Friday, January 15, 2010

'Should'

Extending a comment I made over at play this thing
i think should is just a shorthand for 'recommend' -- i.e. if something is recommended, it should be done

Really I can't think of anything getting much more passive aggressive than that.

Honestly I prefer moustache twirling villains who say 'do this or I'll harm you somehow' rather than someone who says 'I recommend this...' and leaves it ambiguous as to whether they threaten or really offer a genuine choice.

The original question on difficulty curves is centered around downrating the game if it doesn't do what it 'should', unless I'm mistaken. It's not a recommendation if you give the recommendation with a gun in your hand (so to speak).

2 comments:

  1. A recommendation is not a gun in the hand. A recommendation is what they think is the best solution to a situation. They can be wrong, and if you do something better than their recommendation you deserve their just praise, not a bullet to the head.

    But if you do worse than their recommendation they do have the right to point out how they would have done it differently (and in their opinion, better). This process is called "critique".

    They will probably use the word "should" (as in "should have") to suggest that their suggestion is better or at least different from what you did or would otherwise do, but not to suggest it is the best possible. If it was the best possible, and there were no possible reason to do anything else, then they must use the word "must," or some along those lines, to better reflect the level of necessity.

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  2. I see a games rating, it's vitality, being held against a standard of what it should be.

    Next time you have a job interview and the inteviewer makes a 'recommendation' about your haircut, you tell me if you really think it's just a recommendation.

    Yeah, sure it's just a discussion when one party hold power over the other.

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