While I was writing this, Helistar made a wonderful comment on the last post. Wonderful, because I was just about to argue the other way.
(1)
Games have no natural boundaries. The developers can give you as many epics as they please. More than you can carry, more than you could ever inspect. More than you could possibly conceive.
The developers can make you rich. Rich enough to buy anything. Rich enough to buy everything! They can make you so rich that you can't even fathom the number anymore. It costs them but a few keystrokes.
The developers can reward you. Give you bonus experience. They can make you level as fast as you wish. They can skip the leveling. And they can teleport you wherever you want. Whenever you want. They can make you be everywhere at the same time, if only your limited mind could comprehend this.
The developers can make you a god. They can make you invincible and all-mighty. Your enemies can be crushed by a glimpse of a single eye of yours. They can even make your enemies die even when you don't look at them. They can make you kill all enemies in the entire fucking game if they so desire. And they can even do it for you, so you don't have to bother.
There are no natural boundaries! But boundaries is what we need to have fun.
It is a fact that as soon as we start to think that "we shouldn't have to do that", we don't enjoy 'it' anymore; 'it' has become frustrating. If you think that you shouldn't have to go to the well (last post), there's no way you will ever have fun again in doing so. But it is also a fact that you had fun before this boundary was destroyed!
Games teach us that everything is relative. Not in the physical sense, but in the psychological sense.
(2)
Telwyn wrote about the Rift bonus exp weekends. And I agree. Get prepared for another dating-analogy.
Imagine you are that girl in the night club (the player). And there comes a guy along (the MMORPG) whom you have never met before. And right from the start he tells you that your eyes are the most wonderful and your smile is the stars and all this stuff. And then he starts to buy you drinks. Not one, but three!
Doesn't work this way, does it?
These compliments don't cost him anything. And every guy in that night club is rich enough to buy you three drinks. Or a hundred if he so wishes. That's cheap! If this actually worked, you'd have to sleep with 50 guys a night!
But bonus exp is even cheaper. Imagine he told you that if you spend the night with him, he would actually make it especially easy for you: You two wouldn't have to talk more than necessary! In fact, he has declared this a bonus weekend! For every minute you offer him your attention, you will have to wait one less day to marry him.
I'm not attracted to bonus exp weekends, because they are just as ridiculous. The developers construct artificial boundaries that don't cost them anything and then they destroy them in front of me and this doesn't cost them anything, either. But they expect me to like it. No, I don't. It's cheap!
The art of making great games is making great rules, great boundaries. Because boundaries cause journeys. And journeys, encouraged by goals, are where the fun is actually experienced.
(3)
The destruction of boundaries is what creates nostalgia. We remember that going to the well was so much fun (read my last post). But, just like the boundary, the journey was destroyed by the water tap.
In real life that is okay, because there are a lot of boundaries and overcoming them is actually fun. Not so in MMORPGs. There are no natural boundaries. By destroying those that exist, which is cheap, you steal fun from the player. If you allow everybody to teleport everywhere, all other comanies have to follow in suit, because now the players don't think that they actually "should have to walk". You spoil us and you spoil the fun for us!
At the very least you shouldn't do it without the players even asking for it !
Good post, and a nice analogy.
ReplyDeleteOf course my complaint about Rift's bonus XP weekend is just the one that came to mind first. Many games are doing this now.
Actually on reflection the worst one is probably LoTRO - the pre-order for the next expansion gives you a massive XP boost (25% on all characters until they reach level 65). That right there put me off pre-ordering instantly.
I'm not sure why this is happening, are companies becoming involved in some kind of marketing cold war? Gameplay is sacrificed on the altar of convenience and the need for ever-faster progression...
"Gameplay is sacrificed on the altar of convenience and the need for ever-faster progression..."
ReplyDeleteAnd in turn, "inadvertently" convincing us that the gameplay wasn't fun to begin with.
I use quotes because I find it hard to believe they don't know this.
I'm afraid I've ruined a game for myself lately in a similar manner; Terraria. I found a lovely little program that lets you put items into your inventory. I thought it was awesome...for a total of 10 minutes.
Now I can't play the game anymore because what's the point? I can get whatever I want, and without the challenge the game has become meaningless.
I'm not sure why this is happening, are companies becoming involved in some kind of marketing cold war? Gameplay is sacrificed on the altar of convenience and the need for ever-faster progression...
ReplyDeleteI have not looked into LotRO, but I would assume it is because the majority of the expansion content will be expanding the endgame, which is a bit useless to people not actually at said endgame. It doesn't make sense for the Deus Ex: HR guys to say "25% bonus XP/damage weekend so you can progress faster!" because once you beat the game, you are generally done. With LotRO and WoW (etc) though, it can make sense if what I want to do is experience the endgame as a different class/whatever. The leveling game is basically the same no matter what class you pick - only the endgame is meaningfully different. Ergo, bonus XP is something not only easy to "give," but it is compelling for the average player, especially if they start thinking "Well, I might want a different toon, and I'll feel bad for leveling one up slower later if I don't act now."
Now I can't play the game anymore because what's the point? I can get whatever I want, and without the challenge the game has become meaningless.
If the mere existence of godmode options siphons fun out of your games, I feel sad for you. Minecraft has similar developer tools, and there are thousands of Youtube videos from people having fun using them (1:1 scale models of USS Enterprise, computer-frying explosions of TNT skyscrapers, etc). Even in MMOs, there are bots that could gather resources and/or farm gold for you all day long so that you could buy your way into hardmode raid runs. Nothing is particularly sacred in this way. Choosing to not utilize "hacks" should not impact your ability to have the same fun you had before you were cognizant of it.
