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Does anyone actually want to discuss gaming intelligently?
For example the depiction of issues, narrative structure, the nature of gaming design and things like that. If you want to, then get bloody to it. I would start but I don't want to if no one cares.
And don't go on about violence and gaming and all that bloody CNN talk.
22 views and not a response? First of all, bump, just in case something else was posted and I'll come up with something then to see if it will get people going.
Is contemporary gaming too much of a hand-holding experience?
For example, the use of text and audio within a game such as that through written diaries, notes and audio logs are often straight forward directives given to the player, but via these audio and text based clues, the player is conditioned to think in a linear manner. The game instructs the player and tells them exactly what to do with little to no open end, creating a hand held gaming experience.
For example, in Fallout 3, one of my recent favourites, numerous quests are hinted upon via ambiguous notes left by long gone NPCs alluding to a hidden treasure, valuable item or unfinished deal. The player is then directly or indirectly instructed upon what to do, be it follow a path or a guess a number.
But the one possibility that is never entered in the player's head is that the text is a lie. It is a given that what the player is being told is the truth, which returns us to unimaginative gameplay well known to the MMO player; fetch, kill and return. I complete the objective and return to receive an item alluded to via the text.
Rather should not the text, an opportunity for atmospheric development be used to create emotional shock, intrigue and interest among player rather than serve the purpose of a bleak tutorial?
That is not to say, all player indications should in their design be outright lies, a more subtle option would be to create a narrative with a promised reward that is removed by circumstance. For example, finding a note, following it through, arriving at the said area to retrieve the reward but rather being a victim of circumstance such as the reward has been previously claimed or being unusable in its current state.
The problem with such a challenging structure is that the players are left materialistically unrewarded, for going through strife and inputting one's own emotions and effort, the player has nothing to show for it but personal experience making hand holding at some level absolutely necessary. Personal experience although satisfying, is not as rewarding as an item which will act to ensure your survival, in this sense, gameplay is sacrificed for narrative substance by offering personal experience alone as the reward. Thus, to ensure that gameplay, the essence of all that is holy within video games, is preserved to the detriment of narrative expression in game design.
The problem as I see it with modern games is that, it has progressively conditioned players be rewarded for anything and everything they might do. From in-game events and rewards to achievements and trophies. Their sense of accomplishment must be tallied, accounted for and in some cases even ranked for them to feel that they have earned something for their time.
While I agree not everything should be hinted at and sequentially rewarded, from a developer's perspective it might be a moot point. The internet is the first and most prominent thing that comes to my mind, followed by strategy guides.
Thanks to the internet, We can gather information from thousands, if not millions of players (considering you don't stick with one gaming community) focused on the same game, exchanging their experiences and giving a sense of direction beyond what the game may hint at the player to do. If they find a cryptic note talking about an odd occurrence, item or monster/npc, and after setting out they find there was no reward, most people will simply skip it, as they might not miss anything detrimental to their experience, unless they are completionists. Either there is something else that can be accounted for, or it leads to something else. In most player's minds, that something else better be worth it, either by being something worth it, or being a revealing piece of the game's plot, back story or little events that still affected the storyline. And even then, you'll most likely unlock an achievement.
With strategy guides, those who write them have the option of obscuring things for the sake of not spoiling everything, but in the minds of most people who buy them, that's the whole point. They want to get from A to Z and get some of that SS between. Some guides effectively give a lot of information and don't spoil the story, but that's a difficult thing to do when it comes to games with a fast plot or when it is filled with twists. In any case, the guide might tell you how to go to a certain place and get an item, only to go to a gaming community and read about the item being regarded as useless by most if not all of the community.
All in all, I think developers have a greatly difficult time finding balance in non-linear, non-rewarding bits and pieces in a game than just telling the player from the start that their path is set, and everything on the way is just trying to eat their cake, or turns to be icing on said cake.
If what I've said doesn't make sense, I blame lack of proper sleep.
Wow, you are right and so is that nifty picture. Would of been great if you miss spelled sleep with sheep lol...
But if we are arguing over how they have made kids zombies check out that fat kid on youtube who cries because his brother tells him to get off the Xbox. I am a major fan of gaming but their are actually people who cry because they cant play their Xbox or PS3.
I think game consoles should at least encourage sports somehow or like a timeout period, if things carry on the way they are going everyone is going to end up fat slobs and want nothing more then to game.
Wow, you are right and so is that nifty picture. Would of been great if you miss spelled sleep with sheep lol...
But if we are arguing over how they have made kids zombies check out that fat kid on youtube who cries because his brother tells him to get off the Xbox. I am a major fan of gaming but their are actually people who cry because they cant play their Xbox or PS3.
I think game consoles should at least encourage sports somehow or like a timeout period, if things carry on the way they are going everyone is going to end up fat slobs and want nothing more then to game.
Wow I'm impressed by your gaming knowledge and what not. To briefly skim the nature of game designing I see games for portable game systems now-a-days have become shortened and in some ways crappy. For instance Assasins Creed Bloodlines has excellent graphics along with amazing weapons, even though there are 4. Yet I found myself beating most PSP games such as ACB in just 4 hours. Which really proves the point that games are just to short. A game should really contain the length of GTA which would take days and weeks to beat.
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Only on the brink of destruction do people really change.
The problem as I see it with modern games is that, it has progressively conditioned players be rewarded for anything and everything they might do. AND EVERYTHING ELSE
Indeed, I would imagine that for those who consider gaming an interactive experience, the knowledge of participating in or acting in the sequence would be enough. Similar to the knowledge gained from reading, you receive knowledge or experience yet have nothing material to show for it.
The problem with this kind of reward system is the lack of appeal it has within modern society because it is not obviously or immediately rewarding, hell all I read are game articles now-a-days.
All that I'm trying to say is that by offering consistent rewards and never pushing players off the deep end is that the reward in playing a game is contained within the game itself rather than the player being enriched by the experience.
Just to give an example, Borderlands. Do a quest, receive new weapon and I know for sure that this new weapon is going to work to my advantage and therefore I feel gratified for my actions. All to the detriment of story, but I'm not going to try and convince people that Borderlands' story had a lot of potential. There are women in the vault according to the intro guy.
Now to conrados.
I believe what you are saying is true in the sense that games are too short, most people disagree saying content is more important than length, but it seems obvious to me that length is the amount of content. By saying a game is too short is saying it lacked good content.
But in regards to portable gaming, handheld games are not such an immersive experience as their console or PC counter parts. They are generally designed to be "On the go" games you play during your work break or something similar. Although I agree games should be longer I do not believe handheld gaming; where short battery life is almost a given, should not be the platform to pioneer longer contemporary games on.
@Konkor
Some games actually do pop up with little notifications saying you've played for this many hours, take a break. It's just that no one who would play that long anyway gives a shit.
All that I'm trying to say is that by offering consistent rewards and never pushing players off the deep end is that the reward in playing a game is contained within the game itself rather than the player being enriched by the experience.
Partly, this is why I love me some fightan vidya. It's a definitely enriching experience from the perspective of learning everything you possibly can about your main, but also effectively apply the knowledge.
Partly, this is why I love me some fightan vidya. It's a definitely enriching experience from the perspective of learning everything you possibly can about your main, but also effectively apply the knowledge.
Me not understand what sentence mean. Me feel stupid.
Could you reword what you are saying? I get lost in the part with bold.
Does anyone actually want to discuss gaming intelligently?
Linear Mode
