Just recently the video game show Extra Credits released their weekly video where they talk about a specific topic that is pertinent to the state of gaming. Today's topic was about fun and how the industry constantly feels the need to infuse fun into their games. The idea behind this is that games are made simply as forms of light hearted entertainment and when one wants to stray away from this formula of success they'd better pay homage to fun in some way, shape or form. This can come in the form of humorous jokes in Fallout 3 or the odd in level jokes on maps in Halo; the point is that these games, when put under close scrutiny, exhibit this conscious effort by developers to infuse "fun" into their game. Now do these things make their games worse off? No, definitely not, but that doesn't mean we should continue making every single game like this. That's because when a developer decides to force "fun" into their game they then have to make drawbacks in other aspects because there's nothing fun about someone making a joke concerning an incredibly serious situation. This limits the medium from ever gaining respect as an art form, because people assume whenever a game takes on a serious topic, at some point in time they'll have to trivialize it with fun. For video games to be able take a step forward they're going to need to shed the handicap of fun and begin to take on different more serious genres.
Now I already can hear the criticism from a mile away. Keep your art out of my video games. This kind of behavior by gamers is exactly what keeps developers and publishers from ever trying to publish anything ,but fun. Gamers who want to see the medium progress need to accept that video games don't need to follow this creed of fun. Games can be made to depict different aspects of the human experience. In fact, many games do that today, but are always held back by the fun handicap. On the site, many people were angry because they felt Extra Credits was making much ado about nothing, when in fact many of them probably just can't see how fun is infused in the most serious of games. Let's take Sim City (NES) where you're able to summon Bowser to destroy your town whenever you feel your town is getting a bit too ungrateful. Sure, this is incredibly funny, but all it serves to do is remind you that you're playing a game and that the town that you tended for isn't real. This runs completely opposite to the purpose of the game, which is to help simulate what it's like to create and run your entire town from scratch. The fact that you are able to destroy all of that is fun, but ultimately counter productive to immersion. It's hard to feel accomplished of a world when Koopa can come down at any moment and destroy it all. The point is, that there are plenty of games where fun is just forced in, regardless of the serious context and tone of the game.
Does this mean I want to get rid of the sim city's of the gaming industry? No. I just want another game that's completely serious to be able to be put out as well. No one is rejecting fun wholeheartedly, they're just giving some other human expressions some love. And I bet you'll find if the majority of gamers encouraged this switch, video games would begin to have far more influence and respect than it ever did before.
Now I already can hear the criticism from a mile away. Keep your art out of my video games. This kind of behavior by gamers is exactly what keeps developers and publishers from ever trying to publish anything ,but fun. Gamers who want to see the medium progress need to accept that video games don't need to follow this creed of fun. Games can be made to depict different aspects of the human experience. In fact, many games do that today, but are always held back by the fun handicap. On the site, many people were angry because they felt Extra Credits was making much ado about nothing, when in fact many of them probably just can't see how fun is infused in the most serious of games. Let's take Sim City (NES) where you're able to summon Bowser to destroy your town whenever you feel your town is getting a bit too ungrateful. Sure, this is incredibly funny, but all it serves to do is remind you that you're playing a game and that the town that you tended for isn't real. This runs completely opposite to the purpose of the game, which is to help simulate what it's like to create and run your entire town from scratch. The fact that you are able to destroy all of that is fun, but ultimately counter productive to immersion. It's hard to feel accomplished of a world when Koopa can come down at any moment and destroy it all. The point is, that there are plenty of games where fun is just forced in, regardless of the serious context and tone of the game.
Does this mean I want to get rid of the sim city's of the gaming industry? No. I just want another game that's completely serious to be able to be put out as well. No one is rejecting fun wholeheartedly, they're just giving some other human expressions some love. And I bet you'll find if the majority of gamers encouraged this switch, video games would begin to have far more influence and respect than it ever did before.
No comments:
Post a Comment