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Gaming Without a Safety Blanket
Hugh Pickens writes "IGN has an interesting interview with Tom Bissell, author of the recently published Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter, in which Bissell uses his experience in investigative journalism and as a war correspondent to describe his years playing games. Bissell talks about the difficulties in describing gameplay to non-gamers. 'A lot of casual games sort of submerge their storytelling to an almost subliminal level while upping the gameplay sophistication,' says Bissell. 'Writing about pure gameplay is tough. ... I say in the book that's one of the most suspect things about the form; a game with [an] incredibly dopey story but a really compelling mechanical set of resonances can still be a great game. I don't know if there's really a way to talk about that with people who aren't sold on the form.' Bissell adds that it's easier for many to find meaning in the more traditional delivery systems of entertainment and compares writing about games to the difficulty in describing rock & roll to an older generation. Bissell's background as a war correspondent, traveling to regions of conflict, has also translated into the games he likes."
Yes. This is what is wrong with games today. This guy gets it.
This game will waste your life. Don't clicky!
Yeah, why should you care about expressing anything verbally. In fact, when I read your comment, my eyes glazed over and my brain went elsewhere. Kind of like when someone who doesn't care one bit about something tries to explain to people who actually do care why their interests are dull and boring just because they don't get it.
Seriously, why is this pure expression of stupidity modded "insightful"? It doesn't have anything to say, apart from "I don't have any thoughts of my own, and I don't want any, and I don't want to listen to someone who has".
I've read a few chapters of the book, and it's pretty good.
Gaming is like dancing [with your thumbs]. A lot of the mechanics are shared between games. A large part of the exhilaration is managing to get the end of a game without screwing up terribly. It's more nerdy (and possibly annoying) to some because the dance partner is a computer (more accurately, it's the game developers through a computer). It leads to the same sort of frustration that Garry Kasparov expressed about Deep Blue because many are more inclined to see the challenge presented as intended to remove the fun of the game. While I wouldn't go as far as to say that such a point never holds true (ie, there is such a thing as a game that's unreasonably hard), the challenge of a game forces gamers to improve which extends the life-long enjoyment of gaming. In the end, it's this attribute that keeps people interested in the long-term.
"We are merely sprites that dance at the beck and call of our button pressing overlord."
Eurohacker European paranoia, gun rights, and h
I hate this word. Is it one word? Is it two? Who knows. But it's one of the few words we have to describe the stuff that goes on while you are playing a game. We need something better, or we need some dictionary to step up and add it.
horseplay - definition of horseplay by the Free Online Dictionary ... ...
frolic, gambol, romp, caper, play - gay or light-hearted recreational activity for diversion or amusement; "it was all done in play"; "their frolic in the
www.thefreedictionary.com/horseplay
To answer your conundrum: Gameplay is like horseplay, but less gay.
You can't take the sky from me...
...I thought "gaming without a safety blanket" would be a discussion of how real men play roguelikes, where you have only one life and the game may take weeks/months to complete and death means starting over...
Advice: on VPS providers
A better analogy would be a movie with an amazing story but really bad special effects. The core of a game is its gameplay, the story is just there to help it along. The core of a movie is the story, the special effects are just there to help it along.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
When I was a child we used to play "Cowboys and Indians". The kids would break into two groups, one the cowboys, the other Indians. It was by definition roll playing with simulated violence. There were rules; for example, the cowboys had guns and the Indians had stealth. Rules and parameters were establish and followed, if not, "NO FAIR...or YOU CHEATED" were declared.
Modern computer gaming, such as the First Person Shooter, (FPS), is an extension of this. In fact, if you can recall being a child and the various imaginary games that children play, I.E. Pirates, Fortress, Capture the Flag, Tag and so on, modern gaming is an extension of these into a modern format with the use of computer technology. You can think of your computer as both a playground and a referee. Of course it's highly evolved and segued into genres, but if one distills it down to a non "gamer" essence, I think one could find a frame of reference based in the beginning of "play" its self.
Take the Red Pill.
As opposed to the mature obsession with sex and violence that is pandered by movies, theater and such?
Hollywood panders to obsession with violence. European "art" films pander to obsession with sex. Some pander to both. And how could they not? Apart from titillating the senses, almost all human behaviour is driven by either lust or survival instinct; you can't have drama without these elements. If anything, having a greater focus on sex and sexuality in games would allow far greater storylines with better rounded characters, not to mention enable all kinds of dramatic options in both conflict and its resolution.
You aren't going to find any medium where sex and violence aren't at the central focus, because they are the focus of human existence.
God of War is very tame and nice compared the original Greek myths. What should they had done, copied Disney's Hercules?
Beautiful art style, yes... Care to guess which two subjects have been the main focus of art from the very first cave paintings to modern-day painters, sculptors and such? And, for that matter, the subject matter of most humour? Or pretty much every story?
Games are slowly but surely moving from being kid's toys into mainstream entertainment, and that means they're going to get a lot more sex to go with the violence. You can dislike it, but it's what all mainstream entertainment has been made of for the duration of entire human history, and prehistory too. And I, for one, am just fine with that.
Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.