I wanted to say, I will not, and it's your damn fault!

Maybe it's that the bar becomes so high as accolades become an avalanche of expectation, and that feeling of uncertainty which so deliciously fosters a sense of surprise is lost under the overwhelming perceptions of those who advocate for the game. Maybe it's just that I'm kind of a contrarian dink. Either way, as I wandered toward the checkout counter yesterday with Heavy Rain in hand, I had a sinking feeling of money poorly spent.

It's not fair. Not in the least. But, as I plugged the game disc into the long dormant drive, waited the predictable eternity for the PS3 to update using what I assume is a dial-up connection and an abacus, and plunged into the exciting world of getting dressed, I had to actively fight not to pick out any tiny flaw as though I were collecting evidence for a grand jury indictment.

"Is this really the voice acting I'm going to be subjected to the whole game?" I thought. "At least if something bad happens to these kids I won't have to listen to them talk." Had there been a QTE that allows you to shrug in apathy, I would have Generation X'd that whole intro.

I stress: This is a terrible way to approach a game, and I have no one but myself to blame.

I bring this all up so I can get to this paragraph, however, and it is hopefully my one opportunity for redemption. Following the first big emotional gut-punch of the game, a moment I watched with a kind of detached fascination but little investment, I finally hit the first action moment of the game, and for a second there I got it. It made sense what the game was capable of, and why everyone's been going on about it.

That was a good moment. I will try to build from that.

Comments

Being told that you will love something makes it exponentially harder to actually love that thing.

For me, this is not true. I think it's because I have a standing belief that whomever is talking to me has absolutely no idea what they're talking about.

All I need to do is look at World of Warcraft to see how the majority can make absolute poop out to be the best game ever.

Poking aside, when I hear universal praise and "oh, you gotta play this, best thing ever", all that ever does is move my needle to the "maybe I should take a look" level. It does not get pushed higher, ever, until I have my hands on it. I simply don't believe you.

Oh sure, I get excited about things (SOCOM 4!) but there's excitement about the possibility, and actual belief. Until I play it, all the praise in the world is like the hype of a 1st round draft pick - everything looks good and promising, but it comes with an unbreakable requirement to "prove it" before it gets to take the next step.

I just can't wrap my head around allowing hype and overly-positive recommendations to affect the "prove it" stage one iota. It just doesn't factor in beyond getting me to go look at it myself.

Elysium wrote:

Maybe it's just that I'm kind of a contrarian dink.

You and me both. I still have an untouched copy of Bioshock collecting virtual dust on my hard drive. And every day that passes makes it harder and harder to actually play.

I wish there was a clear term, or a coined phrase, for this psychological effect. So that we can clearly identify it when people impose it upon us.

I truly envy you on your ability to get past your hangups and still fire the game up. I wish I could undo the expectations on so many a great game.

The same thing happened to me with Uncharted 2.

The way they integrated the cinematic portion was great. The gameplay elements didn't offer anything I hadn't seen previously though. It's like in this week's podcast when the gang mentions becoming jaded towards games after having seen it all. I thought it was a good game but certainly not deserving of the gratuitous victory lap that Naughty Dog is still running.

All I need to do is look at World of Warcraft to see how the majority can make absolute poop out to be the best game ever.

Yeah, but you like SOCOM and the Jaguars, so I'm not even sure you get to have an opinion.

My wife does this, but I've found that an effective strategy is to find something I know she'll love, but tell her to not bother with it, because she'll hate it. It works more often than not.

Perhaps this whole situation occurs out of inadvertent reverse psychology.

Of course, it isn't an immutable law. If it was then advertising would be completely ineffective.

I've found that rather than telling someone, "You're going to love this," it works better to say, "Try this. I'll be interested to see what you think of it."

The former makes it out to be a near-flawless experience, thus calling extra attention to any flaws. The latter almost implies a certain amount of flaws, but it also raises the interest level by implying that there must be something good or interesting in there for me to be recommending it. It helps that there's a bit of flattery in there, since I clearly value your opinion. I'm not telling you how to feel, but I clearly expect some reaction and I'm curious what it is.

