BlastProcessing
Member
Basic control input is not a gimmick. That said, there's nothing wrong with a gimmick as long as the focus is the game. All too often it's been gimmick first, game 2nd.
Too many of those comments sound like that. "I want players to feel something soft". Yeah, that sounds like a fun game.
I disagree. I am just old enough to remember people being dismissive of the D-Pad as a gimmick. People really liked sticks and felt that the D-pad was too far removed from gaming's arcade roots. They said the D-Pad was something that was made to look slick in pictures and that's it. It might be able to handle Nintendo's simple stuff, but would never be able to handle real games.
My brother scoffed and said that you could never play Pac-Man on it so it was worthless.
Everything new thing is a gimmick, even basic control schemes. When Apple introduced the mouse, which I think you would agree is a basic control scheme, it was widely panned as a gimmick.
Indeed, the word gimmick isn't by definition negative, it's actually encouraged in Japanese development.
In western game dev, you hear people use the word "hook" instead of gimmick. It means the same thing, but doesn't have the negative stigma.