Here we go...

by General Vagueness , The Vault of Sass, Saturday, August 31, 2013, 11:17 (3884 days ago) @ stabbim

Halo was lightning captured in a bottle sure, but you can't just make another bottle and expect lightning already to be in it.

Who said anything about expecting? Parsons' operative word was "want." I think this is the root of the whole negative tangent in this thread: confusing Bungie's desire for Destiny to be a big deal with them believing that it's a certainty.

This is like saying you want to make a viral video. You can't. Just make good videos and maybe if you're lucky one will get watched by more than 10 people.

So, you are saying that wanting a video to go viral doesn't make it happen. That is 100% true, of course. You also say the best approach is to just make it the best you can, and hope for the best. That, I also agree with. It's true of viral videos, games, and just about everything else.

The problem I'm seeing with this thread is that some posters seem to believe that Bungie has to make a distinct choice between these two approaches:

1. Try to create a cultural phenomenon.

2. Just buckle down and make a great game.

This is nonsense. What is actually happening is that they're buckling down and making a great game, WHILE simultaneously hoping that it becomes a big deal. I don't understand the idea that this is somehow a black-or-white choice between items 1 and 2. It is absolutely possible to work hard and do the best you can, WHILE hoping that something grand comes of it. And there's nothing wrong with it, either.

I think it comes from that ("cultural significance" or "cultural phenomenon" or "as successful/well-known/good as this and that and this etc.") and two assumptions. Firstly there's the assumption that they're not just hoping and wishing it turns out as a phenomenon, they're doing something to try to make it happen, which I think makes sense. Secondly there's the assumption that a "cultural phenomenon" like the ones that have been referred to are things that quote-unquote everyone likes, or at least can appreciate, which brings to mind focus groups and surveys and behaviorists and soccer moms.