So my good friend, Cody Miller, of halo 3 speed running fame, wrote this article yesterday. We had been discussing this topic for a while but I think he finally cracked and let it all out. It's not so much about casual sex as it is about the state of the industry.
Anyway, after I read it, I told him it might generate some interesting discussion here. He agreed to let me post it. It's kind of long, but an interesting take from somebody who is probably the most hardcore gamer I know.
Let's keep it civil.
Do people even want to actually play games anymore? The landscape of gaming is changing, and definitely not for the better. Its almost paradoxical, for game designers truly think theyre applying all this new technology in ways that make better games, and the players eat it up, not knowing whats causing that nagging feeling is inside of them that makes them long for the retro days. I can tell you right now, its not rose colored nostalgia glasses warmly tinting our perceptions of past games. The problem is that everybody, in their effort to make games an artistic medium have utterly forgotten what makes a game artistic in the first place.
This push for some sort of legitimacy for games as an artistic medium is quite cruelly ruining the core of what makes games truly unique. Games today need to have themes, stories, and finely crafted campaigns with a plot and characters you care about, all under the guise that this provides some sort of artistic merit. Developers are crafting their worlds to provide the player with an experience, and to create an immersive environment. Every effort is made to lead the player from start to finish down a quasi-cinematic journey through the games narrative. Yet every element the developers reserve for themselves to guide the experience of the players is ironically robbing the players of the most treasured experiences a videogame can provide.
In this world of instant gratification it doesnt seem like people are willing to put the effort in to discover the true joy of a finely crafted videogame. You expect to be able to finish a game, quite possibly because the emphasis on narratives now shift the importance from the gameplay to the ending, and developers make every effort to make sure you get that wish, lest someone not experience the thrilling conclusion theyve set up. Youre given tutorial levels and the levels are crafted to be as accessible as possible. Focus groups are run, and should a player get stuck, the necessary changes are made so he never strays off the path for too long. The irony of all this is that instead of embracing what makes games truly great, the interactivity, games are instead embracing an experience that has traditionally been reserved for the cinema, curtailing player choice and responsibility in order to give us the experience.
The true great experiences that only a videogame can provide are not those that are crafted by the developer. They are the experiences that come from the player understanding and mastering the games mechanics. The gameplay itself is the reward, asking us to devote our attention to actually controlling our character and making decisions every second of the way. As you play theres a feedback between you and the game: you begin to understand the gameplay the more you play, and this opens up new opportunities for you as a player, not through unlockable levels or achievements, but by a new harmony with which to play the game.
Mario is the best example to give, since everybody and their mother has played it. In fact, my father can play Mario, and he enjoys it. The mere kinetic action of the game is enjoyable to him, and so the mere act of playing the game is itself rewarding. He tends to progress through a level very slowly, as did I when I first played. Slowly and deliberately, he progresses forward stomping enemies and carefully jumping gaps. Its very calculated, but fun for him. However, if you play the game enough, as I have, you get to a certain point. You realize that its more efficient, and more satisfying, to run instead of walk through stages. Once youve mastered the simple kinetics of Marios control, this is naturally the next step to progress. The game absolutely changes as you begin to run and play the levels faster, and it becomes more apparent you have to plan ahead. Gaps and enemies come quicker, so you must anticipate and react in a much more different way than if you were walking. As this is happening though something wonderful occurs. You begin to discover a groove, a rhythm to the game. It becomes fluid, and your inputs and actions flow. The more you go with the flow the better it gets, and the act of playing becomes even more satisfying yet, like taking the time truly understand your partners needs during sex. As you become closer and more attentive, perhaps through even years of lovemaking, the experience only gets better and better as you both truly understand each other.
My generation lives in a culture of casual sex. Undoubtedly due to the increasing sentiment of entitlement and selfishness stemming from our culture of information on demand and instant gratification, were used to having no strings attached, responsibility free flings, because anything more would require commitment and actual effort on our part. We are taking longer and longer to commit, and so many marriages are ending in divorce where working it out is too much of a hassle; our happiness should be easy and instant.
Instead of committing to a game, you want the one night stand, and game designers are giving it to you. Were getting games that are the naughty girl with a set of tricks. Shell blow your mind, but when its all said and done the sex was meaningless, and her shallowness means theres nothing to discover next time. But thats fine, since theres another girl out there somewhere willing to do the same, perhaps with a new set of tricks. Eventually though, the casual sex gets old and you wonder why youre 28 and feel alone, all the while missing the girl down the street who is deep and interesting, but perhaps a bit rough around the edges graphically.
Well, the casual sex of the modern gaming is getting old. The scripted sequences and carefully crafted narratives are quite an experience the first time around. But a repeat play reveals a game set up only for the orgasm that is the plots climax. Everything the game is designed and crafted to lead up to that, and as a result, loses its true purpose as being enjoyable for its own sake.The stunningly scripted yet superficial battles in modern games do not hold a candle to the feeling of running through a level in Mario, weaving in and out of the bullet spreads in Ikaruga, dodging the pillars in rhythm on your speederbike in Battletoads, or even simply rolling through loops in Sonic the Hedgehog. Even though the endings to these games are laughably simple, it was the journey that was interesting, and a journey that gets better as you master it.
But its your fault that youre so selfish that you want the game to guide you through so you can finish it, and as a result its your fault that game designers are curtailing your options for interactivity in order to let that happen. Its no wonder that players are playing games once then moving on to something else. The problem is two fold, they no longer want to revisit games, and game designers are too focused on crafting that perfect first playthrough.
Youre all losing sight of what makes a videogame special: the interactivity. You dont need a story to create a good game, yet if you have no story in a film or novel, then the work is a failure. Narratives are best left to the non interactive media, and videogames should do what they excel at. This is not to say that games cannot and should not have narrative, although it should never be the sole focus of the game or interfere at all with the gameplay. Thats just the problem though: all this is being thrust into games in order to legitimize them as art forms. Give your game a theme, a story, a purpose! developers think, all the while not realizing that this can be provided more thoroughly and more adequately in film or text. It shows too, because the more of this is injected into games, the less interactive and gamelike they become. And so, the true art that comes from pure harmony between the player and game is lost.
Players, you can go on and continue your one night stands with whatever blockbuster comes out next, or you can actually take the time to play a good game that will give you back all the love you put in. Like any good relationship, there will be trials and tribulations, frustrations and despair, but if you choose to stick it out, you can discover gaming true love.
Anyway, after I read it, I told him it might generate some interesting discussion here. He agreed to let me post it. It's kind of long, but an interesting take from somebody who is probably the most hardcore gamer I know.
Let's keep it civil.