Comments on: That’s Just Your Opinion

By: The Rodeo » Blog Archive » Del.icio.us Links

The Rodeo » Blog Archive » Del.icio.us Links — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 02:39:54 +0000

[...] That’s Just Your OpinionOn the demise of the expert. Except, some people really are experts, and you should probably listen to them (within their field anyway). [...]

By: Tedi Worrier

Tedi Worrier — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 16:30:07 +0000

….that’s “upon” of course … at least I was not overcome by Apostrophic Succession

By: Tedi Worrier

Tedi Worrier — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 16:27:56 +0000

I used to be an expert in adventure games once upopn a time ago. A fellow ex-expert just wrote to me that he had started again and was currently blown away by the stupendous graphics in Myst. We are out of date even though I still have the cassette recorder … but I can still tell you the quickest way to get out of the goblins’ dungeon…. however, benighted adventurers no longer phone me to ask how to get out of some or other of the Mystic Realm.
Consider:
X is the unknown quantity in maths
A Spurt is a drip under pressure.

So, whenever you see the words, “Xperts say…” just recall that an Xpert is an unknown drip under pressure. It restores perspective mightily.

Meanwhile, obviously, the best adventure game ever written clearly is Betrayal at Krondor.

By: Dripfed

Dripfed — Mon, 23 Jan 2006 11:44:33 +0000

What you have written, and I agree with Tim E in some ways on this, is one of the major problems in education. As a teacher, it is expected that your are the expert and your job is to pass this expertise onto the next generation. Now, somewhere along the line, the pupils have been indoctrinated with the holiness of the individual as you put it.
Hence, if they don’t like something, they will tell you, in no uncertain terms that you are talking crap. They will ignore facts that they do not like, or that do not fit into their personal view of the world.
Case in point, discussing Brazil, one pupil told me they speak Spanish, they speak Portugeuese due to a little Papal jiggery pokery. This pupil then argued with me in front of the class and called me stupid because his dad had been to Spain, and when he heard Ronaldo talking, it was Spanish because it sounded like it. Cue several books and AV things on the whiteboard showing Portugeuese as the language etc. Nope, this kid wouldn’t have it, his world view showed Brazil spoke Spanish, so I as the expert was wrong to challenege him.
Secondly. Spain is south of the UK. Many pupils had been there, a few of them decided Spain was east, simply because that’s where they thought the plain was heading. The map and the opinion of an expert couldn’t convince them otherwise.

This attitude grows from an early age, and continues into adulthood, hence the growth in confidence tricksters exploiting modern idiots who place more value in trinkets and tat than science.

I mentioned something about this on the PCGF, a girl whose home I was taken back to had a uni’ room full of new age guff. She placed and energy crystal on my back and started talking softly about it whilst being ‘nice’ to me. I’m affraid I had to grab the crystal and say “Bollocks this is quartz, rose quartz at that, and the only energy you’ll get out of it, is if you crush it….the piezoelectric effect.” My expert opinion happened to ruin the evening, and I did do the old Newman and Baddiel gag regarding George Bernard Shaw; “Oh no, I’ve just blown a perfect shag.”
Interesting thoughts John.

By: bob_arctor

bob_arctor — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 19:48:26 +0000

So John can you tell us whether you are with Ste on the side of Girls Aloiud and manufactured pop or on the side of Franz Ferdinand. I’m using this to see whether you side with the experts, who are the music press, Mercury judges, Franz Ferdinand (Ste Curran is not in a band which has sold millions of CDs you see), or Ste, who is an individual specialising in computers, gaming, consoles. So not in music.
(You like Arcade Fire so I cannot see you buying Girls Aloud myself, but you may surprise us)

By: Defragged

Defragged — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 13:47:22 +0000

I slept through that. Oddly though the words from the radio invaded my sleep, giving me some bizzare dream where I was writing an essay on relativism in a fun house.

With slides and things.

By: admin

admin — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 11:40:12 +0000

I caught the end of it. I love the moment when Bragg names the topic for the next episode.

“And bat bends bour discussbion onb rebalitism. Joinb bus bext beek bhen be’ll be discussingb 17bth bentury basket weavingb.”

By: always_black

always_black — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 11:30:57 +0000

I heard that.

The problem with crticising relativism, is that the critic always assumes that accepting that everyone has an equally valid point of view means you’re not allowed to take a baseball bat to someone who has a point of view you don’t like.

I can’t live in a world where I can’t take a bat to equally valid opinions I don’t like.

By: Andy Krouwel

Andy Krouwel — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 10:26:30 +0000

Nice discussion about relativism on In Our Time this morning.

By: Richard Cobbett

Richard Cobbett — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 01:17:36 +0000

Rather than writing huge blog posts ranting about the tiny details that annoyed along the way I would never dream of such a thing... But to be honest, the big problem I usually see with that sort of writing is forgetting who the target is, and trying to lecture the developers instead of informing the potential players - picking away at stuff that nobody cares about, until the odd typo here and there becomes 'sloppy workmanship', a couple of crap levels magically transform into 'half the game', or personal prejudice wins out over common sense (one review of Beyond Good and Evil that I saw really had a bee in its bonnet that Jade only had two weapons, as if that mattered even a little). Fun as amateur game design is, and I think most reviewers slip into doing it every now and again, there's a time and a place.