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Gaming in YAMG

0525

One of people’s biggest complaint about YAMG seem to be the gaming scenes. While there is nothing we can do if someone simply doesn’t enjoy it or finds it boring, I wanted to create a space where we can discuss our understanding of the gaming and how saw it in the drama. To anyone who's curious how much gaming actually takes place Amastris provided an overview. :)

Before I want to go into my own ramblings, I have a few questions for all of you:

  • What do you think of the gaming?
  • Do you have experience with gaming?
  • Did it take away from your experience?
  • What bothered you? What made you appreciate it?
  • What would you have wished for instead?

I also want to point out why I don’t think it’s boring – why in my eyes, it tells us a lot about JJ and YT.

The game is what makes them meet again – that’s why people have called it a mere plot device to get the leads together. But is it only that?

In literature terms, JJ’s game footage being leaked is the initiating event of the story. It’s what kickstarts the conflict and it happens to coincide with rumors about JJ being rejected in high school – all of it is most likely an attempt to cause a scandal after JJ has just won an award. It makes only sense, then, that the resolution of the first conflict revolves around the nature of the conflict – aka gaming. For the sake of her career, her integrity and her fans, JJ wants to work hard to make up for her carelessness. JJ’s motivation for starting her practice is clear, and it only becomes a little more complex when YT enters the picture.

JJ had been crushing on YT for 6 years and only deciding to give up on her infatuation when she heard that YT has entered a relationship. She has always admired him and has always wanted him to teach her. Their first game was a mistake but seeing how (a) she immediately became infatuated with YT again and (b) YT was really good at the game that she desperately needed to improve at – of course she would try to pursue him.

Now, how does YT play into this? For me, the biggest question always was why YT said yes to being her coach. In the end, at least to me, the answer is quite simple: YT was at a crossroads in life, a very difficult decision ahead of him. He was tired and overwhelmed, guilty towards his family, towards his colleagues and devasted at the thought of having to give up his dream. That is *a lot* to deal with. So, what’s a better way to deal with all of that than to simply – not. YT is an overthinker, this much is clear. Gaming and coaching JJ gives himself something to distract himself with – he can still overthink but this time it’s overanalyzing games while telling himself “I am helping out a classmate”. A classmate who has obvious trust in him. Additionally, JJ is incredibly positive. When he has the option that instead of sitting in his house, with his own thoughts and doubts about the future, he can spend time with a pretty and optimistic women that takes so much of his attention that he forgets his worries while engaging in a game that takes skill and strategic thinking, I think the choice is obvious. He has something to do that does not remind him constantly off the mess his life is currently. Even though it’s a lot of work, he can relax.

To me, this is the character setup that is introduced via gaming – this is why I think gaming was the perfect “activity” for them to do to get closer to each other. Especially considering their characters – JJ, a celebrity that can’t go out much and YT, a chronic overthinker who is currently stressed out of his mind. The beginning is not focused solely on each other but on them as an individual, too. This is what matters bc it’s the theme that accompanies us through all of the drama.

Lol, okay, I’ve been typing a lot already and I could go on to great lengths on why I also think the gaming parts of the drama – in regards to the development of the relationship of JJ and YT – was well made, but I think I should end it here for now.

So, what is your guys’ opinion?

edited Quote
xinya

What do you think of the gaming?

A bit boring, I guess. It's not that I object the gaming premise or content of that story arc, rather I simply feel that the gameplay scenes were not particularly well-executed. I think there either needed to be fewer gaming scenes or more effort made to make those scenes engaging.

Do you have experience with gaming?

I'm not a gamer, but I believe this is a MOBA game, and I do have some familiarity with this type of game.

Did it take away from your experience?

My experience of the drama? Not really. I still enjoyed the drama and consider it a relatively minor complaint, but I can understand if other people were more annoyed about it than I was and decided to drop the drama.

What bothered you? What made you appreciate it?

I addressed this topic in the review I wrote for this drama, so I'll just paste the relevant paragraph here:
“Even though I didn’t watch this drama for the gaming, I did find myself wishing they were more exciting. Despite all the time spent practicing, discussing strategy, etc., it’s quite difficult to actually follow what’s going on while the characters are playing, especially since the matches are often shown as fragmented montages. Even when they do show more extensive gameplay, you can’t really understand the strategy since the game has too many heroes and the viewer is only vaguely acquainted with a few. Honestly, it can be hard to even see what’s happening, due to the fact that the game visuals are generally portrayed as they would appear to an actual player, which is realistic, but not very legible. I think the aerospace engineering scenes were actually more comprehensible than the gameplay. Because this drama never intended to be about gaming, exciting gaming scenes weren’t necessarily a requirement, but in that case, I wish they had spent less time making me watch such scenes."

I think the reason this aspect is dissatisfying to so many people is because whether or not someone likes gaming dramas, they're likely to have a complaint. If someone watched this drama because they wanted to watch a gaming drama, they will be disappointed when they realize that it's not actually a gaming drama and that even though there are a lot of gaming scenes, they're not done in a way that really lets you get into the gameplay. If someone doesn't care about gaming and watched this drama because they wanted to watch a romance, then it might be boring to sit through so many gaming scenes, especially when they aren't very exciting.

What would you have wished for instead?

I don't necessarily want major changes to the story, but I wish they would have cut back on the number/length of scenes where we're just watching a screen full of animations or characters staring at their phones. With the extra time they could either 1) shorten the drama (which might help the people who found it too slow), 2) extend the final two gaming matches (these were better than most of the very fragmented bits of the practice matches we got to see, but they could have used more elaboration to make them as exciting as a match that you would see in a gaming drama; this wouldn't shorten the total time spent on the gaming but it would concentrate it on creating a couple good matches rather than a bunch of boring ones), 3) add more scenes of the leads interacting and getting to know each other over something other than gaming.

Quote
jinyun
  • What do you think of the gaming?

Never played that game. Not interested in the gaming scenes. However, the story and the characters made me continue. EP14 was actually well-done, which reminded me of my favorite drama the King's Avatar.

  • Do you have experience with gaming?

I play game almost everyday, just not this one.

  • Did it take away from your experience?

? I don't get this question.

  • What bothered you? What made you appreciate it?

I was more into Yu Tu's struggling and pain. Gaming was a bit too light-hearted and it forced me to jump between two different worlds. EP14 was pretty good though.

  • What would you have wished for instead?

Less gaming in EP1&2, as EP1 with too much gaming content almost drove me away. 

edited Quote

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