As an aside though, you picked Terraia for its "challenge?" If you did not also enjoy building structures and having some affect on the world then perhaps its best you "ruined" the game for yourself.
Nils, it strikes me that you engage the computer program as if engaging an actual real life situation?
ReplyDeleteLike, the only value to you is the idea that you do have to walk five miles for water. Like, you just have to as in reality you might just have to.
The major, important thing to you is that as much as reality remains static, so too does the game remain static in it's structure and play?
How is this fun for you? I'd almost think part of your brain is simply being tricked into thinking it is real, then dragging along the part of your brain that knows it isn't? Are you just being dragged along into something that has no real highs or lows in itself?
Callan, you seem to think that computer games are not part of real life. But computer games are just as real as board games ..
ReplyDeleteAzuriel wrote:
ReplyDeleteIf the mere existence of godmode options siphons fun out of your games, I feel sad for you
I do understand Straw pretty well, actually. I used to hack save games some ten to fifteen years ago and really had to learn the hard way that this is not a good idea.
Some people might be better able to push the thought out of their brains, or look for goals that cannot be achieved with cheating (creating the enterprise). But for many players that is much harder.
That's one reason I like MMORPGs: NO save games. Not even quick save! A hard/harsh/immovable boundary/rule/restriction; I love it.
Nils, it depends on whether your interested in being argued out of the idea that boardgames are part of real life.
ReplyDeleteI think your interested in stating video games/board games are part of real life. I'm not sure your interested in finding something else the case. As I'm guessing it's pretty important to you that they are real. I've learnt my lesson in the past to not try to glibly dismantle peoples important things.
Callan, I really don't understand you. It seems like you mean something else when you say 'part of real life'. Do you mean 'important' or 'less important than other things' ?
ReplyDeleteI mean, everything is part of real life. We only have this one life. Whatever you do during it, it's part of it. Scrapping your dog's shit off the street so it stays clean, marrying your wife, working your job, helping your grandma, arguing with your sister, meeting with with friends, and yes, playing games.
Some people might be better able to push the thought out of their brains, or look for goals that cannot be achieved with cheating (creating the enterprise). But for many players that is much harder.
ReplyDeleteAgain, if players lose enjoyment of the game because they consciously know their game has a Difficulty Slider going from Easy to Hard, I feel sad for them. Especially since most games do, let alone games with extreme easiness options (hacks, godmode, etc).
I stick with default difficulty because I imagine that that is what the designers/writers intended the narrative to be experienced at - if a book writer intended their audience to read a book while on a rollercoaster, for example, I imagine the book would be written in a slightly different way.
My stance changes in MMOs though, because I understand the game is designed to consume as much time as possible, which can only be done by stacking it with meaningless, boring tasks. That is why I would absolutely be first in line for the tap in the house, and why I have been a vocal supporter for teleports since the Blizz devs stupidly thought they did anyone favors by removing them. "It makes the world bigger!" Bollocks.
Time sinks never make the world bigger, they make the world more boring. You make worlds bigger by adding more things to it. If things like tap water and teleports skipped you past content you actually wanted to see, you would not use them even if they existed - using them to skip things you weren't interested in is Working As Intended. Maybe there is an issue of people skipping interesting things they did not know existed, but using time sinks to force players to see them is simply bad design on the part of the devs.
You are right to feel sad for them, Azuriel. But you should avoid feeling superiour to them ;)
ReplyDeleteI mean, everything is part of real life. We only have this one life. Whatever you do during it, it's part of it. Scrapping your dog's shit off the street so it stays clean, marrying your wife, working your job, helping your grandma, arguing with your sister, meeting with with friends, and yes, playing games.
ReplyDeleteNo, some things are just fake - lies, essentially. Take which side of the road you drive on - is that 'part of real life'?
No, it's a lie. Sure, we sustain the lie because people tend not to crash into each other if we sustain the lie that you drive on X side of the road. But it's a lie that you drive on the left hand side of the road (or the right - the difference in laws in different countries show up the glaring fib). It's not part of the world. It's a human fabrication overlayed on top of the real world.
If you think "No, I get that", the fact is, I don't even think I get it on everything. There are still some things I think are part of the world which are just fabrications. So it is atleast possible for someone to think they get it, but not actually do so.
It's a social convention, Callan. There are a lot of social conventions. They are arbitrary, yet important. Your house is a human fabrication, too.
ReplyDeleteMoreover, I don't see what makes social conventions not part of real life. They are quite obviously part of it.
But, call them what you want. What follows from your name-giving ?
Name giving gives you the capacity to get the game you want.
ReplyDeleteBecause without names to differentiate, you keep thinking everyone wants the same thing as you and thinking you can all play together. While some of them do want what you want, others will keep pushing for the dungeon journey to be cut out. And you'll keep assuming this is just a mistake on their behalf, that really they like the dungeon journey, because you will give no other name to them.
Callan, you need to differentiate between two kinds of blog post.
ReplyDeleteThe first is about what I want. For example if I say that this game is not 'immersive' enough.
The second one is about everybody. For example when I say that good games need to keep the mind busy.
I know, it's not always easy. But then, this isn't a book. Blog's are read for inspiration (and to keep your mind busy).