With video games a review is based around "will you enjoy playing this game" - You do not require a software engineering and UX design degree to play a video game... you don't need those things to enjoy or hate it - you just need to know what it's like to play the game. The article is referencing skill - a persons ability to play the game well - you can be well versed in development, and all it's facets and still be a shitty player.. you have read the article haven't you ?
It is definitely discussing "skill" - the title alone should give you hint "Game journalists must be good at video games" ... I wonder what they mean by "good at video games" ... hmmmm
[–] BakedMofoBread ago (edited ago)
Who said anything about having to be a software engineer? You don't need to have a English Literature degree to understand that Moby Dick is a warning against pursuing vengeance. But to understand & interpret the mechanics & narrative of a videogame does require one to get proceed through a significant portion of a particular game.
The specific reviewer in question was so unfamiliar with common tropes & mechanics that he did not recognize the necessity of a jump-dash during the tutorial. This trope is so basic to platformers that I'm incredulous that a person who claims to be an authority could not complete the exceedingly simple button combination to accomplish this while the correct method was displayed in the screen.
This article was written for general consumption, and appears to be written in a simple style, and since not everyone has a degree in software engineering, terms like "gaming literacy" isn't going to have much meaning for most. 'Good' is a broad word, in this context it seems to mean "the exclusion of bad."
Honestly, if people needed to be goddamn experts to review games, nobody would have ever fucking listened to Louis Brindley of the Yogscast. Dude sucks at games, but at the very least, he's literate. Due to his literacy, Lewis can provide a credible summary of a game's experience, having an understanding of common gaming elements. Furthermore, his knowledge of these game elements give Lewis the capability to detect and describe a game's nuance.
[–] Psylent ago
I agree that the example in the article is pretty bad, in fact it's one of the worst examples of game play I have ever seen. In saying that though, it's clear to the viewer that this person really sucks at games and just general comprehension and co-ordination, I doubt anyone would take his opinion very seriously. I just think it's up to the viewer to decide and there shouldn't be a "you can't review games" type rule in place or something. Lots of crap gamers stream / do youtube videos, the good ones float to the top, the shit ones stay at the bottom.