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Video Games Are Boring

gamesindustry.biz

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Re: Video Games Are Boring

#321

Post by advantark2 »

pessimizer wrote: post #267
advantark2 wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish this were a joke. A tampon is unambiguously designed for women. Video games are designed for those who enjoy them.

> Video games are designed for those who enjoy them. This doesn't make any sense. How can something be designed for the people who enjoy the thing that hasn't been made yet?

Video games aren't made out of thin air. There is an art and a science to video game creation that involves novelty, difficulty, and mastery. That takes a lot of planning and designing. Obviously that means that video games need to be designed BEFORE they're created. ;)

Re: Video Games Are Boring

#322

Post by advantark2 »

_RedPanda wrote: post #318
edblarney wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Hire some female talent, get some investments on your easy-to-market product, and make yourself rich via a successful business catering to the female demographic of gamers." It's not remotely that easy. If it were, they would have done it long ago.

>It's not remotely that easy. So why do you guys feel so entitled to have games especially marketed at the female demographic? Nobody should go out of their way and create a game that is catering to the female demographic, just so some internet feminists can feel better about themselves and afterwards not even buy/play the game

I feel that the breakdown of gender norms is not necessary, and many people in our country are trying to do so right now in the name of "equality."

However, that's just my opinion. If other people disagree and see potential in the market, then let them design that game and prove me wrong.

Please try to be a bit less condescending on this site. We try to be more professional here.

Re: Video Games Are Boring

#323

Post by dota »

Retra wrote: post #226
dota wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also play Dota 2 on and off, since multiplayer interactions in it are so intense and so unpredictable It's a shame to see how AAA companies have butchered the Dota-like genre. There's Valve's Dota 2 which is the shining example of what the genre should be and then there's all these garbage rehashes out there that have just tried to dumb down the game or introduce some kind of gimmick or cliche. AAA games are just a…

Games aren't getting more shallow and casual. More likely you're just getting older and developing a preference for nostalgia over novelty.

I'm not talking about games overall, just games made by AAA companies. There's certainly still games that cater to a hardcore/competitive audience but you have to look a little harder for them and they're usually coming from indie developers. But for a AAA studio casual is where the money is and it's the philosophy driving their game design even though from their perspective they'd probably call "easier to get into" or more "intuitive" or "streamlined".

Look at the difference between Starcraft Broodwar and Starcraft 2, Diablo 2 and Diablo 3, Dota and every clone like LoL and Heroes of the Storm, Hearthstone, Overwatch. All of the sequels and successors are more shallow and casual than what came before. And the novelties these games introduce are better characterized as gimmicks to hook casual players. Why make a game that caters to a hardcore audience? That's just limiting your playerbase and limiting your potential profit.

Re: Video Games Are Boring

#324

Post by talmand »

eropple wrote: post #240
talmand wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> Sure, you can run around causing mass chaos and deaths; but you can also do none of those things No, you literally can't. You have to kill people en masse from the very start of the game. And, if you want to progress far enough to unlock the various features of the game, you have to do downright reprehensible things . I've played, and enjoyed most of, GTA5 (though I think the developers, at this point, should fuck…

And I quote: "Once you reach a point in the game, I forget how far into it, you choose what to do."

Once you have reached that point, you can do pretty much anything you want. Yes, I understand you have to do bad things to get to that point. That's why I agreed with the comment about if you still have moral objections to the game, then that's cool. I personally would prefer they allow you those options from the start, but I can understand why they do not for gameplay purposes.

Re: Video Games Are Boring

#325

Post by zeveb »

MrZongle2 wrote: post #160
dahart wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, I'm not sure I've ever heard of it, but I'll check it out. I played thousands upon thousands of hours of Quake 3 back in the day. Possibly my favorite game recently was FEZ. Journey, mentioned in the article, was beautiful. These days I'm as much a sucker for online Boggle or Sudoku as any console game.

FYI, Dwarf Fortress is an ASCII-only roguelike, and the learning curve is as steep as the graphics are primitive. But the emergent gameplay is amazing. If the inconsistent UI or graphics give you pause, I'd suggest taking a look at Rimworld, currently in Early Access on Steam (or available directly from the developer's site). It has some of the deep qualities of DF but is a bit more forgiving.

