Generic does not equal bad.

[shadowDOESrock]

I hate when people use the name "generic" as substitue for "bad", since something generic doesnt have to be bad.
Here is a short post about this, please take your time to watch the attached videos fully.



Avatar, a fairly generic movie. It is NOTHING we havent seen before. The Story has been told in movies a million times as well, but does that make the movie bad? No, no it does not. It took existing ideas and made them fresh and interesting once more.

The Star Wars Movies are another example of that. But none of you care about movies, lets move on to the games.




OBVIOUSLY based off the Novel Ringworld and the Alien-Franchise, Halo took the ideas of both (and almost 1:1 rips-off the story of Aliens) and puts them in one package. Obviously this was fleshed out later with Halo 2 and onwards, but still. The Motion Tracker, the Guns, the design of the marines and their vehicles. Clearly based off Aliens. But does that make Halo a bad game? No, no it does not.

They remixed the old forumla and made it fun again, it was FUN to explore the world of Halo. It was FUN the shoot all the goons.
And yes, even the story was fun - even though it always was obvious whats going to happen.

How is that possible? They made the World look interesting, they made the Universe seem deep. They made REALLY interesting and relateable characters. Giving of scenes that make us gasp, go "oh no", smile and maybe make us really sad. Even though sometimes we already knew whats going to happen, we didnt want it to happen - since we love the characters and the universe big time.




Another great example. Call of Duty 4, World at War and Modern Warfare 2. (None of the newer ones.)
They all told pretty generic stories and where pretty generic in gameplay as well. Yet, it was fresh because the characters where interesting and the set-pieces where huge and there was so much variety in the missions. You always did something different, you always experienced a completely new envoirement. You always experiences a new challenge. Game Design at its best.
Yet, none of the elements where really new.


Or how about this scene from World at War


Directly ripped from a movie (dont remember what it was called), yet one of the most breathtaking moments in a first-person shooter to date. Scenes like these happen often in movies, but never where you are fully immersed like that. Its a kind of immersion only capable in the video game medium. It'll definetely get some sort of emotion out of you during gameplay and its probably a sad one.
They remixed something old and made it fresh again.


Now, i have a hard time getting my point across because of my limited vocabulary since i'm not speaking nativly english and i'm a lazy bastard to actually put effort in a post on a half-dead forum.

I'll probably make a video on my channel going deeper into this if you people would like to see that, but i hope that whoever reads this sort-of gets my point.

A Generic Game or Movie, even Music - does not have to be bad.

Thank you for your time.

[SmashFinale]

Only if you could submit this to as an article. This nice little thread needs some well deserved attention.

[Tanassy]

I agree. While generic CAN mean bad (In context), it's often like saying "I've seen this before, but I'll watch it again"

We've actually had this topic come up many time on the forum, I remember because I led one of them. The definition of Generic is clear and that's the only way I'll ever use it.

[Hakudamashi]

It's always nice to return to something familiar, I mean, isn't that why we have franchises?

I always roll my eyes at someone posting, "It's just a generic *insert genre here*", it doesn't explain a goddamn thing.

[jkid101094]

Generic doesn't equate to bad by any means but that's not like everyone has to like something generic. If someone doesn't like something they feel is generic or they use their own meaning of the word that's their thing and it should bother you.

Also tl;wrl.

[Hakudamashi]

Generic doesn't equate to bad by any means but that's not like everyone has to like something generic. If someone doesn't like something they feel is generic or they use their own meaning of the word that's their thing and it should bother you.

Also tl;wrl.

Someone doesn't double check their posts.

And I think what bothers him is not so much the word being used, but how people tend to use it.

[Elija2]

Avatar isn't praised for its story as much as it is praised for its visuals, which certainly aren't generic. The same could be said for Star Wars. Nobody considers those movies generic, even if certain aspects of the films aren't completely original, because the things that are original are great. Besides, it's hard to come up with a truly original concept nowadays. Everything is "based on" or "inspired by" something. Calling something "generic" doesn't really mean anything at this point. It's better to improve upon an existing concept than it is to create something completely new altogether.

[eastport]

It also doesn't equal good.

[shadowDOESrock]

It also doesn't equal good.

You get a cookie

[Darth.Flipyap]

I agree

[HoNk]

Generic usually defines the undefined line between unoriginal and just bad.
So it's a semi-good semi-bad word.
)