Going from enthusiast to critic

At least in terms of mindset.

I keep seeing this commercial for "ESPN Shotblock Basketball", a toy that ESPN is peddling night and day. Its basically a basketball hoop whose rim occasionally flaps up to block the shot.

And, well, I see this and automatically see how foolish a concept it is as a toy or a game.

You see, a game becomes frustrating when the part that makes it difficult is either random or out of the player's control or, god forbid, both. Random works well for dice rolls, but when a hit or miss thing is completely random will soon wane on the player's patience.

It's the fact that I so readily recognized this fact that gets to me. Its like a fan of movies watching a movie and, at the end saying "act two was too long and act three was too short". Its the process of recognizing the patterns within the media that becomes second nature that gets weird for me.

I know my sister knows what I'm talking about...