Do you believe that "Good" and "Fun" are not synonymous?

[Realitycrash]

Lol. "Good" is an extremely nonspecific term.

And /thread on the very first post. Nice work.

"Good" is a very weak descriptive word. "Good" and "Bad" are just easy one-word ways for giving a baseline opinion on something.

"This game is good"

Why is it good?

"Because it's really fun!"



See?

Well, I can approve of a game (Saying "It is good") for other reasons than "It is fun". It might be educational, for instance.

You also have to define "Fun". Is "Fun" same as "joyous"? Or is it "Pleasurable experience"? Many experiences are pleasurable, like getting scared by a good movie, or eating a good ice-cream, but it is not necessary the same experience. A game can be "pleasurable" in many different ways.
Amnesia or Silent Hill vs Battletoads, for instance.

 

[Twilight_guy]

I've seen people enjoy bad movies. I suppose people could have fun playing bad games.

 

[CleverNickname]

good question. have games yet produced "So Bad It's Good" titles? I certainly can't think of a famous example. Like, actually bad, that people enjoy in spite of. But not intentionally bad like some flash games made for lols.
Those Japanese "Dating" games, maybe?

 

[piinyouri]

A game can be good without being fun. The gameplay shouldn't be bad but it doesn't need to be "fun." Silent Hill 2 isn't fun, it's oppressive and atmospheric but it's still a good game for those reasons.

I don't think something can be fun but bad, though. If I'm having fun, if I'm enjoying myself then, in my eyes, it's good.

Then again, there is Big Rigs...

I can turn that on it's head by telling you I have an immense amount of fun experiencing those feelings in good horror games.

Playing Clock Tower for the first time, I was terrified, actually put the controller down the first time ole shizzy popped out of a bathroom broom closet. But it was fun. God was it fun.
I love feeling genuinely frightened.

 

[ScrabbitRabbit]

A game can be good without being fun. The gameplay shouldn't be bad but it doesn't need to be "fun." Silent Hill 2 isn't fun, it's oppressive and atmospheric but it's still a good game for those reasons.

I don't think something can be fun but bad, though. If I'm having fun, if I'm enjoying myself then, in my eyes, it's good.

Then again, there is Big Rigs...

I can turn that on it's head by telling you I have an immense amount of fun experiencing those feelings in good horror games.

Playing Clock Tower for the first time, I was terrified, actually put the controller down the first time ole shizzy popped out of a bathroom broom closet. But it was fun. God was it fun.
I love feeling genuinely frightened.

I, too, can find fun in being frightened. The thrill of being chased in the likes of Clock Tower or even Amnesia is amazingly fun. But I feel that Silent Hill 2 is a little different because it's not so much scary as it is depressing. I dunno, I just didn't have any "fun" with the game even though I loved every second but maybe it's just me.

 

[piinyouri]

A game can be good without being fun. The gameplay shouldn't be bad but it doesn't need to be "fun." Silent Hill 2 isn't fun, it's oppressive and atmospheric but it's still a good game for those reasons.

I don't think something can be fun but bad, though. If I'm having fun, if I'm enjoying myself then, in my eyes, it's good.

Then again, there is Big Rigs...

I can turn that on it's head by telling you I have an immense amount of fun experiencing those feelings in good horror games.

Playing Clock Tower for the first time, I was terrified, actually put the controller down the first time ole shizzy popped out of a bathroom broom closet. But it was fun. God was it fun.
I love feeling genuinely frightened.

I, too, can find fun in being frightened. The thrill of being chased in the likes of Clock Tower or even Amnesia is amazingly fun. But I feel that Silent Hill 2 is a little different because it's not so much scary as it is depressing. I dunno, I just didn't have any "fun" with the game even though I loved every second but maybe it's just me.

I get what you're saying.
It's like The Road, both book and movie are really good stories, but not something I always enjoy experiencing, till the end anyway.

 

[Smeggs]

Have you ever played a game where you find yourself going "This game isn't really all that good..." but you're still having fun playing it?

I personally believe that a game can be fun without necessarily being good and vice versa.

It's fun to wreak havoc in Prototype.

The game's story is horribly generic, and honestly, there's not much more to do then leap around and smack choppers out of the air between boss fights.

 

[David OKeefe]

Absolutely not. Limbo, for instance, is a game I find to be excellent, but I don't have "fun," playing it. Solving the puzzles is amusing and engaging, but the atmosphere is far too bleak and oppressive for me to have fun with it. That doesn't stop me from loving it or thinking of it as a good game. Simply put, the game derives its status as being good - however vague that word may be - from the fact that its cerebral and engaging. I would say the same for one of my favorite games ever, The Void.

Horror games are an entire genre predicated upon the idea that good games don't necessarily have to be fun.

All that matters in any creative medium is that a work engages you on some level. Fun is just one way of being engaging.

 

[Samus Aran but a man]

I know Dead Space 2 is good. I just don't have that much fun playing it because I need to lower the volume, turn on the lights and listen to The Beach Boys to make myself walk through a single corridor.

 

[Bad Jim]

I think it is only true if you have a bad definition of 'good'. I think a lot of games reviewers, after playing games for a living starts to feel like work, tend to rate games based on objective measures like graphics, features, enemy variety, plot etc rather than simply asking themselves whether the game is fun to play. This is partly because it's by no means certain that others will feel the same way, and they don't want to give the impression that review scores are determined randomly.

It's a faulty definition of good, but the wisest one for reviewers to use unfortunately.

 

[Bad Jim]

Let me ask you a question:

Do you measure a 'good' movie by the amount of fun you have or the enjoyment you get out of it?

What's the difference between fun and enjoyment?