Friday, May 27, 2005
Does pee cause spores to grow?
Despite the fact they run one of my favorite sites on the internet, I do not like to actually talk about Penny Arcade too often in this space. For one, they are far larger than the humble site you are currently reading. Though I stayed as far away as possible from the much too loud and somewhat depressing South Hall during my voyage to LA, Nick has confirmed that the line to see the fine folks at Penny Arcade extended for more than two hours. Considering my solitary table quietly advertising the chance to meet "The Guy Who Hates EA" and "The Lone Soul Who Never Lost Faith in Rare" didn't draw one visitor (not even Nick who was looking for that girl gamer Kat Hunter again), one could say I have a tiny bit of envy towards the creators of the tri-weekly gaming comic. However hesitantly, I am going to draw attention to their post today because it speaks to me in a way their daily updates on Guild Wars simply do not. Also, it is a large enough topic that one could place a label on gamers as a whole and divide them in two unique camps: Those who enjoy the Will Wright experience and those who do not.
For those who are unaware of the portfolio this video game visionary has created during his run let me just give you a quick run-through - Sim City, The Sims, and the upcoming evolution sim (notice a trend here?) Spore. As Tycho mentioned on PA today, these programs can only be considered games in the loosest sense of the word. There is no linear progression to speak of. There is no ending goal. There is nothing guiding you through the rigors of the game. If you have little imagination or knowledge you will probably only see a tiny fraction of what the game has to offer. With a game like Super Mario Bros, if you hold right long enough and hit A enough times you will eventually see every inch of that magnificent title. With a completely open ended game like Sim City, in which you not only are asked to build an entire city but have the power to deploy the fire department to take out that nasty space spider while trying to decide how much power to devote to the football stadium and whether the slums really deserve clean water, there is a good chance that the average gamer will never even scratch the surface of what they have to offer.
In his post, Tycho hypothesizes that Gabe may be alone in not appreciating the greatness that is Mr. Wright. I guess it's time I went on record and state that I, too, suffer from the same short sightedness. I cannot play games without a definable goal. I generally get so bogged down in the potential that I lose my focus completely and move on to a more immediately rewarding experience. Essentially, I love playing games but I hate having to make my own fun through them. I want the developers to hold my hand, walk me to a certain section, tell me the best and most fun way to interact with that environment, and let me go to town. That's my kind of game. You can see how this strays from Will Wright's formula of fun.
In a broader context, this is the main reason why I have grown away from the Grand Theft Auto series. While there is a real goal and concrete objectives in every title, much of the fun in the GTA experience is from causing your own chaos. It's from simply stealing a car and doing a drive by of your own, or trying to drive your motorcycle up a fire escape, or meticulously creating a huge pileup at an intersection. The people who love these games are able to immerse themselves in the fictitious world so they can laugh with glee when they beat down a random passerby on the street. I never developed empathy for these 25 polygon human looking models so I never found any joy in beating them about the neck and face with a dildo.
Of course, my need for a strict gaming experience will not hold me back from buying Nintendogs in August. I mean, have you seen how cute the dogs are? Who needs a goal to build to when you can play tug-o-war with an imaginary German Sheppard puppy named Jules Dinosaur?
For those who are unaware of the portfolio this video game visionary has created during his run let me just give you a quick run-through - Sim City, The Sims, and the upcoming evolution sim (notice a trend here?) Spore. As Tycho mentioned on PA today, these programs can only be considered games in the loosest sense of the word. There is no linear progression to speak of. There is no ending goal. There is nothing guiding you through the rigors of the game. If you have little imagination or knowledge you will probably only see a tiny fraction of what the game has to offer. With a game like Super Mario Bros, if you hold right long enough and hit A enough times you will eventually see every inch of that magnificent title. With a completely open ended game like Sim City, in which you not only are asked to build an entire city but have the power to deploy the fire department to take out that nasty space spider while trying to decide how much power to devote to the football stadium and whether the slums really deserve clean water, there is a good chance that the average gamer will never even scratch the surface of what they have to offer.
In his post, Tycho hypothesizes that Gabe may be alone in not appreciating the greatness that is Mr. Wright. I guess it's time I went on record and state that I, too, suffer from the same short sightedness. I cannot play games without a definable goal. I generally get so bogged down in the potential that I lose my focus completely and move on to a more immediately rewarding experience. Essentially, I love playing games but I hate having to make my own fun through them. I want the developers to hold my hand, walk me to a certain section, tell me the best and most fun way to interact with that environment, and let me go to town. That's my kind of game. You can see how this strays from Will Wright's formula of fun.
In a broader context, this is the main reason why I have grown away from the Grand Theft Auto series. While there is a real goal and concrete objectives in every title, much of the fun in the GTA experience is from causing your own chaos. It's from simply stealing a car and doing a drive by of your own, or trying to drive your motorcycle up a fire escape, or meticulously creating a huge pileup at an intersection. The people who love these games are able to immerse themselves in the fictitious world so they can laugh with glee when they beat down a random passerby on the street. I never developed empathy for these 25 polygon human looking models so I never found any joy in beating them about the neck and face with a dildo.
Of course, my need for a strict gaming experience will not hold me back from buying Nintendogs in August. I mean, have you seen how cute the dogs are? Who needs a goal to build to when you can play tug-o-war with an imaginary German Sheppard puppy named Jules Dinosaur?
// posted by Tom @ 10:29 AM 
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]