thread: 2005-06-22 : Courage
On 2005-06-22, Eric Finley wrote:
Y'know, so far in the 'craft' language, one of the things that's missing is any definition of mastery.I submit that a masterwork is a game whose quality is so clear to you, through even your most pessimistic self-judgment filters, that it overcomes that doubt. Whether this is actually possible or not remains to be seen. To be sure, if you have any sense at all of theory, then to reach this point you would need to (a) be damn sure you own the theory, all of it, up to that point, and (b) be damn certain that this game hits all of that, bullseye and square-on. You have to know that your criteria are appropriate, and then you have to know that your game satisfies them to master quality.
I don't mean that it'll be a magical cure-all for self-doubt... but I do mean that a master craftsman, by demonstrating his masterwork (to himself in this case), has a rational basis for saying "I'm bloody amazing at this." Just as a journeyman work serves as a rational basis for saying "I'm damn good at this." To me, this is precisely the way in which Dogs is IMO a fine example. Because Vincent knows he has cause to say so - and then says so.
- Eric
