The tall poppy syndrome is a pejorative commonly used in Australia to describe the social phenomenon in which people of genuine merit are criticized for being exactly that. It’s a ridiculous societal response that encourages people to censor their achievements and enthusiasm so as not to appear too bigheaded in the public.
And when players celebrated the unveiling of the Uncharted movie experience by Youtube user “morphinapg”, I eased back into my rocking chair and let out a grumbly sigh. My disappointment has nothing to do with the level of polish in such an endeavor, but rather with what I believe is misguided appreciation. I say misguided because it unintentionally devalues video games by removing interactivity, and inspires a culture of embarrassment over the distinguishing quality of the medium. The Uncharted movie experience, which splices the cutscenes and gameplay into a feature-length film in an effort to appeal to non-gamers, joins an ever expanding group of fan-made video game movies that celebrate cinema rather than games. If the most popular way we can celebrate the medium is to turn to the language of film, we are silently agreeing that interactivity plays second fiddle to the controlled scripts of cinema.
And while these …
