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Video Games Are Boring

gamesindustry.biz

191–200 of 342 posts

Re: Video Games Are Boring

#191
The game industry urgently needs to find out how to satisfy the taste of art historians who like feminist art. Maybe a first person shooter where you play a vagina that shoots with tampons?

That said, while I love game, only very few games are really fun to me these days. It seems only ever few year there is a game that captivates me. Discovery is another problem: maybe there are more good games, and I just don't hear about them.

Re: Video Games Are Boring

#192
post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Moat modern games are made to sell. If the buyers are looking for X then it makes sense that a business should provide them with X to turn the most profit. If females, or anyone, wants separate gameplay mechanics then they need to reward that with cold cash to build an economy and incentivize creation. Else it's all just words and forcing a square block into a circle hole. Cash is the only way to lasting change (see…

Chicken-egg problem. You can't figure out what different people would like if you keep churning out the same things that once attracted a particular audience over and over again, just bigger and with more pixels. Change is the only way to attract newer audiences (see the mobile space for example.)

It's only a "problem" for large game companies with unimaginative executives. For indie developers it's a blessing, and rightly so.

Re: Video Games Are Boring

#193
post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, and the self-loathing white male undercurrent runs throughout. The idea that gaming is a solely white male affair is itself a very parochial view. Calling it a male affair is probably reasonable based on the statistics, although that's still already a bit of an insult to some of the successful developers who sell female-dominated genres, but it's not white male; plenty of non-white males play games, and they're…

The author doesn't want more games for black males, or white women, or even minority women. Though the author may not realize it, that kind of demographics are a red herring. What she really is looking for is games for what she feels is an under-served demographic: The kind of person who lives in "a state of constant shock, of constant stimulation" like her friends do. Her friends just happen to not be white males, s…

> under-served demographic: The kind of person who lives in "a state of constant shock, of constant stimulation" like her friends do

Out of interest, what would such a game look like, to compete with such a state? Farmville? Candy Crush?

Re: Video Games Are Boring

#195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You raise a good point. I would never purchase a GTA game because I find the whole concept morally offensive, but I am very intrigued by the exploration aspect you have described. I would love to see more focus on exploration in games. A lot of RPGs (like the Elder Scrolls series) have significant aspects of exploration to them, but tend to get bogged down in the fetch-it quests or lots of repetitive hack-and-slay. I…

GTA5 is the kind of game that the adventures the player takes on says more about the player than the game itself. Sure, you can run around causing mass chaos and deaths; but you can also do none of those things. Once you reach a point in the game, I forget how far into it, you choose what to do. Want to drive around town obeying the laws and enjoy the sites? Do that. Want to partake in multiple instances of non-viole…

It's the extent of the different styles of game play, and the kinds of things you can get out of it, is a huge advantage to these kinds of games.

When I got bored with GTA5's regular mission based mechanics, had finished all the missions, I spent just as much time getting two characters in a car and driving back and forth as fast as possible between the furthest auto body repair shops on the map just to see how long I could last before the car blew up.

From "My 4-Year-Old son plays Grand Theft Auto":

At this point my son was familiar with the game’s mechanics and hopped into the ambulance. As he put the crime fighting behind him, he wondered out loud if it were possible to take people to the hospital. I instructed him to press R3, and he was off to save a few lives. He was having a blast racing from point to point, picking up people in need, and then speeding off to Las Venturas Hospital. During one of his life-saving adventures, he passed a fire house with a big, red, shiny fire truck parked out front. He didn’t want to let his passengers down, so he took them to the hospital and then asked if I could guide him back to the fire truck.

http://venturebeat.com/community/2010/06/05/my-four-year-old...

Re: Video Games Are Boring

#196
post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Does that comment scare you? You sound very defensive. I'm sorry to inform you that we do have a discourse problem that is well documented, and you have identified yourself as part of the problem." That was your comment. I changed a couple of words so it would look like it was directed at you. Calling people defensive is very condescending and shitty, because it leaves people in a position where they have to choose…

Yes, agreed, I was condescending, and I will do better next time. To be honest, I've learned a lot about how to post civilly over the years on HN, and I still make mistakes. My post above is not an example of my best work. ;) But - answer me honestly - do you think what I said is less accurate or more condescending than what @tnones said about Brie? Do you think my comment was out of proportion or very different in t…

Why would you think that attacking tnones' comment is a reasonable defense of your comment?

Re: Video Games Are Boring

#197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't imagine realistic social gaming given today's technology. Relationships are complicated - much more complicated than game graphics. A system that accurately modelled human relationships would probably need to be within throwing distance of passing the Turing test. One reason the industry keeps churning through the same ideas is because they're relatively tractable. Graphics, physics, texturing etc, are all so…

Eve Online is the game that no one has mentioned but that keeps coming to mind while I read this thread. It's the closest I've seen to a realistic social video game. When I saw your comment, I finally had to post something about it in this thread. Like real life, doing anything meaningful in Eve is going to take a lot of time and planning. In some games, you can grind to max level in a matter of days or weeks. In Eve…

Wow, nice description! Could you recommend me some videos to show some of this to a person who hasn't played since the 90s?

Re: Video Games Are Boring

#198
My wife loves portal and portal 2 because you get to explore and not get shot at without walking into it with early warning. For 90% of the game, you can just drop the controller, come back the next day, and everything will be just how you left it. No pressure.

Re: Video Games Are Boring

#199
>We want games that aren't gritty, toxic pseudo-realistic pseudo-masculine nonsense nor frustrating time wasters that leave you feeling dead inside. We want games about how each of us could be in the future, how the world could be in the future. We want games built on compassion and respect and fearlessness. This is so much more interesting.

Great. That's fantastic. We always need more games, and more types of games. Just about anything can be made into a game (for evidence, just look at Phoenix Wright. Being a lawyer was never so much fun). And frankly, I'd love to see different games from more perspectives.

But.

Sometimes I want what this article dubs, "gritty, toxic pseudo-realistic pseudo-masculine nonsense," or "frustrating time wasters that leave you feeling dead inside." I get home at night, and maybe it's just me, but I want to raid dungeons and slay dragons. I want to storm the tower and save the princess. I want to kill sentient mushrooms by jumping on their head. I want to battle a handful of strangers, armed with a Rocket Launcher, improbably large collection of other weapons, and my own wits and reflexes.

And sometimes, I want to fit together blocks falling from the sky in a demented abstract russian nightmare.

In short, I want your experimental art games, but I also want the kinds of games that we already have. And we already have a lot of good ones, so stop insulting them, please.

...Anyways, if any of you are interested in game design, and also in the idea of games as art, and that games can be more than just entertainment, can appeal to more than just gamers, I would reccomend checking out Extra Credits (they're on YouTube now). Plus, their channel also does a pretty cool history show.

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