> FYI, Dwarf Fortress is an ASCII-only roguelike

Well, it's Unicode actually — displayed by OpenGL! — and not really a roguelike (although IIRC there is a roguelike adventure mode). It's incredibly difficult not so much due to the graphics but rather to the fantastically complex world, and also the control interface, which is … baroque.

Re: Video Games Are Boring

#326

Post by WorldMaker »

ren01r wrote: post #221
WorldMaker wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't even have to be considered "cheat codes" if adequately factored into the difficulty level. I feel like some of the backlash against old school cheat codes (all the games we used to play in "god mode" or with things like the Game Genie) is as much the terminology "cheat code" and the idea that it is "hacking" or "breaking" the game. Most games seem to stick to some simple linear variation of a difficulty mo…

I recently started playing Saints Row 4. In the casual mode, its an easy game with an overpowered protagonist. It's really relaxing when a game gives every weapon in the beginning and let us choose the way to use them.

I agree, I think Saints Row has been a particularly good franchise at realizing that it can be a ridiculous power fantasy and lean into that and have fun with it. It even includes things other games would consider "cheat codes" as eventual unlocks, and that also adds to the fun and the mayhem. SR4 even does the best job of directly integrating that into the explicit appeal and story line in its "superhero powers" progression work.

Re: Video Games Are Boring

#327

Post by qwertyuiop924 »

gohrt wrote: post #295
qwertyuiop924 wrote: post #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.…

Hey no one dies in Super Mario Bros. The mushrooms get swished and bopped off-screen.

Yeah, and you never die in SMB. Your hands just go up, and your character bounces off screen.

/s

Re: Video Games Are Boring

#328

Post by qwertyuiop924 »

filereaper wrote: post #248
qwertyuiop924 wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>This whole portrayal of video games (and other media) as "art" will never take off outside of technological hipster circles Nonsense. Games that try to do more than entertain, that actually try to use the medium to express a message, much in the way an art film might, are generally well recieved by the press and gamers alike for mixing up the formula and trying new things. For examples, look at games like Spec Ops:…

Highly recommend Spec Ops: The Line, its usually on Steam for cheap and works on Linux!

Ah, you've played it!

Do you feel like a hero yet?

Re: Video Games Are Boring

#329

Post by cloudjacker »

namaemuta wrote: post #313
cloudjacker wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Firewatch is a really big step in the right direction. But try playing it as a child or a woman marginally interested in a gaming experience and you get unnecessary swearing and tropes from a man's perspective. Oh well. I wish there was possibility for a mode. Not one you are forced to select, but one based on a profile, more akin to the predictive one advertisers already have on you.

Are you implying that women don't swear? and why does a child have to play this game? this game is obviously oriented to a mature audience. Not all the games have to be suitable for everybody. If not, the only games available would be pixar-like games.

I'm implying, and directly said, that the tropes aren't relatable or interesting despite trying so hard to be LIKE EVERY OTHER GAME AND THE ENTIRE POINT OF THE ARTICLE AND THREAD

You think your rebuttals are original but they are just rehashing the same arguments from the past 30 years and completely unproductive. Assume I already know the counterpoints, you went for the lowest hanging fruit of them all.

Firewatch is an interesting one to call out, much like Journey as the author imagined, because those games try to be more interesting. They were created by artists and gamers tired of AAA titles and tropes. But they continue to fail to interest this other broad audience that is repulsed by the idea of games, but as the author realized, are actually entertained by immersive experiences.

Re: Video Games Are Boring

#330

Post by ksk »

tomdell wrote: post #219

One of the main problems with single-player video games is that a lot of people work alone and don't want to spend their free time doing something that feels kind of like work, but doesn't seem to offer much in return. They'd rather spend their time socializing or doing something that will improve them in an obvious way. A personal anecdote - I loved single-player video games until I was 18, but I stopped cold at tha…

>One of the main problems with single-player video games is that a lot of people work alone and don't want to spend their free time doing something that feels kind of like work, but doesn't seem to offer much in return.

What are you basing this on?

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