Sometimes I get comments, in chat when I’m livestreaming a video game or in the comment section of my YouTube videos, telling me I’m not playing a game right. Yet, I somehow manage to complete games on normal or harder difficulties, so I don’t see what I’m doing “wrong.”

While “I suck at this but I still enjoy it” is a valid way to play video games and to stream them, sometimes I don’t actually suck. I’m just playing differently than other players and there’s nothing wrong with that.

There are many different ways to play games, which should be obvious in games like SKYRIM or STARDEW VALLEY, but it’s also possible in a game like GOD OF WAR.

Yet I still have dudes rolling into my chatroom during a SKYRIM livestream to tell me I should go get some particular two-handed weapon that’s the “best” in the game… even though I’m playing a stealth archer with no perks in the Two-Handed skill, I’m doing just fine on the highest difficulty setting and I’ve already got the platinum trophy on PS3.

My SKYRIM playlist on YouTube

Even in a cozy low-stakes game like STARDEW VALLEY, which offers a range of content including farming, foraging, forestry, fishing, friendship, romance, dungeon delving, beekeeping and more, I’ve had people tell me I’m playing it “wrong.”

They insist I should be farming like crazy, making tons of money and constantly expanding like I’m some kind of capitalist empire, instead of doing what I actually enjoy, which is foraging, collecting, exploring and making friends. Isn’t the point of the game that I left the Joja company rat race to relax and focus on what really matters in life?

I have to wonder if this says something about their values and my values IRL.

My STARDEW VALLEY playlist on YouTube

Then there’s the 2018 GOD OF WAR, where I hung back and threw the Leviathan Axe a lot because I usually play an archer or sniper in other games, so I continued to use a lot of ranged combat in this one too.

I had no previous experience with the God of War franchise, so I didn’t understand the effective use of rage until I was about halfway through the game. Yet I still managed to complete the story on normal difficulty and had a great time doing it.

GOD OF WAR is one of my favorite video games of all time, even if I played it “wrong.”

My GOD OF WAR playlist on YouTube

I know a lot of people who won’t play certain games or don’t play video games at all, because they’re afraid of being bad at them, so I think it’s good to show my learning curves, not hide them.

And I think it’s important to show that there are many different ways to play a game. Anyone who thinks their way is the only “right” way to enjoy something is either immature or an asshole, or both.

~ J.L. Hilton

Connect, support, comment or contact the author here