So that Ian Bogost piece on the Atlantic got me digging up my box of old PC Prospect magazines from the 90s (Remember that? You probably don't; it only ran for two years). I distinctly recalled a piece that was very similar, which ran in a 1992 issue.
I managed to get in touch with the author through a mutual friend, and he gave me permission to post it online (for the first time too, I think). I just finished transcribing it and putting it up on Medium.
It's called "Videogames Are Better Without Mechanics." You've probably never heard of the author; he quit games writing (and, it seems, journalism entirely) sometime in 1993. Anyway here's the Medium link: https://medium.com/@NotBrunoAgain/videogames-are-better-without-mechanics-25061fa734d7
@bruno Amusing, I like how the intro has a very believable context *and* a common view of the time (Ahhh, whatever *did* happen to Narrativist/Simulationist/Gamist ? 😂 )
@TMWReviews @bruno The instructors at my school still use the words "narrativist" and "gamist" to categorize games! One of them also somehow uses "walking simulator" as though it were almost a serious genre definition. Gamers...
@Skirmisher @TMWReviews i'm on an academic listserv that, every month or so, unironically rehashes "narratology vs ludology". It's the debate that will never ever die
@Skirmisher @bruno Yeah, to be fair, one of the things that the *variety* of approaches to game design doesn't help with is a nice, simple reduction of approaches to a single model. 😂