I can't believe nobody's pointed out that Get Smart always ran credits over a reverse of the intro.

To the best of my ability, I make a point never to oversell things to other people. I'm immune to this phenomenon myself, mostly because I don't respect anyone else's opinions.

I confess that I haven't had much problems along these lines. I know what I like. You don't know what I like. Therefore if you tell me I'll love something without being able to tell me specifically why I would like it, then the most probable event occurring is that you love this something so much that because of that love, have lost all capability of using second degree empathic thought.

I love a lot of things that I don't recommend to my friends because I didn't think they'd like it. Whenever I recommended something, it was always because of a specific similarity to something they already liked, and I referred them to the product in exactly that fashion. It works well. People tend to respect my recommendations.

"Hey, this restaurant also serves Japanese food and I thought it better than so-and-so Japanese resto. Since you like Japanese food, too, you might like it better, just as I do. Special mention for their otoro sushi."

"Hey, this is Megaman 9. You're a freaking Megaman fanatic who's been slavering at the mere possibility of a true-blue 8-bit remake. This is it. It's got most of the bells and all the whistles of true 8-bit design. I think you'll like it."

"Heavy Rain features competent direction, a hackneyed plot, and okay visual editing married to quick-time events and subpar voice acting. Since you like all of those things, I figured you'd love Heavy Rain."

The problem with recommendations and expectations is that some people, for some reason, lose the ability to think straight when they're talking about something they're raving about. Even normally smart and reasonable people inexplicably start thinking like very small children and expect everybody in the world to have exactly the same tastes in games as they do.

Once again, I find myself in complete agreement with Mr. Sands.

It happens so often that I can't help but wonder if I'm actually a figment of his imagination, existing only in some dream state that he enters once a minimum number of coronas are consumed.

I've blogged about the curse of the 10 out of 10 for me. All of my favorite games have been widely considered mediocre and/or forgettable.

For example: I loved the heck out of Mercenaries 2, playing it through and collecting every toolbox twice. But I have yet to finish Red Faction: Guerilla-- I lost interest sometime after liberating the second area. (I also seem to have the same problem Yahtzee had at Zero Punctuation, in that I keep setting charges on a building's support columns, only to have the charges go off and leave the building supported by what appears to be three drinking straws and a toothpick that must be taken out with the hammer. Not sure what I'm doing wrong.)

Also, with regards to this exchange:

Elysium wrote:
So you're saying that horrible taste in beer might carry over and make him less discerning in other things?

Actually, that's not the worst hypothesis I've ever heard. It's only provable through extensive testing, though.

Having low expectations isn't the same as having low standards. Having low standards means you can't tell the difference between filet minon and a pile of fresh monkey turds. Having low expectations means you aren't disappointed when you order a pile of fresh monkey turds and fail to get filet minon by mistake.

I won't comment on the standards of a person who drinks Corona. After all, my beer of choice is Milwaukee's Best. (Which, by the way, sells for an obscene price in the greater Boston area. It's like they have a surtax on cheap beer.)

This is why I won't be reading anything about Portal 2 until it's in front of me; It's a well-loved game, and I'm afraid listening to the hype may unrealistically raise my expectations for it.

I had my magical barriers of media repulsion go up when everyone was telling me how amazing The Lion King and Fight Club were.

harrisben wrote:

I had my magical barriers of media repulsion go up when everyone was telling me how amazing The Lion King and Fight Club were.

I am Simba's smirking revenge

I'm so disappointed in all of these responders - only one person spoke up in defense of pie, when we all know that pie is clearly better than cake.

OH REALLY?!

IMAGE(http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a48/elysiagwj/sharkcakeforweb.jpg)

IMAGE(http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a48/elysiagwj/legocake.jpg)

I'm sorry guys. She's been hitting the crazy juice again. It's nap-nap time, Sweetie.

