Are computer games too Bland? Should games have a deeper connection with characters & in depth plots?
I thought I would put the questions up for debate because 1. I am having a very slow day in the office 2. It something that I have been thinking about for a while now & I wanted to hear some other opinions on the subject.
Are computer games too bland?
We are at an age where computer games are at their peak for sales and popularity. We have long surpassed the stage where the gamer is stereotyped as a geek that is a social recluse. Nintendo, the once proud dominator of the computer game industry in Europe, America and Asia has fallen off the pedestal and trails both Microsoft & Sony, however it has smartly changed it market to open up games to the middles aged & Elderly. Wii & DS offer alternative games & of course they still dominate the Asian market.
Yet despite all of this, gaming genre have all fallen and managed to compress themselves into one massive genre ‘shooters’
Take out sports games (for obvious reasons) and almost every game out involves shooting a gun. I for one am getting a bit tired of this pattern of gaming. Why at such an advanced age, where we have 3d television & do absolutely everything with our mobile phones, can we not come up with new and creative games? The think I have deciphered the reasoning.
1. Multiplayer
2. Call of Duty
Multiplayer – The majority of game makers are now focusing hard on multiplayer features, leaving a good single player campaign hard to come by. Games such as Call of Duty, Battlefield and Halo offer poor single player options, most of them lasting a mere 6-7 hours game play with barely any focus on the plot/story. People seem to be more focused on destroying rivals over the internet to prove they are better than everyone else. Of course there is nothing wrong with that but what happened to playing games online for fun?
Call of Duty – The game’s popularity sky rocketed with the release of Modern Warfare, which coincidentally enough has a decent single player mode, characters and plot. The game is rated 18 but I assure you the majority of players are adolescents, given the game by the pathetic modern day parent to shut them up.
Pew Pew! Moderator Alfie likes to show off his COD skills.
Most developers are now trying to compete with this by bringing out there own unique version of the same game. It’s all a numbers game. Companies are no longer happy with selling a few hundred thousand copies; they need to be in the millions.
Nobody is prepared to take risks anymore, instead they settle for mediocre ****. For example, very few new IP’s are made every year. Instead we find every game is now a sequel. And the one’s that aren’t don’t sell too well and cost more in marketing so they recuperate less of their overall spend and don’t survive. For Call of Duty, you pretty much just need to mention to a big magazine, or a big website, that you’re making the game and they effectively market it for you for free.
Should games have a deeper connection with characters & in depth plots?
Gaming is like the movie business in a lot of ways, action films tend to lead the way but every now and again you get a film with a story that grips you and you feel a deep connection with the characters. The games industry is just like that.
Games that have taken that effect on me, most notably are Mass Effect & Heavy Rain, the latter does so in a **** near perfect way, using a unique interactive game play that brings you into the story and makes you feel a very strong connection with the characters. The fact that there is no set ending and your actions throughout in turn, affect the way the ending plays out.
Heavy Rain's storyline and character interaction, are it's main selling points.
More games should be going down this route because gaming is just another way of telling a story. It should be a more engaging story we’re moving towards. That’s the nature of interactivity I think. People don’t seem to grasp that. Definitely some like Bioware and Rockstar North do, but we’ll see how it goes down in the future.
Really want to see more games with involving storylines. Shame most people just want to kill stuff.
* * *
I would love to hear other views and even counter arguments regarding my points. Perhaps you have a game that you feel deserves a mention for having a gripping story that lets you connect with the characters?
Hope you enjoyed this very long & crappy attempt at an article XD
I thought I would put the questions up for debate because 1. I am having a very slow day in the office 2. It something that I have been thinking about for a while now & I wanted to hear some other opinions on the subject.
Are computer games too bland?
We are at an age where computer games are at their peak for sales and popularity. We have long surpassed the stage where the gamer is stereotyped as a geek that is a social recluse. Nintendo, the once proud dominator of the computer game industry in Europe, America and Asia has fallen off the pedestal and trails both Microsoft & Sony, however it has smartly changed it market to open up games to the middles aged & Elderly. Wii & DS offer alternative games & of course they still dominate the Asian market.
Yet despite all of this, gaming genre have all fallen and managed to compress themselves into one massive genre ‘shooters’
Take out sports games (for obvious reasons) and almost every game out involves shooting a gun. I for one am getting a bit tired of this pattern of gaming. Why at such an advanced age, where we have 3d television & do absolutely everything with our mobile phones, can we not come up with new and creative games? The think I have deciphered the reasoning.
1. Multiplayer
2. Call of Duty
Multiplayer – The majority of game makers are now focusing hard on multiplayer features, leaving a good single player campaign hard to come by. Games such as Call of Duty, Battlefield and Halo offer poor single player options, most of them lasting a mere 6-7 hours game play with barely any focus on the plot/story. People seem to be more focused on destroying rivals over the internet to prove they are better than everyone else. Of course there is nothing wrong with that but what happened to playing games online for fun?
Call of Duty – The game’s popularity sky rocketed with the release of Modern Warfare, which coincidentally enough has a decent single player mode, characters and plot. The game is rated 18 but I assure you the majority of players are adolescents, given the game by the pathetic modern day parent to shut them up.
Pew Pew! Moderator Alfie likes to show off his COD skills.
Most developers are now trying to compete with this by bringing out there own unique version of the same game. It’s all a numbers game. Companies are no longer happy with selling a few hundred thousand copies; they need to be in the millions.
Nobody is prepared to take risks anymore, instead they settle for mediocre ****. For example, very few new IP’s are made every year. Instead we find every game is now a sequel. And the one’s that aren’t don’t sell too well and cost more in marketing so they recuperate less of their overall spend and don’t survive. For Call of Duty, you pretty much just need to mention to a big magazine, or a big website, that you’re making the game and they effectively market it for you for free.
Should games have a deeper connection with characters & in depth plots?
Gaming is like the movie business in a lot of ways, action films tend to lead the way but every now and again you get a film with a story that grips you and you feel a deep connection with the characters. The games industry is just like that.
Games that have taken that effect on me, most notably are Mass Effect & Heavy Rain, the latter does so in a **** near perfect way, using a unique interactive game play that brings you into the story and makes you feel a very strong connection with the characters. The fact that there is no set ending and your actions throughout in turn, affect the way the ending plays out.
Heavy Rain's storyline and character interaction, are it's main selling points.
More games should be going down this route because gaming is just another way of telling a story. It should be a more engaging story we’re moving towards. That’s the nature of interactivity I think. People don’t seem to grasp that. Definitely some like Bioware and Rockstar North do, but we’ll see how it goes down in the future.
Really want to see more games with involving storylines. Shame most people just want to kill stuff.
* * *
I would love to hear other views and even counter arguments regarding my points. Perhaps you have a game that you feel deserves a mention for having a gripping story that lets you connect with the characters?
Hope you enjoyed this very long & crappy attempt at an article XD
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