Expectations are a curious thing.
At best, expectation can become anticipation which provides us with the much needed excitement and emotional rollercoasterings that makes life interesting and fun.
That said.
Expectations, equally often, are made too high, correspondingly making it harder to enjoy your anticipated pleasure because you want more from it before you are happy.
Take Modern Warfare 2 for example. My brother and I, sharing a room as we do, often have late night talks about our future plans, aspirations and most anticipated games. Modern Warfare 2 was discussed ad nauseam and naturally we began to anticipate the next "greatest thing evar!"
It arrived, and, pardon my upbringing, it was F#CKING TERRIBLE! I don't play multiplayer so all I was hoping for was a storyline-erific action packed single player campaign. What I got was one big, incomprehensible explosion of a conspiracy theorists wettest dream with more unexpected deaths than the Black characters in horror movies.
By comparison take Red Faction Guerrilla, I had never heard of it, knew nothing about it and tried it with a blank slate. I ended up loving it. The game is pure functionality and fun, albeit nothing special if you're looking for the next Mass Effect, but fun nonetheless.
My lack of expectation led me to having fun, whatever my twisted logic. Human beings are hedonistic (pleasure seekers) by nature, so I see no reason to sabotage myself with unecesesary expectations.
So here is my message for the day, expect sparingly. I don't mean lower expectations but choose carefully when to begin making them.
A connoisseur will tell you that having your expectations fulfilled is better than being "pleasantly surprised" by a hundred experiences.
While nothing can beat the feeling of having an experience meet or exceed expectations it also means that for every one of those feelings of pure fulfillment there are many more occasions of disappointment.
Expect sparingly and have the best of both.
If Mass Effect 3 and Skyrim are not the greatest contributions to culture since the Mona Lisa I will personally find and violate their makers.
I will also be pleasantly surprised (hopefully) by Deus Ex: Human Revolution and RAGE.
As my grandfather always said:
"Everything in moderation, including moderation."
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Yeah I know what you mean. If you set your expectations too high then you will likely be letdown.. Out of all the games I bought this year at full price Infamous 2 met my expectations.. And thats due to no small part to me not being overly excited by it like I was with KZ3 or L.A. Noire. Im trying really hard not to get too excited for ME3 but i cant help it lol.. As far as the other games this year.. My moderation with expectations is just right..
Uc3, BF3, Arkham City, aand RAGE.. Im not overly exicted about any of these games
Low expectations are pretty keen.
Going in with low to no expectations means the game can only exceed them.
I always employ a healthy dose of skepticism, especially for games everyone loves but nobody has played.