You know, coding a game progress tracker is a lot of work. God knows when it will be finished, but to keep myself from going crazy, I like to play Guitar Hero. See, I like rhythm games. In fact, I like them a lot! They might form my favorite genre, and I wholeheartedly look forward to future releases like Samba De Amigo and Guitar Hero: World Tour. I don’t know what it is about rhythm games, but I find them utterly addictive and extremely enjoyable. Perhaps you hold the same opinion, or maybe you don’t. The latter is cool, except that some people in that group take their reasoning to the extreme, and it makes me angry.
See, I used to be a musician. A band geek, so to speak. In addition to being a band geek, I also wore broken plastic glasses, a monochrome short-sleeved shirt, and a pocket protector in the shirt pocket. Just ask the Black Perl, he’d vouch for that. You know, we band geeks are
horribly nerdy. That must have been why the jocks always beat the crap out of me and my friends. But, aside from being an über nerd, being a musician gave me a love for all things musical. Can I still play a saxophone or clarinet? Hell if I know, but I can still play my recorder. But, it was a good time, and being a musician gave me some skill sets that others just don’t have.
So, I was a musician, marching in Ohio’s Finest (Only) All-Male Marching Band. I am proficient in reading music sheets, and if I practiced (and I don’t), I could probably become a decent musician once more. I really enjoy my musical prowess to a certain extent, but that certainly doesn’t exclude me from liking things that bastardize music. What could possibly bastardize music? Why, rhythm games, of course, and this bastardization make some of you very unhappy.
See, some people complain that “Unnamed Rhythm Game A” is so different from the real thing, that it’s just unbearable to play, and that we should all learn to play the real thing. Well, I’ll tell you what. I’ll learn to play your instrument on one condition, you learn to play mine. See, I didn’t get to be a decent saxophone player just by sitting on my ass, no, no. I played that instrument for eight long years, and in the end, I was only decent. What’s that? Not great? Yeah that’s right, after eight years I was only decent. I didn’t look to become the best damn saxophonist in the land, I just wanted to have fun, and that’s what I did.
Now, I imagine that if I attempted to learn how to play “Unnamed Instrument A”, it would take several years for me to be good at said instrument. That’s really unfortunate, because I don’t know if I have the time or desire to make such a commitment. I just want to have fun, and I like having fun in a way that’s easy to pick up and play.
That’s the beauty of the rhythm games I know and love. They often
aren’t like whatever they are trying to imitate, and in doing so it makes it an enjoyable experience for people like me, who just want to rock out to Carry On Wayward Son in Guitar Hero II. I don’t really care if it’s not just like the real experience, I only care that I am having fun.
Some of you want to ruin that fun by complaining how a game like Guitar Hero is nothing like playing a real guitar. See, the thing is, we know. We get it, and honestly, we don’t care. Do you wish not to play the game and just play your poor rendition of Mary Had a Little Lamb on guitar? Go right ahead. We’ll stick with Guitar Hero, Rock Band, whatever. You can hate the Guitar games as much as you want, but just do us one thing - quit your bitching.
Just kidding.