Hey - I never said pie was better than icing. Only better than cake.

Tell me more about your wide stance, senator.

You're going to love these legal bills!

Certis wrote:

pics of cake

Ugh, fondant. Cake is great, but fondant is like a styrofoam coating over an otherwise delectable treat. Sure, it looks nice, but I'll take buttercream icing, please.

Or just leave me to my bourbon-pecan pie with creme fraiche.

Pie is clearly better because it can contain meat and bacon. Anything that can have bacon is inherently better than anything that doesn't work with bacon.

LarryC wrote:

Pie is clearly better because it can contain meat and bacon. Anything that can have bacon is inherently better than anything that doesn't work with bacon.

Ask, and ye shall receive.

LarryC wrote:

Pie is clearly better because it can contain meat and bacon. Anything that can have bacon is inherently better than anything that doesn't work with bacon.

IMAGE(http://www.crab.rutgers.edu/~alroche/3beefcake.gif)

Tanglebones wrote:
oMonarca wrote:

As a social experiment, I wonder if Elysium's theory held if I told the average teenager "try porn, you're going to love it".

Try hovering behind them and saying "oh wait, this is the best part!" every thirty seconds. That should put a dent in their enthusiasm!

A quick addendum - this works even better if you're actually hovering.

LarryC wrote:

Pie is clearly better because it can contain meat and bacon. Anything that can have bacon is inherently better than anything that doesn't work with bacon.

I couldn't agree more with your first assertion, which marks you as a man of fine fettle. However, you then spoil all that goodwill by asserting such ludicrousity as there being things that don't work with bacon. Go ahead and name one thing that doesn't work with bacon. Can't be done.

Ketshup and fish sauce.

Spoiler:

GOD OF WAR III IS THE MOST AMAZING GAME I WILL EVER PLAY. THE GRAPHICS ARE SO AWESOME AND AMAZING AND I LOVE HOW VIOLENT IT IS. YOU HAVE TO TRY THIS GAME ON LAUNCH DAY YOU WON'T BE DISAPPOINTED. I BET KRATOS TALKS ALL IN CAPS.

*ahem* so... 3.1415, way better.

Minarchist wrote:
Certis wrote:

pics of cake

Ugh, fondant. Cake is great, but fondant is like a styrofoam coating over an otherwise delectable treat. Sure, it looks nice, but I'll take buttercream icing, please.

Ah, but what you don't know is the cakes Certis posted are covered in homemade marshmallow fondant, which is totally different from regular fondant.(I know this because I'm the one who made those cakes - that's why his taunt comeback is so funny.) Very soft, quite tasty, made from marshmallow and confectioner's sugar flavored with butter and vanilla. I like my cakes to be yummy as well as cute.

Pie is still better, though.

Pie is still better, though.

That's must be why you make them so often. Like remember the last time you made pie?

...

because I don't.

(Stop living this lie. Join me!)

Elysia wrote:

Ah, but what you don't know is the cakes Certis posted are covered in homemade marshmallow fondant, which is totally different from regular fondant

Teach me, O wise master. I have much to learn.

Elysia wrote:

(I know this because I'm the one who made those cakes - that's why his taunt comeback is so funny.)

I did consider warning Minarchist about that, but figured you bringing him right would be more fun.

My typical reaction to someone telling me I'm going love something is the same as what Elysium described in the article. But that's only for the majority. There are a select few who can say this to me and I get excited. The difference is that they actually know and understand what interests me and they've successfully made previous recommendations. Based on the object, the percentage of people I trust changes:

Books - close to 100% but only because the percentage of the population who read is so small that there aren't actually that many people giving me recommendations.
Beer, Movies - 10%
Music - 1%.

I usually have good success making recommendations, though. Partially because I honestly consider the person's tastes. And because my enthusiasm is very infectious. For example, I haven't had my Scott Pilgrim trades for more than a week since sometime this summer.